Awesome Physics

While he was hanging out at the pool with The Backyard Scientist, engineer and YouTube celeb Mark Rober conducted a scientific experiment which demonstrates whether it’s better to be underwater or on land to escape a grenade blast. The results might surprise you.

The Backyard Scientist continues his literally and figuratively sloppy experiments by “testing” oobleck (cornstarch mixed with water). Like ketchup, quicksand and silly putty, oobleck is a Non-Newtonian fluid. It flows like a liquid but behaves differently when force is applied to it.

It used to be that most airplane wings were straight, but it turns out the design caused instability as flight speeds increased. Real Engineering takes a look at the science behind the swept wing design which is commonplace on today’s planes. Learn more here.

Destin of Smarter Every Day shows off a fascinating technology which allows magnetic fields to be printed into custom configurations. With this tech, engineers at Polymagnets can now “program” magnets that do exactly what they want them to do.

The Backyard Scientist shows off what happens when salt is melted (at ~1400ºF) and then poured into in an aquarium filled with room temperature water. The end result is a shockingly big boom that sends glass and water flying everywhere. (Thanks Paul!)

While that title might sound like hyperbole, it is the truth. If concrete truly did dry out, it could be reconstituted with water like dry pasta, and couldn’t be used to build things. MinutePhysics explains the not so subtle differences between something being “dry” and “set.”

The always charming Tim Rowett of Grand Illusions shows off a silly plaything he created that produces a very long (though not truly endless) stream of fabric-covered springs from a small container. We’d like a longer bazooka packed with 5x as many snake-springs.

What’s Inside took just a few minutes to cut open two large rubber band balls that took a number of months to make. Obviously there are only more rubber bands inside the balls, but the way they squirm, pop and crackle when opened is quite interesting.

Carsandwater takes a momentary break from his red hot nickel ball to drop an 83.5 pound weight on some lime gelatin, then repeats the “experiment” after deep-freezing some in liquid nitrogen. Why? Because YouTube.

Grand Illusions shows off a physics plaything that demonstrates the differences between the shock absorbency of different metals, with one side coated with a special amorphous metal which allows a bearing to bounce like mad off its surface. More here. (Thanks Paul!)

If you’ve ever been clocked on the head by a golf ball, you’d be certain they’re hard as a rock. But they’re actually quite pliable. Here’s slow-mo footage of a golf ball as it hits a steel wall at 150mph. While it’s likely it was a practice ball, a regular ball still flexes quite a bit.

The always thought-provoking Kurzgesagt looks at one of life’s fundamental questions: what makes a thing a thing? In other words, when do primitive particles become things we can actually define, and why do they do what they do? AKA: Particle Physics 101.

Beyond Slow Motion picked up a stack of colorful Magination magnets, then captured how dropping a single one into the mix causes them all to pull together toward each other. By adding some water and colored powder to the mix, the effect is even more impressive.

The Earth is constantly spinning to the East at about 1,000 mph, so you’d think that it would take basically no time to fly from East to West. Minute Physics explains why this isn’t the case, which is basically the same reason we’re not all constantly in motion.

Gav and Dan of The Slow-Mo Guys take something as simple as a foam ball soaked in water and turn it into a yet another fascinating subject in front of their 1600 fps camera lens. The spiraling water flying off the ball it look like a spinning planet with orbiting rings.

Our friends at Kurzgesagt are back with another informative animation – this time about the science of the perplexing stuff inside and around the stuff we know about, which we don’t have any good way of examining or measuring.

After teasing us, Lexus has revealed their working hoverboard. It uses the superconductor tech we featured a few years back, and a custom-built magnetic hoverboard park, so it won’t be in stores anytime soon. Still, it’s pretty awesome.

“What would happen if a black hole the size of a coin suddenly appeared near you? Short answer: You’d die. Long answer: It depends.” Kurzgesagt asks this imponderable and leaves us with the sense that you wouldn’t want to be nearby.

The great thing about PC games is all the fun hacks that can be applied to them. Here, we yet again learn what happens when you dial the friction down to -9 on all of the car tires in GTA IV. Like all things, it’s better with Yakety Sax.

Thanks to the wonders of physics, this guy is able to make a screwdriver float in mid-air with the help of compressed air, and a little phenomenon known as the Coandă effect, which allows an object to remain aloft in a diagonal stream of air.

This brief, but eye-opening science experiment illustrates the way that even stagnant air creates resistance against objects. It’s incredible how much longer the top spins when the air is removed from its chamber. (Thanks Vers!)

To promote the UK’s National STEM Centre, science teacher Alom Shaha shows how to build a device which demonstrates the principles of wave physics using some duct tape, kebab sticks and Jelly Babies. The Doctor would be so proud.

Physics and illusion tinkerer Brusspup compiled this assortment of tricks, hacks, experiments and generally fun things you can do with fire. Proceed with great caution if you decide to try any of these yourself.