Second Best Thing

What’s almost as fun as shooting things (or blowing stuff up)? Watching someone else do it in slow motion. 1 million frames per second, for 10 frikkin’ minutes

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Bullets liquifying is pretty neat. Bullets getting dented with shrapnel from other impacts is pretty neat, too (can’t recall the CSI franchise using this one — yet — to prove that a particular bullet wasn’t the first one to be fired). Watching cracks in glass propagate is cool, too — it happens much faster than the bullet motion, but then, the speed of sound is the proper metric for motion in these cases (bullet speeds are of that order, and crack propagation is limited by that value), and the speed of sound is much higher is solids than in air. A million frames per second also means you can watch the bullet rotation as it passes through the field of view.

I Am Technologically Useful

Technology Quiz

If you were to travel 2000 years into the past, how useful would you be in jumpstarting technological advancements? This 10 question quiz will help you figure out your technological usefulness. If you do poorly on the quiz, as most people likely will, then just let that inspire you to study up more on how things work and where raw materials come from.

I got 8/10. I don’t know engines and I didn’t know how to vulcanize rubber.

Kelvin 254

Superconductor World Record Surpasses 250K

Superconductors.ORG herein reports the observation of record high superconductivity near 254 Kelvin (-19C, -2F). This temperature critical (Tc) is believed accurate +/- 2 degrees, making this the first material to enter a superconductive state at temperatures commonly found in household freezers.

As a point of reference, dry ice sublimates at about 195 K

Update: Probably a case of “nothing to see here, move along.” I missed some lack-of-credibility signs.