The Backyard Scientist
Molten Aluminum Vs. 15 gallons of Sprite
In this video I wanted to see what happens if I poured molten aluminum into a carbonated liquid. Would it fall faster, or slower? Would it explode?! Then I poured molten tin into water to watch it explode in super slow motion.
Science360
Grip - Science of Speed
There's one thing every driver always want more of: Grip. Grip is the frictional force that holds the tires on the track, but crew chiefs like Steve Letarte describe it as a 'warm and fuzzy feeling' when you have it. Whether mechanical...
Science360
Vying for the Termite Throne
Battles between colonies are a clue to an evolutionary puzzle: Why are whole classes of termites sterile? Social insects--ants, bees, wasps and termites in particular--can have over a million sterile and/or non-reproductive workers and...
Science360
Plasma cutter with pencil lead - Little Shop of Physics
A mechanical pencil lead is used to make a small-scale plasma cutter, cutting shapes in aluminum foil. Parts Needed 4 9 V battery 2 Clip leads 1 5 mm pencil lead Aluminum foil Box or tub Rubber band This demonstration is only for the...
Science360
Engineering and Music: A Powerful Duet for Art and Science - Science Nation
University of Rochester electrical engineer Mark Bocko has combined his passion for music with his passion for engineering, devising a way to digitally reproduce music in files 1,000 times smaller than an mp3! But along with this new...
Science360
Computer scientist and Watson co-creator David Ferrucci - ScienceLives
When David Ferrucci was introduced to computer programming as a high school student questions flooded his mind … Where does it stop? What can I get the computer to do? "My mind immediately went to the idea of artificial intelligence ......
The Backyard Scientist
Chlorobutanol Synthesis
Recrystallize in enough methanol to dissolve, then place in refrigerator for large crystals (4 days) OR freezer for smaller (4-8 hours). do multiple smaller pulls. 90ml acetone 10ml chloroform 1-2gm NaOH Yield~ 4gm Please note this is...
The Backyard Scientist
Bouncy Liquid Metal
I saw this video online, and wanted to try it out for myself. Hope you enjoy!
Science360
Harnessing the potential of architected materials - Science Nation
Academic and industry collaboration explores new architected materials with novel and customized behaviors With support from NSF, engineers Pablo Zavattieri and Santiago Pujol of Purdue University and Nilesh Mankame of General Motors...
Science360
Human Water Cycle - Wastewater
Water. It's an essential building block of life, constantly moving in a hydrologic cycle that flows in a continuous loop above, across and even below the Earth's surface. But water is also constantly moving through another cycle -- the...
Science360
Science Behind The News: Impacts On Jupiter
The impact of comets on the surface of Jupiter are a fairly common experience. At the University of Central Florida, astronomers Joseph Harrington and Csaba Palotai are leading a project that studies precisely how these impacts happen,...
Science360
Supercomputers Assist In Climate Forecasting - Innovators
Responding to the challenge of climate change requires understanding more about climate variability and the changes expected. Jim Kinter, director of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), explains how scientists there are...
Science360
Math and its infinite connections - Scientists & Engineers on Sofas (and other furnishings)
Two parts math and one part writer make Jordan Ellenberg a very readable mathematician. Yes, Ellenberg is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard that allows him to...
Science360
What is the relationship between food, energy and water?
What is the relationship between food, energy and water? Jack Brouwer of University of California, Irvine, answers the question on this edition of "Ask a Scientist." The number of humans alive on our planet today is 7.6 billion. By 2087,...
Science360
New LHC detector technology - Engineering the ATLAS IBL
Scientists and engineers installed a new component in the core of the ATLAS detector--one of two general-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider. This new component, called the Insertable B-Layer, sits merely centimeters from the...
Science360
Dead Zones in the Ocean - Science Nation
Ocean "dead zones" along the Washington and Oregon coasts are threatening critical U.S. fishing areas. These oxygen-depleted regions, that lose virtually all of their marine life in the summer, are expanding, and new ones are appearing...
The Backyard Scientist
Sulfur Volcano
Blowing through a mound of sulfur powder creating a finely dispersed cloud which is then ignited. This is an analogue to the classic lycopodium powder experiment. Blowing through the dust will make a huge flame creating sulfur dioxide,...
Physics Girl
How to float a ping pong ball on air - The Coandă Effect
Widely explained using the Bernoulli principle, this phenomenon is actually dominated by the Coanda effect.
Science360
Science Behind The News: Quantum Computing
Imagine if engineers could build a computer to be millions of times faster than anything that exists today, yet so small it's microscopic. John Preskill, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, explains the...
Science360
Green Roofs - Science Nation
These days it seems everything is going green. Now you can add green roofs to that list. A green roof is covered with a waterproof membrane, a growing medium (such as dirt) and vegetation. Environmentalists have long touted the benefits...
Science360
Green Roofs - Green Revolution
A green roof can certainly make a building look nicer, but can it measurably lower energy requirements and improve water management? In this episode of Green Revolution, hear from researchers studying that question and learning how to...
Science360
Boston Mountain Biotech
A team at the University of Arkansas, Boston Mountain Biotech, explain the work they are doing to simplify protein pharmaceutical production.