In Roman Hill’s “As Above,” we see expansive celestial landscapes: nebulae, the corona of a star, and expanding interstellar dust clouds. Except, in reality, we are watching fluids undergoing a Keep reading
Tag: chemistry
The Birth of a Liquor
A water droplet immersed in a mixture of anise oil and ethanol displays some pretty complicated dynamics. Its behavior is driven, in part, by the variable miscibility of the three Keep reading
A Dance of Hydrogen Bubbles
Hydrogen bubbles rise off zinc submerged in hydrocholoric acid in this short film from the Beauty of Science team. In high-speed video, the rise of the bubbles is stately and Keep reading
The Physics of Al Dente
It’s a simple weeknight routine: toss a handful of spaghetti noodles in boiling water, wait a few minutes, and enjoy with the sauce of your choice. But there’s a surprising Keep reading
The Best of FYFD 2019
2019 was an even busier year than last year! I spent nearly two whole months traveling for business, gave 13 invited talks and workshops, and produced three FYFD videos. I Keep reading
Envisioning Chemical Patterns
One of the most beautiful chemical reactions is the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, and it’s the subject of the latest video from Beauty of Science. Known colloquially as the BZ reaction, it Keep reading
Getting Cold
Just as some chemical reactions produce heat, many chemical combinations absorb heat. In “Getting Cold,” the Beauty of Science team demonstrates this by showing endothermic processes in both visible and infrared light. Combinations that Keep reading
Ink Explosion
Sometimes beautiful flows come from simple combinations. Here the artists of Chemical Bouillon combine ink and hydrocarbons to create lovely explosions of color. Eschewing quick cuts between views, they allow Keep reading
The Beauty of Flames
The flickering yellow and orange flames most of us are used to thinking of are rather different from the flames researchers study. In this video, the Beauty of Science team Keep reading
Agnes Pockels: Surface Science Pioneer
Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years now. It’s about the life and work of Agnes Pockels, a woman born in the Keep reading