Stick with me, folks.
I wouldn't normally turn to Fox News for my science reporting, but their story does the best job - of the ones I quickly searched on YouTube - of explaining the Kopp-Etchells effect in which the edges of helicopter rotor blades get abraded via airborn grains of sand, sending showers of pyrophoric tittanium-nickel alloys into the air and making for a lovely light show - that admittedly shortens the lifespan of the blades and advertises the presence of the helicopters at night.
Effectively, it turns the edges of the blades into sparklers.
It makes for some really pretty pictures, though...
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| Source - reddit |
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| Source - wikipedia |
Here's another video with a little more science presented in meme-ified format.
As promised last week, here's the first Veritasium video about thermite.
I'm not thrilled that Dr Derek's titles seem to be getting more clickbaity and less informative. Again this week, the video's title isn't really what the video is about. It's a minor part of the video - here addressed in about six minutes in the middle of the video - and doesn't really cover the bulk of the video's content.
With that being said, seeing thermite in slow motion and through glass is pretty stunning.
Great video...bad title...
The title of this video - which might change since I'm writing this up just a day after it was posted to YouTube - is a bit misleading. The actual question in the title - why don't railroads need expansion joints - is only answered in the last half minute or so of the video and is answered more thoroughly in a Practical Engineering video that I'll post after a jump.
The bulk of the video is spent explaining how railroad welds using thermite work. The video explains the nuances far better than other thermite videos I've posted before, explaining why the rails must be aligned and peaked, why the rails must be preheated (including a nice demonstration of heat treating), how the crystal structure changes as a result of the weld, and eventually why the rails don't need expansion joints.
This is the second of at least three thermite videos from Dr Derek. I thought I'd posted the first video to both blogs, but I can't seem to find it, so it'll likely show up next week.
I'll admit that I entered the giveaway to hopefully win one of NileRed's atomic trampolines.
No luck, though, so I'll only be able to show the video.
An atomic trampoline is really high on my matsci wish list, though. I want one so desperately.
I certainly watched this NileRed video and came to the conclusion that I'm a lot of money and skills away from making one myself.
I do want Destin to get back to making shorter videos like his initial, six-and-a-half-minute Prince Rupert's drops video, but I understand that he's just working to optimize for the algorithm.
At least the Smarter Every Day videos are quality videos from tip to tail, showing brilliant views and asking questions along the way of the entire manufacturing process.
I learn so much from all of Destin's videos.
And I'm going to get myself some of those MVP discs.
Sprechen sie deutsch?
Ja, aber nur ein bisschen.
In case you don't speak German, the ZEISS folks have provided handy captions so Toni can take us on a bit of a tour to show what a metallographer does.
I will say that there are some metallographers in the world who don't necessarily use exclusively ZEISS microscopes, though, in spite of what this video shows.
