keyboard_arrow_up

Why is ketchup so hard to pour?

Adults Physics
Ever go to pour ketchup on your fries...and nothing comes out? Or the opposite happens, and your plate is suddenly swimming in a sea of red? George Zaidan describes the physics behind this frustrating phenomenon, explaining how ketchup and other non-Newtonian fluids can suddenly transition from solid to liquid and back again.

What's In A Candle Flame?

Adults Physics
Is a flame really a plasma? Well it depends on your definition of plasma, but there are certainly ions in a flame, formed as molecules collide with each other at high speed, sometimes knocking electrons off of their atoms.

Questions no one knows the answers to

Adults Physics
In the first of a new TED-Ed series designed to catalyze curiosity, TED Curator Chris Anderson shares his boyhood obsession with quirky questions that seem to have no answers.

Anti-Gravity Wheel?

Adults Physics
In this video I attempt to lift a 19kg (42 lbs) wheel over my head one-handed while it's spinning at a few thousand RPM. This replicates an earlier experiment by Professor Eric Laithwaite. He claimed the wheel was 'light as a feather' and could not be explained by Newton's Laws. I wanted to find out for myself what I really felt like.

When Water Flows Uphill

Adults Physics
In the Leidenfrost Effect, a water droplet will float on a layer of its own vapor if heated to certain temperature. This common cooking phenomenon takes center stage in a series of playful experiments by physicists at the University of Bath, who discovered new and fun means to manipulate the movement of water.

Amazing Water & Sound Experiment

Adults Physics
The effect that you are seeing can't be seen with the naked eye. The effect only works through the camera. However, there is a version of the project you can do where the effect would be visible with the naked eye.

What is Sea Level?

Adults Physics
We always hear the geographical term but do we really know what sea level is?

Time Travel

Adults Physics
3 Simple Ways to Time Travel (& 3 Complicated Ones)

Golf ball hitting a steel plate at 150mph in 70,000 fps

Adults Physics
At high enough speeds, solids aren't actually that solid. The force of an impact can create waves in hard objects that are as big as the objects themselves... thus making a golf ball look like jelly.

Incredible Chemical Reaction!

Adults Physics
This is a classic chemical reaction. It's called the iodine clock reaction. There are several variations of how this chemical reaction can be performed using different chemicals than the ones I used in the video. You can order clock reaction kits from several science related websites. You can also use simple store bought chemicals like vitamin C, iodine, hydrogen peroxide and starch. A quick internet search will turn up multiple ways of performing the experiment.

World's Roundest Object

Adults Physics
The world's roundest object helps solve the longest running problem in measurement -- how to define the kilogram.

What is Color?

Adults Physics
Have you ever wondered what color is? In this first installment of a series on light, Colm Kelleher describes the physics behind colors-- why the colors we see are related to the period of motion and the frequency of waves.

How Liquipel Will Make Your Phone Waterproof

Adults Physics
We check in with the team at Liquipel, a company that impressed us last year with its water-resistent nano-coating for smartphones. Dunking an iPhone into a tub of water and watching it still work perfectly is still amazing and something our brains struggle to comprehend.

Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day

Adults Physics
Being able to calculate the failure front velocity of a Prince Rupert's drop is a pretty big deal. For years this was a scientific mystery. High speed camera technology is only recently fast enough to provide data like this. Thanks to Vision Research for letting me use the V1610 to try to unravel this mystery for the public in general.

Is it Better to Walk or Run in the Rain?

Adults Physics
How wet do you get running in the rain appose to walking in the rain.

Quantum Levitation

Adults Physics
Tel-Aviv University demos quantum superconductors locked in a magnetic field.

Streetfighting with Tesla Coils

Adults Physics
Watch as these talented performers use electricity to entertain the crowds at Belfast Festival