Well, not quite. This is what’s apparently called an Iodine Clock Reaction. It’s a classic experiment where you mix two colorless chemicals and then after a short delay, it instantly changes color. You can even do this safely in your own home either by using common store-bought chemicals[...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
September 3rd, 2013 - 1:40 pm § in Uncategorized
Ruben’s Tube
There’s a good chance that this is just a crazy guy setting fires in his garage, but there’s an equally good chance that he’s teaching us something about physics. The Ruben’s Tube was invented in 1905 by a German Physicist named Heinrich Rubens. It’s purpose is pretty c[...]
August 26th, 2013 - 7:51 pm § in Uncategorized
Premium Telescope Technology
Here’s a neat video that shows of the functionality of a Large Binocular Telescope. It uses twin sets of multiple mirrors that bounce images back and forth until they have a clear picture of what they’re looking at. This really seems to be the next step in telescope technology. Embed Thi[...]
August 21st, 2013 - 8:38 pm § in Uncategorized
Fermi at Five Years
Fermi is a space observatory launched by NASA in June 2008 that has been used since then to observe happenings in all reaches of space. It is loaded with instruments, most importantly a telescope and a Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and with these instruments NASA has been able to make many discoveries ove[...]
August 15th, 2013 - 9:04 am § in Uncategorized
Latest SpaceX Grasshopper Test
Here we see the latest test by the people at SpaceX on their re-usable rocket, Grasshopper. The cancellation of the Space Shuttle program was certainly sad, but it is encouraging to see companies like SpaceX essentially picking up where NASA left off. I’m envisioning these test videos being pl[...]
August 14th, 2013 - 10:42 am § in Uncategorized
The Man who made and Island
Meet Richart Sowa, visionary. At face value he could be the craziest character on a sit-com, but it turns out there’s a great method to his alternative lifestyle. He decided he could make an island out of normally disposed-of materials, and he actually pulled it off. Not only does he have a fl[...]
August 7th, 2013 - 12:53 pm § in Uncategorized
Water-Producing Billboard
We all know the importance of water. It’s the basis of our life and we wouldn’t be able to survive without it. It’s pretty scary to think that with all the abundance of resources some of us live our lives with there are still some communities that don’t have regular access to[...]
July 29th, 2013 - 2:56 pm § in Uncategorized
More future technologies – thin and flexible circuit boards.
Here’s another example of an invention that might fly under the radar as something that will vastly improve our lives. This is the kind of thing that takes us from holding phones in our hands to holding them in our brains. There are, of course, more important uses such as the medical advantage[...]
July 24th, 2013 - 10:46 am § in Uncategorized
Fairness Test: Monkeys paid differently
Here’s an excerpt from a TED Talk of primatologist Frans de Waal. He shows footage from a behavioral study where they gave two monkeys uneven payment for doing the same task. We expect for the monkey that gets paid less to react negatively but exactly what he does is a little surprising. Embed[...]
July 22nd, 2013 - 10:48 am § in Uncategorized
Learning from the Past: Transmissions
Check out this very comprehensive video from the 1930s about car transmissions and exactly how they work. Pretty neat that you can learn so much from something that is practically a century old. Embed This Video[...]