Maybe you’ve seen tsunami-shaped clouds like these, rolling through Earth’s atmosphere. These repeating curls result from a flow of air hitting a layer of stagnant or slower-moving air below it. The turbulence is known as Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, named after its discoverers, William Thomson—better known as Lord Kelvin—and Hermann von Helmholtz. “Basically, if you have two […]
You’ve probably heard of light-emitting diodes, a type of energy-efficient light. While they’re good for practical reasons—say, illuminating a room or a passageway—they can also add a little bling to clothing. To incorporate LEDs into your favorite accessories, you’ll start by creating a basic circuit from a battery, two pieces of wire, and an LED. […]
You’ve probably heard of light-emitting diodes, a type of energy-efficient light. While they’re good for practical reasons—say, illuminating a room or a passageway—they can also add a little bling to clothing. To incorporate LEDs into your favorite accessories, you’ll start by creating a basic circuit from a battery, two pieces of wire, and an LED. […]
Introduction Have you ever watched a fireworks show and wondered how all the different colors – amazing reds, yellows, oranges, blues, purples, greens, and more – are made? The color, or colors, that a firework makes depends on what color-producing chemicals are in the firework. These chemicals are various metals that burn when the firework […]