Awesome Molten

Science expert Joe Myheck shows how he made a unique crown fit for a mermaid queen by pouring a crucible filled with molten metal into a vat of water-absorbing Orbeez gel beads. The metal he used is called Nordic gold – a colorful alloy composed of copper, aluminum, zinc, and tin.

Hitting molten metal with a bat seems like a bad idea. But The Slow Mo Guys are happy to take that risk if it entertains viewers. After melting some nails into a crucible, they tossed the liquid steel into the air, whacked it with a cricket bat, and captured the fiery spectacle at 10,000 FPS. Watch in 4K if you can.

Redditor arcedup works in a steel mill and wanted to test out the video capabilities of their phone. While they were at it, they captured this wonderfully satisfying clip of molten hot steel being turned into a coiled rod. Is it wrong that we want to make the world’s largest Slinky with it?

The Backyard Scientist conducts another ill-advised and dangerous experiment by loading himself and a bucket of molten aluminum into a cherry picker, then ascending to 50 feet before pouring the metal into an aquarium on the ground. We’d like to say this was for science, but it’s clearly just for the spectacle.

This fascinating but brief video shows a special glassblowing technique that involves pouring molten glass onto spinning platters. As the glass spreads into the mold, it captures the underlying pattern and smooths out the glass on top. We’d love to see the finished pieces.