Top 5 Materials Science Myths

I've heard these 'facts' before.

1. Glass is a super-cooled liquid. - amorphous vs crystalline vs liquids
2. Plastic water bottles release dioxins when frozen. - Ok, I hadn't heard this one. I'd heard about leeching at high temps.
3. Stainless steel is non-magnetic. - Some are, some aren't. Ferrite and martensite are magnetic...austenite are non-magnetic. Most (but not all) stainless steels are austenite.
4. Spider silk is stronger than steel. - interesting discussion of 'strength' and 'toughness' 
5. Radioactive metals glow green. - I knew this one...though some do glow blue

Melting pill bottles into robots. (The Plastic Recycling Episode)

I don't know, man. 

I assume the TheCrafsMan isn't really a felt puppet with a bad soul patch and an oddly affected, slow-paced, Cajun accent.

Then again, in my brief research of TheCrafsMan I can't find anything to say that he isn't that puppet somehow magically brought to life like a golem.

His projects a decently involved, however, so unless you've been doing some injection molding already, you - like me - might not be ready to step right up to this level of crafsing.

How Plates Made from Sugarcane Could Help India's Plastic Problem | World Wide Waste

On the last pre-exam school day of the 2021-22 school year, I allowed my students to ask me anything they wanted (as long as it was school appropriate). I got questions ranging from 'can I leave my exam early if I finish?' and 'how did you choose your college?' and 'what's your favorite color?

One student, however, asked me if I knew what perfluoroctanoic acid was. I asked if that was one of the PFAS's, and he said it was involved in making teflon.

I told them that I thought the two biggest challenges their generation - and their children's generations, too - would have to deal with were going to be global warming and polymers. I went on to explain some of the challenges we have with polymers: massive waste, non-biodegradability, absorption into our bodies, mimicking of hormones in our bodies, increased petroleum dependence, and on and on and on.

It wasn't the most chipper discussion I've had with my students.

Luckily, many folks are trying to do something about those problems.

2:37 / 4:58 FLAME COLORED COPPER…copper art time-lapse by Brent Artman

That's so pretty.

In summer camp and in our material science course at Princeton, we demonstrate this concept - that different portions of a flame produce different temperatures and different results - on a single copper sheet with one torch. We move the torch nearer to and further from the sheet and see reduction or oxidation.

But there's a lot more to using a flame to oxidize or reduce copper. In industry and - I think - in art, it's more common to adjust the mix of oxygen and fuel to change the flame between being oxidizing, neutral, and reducing (also known as carborizing). It's something that's done by plumbers when brazing together copper pipes.

Clearly, the video up top was made by someone who understands all this - maybe understands the science of it but certainly understands the practicality of it because Phoenix Flame Art (by Brent Artman - natch) uses the flame to produce some stunning artwork by preferentially oxidizing and reducing copper sheets.

@phoenix_flame_art Answer @liccalollipop Which group are you?? LINES OR NO LINES??? #PHOENIXFLAMEART #youchoose #contriversal #oneortheother #artinspo #poll #question #feedback #flameart #coldest @thecoldestwater ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

Styrofoam tomatoes

 

The original tweet with the above image said "We found this tribute to polymer chemistry on our honeymoon to France"

The follow-up post included the two images below and this text, "So @Tim_H pointed out that these

s look like polystyrene and now I cannot unsee it."

See, it's funny because Tim_H is correct.

The tomatoes on the vine do look like polystyrene with its benzene functional groups on a polyethylene chain.

The very hungry radical

 

That's so cute...and it explains polymerization pretty well (initial creation of radicals via UV exposure, radicals breaking C=C bonds to create more radicals, eventual termination by 'meeting' another radical)...and it references Eric Carle's classic book.

Thanks to @diflourine for creating this and allowing it to be shared in classes.

Lambert Glass (part 2)

Just more mesmerizing glass videos from Lambert Glass today. (Check out more Lambert videos yesterday.)

Above they make rolled table glass, similarly to how they make glass in Kokomo, Indiana.

Below they make traditional rondels and crown bullions.