144 replies to this topic

[Dauth]

In this thread I will detail any particularly intersting sceintific phenomena I encounter, but in addition to this I will also answer any questions related to science that people pose, should it become popular I'll ask a mod to sticky the topic.

I'm well versed in Maths and Physics, with a reasonable knowledge of Chemistry but I can only really expand on biology using logic and physics.

And the first one, eth-oxy-ethane (or ether to those over about 35).

It is possible to pour this compound into a trough and light it, then it will climb the trough burning cleanly.



The flames cannot be put out using water as the ether will float on the water and continue burning.

Due to the volatility of ether if you leave a bottle unstopped and light a bunden at the other end of the room, the ether when it covects to the plasma of the flame will ignite and you will see the ether across the room catch fire back towards the bottle, which when ignited can explode.

Just to point out the dangers of this stuff, I know a bloke who set fire to my college chemistry lab floor when he dropped a boiling tube of burning ether.

This concluded my first post, questions and comments will be appreciated.

[Hobbesy]

Hmmmm nice.

[Teukka]

Nice to see one of these "personal-threads" on somewhere else than Artwork or Writings forums.

My knoweledge of anykind of advanced physiscs and chemistry are a bit limited, though I studied all of my school's biology courses when I was in gymnasium. Got pretty good grades out of them too.

Looking forward for more.

[Crazykenny]

So did you took that picture yourself?

[Warbz]

whats that thing called when u put holes into i tube light, then pump gas through it, and then play music through it aswell to make the flames display the sound waves. some reason im thinking of "ubers tube" but i know its not called that.

[Ellipsis]

Nice. Can you help me with my science project?

[Warbz]

Ah!! Ruben's Tube. That's it!!

http://uk.youtube.co...h?v=HpovwbPGEoo

Gotta watch this, It's cool.

EDIT: What the hell is with all the html?
Is that allowed on the foums now?

Edited by Warbz, 30 October 2007 - 11:13.

[Dauth]

I didn't do it myself, being sane i dont set fire to flammable volatile liquids in my student accommodation.

The Ruben's tube is nice, as the guy says it sound sets up standing waves along the gas hose which varies the amount of gas allowed out and thus the flame height. A standing wave is on where its wavelength is integer divisible by twice times the length of the barriers, in this case the end of the tube. So for a 3 metre tube you could use sound of wavelengths of 6, 3, 1.5, 0.75 m etc.

And Yes Redeemer depending on the project I wouldn't mind helping.

[Ellipsis]

Ok. Well I gotta come up with something for the High School Science Fair. I like physics and computer science but I need a winner project cause then I don't need to do the other projects. So any ideas?

[Dauth]

A nice simple one is a demostration that horizontal and vertical motion are independent, (well for human purposes).

Get a toy car with a constant, and reasonalby slow speed 1 m/s, then attach a spring that can fire a ball vertically upwards. if you do this right you can get a parabolic path which lands back in the hopper.

Or can do standing waves as was mentioned in the ether trough, but I fear this requires too much outside material, you'll need an oscillator and a strobe light, both of which need to be tunable.

[Ellipsis]

I don't know. Maybe something else?

[Areze]

Redeemer, on 1 Nov 2007, 16:56, said:

I don't know. Maybe something else?

Volcano.

Nah, how about this?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=_ux8nSWmAz0

[Dauth]

Ok, well for reminding me of something I learnt two years ago, we have 2 choices for my next topic, do we want related to microwaves or related to fireworks? And essentially the next three posts decide it, any further is plain spamming and I will cover the loser very soon.

[Ellipsis]

Man I need a good idea soon... it's due this Friday! I just can't think of any good experiment.

~Redeemer

[Sgt. Nuker]

IIRC, I think we discussed this and the outcome was........fireworks (yes, that was it ).

So, I'm in favor of an experiment involving fireworks as the next discussion.


Regards,

Nuker

[Dauth]

Ok, since I can't be bothered to wait for any more replies, my next topic will be related to fireworks

Firstly some cool science, Vandaium has four different oxidation states, starting with the yellow in the small beaker

The zinc in the beaker reduces the vanadium into a series of oxidation states, with the purple as the final state.



Now when I was in college (aged 18, circa 1870) I did an experiment and managed to have all 4 in one boiling tube, however I neglect to have a photo.

In chemistry you can identify compounds by heating them in a dry form, this excites an electron into a new state, when this state decays, the electron emits a photon (or a series of). The light is particular to each state and thus can be used to identify unknown compunds.

Sodium burns with a persistent Yellow flame
Potassium is often contaminated by sodium (they are hard to separate) so looking through some blue cobalt glass can help people distinguish the pale violet of potassium.
Copper provides a green/blue flame and Barium is green.

