Awesome Experiments

We already know that Tesla coils can be used to make music. This video from Ideas1+1 shows what happens when you interfere with the coil’s plasma emissions by placing other objects in the way and letting the current pass through them. We can’t decide if the spinning arcs or those in the syringe were the coolest to watch.

Do not attempt to replicate anything you see in this video. Ever. Blacktail Studio performed a series of dangerous workshop experiments to show how bad things can get when power tools are misused. After demonstrating just how nasty table saw kickback can be, he shows what happens when an angle grinder gets loose and other power tool mishaps.

You can make jumbo soap bubbles with the right bubble wand and soap solution. Engineezy wanted to see if it was possible to make endless bubbles with enough soap and runway. After some experimentation and failure, he settled on a rope strung between fishing rods on the roof of his car. While not limitless, he did make the longest bubbles we’ve ever seen.

James from The Action Lab got his hands on the current world champion for the brightest flashlight, the Imalent MS32. After using the 200,000-lumen flashlight to brighten the night, he put it through a series of experiments, including aiming it through a magnifying lens to see if that could concentrate its beam into a death ray.

More than eight years ago, The Backyard Scientist conducted an experiment to see what would happen when molten salt is poured into an aquarium. The results were quite explosive. Now, The Slow Mo Guys have revisited the classic experiment and revealed much greater detail in the explosions thanks to newer, more sophisticated high-speed camera tech.

Look Mum No Computer enjoys making music with analog audio gear like modular synthesizers. In this video, he goes even further to avoid digital technology by making a reverb device out of a spiral of copper tubing. By placing a small speaker at one end of the tube and a microphone at the other it produces some interesting audio delay effects.

When Mark Rober isn’t taking down thieves and melting stuff with lava, he likes to play around in his CrunchLabs space. To kick off his 2024 Camp CrunchLabs series, he taught kids about friction and the slippery properties of spheres. After an intro about his STEM toy system, he poured 3.5 million Airsoft BBs onto his warehouse floor and went for a ride.

Drones can be used to capture aerial images or deliver packages, but they can also be weaponized. Mark Rober explores some of the technology being developed to take down dangerous drones. Then, he teamed up with fellow makers to build backyard drone defense tech, including a mega-turret, an electrified stream of liquid, and a powerful vortex cannon.

Science educator Steve Mould shows off a fascinating thing that happens when you ignite lighter fluid in a narrow channel. The flame travels around and around until the fuel is fully burned. He started with a circle and tested various shapes to see how the flames behaved. Along the way, you’ll learn about the concept of an excitable medium.

We’ve seen time and time again that there are other ways to move around besides ordinary wheels. LEGO builder Dr. Engine put together vehicles that run on seven kinds of wheels to see how they performed against various obstacles, including a pile of tires, a staircase, and a hill covered with wood chips. It ends with a tug-of-war between the vehicles.

After seeing the airplane-like shape of Japan’s high-speed bullet trains, aerospace engineer Peter Sripol thought it would be fun to build a model airplane based on the design. It took a lot of experimentation with wing placement, but he eventually got his prototype to fly. Will the scaled-up model stay airborne or will it derail mid-flight?

NileBlue wanted to recreate grapples: apples that taste like grapes. You’d think it would be a complicated process involving genetics and plant breeding, but it turns out to be a hilariously simple task. We’re not going to spoil it, but the video ends up explaining why grapples are not around anymore and why you shouldn’t try making your own.

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.

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.

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.

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.