Applied Physics

Urine Science: What Peeing Elephants Teach About Fluid Dynamics

Anyone who has watched water exit a toilet bowl has learned something about fluid dynamics. But you can learn a thing or two by watching the pee that goes into it also. Boring physicists apply the equations of fluid motion to boring thing like a flag in t ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 7 2013 - 6:20pm

Exoskeleton For The Elderly

Patients may soon be able to get a bionic pick-me-up without undergoing the pain and lengthy recovery of surgery- an exoskeleton to support people who, through age or injury, are limited in their movement. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 12 2013 - 1:32pm

39 Minutes: Quantum Superposition World Record Smashed

A normally fragile quantum state has been shown to survive at room temperature for a world record 39 minutes, overcoming a key barrier towards building ultrafast quantum computers. In conventional computers data is stored as a string of 1s and 0s. In the ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2013 - 8:00am

Weekend Science: How Does A Teakettle Whistle Work?

Whistling kettles have been around for over a hundred years but science behind the mechanism of this siren sound, portent of delicious tea and cocoa (and heretical instant coffee) has never been fully described scientifically. Ask an engineer or a physici ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 15 2013 - 1:07pm

Weekend Science: The Physics Of Beer Tapping

If you have ever wondered about why you can tap a newly opened beer bottle and its suds will foam out and go all over the place, researchers from Carlos III University and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut Jean le Rond d'Alembert have provid ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 5:43pm

Silent Owl Technology: Here's The Secret Of Those Noiseless Wings

Many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings, allowing them to hunt and capture their prey in silence.  And owls are vicious. Imagine the Go Pro footage you would get if you stuck one ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 29 2013 - 9:00am

Science Play And Research Kit: Lego Robotic Claw

In a previous article I demonstrated how to build a conductivity tester out of Snap Circuits for your Science Play and Research kit. You can use the same circuit with a small modification to build a simple magnetic stirrer. You can also further modify the ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Dec 18 2013 - 9:22am

In Case Man Ever Goes Into Space Again: Glide Arc Discharges, Thermal Buoyancy And Hypergravity

Arc discharges are common in welding and lightning storms but what about about in altered gravity conditions? How often does that really come up? Not often, unless we ever send manned missions into space again, and it may be relevant in the design of ion ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 19 2013 - 12:39pm

Snap Circuits Has Several Themed Kits to Teach Electronics

As I mentioned in my review of the Chem C3000, it’s sad that science kits usually can’t compete with more mainstream stuff like Guitar Hero. They also tend to be pricey, but the upside is that online and brick-and-mortar stores will carry chemistry sets, m ...

Blog Post - Steve Schuler - Dec 24 2013 - 1:07pm

Energy Saving Physics: Resistance Makes Waves

Physics can give pointers for energy saving and an can provide materials scientists with tips for the development of high-temperature superconductors.  Nearly two percent of the electrical energy generated by power stations is lost in the grid. In Germany ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 26 2013 - 1:11pm