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Awesome Experiments

Can You Blow Your Own Sail? and Other Physics Questions

Can You Blow Your Own Sail? and Other Physics Questions

If you put a powerful fan on a boat and blew it at its sail, would the boat move? Engineer Mark Rober channels Mr. Wizard with a series of experiments and easy-to-understand explanations of this and six other perplexing physics questions. He also debunks a viral video along the way.

Patterns in Heated Fluids

Patterns in Heated Fluids

When you heat fluids, they typically produce patterns. Science expert Steve Mould built a special rig that lets us see how these turbulent patterns emerge when applying heat. He tested with a few different liquids and particles to visualize these fascinating flows. Things get really interesting when mixing oil with mica.

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Lighting Matches with a Bullet in Slow Motion

Lighting Matches with a Bullet in Slow Motion

Over a decade ago, Destin from Smarter Every Day and his pal John Henry tested the idea that you could light a match with a bullet. Now that he’s got a much better high-speed camera, he and John wanted to revisit the experiment. Once they dialed in the aim, they captured some incredible slow-motion macro footage at speeds up to 380,117 FPS.

Red Hot Copper Ball vs. Popcorn

Red Hot Copper Ball vs. Popcorn

We’ve seen what happens when introducing a red-hot metal sphere to a jawbreaker. So what do you think will happen if you place a molten copper ball into a glass filled with popcorn kernels? Snap Object has the answer. After a slow start, things really get going once a little oil is added to the mix. We’re impressed that the glass didn’t crack.

Filling Tires with Liquid Nitrogen

Filling Tires with Liquid Nitrogen

Filling tires with nitrogen instead of air can reduce air loss and boost fuel economy. But filling them with LIQUID nitrogen is an absolutely terrible idea since the stuff comes out of the jug at -320 °F (− 196 °C). That didn’t stop Superkot from trying it out on his Miata. It’s only a matter of minutes before the cryogenic fluid causes the tires to fail spectacularly.

LEGO Technic Vehicle Suspension Designs

LEGO Technic Vehicle Suspension Designs

We’ve seen a machine designed to test the suspension on LEGO cars. Here’s a series of nine LEGO Technic vehicles, each rolling on a unique suspension setup. Dr. Engine built and tested each of the rides to see which design had the best shock absorption, load handling, and rock crawling abilities.

Weird Airplane Experiments

Weird Airplane Experiments

Peter Sripol is no stranger to making unusual aircraft. In this video, he builds and tests out three weird designs for airworthiness, including a plane with a fuselage made from springs, a propeller that works like a tank tread, and a ridiculous set of wings that resemble Venetian blinds.

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Spinning a Skateboard Wheel at 100,000 RPM

Spinning a Skateboard Wheel at 100,000 RPM

At a speed of 30 MPH, a skateboard wheel spins at about 5000 RPM. The guys at the Waterjet Channel wanted to see how quickly they could get a wheel to spin under the pressure of their 60,000 PSI waterjet. After realizing that ordinary plastic wheels wouldn’t hold up, they milled their own out of aluminum.

Measuring the Horsepower of a Horse

Measuring the Horsepower of a Horse

Contrary to popular belief, one horse is said to produce about 15 horsepower. But that number is disputed because there’s some question about the accuracy of the original measurements. With the help of Motivo, the guys from Donut came up with a new test: connecting a horse to a dynamometer to measure its true pulling power.

Which Is More Destructive: Acid or Lava?

Which Is More Destructive: Acid or Lava?

We would say, “Don’t try this at home,” but most of us don’t have a cauldron of molten lava or a vat of acid lying around. Mark Rober’s video includes a series of experiments in which he and his pals tested the destructive abilities of lava, acid, and some wildcards. The video culminates in a challenge to see which could kill a car engine quicker.

Weed Eater Slow-Mo Battle

Weed Eater Slow-Mo Battle

Destin from Smarter Every Day and his pals got together for an unusual competition. The goal? Evaluate the power and durability of eight kinds of weed eater lines as they whack into each other at full speed. The battle took place in front of a high-speed camera to see exactly what happened in slow-motion.

Can an Explosion Change the Path of a Bullet?

Can an Explosion Change the Path of a Bullet?

