If you’re leaving home for a few days and want to keep your houseplants happy, you may have tried using a watering globe – those glass bulbs with long stems Keep reading
Category: Phenomena
Hot Ice, Buoyancy Tricks, and More DIY Fun
Here’s a smorgasbord of DIY experiments from Dianna at Physics Girl. Some are fluidsy, some aren’t, but all of them give you a chance to stretch your science muscles at Keep reading
Centrifugal Instability
When it comes to geophysics, there are all kinds of phenomena that depend on rotation. In this short video, researchers demonstrate one such phenomena — the centrifugal instability — in Keep reading
Bright Volcanic Clouds
Every day human activity pumps aerosol particles into the atmosphere, potentially altering our weather patterns. But tracking the effects of those emissions is difficult with so many variables changing at Keep reading
How Canal Locks Work
For thousands of years, boats have been a critical component of trade, efficiently enabling transport of goods over large distances. But water’s self-leveling creates challenges when moving up and downstream Keep reading
Why Aren’t Trees Taller?
Trees are incredible organisms, with some species capable of growing more than 100 meters in height. But how do trees get so big and why don’t they grow even taller? Keep reading
Two Views of Ocean Eddies
Colorful, sediment-laden eddies swirl off the Italian coast in this satellite image. These small-scale eddies — less than 10 km in diameter — can be short-lived and are often difficult Keep reading
Digging Droplets
A droplet on a surface much hotter than its boiling point will skate on a layer of its own vapor, thanks to the Leidenfrost effect. But if that surface is, Keep reading
Ventilation and Respiratory Disease
In 1977, one passenger with the flu infected 38 people onboard a flight with malfunctioning ventilation. In this video, Dianna digs into the physics of respiratory disease transmission and just Keep reading
Sundews Weaponize Viscoelasticity
In nutrient-poor soils, carnivorous plants like the cape sundew supplement their diets by eating insects. To entice their prey, the cape sundew secretes droplets of sugary water. But unwary insects Keep reading