Whispering in a soap bubble
Soap bubbles are marvelously playful. A cascade of bubbles blown into the air can send children running in circles to pop them before they hit the ground. And if you know how to look, soap bubbles are just as playful on much smaller scales, sending scientists running in circles to understand their fascinating physics. Read on to learn more!
Electric Crystals and their Broken Symmetries
Students learn how some crystals produce electricity when squeezed! This lesson is part 4 of a 4-part student-driven, lecture-free series, in which students will do card sorts, build hands-on models, solve engineering design puzzles, and more!
Ketchup and oobleck and slime, oh my!
Why do so many fluids behave counterintuitively? Many substances in our lives – like oobleck, slime, or Silly Putty – don’t quite behave the way we expect a fluid to, despite some fluid-like properties. These substances fall into a special category: non-Newtonian fluids. Scientifically, this term is a bit of a catch-all for any substances that have a complicated relationship between their apparent viscosity and the force applied to them.