Physics

How to model a white hole in your kitchen sink

When light or matter is consumed by the overwhelming gravitational pull of a black hole, neither has any chance of escaping. In a white hole the opposite is true; light and matter can escape, but there’s no chance of them getting back in. What’s interesting is that you’ve actually simulated the latter scenario in your…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 1

Scientists Are Making Computer Chips of the Future Out of Carbon Nanotubes

Scientists have developed a way to manufacture a new breed of computer chips that use carbon nanotubes in the place of silicon. Nanotubes have plenty of superior electronic properties over silicon, but until now it’s been impossible to manufacture a chip with a high enough density of nanotubes to make an effective processing unit. Now,…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Oct 29

Do You Know the Rest of Einstein’s Most Famous Equation?

He’s synonymous with genius, but Albert Einstein is also best known for what is easily the world’s most famous equation, E=mc². But did you know that it’s actually a shortened version of a longer equation? E=mc² only describes objects that have mass but aren’t moving. The full equation, used for bodies in motion, is E²=(mc²)²+(pc)²…

Physics & Chemistry Andrew Liszewski Oct 29

The best fear-mongering press release ever written about the Large Hadron Collider

Do you ever wish for the book that truly had everything in it, from conspiracy theories and volcanoes to dramatic misunderstandings of scientific events and awesomely portentous predictions of MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DYING? Seriously, this is the best fear-mongering press release I have ever read about anything in the world of scienticians: Could Discovery Of…

io9 Annalee Newitz Oct 24

Physicists demonstrate an actual tractor beam in the lab

It seems like we’re getting closer to the Star Trek future by leaps and bounds these days. We recently learned that a NASA scientist has set his sights on building a warp drive, and now news has come in that a team of physicists have built their own tractor beam in the lab. Now, it’s…

io9 George Dvorsky Oct 24

The physics of vortex cannons

Here you see the good folks on QI shooting smoke rings across the room. Why does a donut-shaped cloud come out of a circular opening? Why are smokers able to blow smoke rings, even when they’re not Gandalf? It’s all about the physics of vortex cannons! You can make a vortex cannon without any great…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 23

You must see this video of water playing keepie-uppie with water

This is awesome and mesmerizing. When water drops on a surface, it generally collides and bounces before merging. When that surface is vibrating, it can bounce and bounce and bounce and bounce and bounce. When a water droplet hits a surface of water, it doesn’t just merge immediately. The two liquids are each held in…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 19

Make a drinkable rainbow in a glass

Want to get your Halloween sugar fix, but you don’t want to get bogged down in doom and gloom? Use your Skittles (or some food coloring and sugar) to make yourself a rainbow in a glass, and then drink it down. First, you need five glasses. Fill four with equal amounts of water (two to…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 19

Nothing to see here, just three ladies doing some hardcore particle physics

Bubble chamber images like the one pictured below, which capture the movement of subatomic particles, are some of the most striking in all of science — but who among us could actually make sense of these ramified loops, lines and curls? These women could. They’re some of the world’s first “particle hunters,” helping identify some…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 17

And now, kittens learning physics

Because the only thing better than cat videos is combination physics/cat videos. Quoth the folks at Funnycatsandnicefish: Ninja Kittens (aka “Crouching Tiger”) studied martial arts, learned how to run, climb, stalk, attack, and now began preparations for the flight to Mars! In between workouts kittens playing, studying in a ridiculous dance choir and learn to…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 17

The best duck experiment ever conducted by physicists

There is an old wives’ tale that a duck’s quack has no echo. This has been proven not to be true in what can only be described as the best duck experiment ever. But the rumor has a basis in truth. Believe it or not, inventors were excited by the idea that a duck’s quack…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 16

Ph.D. students explain their research using interpretive dance, results are awesome

Have you ever wished you could deliver your Ph.D. thesis in the form of dance? There’s a competition for that. For half a decade, scientists from all over the globe have been participating in Science’s annual Dance Your Ph.D. contest. This year’s winners were just announced, and they are every bit as excellent as we’ve…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 16

