Growing up, my summer nights often featured a chorus of crickets and bull frogs. Even now, the sound of those chirps reminds me of home. So how do crickets make Keep reading
Tag: thermodynamics
Boiling Water Using Ice Water
Steve Mould demonstrates a neat thermodynamic trick in this video by using ice water to boil hot water. The key to understanding this is recognizing that the boiling point of Keep reading
Freezing Bubbles
Scientists have observed distinctive differences in the way soap bubbles freeze depending on their environment. If a bubble is surrounded by room temperature air but placed on a cold surface (top), it Keep reading
Supercooling Thermodynamics
In the latest Gastrofiscia episode, Tippe Top Physics takes on thermodynamics and the complicated truth behind certain phase changes. Although we’re accustomed to thinking of water freezing at 0 degrees Celsius and Keep reading
Polygonal Droplets
Spheres are a special shape; they provide the smallest possible surface area necessary to contain a given volume. And since surface tension tries to minimize surface energy by reducing the Keep reading
Pluto’s Subsurface Ocean
Since the New Horizons probe visited Pluto in 2015, scientists have suspected that Sputnik Planitia (a.k.a. Pluto’s Heart), shown above, may hide a subsurface ocean. But it’s tough to explain Keep reading
Phase-Switching to Avoid Icing
Preventing ice and frost from forming on surfaces – especially airplane wings – is a major engineering concern. The chemical de-icing cocktails currently used in aviation are a short-lived solution, Keep reading
Reducing Viscosity With Bacteria
Conventional wisdom – and the Second Law of Thermodynamics – require all fluids to have viscosity, with the noted and bizarre exception of superfluids, which can flow with zero viscosity. In Keep reading
The Drinking Bird
At first glance, the drinking bird is a simple desk toy, but the physics and engineering behind the device is clever enough to have challenged many great minds. In this Keep reading
Resisting Coalescence
When a droplet falls on a pool, we expect it to coalesce. There are exceptions, like bouncing droplets, but in general a droplet only sticks around for a split second Keep reading