Category Archives: Physics

Casual Friday — water tension and the mysterious water suspension trick(s)

Posted on 19 April, 2013 by Sam Wise

Another fun and educational video from Steve Spangler — this time, some magic tricks you can perform with water… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — balancing nails

Posted on 5 April, 2013 by Sam Wise

Want a fun trick you can perform with a dozen nails and a block of wood? Steve Spangler shows how you can balance 11 nails on the head of one… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — Fiery looping rain on the Sun

Posted on 22 February, 2013 by Sam Wise

Courtesy of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, here’s a mesmerizing 4 minutes of video… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — how does an LCD monitor work?

Posted on 8 February, 2013 by Sam Wise

Unless you’re perusing this blog using some very old technology, you’re almost certainly reading these words on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor. Ever wonder what’s behind the glass (or for a laptop, plastic) outer face of the thing? Bill (“Engineer Guy”) Hammack explains all… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — photographic proof that the moon landings couldn’t have been faked

Posted on 1 February, 2013 by Sam Wise

This video has been getting lots of press in the past week — but in case you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to watch… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — How a quartz watch works

Posted on 11 January, 2013 by Sam Wise

To a certain degree, wrist watches have fallen out of fashion (if you always carry a cell phone, who needs a watch?). Still, they’re impressive little packages of technology… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — how smoke detectors work

Posted on 28 December, 2012 by Sam Wise

Let’s say at one of your holiday parties or dinners, somebody lost track of what’s going on in the oven and wound up setting off the smoke detector. Did you ever wonder how these loud little safety aides work? Bill (“Engineer Guy”) Hammack tells all… Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — Toothpick Table Tricks

Posted on 21 December, 2012 by Sam Wise

If you’re like a lot of folks, you’ve got some holiday dinners and parties on your calendar over the next week — be prepared for them! Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — how a laser works

Posted on 23 November, 2012 by Sam Wise

Lasers — they’re all around us these days. But have you ever wondered how and why they work? Continue reading →

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Casual Friday — how a charge-coupled device (CCD) in a digital camera works

Posted on 6 July, 2012 by Sam Wise

If you ever wondered how the CCD inside your digital camera actually captures an image, Bill (“Engineer Guy”) Hammack explains it all…

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