Applied Physics

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

About once a week I use some specialized chemistry and physics to blow up cars for movies.  Here's a little video revealing how that works, that I shot while creating a scene for Rooster Teeth…

Miniaturization is in - but often the batteries that power them are as large or larger than the devices themselves, which defeats the purpose of building small. Nowm a team of researchers has shown…

To our forefathers, distinguishing the living from the dead centered on calidum innatum - vital heat. Aristotle showed that when the heart turns cold, compared to other organs, a person dies and…

If you want to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable, it makes sense to look at old kinds: Natural composites, such as bone. Bone is strong and tough…

If you've been to a whispering gallery, a quiet, circular space often underneath a dome or vault that captures and amplifies sounds as quiet as a whisper, you have witnessed parabolics in action. The…