POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/26/2009
Two Glow Sticks, one was broken normally and the other was cut open and the liquids mixed in a small bottle.
Glow sticks have become an extremely common trick or treating accessory. They are perfect for increasing the visibility of kids because they are safe, easy to use, and have an awesome spooky glow to them.
Most everyone has used a glow stick at some point or another, but have you ever wondered how they work? The answer lies in a simple chemical reaction.
The basic structure of a glow stick consists of a flexible plastic tube that contains a clear slightly oily substance (i’m not entirely sure what it is, but i’ve heard reports of it being some sort of ethyl group) and a glass ampule with hydrogen peroxide and a fluorescent dye. When you bend the stick, the glass breaks and the two chemicals are allowed to mix. This starts a chemical reaction that causes the stick to glow, an effect called Chemoluminescence.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/23/2009
I was browsing Dark Roasted Blend and came across an article about an interesting toy called a Gomboc. The Gomboc has only one point of stable equilibrium and one point of unstable equilibrium, resulting in the Gomboc rolling around when placed on a flat surface.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/22/2009
In 1628 the Swedish navy sent their newest warship out on her maiden voyage. Upon leaving the harbor, the ship promptly heeled over and and sank to the ocean floor taking 30 to 50 of her sailors with her.
The reason for the sinking of the Vasa was her extremely unstable design. She was built too narrow with too little ballast and too much weight on the top. The instability of the design was quite obvious during stability tests of the new ship, but no one was willing to point it out to the king, thus allowing the ship to sail when it was obvious that she shouldn’t.
After a few attempts at raising her, the location of the Vasa was lost and she was not rediscovered until 1956. Finally, in 1961, the Vasa was raised and placed in the Vasa Museum in Sweden where she can be visited by the general public.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/05/2009
Thomas Edison may have invented the first commercially practical light bulb and popularized the usage of electricity, but Nikola Tesla made our modern electrical infrastructure possible.
In the late 1800’s Thomas Edison founded the Edison Illumination Company, which provided electricity to a small number of customers in Manhattan. The electricity was transmitted as 110 volts of DC current and thus could only be transmitted about two miles. Tesla introduced a new system, called alternating current, which allowed the power to be transmitted over longer distances by stepping up the voltage of the electricity with transformers. Without this new system, it would not have been economical to run national power grids because there would have to be a generating station every few miles.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/03/2009
Infrared light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that has a longer wavelength than visible light. Despite the fact that it’s invisible, it is actually all around us all the time. The interesting thing, is that a digital camera with a CCD in it (most digital cameras use them) can see infrared. In fact they are so good at seeing it, that digital cameras actually incorporate an infrared filter to prevent interference.
Tv remote controls use infrared light to send signals to the tv. While they are invisible to the naked eye, a digital camera (even one with the IR filter still in place) can see them. See the video demonstration here.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 08/13/2009
This week will be the last Science Friday workshop that Lorenzo and I do before taking a break to deal with the back to school rush. As such we want to go out with a bang and some of our experiments will actually do so.
One of the experiments that we are going to do deals with sodium acetate, an industrial byproduct commonly used in reusable hand warmers. It would be easy enough to go get some hand warmers and cut them open, but I decided to try making some myself first, if only to say that I had. I cooked the ingredients over a camp stove in an old coffee can as I couldn’t positively say that the experiment wouldn’t mess up my mom’s pots. The picture above shows the solution as I as boiling it down.
So far my attempts have failed, though this might have had to do with the fact that I miss measured the baking soda. I will try again tomorrow.
Related Links:
About.com – How to make Hot Ice
The Thematic Attic
Update:
It took me three tries, but I got a batch that seems to work. Unfortunately, it crystallized while cooling, so I had to melt it down again. Hopefully, it will still be good when it cools.
Update Again:
I remelted the sodium acetate that I had and it didn’t work after that. So Science friday went on without it. We did some stuff with baking soda and vineagar as well as Alka-Seltzer rockets. It was still a success.
