Physics & Chemistry

Think You Know Basic Physics? This Balloon Will Prove You Wrong

When you have a balloon floating in a car and start driving, instead of getting thrown back, it actually flies forward. What? Are balloons immune to inertia? Is physics broken? Nope. As SmarterEveryDay explains, it actually makes perfect sense, as science always does. Balloons aren’t weirdly above being affected by the first law of motion,…

Physics & Chemistry Eric Limer

The Science Behind Making the Fastest Possible Pinewood Derby Car

You wouldn’t think that a four-wheeled car would go faster if one of its wheels didn’t touch the ground. Or if its axles were bent. Or if it was designed to grind against a wall. But you’d be wrong, and here’s the science to prove it. Our old friend Mark Rober—former NASA JPL engineer—has put…

Physics & Chemistry Brent Rose

Can You Create a Perfectly Silent Space?

Imagine a place with no noise whatsoever: no sound, no light, no radio—hell, no Wi-Fi. How on Earth would you go about creating it? First, you’d need no air in the space; second, it would have to be isolated from the ground; third, it would need to be entirely insulated from external sources of noise.…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

The LHC Has Found a New Particle Unlike Any Other Form of Matter

Not content with perhaps the biggest scientific discovery of the decade, scientists at the Large Hadron Collide continue to search for new particles—and now they’ve found one that seems to be an entirely new form of matter. A series of experiments at the LHC have confirmed that a new particle called Z(4430)—catchy!— actually exists, and…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Amazing Tumblr Reminds Us That Particle Physics Is a Lonely Pursuit

CERN is home to some of the brightest minds in science and the origin of some of physics’ biggest findings—but this Tumblr serves as a reminder that particle physics is a very lonely pursuit indeed. Lonely Chairs at CERN is dedicated to bringing the internet the “best of lonely chairs in the largest laboratory of…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

What Are the Odds That You Might See a Meteoroid While Skydiving?

You’ve seen the footage of a rock falling past a skydiver. It looks like this particular object might be a rock accidentallypackedin his parachute. So we’ve done the statistical analysis to figure out what the real chances are that a skydiver would eventually see a meteoroid. The following is some hardcore estimating and order-of-magnitude geekery…

Physics & Chemistry Mika McKinnon

This Is What It Looks Like When Liquid Simultaneously Freezes and Boils

In thermodyanimcs, there’s a concept known as triple point: it’s a combination of temperature and pressure where a substance can exist as a solid, liquid and gas, all at the same time. This is what it looks like. It’s not often people outside a lab get to see what this looks like, because you need…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

The Science of the Slapshot: Stanley Cup Slo-Mo Physics

The slapshot is the fastest shot in hockey. One satisfying thwack and the puck goes flying at incredible speeds. Except it’s not really one thwack, it’s two, and our buddy Destin at Smarter Every Day has both the science know-how and the super high-speed slow-motion cameras to show you exactly how it works. Turns out…

Physics & Chemistry Brent Rose

You Can’t Steer a Bike in Zero Gravity, Even If The Road’s Magnetic

Gravity is the sworn enemy of any cyclist. Succumb to its force while you’re on two wheels, and you’ll end up bloody and bruised. But like any superhero’s nemesis, gravity justifies a bike’s very existence, because without it, you’d never be able to steer. Strap on a helmet, this is gonna get weird. You probably…

Physics & Chemistry Bob Sorokanich

This Map Shows All the Antineutrinos Spewed Out By Nuclear Plants

Antineutrinos are fascinating things, and they’re spat out in uncommon quantities by the nuclear power plants around the world. This map shows just how many are churned out each year. The map was put together by Barbara Ricci at the University of Ferrara in Italy. The arXiv blog explains how it was made: These guys…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Why Roller Coaster Loops Are Never Circular

Many extreme roller coaster these days have vertical loops. Have you noticed that these loops are never circular? Why is this? They all, also, seem to have the same similar ‘inverted teardrop’ appearance. Why is this? Clearly there is the same physics and mathematics involved in their designs. Let’s take a look and see if…

Physics & Chemistry Nick Berry - Data Genetics

MIT’s Living E. Coli Materials Could Provide Self-Aware Surfaces

Researchers at MIT have been busy creating a new type of biolfilms—sheets of living E. Coli cells combined with materials such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots—that could provide large, self-aware surfaces. The new materials are grown using E. Coli bacteria as a substrate. E. Coli naturally forms itself in thin sheets, known as biofilm,…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Disordered Hyperuniformity: A Weird New State of Matter in Chicken Eyes

