Monthly Archives: July 2012
Bend it Like … Snell
In short, refraction is the bending of a ray of light when it passes from one medium to another. Unlike optical phenomena like diffraction and interference, which usually require careful experimental preparation to be observable, refraction is readily seen all around us. If you’ve ever seen a seemingly bent straw in a glass of water, you’ve seen the effect of refraction.
I Didn't Know They Could Do That!
A colleague came into my office yesterday to show me a naughty picture on her phone: food porn. Specifically, it was a chocolate in the shape of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. The image was vaguely familiar — I had linked to Star Wars ice trays recently, but the thought of using them as chocolate molds had not occurred to me. Presumably this is how the Darth Chocolate and Almond Stormtroopers goodies were made.
The Han Solo (and other) molds are also available at Amazon and Think Geek, where they actually note that it can be used for chocolate.
7 Han Solos (6 small and 1 large)
Still only worth one bounty
h/t to SB
16 or 17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
This one probably won’t make my life easier, but YMMV.
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…
Humming in the Rain
Hummingbirds don’t mind the rain
Hummingbirds manage to maintain complete control over their aerial position, even when their tiny bodies are being hammered by raindrops.
Great Scott!
Scott’s Hut and the Explorers’ Heritage of Antarctica
Frozen in time since 1912, Scott’s Hut is a tangible reminder of the intrepid explorers of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
(Ha. Frozen in time. I get it, that’s funny.)
Math vs Physics
OK, it’s really Mathematicians vs Physicists.
Bonus: it fights the stereotypes that women can’t do math, and that mathematicians and scientists want to rule the world (when we just want to torture each other)
Bottle That Stuff
Lightning captured at 7,207 images per second
A downward lightning negative ground flash captured at 7,207 images per second. A negative stepped leader emerges from the cloud and connects with the ground forming a return stroke.
Crystal Clear … Almost
Technique gets clear images from light reflected off blank paper
When light passes through a turbid medium, the photons scatter off the inhomogeneities. If the source is incoherent, like an ordinary incandescent or fluorescent bulb, this results in a blurry image—if any image can be formed at all. If the light is coherent, such as a laser, scattering results is a speckled pattern. In either case, a clear view of the original object may not be possible. This spells doom for medical imaging, astronomy, and other applications. (The authors also suggested it gets in the way of peering through shower curtains. We at Ars condone such voyeuristic pursuits for consenting scientific partners only).
Do Not Bite the Tweezer That Feeds You
I couldn’t tell if this was cute or horrifying.