Expansion of Solids

What Really Happens With Evaporation?

This is another of those fun bits of science that many of us think we understand until we really start to look at it, or even better, try to explain it to someone else. Then we reach a point where it becomes obvious to ourselves, and to our audience, that we don't understand it as well as we thought we did.

To try this, you will need:

What is a Higgs boson, and why should I care?

The Higgs boson is one of the particles that have been predicted, but has only recently been detected. It was predicted by several physicists, including theoretical physicist Peter Higgs. That is where the first part of the name came from.

OK, so what is a boson? That huge number of elementary particles is divided into two major groups: fermions and bosons. Fermions are sometimes called matter particles because they are the particles that take up space. Two fermions cannot be in the same spot at the same time.

Radioactive

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This shot is from my Floating Bubbles video. The balloon is filled with helium. Where does helium come from?

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Why are bananas often the subject of conversation at nuclear power plants?

Tired Metal

This time we will explore metal fatigue. This is how metals react to bending and stress. To explore this, you will need:

Making a Cloud Chamber

Atoms are far to small to see, but there are ways that we can see evidence of them. One of the easiest ways to explore that at home or in the classroom is by building a cloud chamber.

A Bouncing Water Balloon

Have you ever played with water balloons? If so, you probably dropped one at some time, and got wet when it burst. What if it had bounced instead? Water balloons can be made to bounce very easily, if you know the science.

The Happy Scientist

atoms