If you set off an explosion next to a bullet, would the shockwaves affect its path? That’s the question that The Slow Mo Guys and the Colorado School of Mines sought to answer in this fascinating experiment. It took several tries to get the timing right between the explosion and the passing bullet, but it gave them an excuse for more explosions.

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The Human Egg Drop Challenge

The Human Egg Drop Challenge

After seeing those egg drop challenge videos, engineer James Bruton was inspired to try the same idea, but with a human instead of an egg. He teamed up with the folks from Kids Invent Stuff to build competing structures that can protect their precious cargo when dropped from a crane. Fortunately, James already built a crash test dummy.

How Additive Colors Work

How Additive Colors Work

How colors work can be quite fascinating – especially when it comes to light and shadow. Instagrammer art.pete.repeat offers a simple yet effective demonstration of how additive colors behave by aiming red, green, and blue flashlights at card stock. Pete posted another video explaining the setup. (Thanks, Rob!)

Hydraulic Press vs. LEGO Bricks

Hydraulic Press vs. LEGO Bricks

Since they’re made from plastic, LEGO bricks probably don’t stand a chance against a 150-ton hydraulic press, right? They’re stronger than you might think. Lauri from the Hydraulic Press Channel shows exactly how much force the ABS plastic building blocks can endure when assembled. Distributing the pressure across a larger surface area certainly helps.

Magnetic Accelerators

Magnetic Accelerators

The opposing forces of magnets can produce a tremendous amount of energy, and can even be used to levitate and move trains along a track. In this clip from Magnetic Games, he demonstrates these physics at work, though on a smaller scale using a bunch off-the-shelf neodymium magnets he got from Supermagnete.

More Fun with the Infinite LEGO Domino Circle

More Fun with the Infinite LEGO Domino Circle

A little while back, JK Brickworks built a circular LEGO machine that knocks over dominoes and stands them back up. In this video, he experiments with the concept a bit more based on reader comments. In addition to changing their face colors, he tweaks the machine’s speed, adds a second carriage, and swaps in a colorful rainbow of dominoes.

Squirrel-powered Phone Charger

Squirrel-powered Phone Charger

Quiet Nerd wanted to know if a squirrel running in a wheel could generate enough electricity to charge a phone. He built his squirrel-sized wheel using a baking pan and a stepper motor to recharge a battery pack. Once he placed it in the woods, all kinds of animals checked it out, but did they generate enough energy? We bet a hamster would be more effective.

Ink-Powered Leaf Boats

Ink-Powered Leaf Boats

Did you know that putting ink from a ballpoint pen on the tail of a leaf turns it into a tiny, self-propelled boat? Science educator Steve Mould digs into this phenomenon and explores the chemistry and physics at work to make these leaf boats move and leave a trail of ink on the surface.

The World’s Hottest Candle

The World’s Hottest Candle

When is a candle not really a candle? When it’s a high-voltage plasma flame like the one shown here. James from The Action Lab shows how an ultra-high-frequency solid-state Tesla coil can produce an intensely hot flame that can’t be blown out and that can even melt steel.

Wrapping a Car in The World’s Blackest Fabric

Wrapping a Car in The World’s Blackest Fabric

Dip My Car already painted a car in the world’s blackest paint. Now, there’s something even blacker than that – Musou Black Fabric Kiwami. This unique textile is made with special dyes and an arrangement of fibers that absorb 99.9% of visible light. James from The Action Lab got a spool of the fabric and turned his black car into a really black car.

LEGO Aircraft Flight Test

LEGO Aircraft Flight Test

LEGO aircraft are designed for display and aren’t exactly known for their flightworthiness. Regardless, Riley from Brick Science wanted to see which off-the-shelf LEGO flyer would fly the furthest. He started by building a gravity-powered aircraft launcher, then assembled each aircraft before flinging them into a swimming pool.

Overpowering Electric Toys: Volume 2

Overpowering Electric Toys: Volume 2

Not long ago, Aboringday entertained us by sending too much voltage through some electromechanical toys. If that didn’t satisfy your appetite for destruction, he’s back to subject another bunch of toys to more power than they were designed to handle. We still can’t decide whether to laugh or cry for the toys.

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