Mohs Scale of Hardness

The Mohs Scale of Hardness isn't my favorite thing in the world. I'm a chemistry guy, and sometimes earth science leaves me cold.

So I totally understand this slightly modified Mohs scale from the FAKE Science tumblr.

Fake science: common crystal shapes

 

The Fake Science tumblr is exactly what it says, FAKE science...

...but it's funny science - including this post about common crystal shapes.

Your shoes are rubbish

Your Shoes Are Rubbish from Billy Turvey on Vimeo.

I don't mean to insult anybody here, because I'm sure your shoes are just super cute.

This video, however, shows a recycling effort to turn plastic waster from a beach and shoreline into a new pair of shoes. It's a gorgeous effort and seems to work, but I doubt anything this labor-intensive would be worth doing on a large, mass-production scale - especially without knowing just how comfortable the shoes end up being...

...because they look like they have no padding or anything comfortable to them at all.

...but it's neat to see.

Iron wire demo and where to buy the supplies

Update (12/1/24): You can order the wire online from Ace Hardware now - either in 50 ft lengths or in 1540 ft lengths.

For some ridiculous reason, one of the hardest supplies for material science teachers to procure is the iron wire for our iron wire demonstration. It should be the simplest thing in the world to get because it's one of the least complicated things to make, but - for some of us - it's amazingly hard to find just the right wire. Though the TruValue near Chillicothe, MO seems to stock it in bulk, my local TruValue doesn't understand what I want with it and doesn't have it on hand.

Here's (above) a picture of the iron wire (anchor wire, stovepipe wire, black wire) that is exactly what we use in the summer camps, and here's a video of the demo as we perform it, too. That's Master Teacher Caryn Jackson there on the right. She has a nice variac (and some 15-amp fuses) to use. Some of us envy her for her awesome variac.



...and the same as narrated by Beth Eddy...

Why is ketchup so hard to pour? - George Zaidan

This is such a cute video The animation is entertaining, and the personification of ketchup is endearing.

I wonder if the 'squished into little ellipses' analogy is at all correct.

Liquids are totally weird, man.

Concrete Stress Strain Curve (early age 4 days)

We're working on understanding the stress-strain curves today at master teacher training at the ASM dome (love this place), so I'm searching for examples of a tensile test being performed at the same time that a stress-strain curve is being generated.

First find...a concrete pillar being tested.

Paper microscope can be made in minutes

We've been through various electronic microscopes through the years - from Ken-a-Vision, primarily, and also through some other makers. As electronics have shurnken and cheapened, though, the market has opened up.

Last year we got to see - and I had a student of mine make me - a microscope support for your smartphone. That took some plexiglass, a few long bolts, an LED flashlight, and a couple of laser pointer lenses.

That's cute, and all, but now there's a similar project that can be made for only fifty cents.

The plexiglass stand can't top that.