Friday, 7 June 2013

Avanti Polar Lipids - Super G Balance

Avanti Polar Lipids - Super G Balance

Great balance for measuring lipid stocks before doing a monolayer experiment.

Surface Tension Droplets at 2500fps - The Slow Mo Guys

Just water (with its amazing properties), a slow motion camera and two Englishmen.  See what happens...

Droplet Collisions at 5000fps - The Slow Mo Guys

I love the Slow Mo guys.  Showing that surface tension can be sexy!

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Quantum model helps solve mysteries of water

Quantum model helps solve mysteries of water

These guys from the University of Edinburgh and IBM's TJ Watson Research Center are made a new model to understand the properties of water.  Since there is no ultimate model but models that can reproduce certain aspects of water these scientists made a bottom up approach.

Their approach shows how a single charged particle called a 'quantum Drude oscillator' can mimic that way electrons of real water respond to their environment and fluctuate.

This simplification allows the network of hydrogen bonds and other properties like surface tension to be observed.

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Study led by George Washington University Professor May Help Understand Freezing Bulk Water

Study led by George Washington University professor provides better understanding of water's freezing behavior at nanoscale 

Bulk water verses the water at the surface.  Is there a difference?  And where is the boundary of this difference.  These guys show that ice nucleation at the nanoscale is smaller than that of the bulk water.  Water at the small scale can no longer be considered bulk water.

This has important research in climate.  Clouds largely contain a lot of water.  This research may answer the question of whether ice nucleation occurs within the cloud or right at the surface.  Engineering may be able to control this nucleation by tuning the surface tension if the nucleation occurs on the surface of the cloud (it reminds me of Storm controlling the weather in X-Men).

Saturday, 1 June 2013

Bill Nye Teaches About Surface Tension

I remember watching Bill Nye when I was younger and learning about science.  From this post from Mashable I learned that Rush Limbaugh said, '"Bill Nye is not a scientist. Bill Nye can explain to kids things like surface tension, why you can fill a glass above the rim and it won't fall over if it's just the right amount. He explains things like that, surface tension. He's not a scientist. He knows it, and everybody else knows it. Doesn't matter."  Well teaching kids anything about science and having passion about it is far better than whatever bullshit Rush Limbaugh spews out of his  mouth. 

Personally, I would love to see Bill Nye work with Tesla or Elon Musk on the Hyperloop.  Bill Nye has a degree in hydraulic engineering and works with cool space stuff.  Well that is what I would say during an interview to build something called a Hyperloop.  

‘Lotus effect’ paper repels oil and water

‘Lotus effect’ paper repels oil and water
Lotus leaf effect from paper can help make sustainable materials....