7 Scientific Facts That Will Ruin Movies for You

You probably already know that most science fiction movies feature terrible science, and especially awful physics. But some movies feature scientific mistakes so basic and so terrible, they give you what can only be described as a “logic coronary.” https://gizmodo.com/10-myths-about-space-travel-that-make-science-fiction-b-5936924 https://gizmodo.com/bad-movie-physics-a-report-card-5719893 Here are seven movies with scientific flaws so bad, whenever someone rents one of…

io9 Charlie Knauf - Ranker Oct 16

The birth of quantum theory (deliciously, it involves cookies)

This is the story of how quantum mechanics — that physical science of the very, very small — came to be. It’s a fascinating tale involving Max Planck, Albert Einstein, cookies and fussy light. But what makes this video-narrative all the more enjoyable is that it emerged out of a collaboration between Henry Reich (creator…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 16

Water on the Moon Came From… the Sun?

Water on the moon is nothing particularly revelatory. But a new study suggests that H20 on the surface of the Earth’s nearest neighbor comes from a most unlikely place: the Sun. The research, which is published in Nature Geoscience, suggests that hydrogen ejected from the Sun’s atmosphere is carried towards the moon in solar winds.…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe Oct 16

Whoa, Water Drops Floating on Top of Water Makes No Sense but It’s Awesome

In the comics, the Flash can vibrate his body so fast that he can walk through walls. With water, though, vibration can keep water droplets from being absorbed into a larger surface of water. Instead of coalescing into the larger body, they just gather on top as long as the surface is kept vibrating. It’s…

Physics & Chemistry Kyle Wagner Oct 15

How much does a shadow weigh?

Then again, a better question might be “how much less does an area covered in shadow weigh relative to surrounding areas covered in light?” As Vsauce’s Michael Stevens explains in the video up top, light has energy. This energy allows it to behave as though it has mass, and enables it to push any object…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 15

How Quantum Mechanics Was Born From the Need For a Better Lightbulb

Some of mankind’s most remarkable scientific discoveries came to light as a result of research that had nothing to do with the breakthrough itself. And such was the case with quantum mechanics. Back in the early 1890s the German Bureau of Standards asked Max Planck to design a lightbulb that produced the maximum amount of…

Physics & Chemistry Andrew Liszewski Oct 15

The mysterious icy figures who haunt the Andes

These mysterious ice figures form only at high altitudes, and only under very specific conditions. In the Andes, they’re called “penitentes,” and fields of them can stretch for miles. If you’re an astronomer (as no doubt many of you will be) and walking through the high terrain in the Andes (as hardly anyone can avoid),…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 12

How to reenact a famous particle physics experiment with nothing but party supplies

One of the first ways physicists ever “saw” charged particles was using a cloud chamber. It was a chamber full of gas so close to condensing into liquid that the movement of charged particles through it caused the liquid to condense and trace the trail of the particles. Pretty fancy, huh? You can make one…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 12

How to model a white hole in your kitchen sink

Scientists Are Making Computer Chips of the Future Out of Carbon Nanotubes

Do You Know the Rest of Einstein’s Most Famous Equation?

The best fear-mongering press release ever written about the Large Hadron Collider

Physicists demonstrate an actual tractor beam in the lab

The physics of vortex cannons

You must see this video of water playing keepie-uppie with water

Make a drinkable rainbow in a glass

Nothing to see here, just three ladies doing some hardcore particle physics

And now, kittens learning physics

The best duck experiment ever conducted by physicists

Ph.D. students explain their research using interpretive dance, results are awesome

7 Scientific Facts That Will Ruin Movies for You

The birth of quantum theory (deliciously, it involves cookies)

Water on the Moon Came From… the Sun?

Whoa, Water Drops Floating on Top of Water Makes No Sense but It’s Awesome

How much does a shadow weigh?

How Quantum Mechanics Was Born From the Need For a Better Lightbulb

The mysterious icy figures who haunt the Andes

How to reenact a famous particle physics experiment with nothing but party supplies

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