Each of these and many more are used in fireworks, to give spectacular results and for the viewing public, a rather pleasing display from the United States




@ Redeemer, you could do an experiment showing the content of sodium and potassium in common table salt and then a low sodium brand such as 'lo salt'.

All you need is a clean copper wire, (preferably cleaned using HCl) then dip that in the compoud, and place in a hot bunsen burner flame, the sodium rich salt with burn bright orange, (you can clean your original wire but i recommend a separate on for the potassium rich salt) and show people the lilac through some blue glass, it's also possible to see the lilac at the edge of the blue plasma in a hot bunsen flame, this was my best trick at college, I didn't need the glass.

Make sure the wire you are holding is in some insulating material such as wood, since I don't want you to burn yourself.

Edit: My next topic will relate to microwaves

Edited by Dauth, 07 November 2007 - 14:01.

[Ellipsis]

Cool. Hmmm...but I need some results like testing a different variable. Could this be included in it?

~Redeemer

[Sgt. Nuker]

If you're scrambling for something to show, how about cornstarch and water or hitting silly putty with a hammer. Both experiments yield a result that is not expected. Perhaps you (Dauth) could go into detail as why these things happen.


Regards,

Nuker

[Ellipsis]

Hmm... it sounds a little bit 6th gradish to me. I am in 10th grade. But maybe I can take a shot at it.

~R

[Dauth]

Non newtonian liquids and solids, bring on the quantum mechanics, under pressure the cornstartch and water mix (not sure about silly putty, never owned any) instead of moving away turn into a solid, if only for a short time (by our measure).

On can indeed walk on water if you prime it with enough cornstartch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLWl80CaMjU...feature=related

Sorry for the long interlude, very soon I will describe how to find the speed on light using chocolate and a microwave.

[Talus]

Hey, Redeemer. If your really short of ideas and need something simple but impressiveish i can tell you how to messure the size of an atom of oil useing oil, talcum powder and water.

Simple, but good if you can't think of anything else.

Or ... if you can get any liquid Nitrogen and some YBCO then i can tell you how to levitate stuff

And if you have a desire to kill yourself i can tel you how to make a cathode ray (electron beam) out of a disposable camera.

If you like any of these ideas then i'll explain them more.

Edited by Talus, 20 November 2007 - 23:05.

[Dauth]

Liquid Nitrogen and levitation is a result of super cooling and magnetisation.

A cool trick but very dangerous and one I DO NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYONE! is the liquid nitrogen dragon, take a mouthfull of the stuff but do not swallow, the heat from your mouth vapourises enough to leave a protective barrier between your flesh and the liquid nitrogen, all you have to do after that is exhale.

Speed of light using chocolate and a microwave. Microwaves work by ocsillating water molecules in the object they are cooking, as the water molecules move they heat the material around them, cooking the object (This is similar to the reason that people feel Carbon Dioxide heats the world, but tbh I can't be bothered to explain it all).

One can easily find the frequency of the microwave radiation used (probably a distribution, but you can use the mean).

Get your chocolate and melt it (however you wish to) then spread it as evenly as possible on a microwave suitable tray. Remove your turntable from the microwave so that it remains stationary for the experiment.

Place your plate fo now solid chocolate in the microwave and put on high power for about 30 seconds (or until you see places bubble), quickly remove the plate and measure the wavelength of the bubbles, hopefully it will look something like my terrible ascii art below.

__/\___/\___/\___/\___/\___/\___/\___/\__

Take the number of peaks, in a given range, (the longer the better), perform this calculation (preferably in metres)
length / (peak*2) and this will give the wavelength.

Multiply the wavelength by the frequency from the micorwave and Bob is indeed you uncle you have the speed of light using chocolate and a microwave.

Edit : Frequency fo microwaves is about 2.5GHz so the spots should be about 6cm apart if you do the experiment, that gives a wavelength of 12cm or 0.12m.

Edited by Dauth, 26 November 2007 - 10:54.

[Sgt. Nuker]

I found the Liquid nitrogen bit almost as interesting as the chocolate bit. You never cease to amaze me with these tidbits of fascinating physics .


Regards,

Nuker

[Dauth]

The heat put out by the human body is immense, the field around you will vaporised the nitrogen at such a rate that you can pour it down the back of your hand, and I still have my hand to prove it. I'm unsure what to tackle next, mabye an explanation of neutron stars, or a question put by someone here, since the questions are the primary function of this little corner, ask me anything.

[Athena]

I love the effect when people pour liquid nitrogen on the floor or stuff like that.

Nice post Dauth, both cases are quite interesting .