Change in name

Hello everyone,

We are going through some changes, one of them being change in name.  We will continue to blog under the new name 4scifun.blogspot.com   All the old ones are already imported into it and a new blog post today by Manu.  Hope to see you all there.

http://4scifun.blogspot.com/2014/07/restarting-blog-here.html

Electric slime?

We have been having a slimy week... we made normal slime, glow in the dark slime and slime with lego imprints on it.  Then thought we should try to shock the slime and so we did.

This slime is made out of Corn starch and vegetable oil.  Then created static by rubbing a balloon on the head and when you bring the balloon close to the flowing slime, it stops flowing and as soon as you remove the balloon, it starts flowing again....Magic indeed

Air bazooka + fog machine = cool cloud rings

Its fun to play with Airbazookas for sure....Blow air with speed that can move hair or even drop a small target from certain distance. Now imagine filling the Airbazooka with fog from a fog machine and you see cool cloud rings (smoke rings) coming out at quite a speed.

What's happening?  How do these smoke rings form?

A smoke ring forms when a puff of smoke is suddenly blown through a narrow opening.  It works best if the outer air is still (i.e. not windy).  In the still air, the outer part of the puff of smoke gets slowed down compared to the core of the puff which makes it look like a ring.  If the air around is quite still, these rings can travel quite a distance maintaining their shape.  

These rings will form even with just blowing puffs of air but the rings are not visible.  With smoke or fog (from the fog machine), these rings are visible quite well.

Are engineers super heroes?

Today is apparently Introduce a girl to engineering day.  I came across this USC Viterbi School of Engineering for girls but it can apply to anyone really...thought i will share here with all the kids..

Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day from USC Viterbi on Vimeo.