Applied Physics

Sculpting Tailor-made Fluid Flows With Microfluidic Channels

You have noticed the way water flows around boulders in a fast-moving river, creating areas of stillness and intense motion. It's possible to control the forces of fluid flow at the smallest levels by placing tiny pillars in microfluidic channels. By ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 12 2013 - 12:30pm

Hurricane Sandy: The Tiny 19th Century Seawall That Saved A New Jersey Community

By the time Sandy hit New Jersey and New York, it had been reduced to a tropical storm but its rare angle of approach still meant a lot of devastation. Environmentalists in New York are resistant to creating barriers against future storms, like subway doo ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 16 2013 - 11:16am

Science Toys: Snap Circuits

Snap Circuits is an educational toy that teaches electronics with solderless snap-together electronic components. Each component has the schematic symbol and a label printed on its plastic case that is color coded for easy identification. They snap togeth ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Jul 19 2013 - 8:54pm

How Radio Waves Are Evidence Of Climate Change

Researchers can argue about the accuracy of old thermometers and how to pick the datapoints of numerical models, but radio waves can help clear some things up. The ionosphere, one of the regions of the upper atmosphere ionized by solar radiation, is used ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2013 - 4:01pm

Snap Circuits Science: Hot Liquid Level Indicator For Vision Impaired

In my previous article, you learned how to build the “The 555 Test Circuit.” We are going to modify the test circuit to create a hot liquid level indicator for the vision impaired to help them fill cups with hot liquids such as tea or coffee. To fill a cup ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Aug 8 2013 - 3:36pm

Snap Circuits Science: Cable Tester

In my previous article, you learned how to build a hot liquid level indicator for the vision impaired to help them fill cups with hot liquids such as tea or coffee. The 555 test circuit was used to generate a tone when the liquid in the cup reached the des ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Aug 18 2013 - 11:37am

Snap Circuits Science: Lie Detector Or "Voodoo Psychology"

In my previous article, you learned how to use the 555 test circuit as a cable tester. It can also be used to test whether different materials conduct or don’t conduct electricity such as plastic, glass, cloth, wood, a coin from your pocket, a house key, a ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Aug 26 2013 - 9:46am

Redox Redux: Oxygen 'Sponge' Absorbs Or Sheds Oxygen Atoms, Even At Low Temperatures

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed a new oxygen “sponge” that can easily absorb or shed oxygen atoms at low temperatures.  Materials containing atoms that can switch back and forth between multiple oxidation states  are very rare in ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 3 2013 - 6:11pm

Iron Ions In The Sun: A Greenhouse Gas For X-Ray Radiation

Scientists at the synchrotron PETRA III have investigated X-ray absorption of highly charged iron ions.  Highly charged ions- that is, atoms which have been stripped of most of their electrons- play an important role in astrophysics. Within the large accum ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 6 2013 - 3:46pm

DIY Laser Interferometer (an Introduction To Interferometry)

This is a simple build of a Michelson Interferometer using the SpyNet Laser Tripwire. About a year ago, I accidentally came across this toy and noticed that it has a red laser and two adjustable mirrors. It also has a receiver that will sound an alarm when ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Sep 10 2013 - 12:49pm