Despite what you learned in school,there are way more than four states of matter. One possible new one, disordered hyperuniformity, was recently found in the weirdest place – the eyes of chickens. Classical States of Matter To better understand an exotic state of matter like disordered hyperuniformity, it may be helpful to review the characteristics…

Physics & Chemistry Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com

Translating Physicist to Human

Watching Andrei Linde and Renata Kallosh hear that BICEP-2 found gravitational waves is heartwarming. But with a bit of translating of everything left unsaid, it becomes even more gut-wrenchingly awesome. Allow me to translate for you to see this through a physicist’s eyes. https://gizmodo.com/have-physicists-detected-gravitational-waves-yes-1545591865 The first thing Dr. Chao-Lin Kuo says when the doctors open…

Physics & Chemistry Mika McKinnon

Star Trek Actually Got Tractor Beams Right

We’ve made another step forward in building real-life tractor beams. Turns out that the trick is in the angle of the beam, and Star Trek did a pretty good job of representing what a real tractor beam could look like. When a regular beam of light or sound hits an object head-on, the beam pushes…

Physics & Chemistry Mika McKinnon

What Is Reality, Anwyway?

Forgive us while we get a little philosophical on a Friday morning but: what the hell is reality anyway? One way of thinking about it is as everything that would be here if we weren’t around—but that’s not particularly satisfying as, to the best of our knowledge, we do exist. Or hope we do. So,…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Listening to the Secret Sounds of the Large Hadron Collider

From the Golden Gate Bridge to an ancient Japanese bell, the physical structures around us are humming with secret sound. Artist Bill Fontana has made a career of capturing these haunting and complex soundscapes. As an artist at residence at CERN, he’s mostly recently been listening in on the world’s largest particle collider. Last week,…

Physics & Chemistry Sarah Zhang

This Crazy Contraption Weighed a Single Electron 13x More Accurately

Last week, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics published the most exact value ever observed for the weight of a single electron—a value 13 times more accurate than the previous estimate. And the Penning trap, the kooky looking device shown above, was crucial in obtaining this measurement. To get this super-accurate weight…

Physics & Chemistry Bob Sorokanich

This New “Pure” Laser Makes Fiber Optic Networks 20x Better

Whether you’re a huge geek or a total luddite, you’ve got to be excited when scientists invent a new kind of laser, especially one that stands to replace the one we’ve been using for fiber optic communications for the last 40 years. A team of CalTech researchers did just that. Be excited. This new laser…

Physics & Chemistry Adam Clark Estes

The Higgs Boson Particle Explained in 120 Seconds, By Peter Higgs

The discovery of the Higgs Boson is perhaps science’s biggest recent success—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to understand. Who better to explain just what it is, though, than Peter Higgs himself? https://gizmodo.com/five-things-you-must-know-about-the-nobel-prize-winner-1442401152 In this video, Higgs describes the particle and what it does in under 120 seconds. But without doubt the best bit is…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Think You Know Basic Physics? This Balloon Will Prove You Wrong

The Science Behind Making the Fastest Possible Pinewood Derby Car

Can You Create a Perfectly Silent Space?

The LHC Has Found a New Particle Unlike Any Other Form of Matter

Amazing Tumblr Reminds Us That Particle Physics Is a Lonely Pursuit

What Are the Odds That You Might See a Meteoroid While Skydiving?

This Is What It Looks Like When Liquid Simultaneously Freezes and Boils

The Science of the Slapshot: Stanley Cup Slo-Mo Physics

You Can’t Steer a Bike in Zero Gravity, Even If The Road’s Magnetic

This Map Shows All the Antineutrinos Spewed Out By Nuclear Plants

Why Roller Coaster Loops Are Never Circular

MIT’s Living E. Coli Materials Could Provide Self-Aware Surfaces

Disordered Hyperuniformity: A Weird New State of Matter in Chicken Eyes

Translating Physicist to Human

Star Trek Actually Got Tractor Beams Right

What Is Reality, Anwyway?

Listening to the Secret Sounds of the Large Hadron Collider

This Crazy Contraption Weighed a Single Electron 13x More Accurately

This New “Pure” Laser Makes Fiber Optic Networks 20x Better

The Higgs Boson Particle Explained in 120 Seconds, By Peter Higgs

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