Siberian salamanders have compounds in their blood that enable them to survive temperatures of -45°C(-49F). They can stay frozen solid for years before thawing and reviving as good as new. (Wild Russia - NDR)
:3!
So, so cool! You can read about these little guys over at newscientist.com
Electroplating
So I mentioned batteries the other day and thought I should follow up with a bit more electrochemistry. Electroplating is simply the act of using an electrical current to deposit a layer of one thing (usually a metal) on top of another thing. This is fairly common procedure for many things including making car parts and taps shiny by depositing a layer of chromium. In electroplating the object to be covered is located at the cathode (the negative end) and must be electrically conductive. Another electrode is also needed and in some cases is made of the material to be deposited. Both these electrodes are then placed in a solution containing dissolved metal salts (such as copper sulfate). The ions in this solution allow the flow of an electrical current along with providing the metal necessary to coat the cathode. When this system is switched on the dissolved metal ions move towards the cathode and begin to adhere to the surface. This is because the positive charge on the metal ion is removed by the addition of electrons from the power source. This turns the water soluble ionic metal into the non soluble solid metal we all know, coating the cathode in the process. This continues until all the metal ions in the solution are used up or the current can no longer flow. In cases where the anode is made of metal it may also begin to dissolve as it attempts to make up for the ion imbalance in the solution, thus it reduces in mass and itself can transfer to the cathode.
Electroplating can also lead to fractals as seen in the SEM image.
Images: 1, 2
Via Scinerds
10. The Darkest Substance Known to Man
When you stack carbon nanotubes on their ends and squish them together, you get a material that absorbs 99.9% of the light that touches it. The microscopic surface of the material is rough and uneven, which breaks up the light and…
(Source: tenmost.com)
Flow visualization in a water tunnel shows what the flow around a line of traffic looks like. Note the progressively more turbulent flow around each car as it sits in the wake of the car before it. Turbulent flow is usually associated with increased drag forces, but because turbulence can actually help prevent flow separation it is sometimes desirable as a method for decreasing drag. In the case of these cars drafting on one another, it is clear that the cars further back in the line cause less effect on the fluid—and thus have less drag to overcome—than the front car. (Photo credit: Rob Bulmahn)
OK Go … Is There Nothing You Can Not Do?
Sesame Street has teamed up with the band OK GO in this video introducing the basics of color theory. It’s all about the three primary colors.
This video might seem simplistic at first, but color theory is deeply rooted in physics and biology. The “colors” we see in light are nothing more than a certain window of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Red, blue and green are primary colors in human vision (“trichromacy”). This is because you possess three different kinds of cone cells, each corresponding (more or less) to one of these wavelength ranges.
More “complicated” colors are a result of your nervous system integrating these different wavelength combinations via a very complicated network of interconnected cells that the cones connect to. The same goes for what we view as “complementary” and so on. It’s all dependent on certain cells that you have in your head and how they interpret the world around you.
For more:
- Go play the OK Go color game
- A previous post about color vision, with links to mind-bending color illusions
(via Brain Pickings)
Via FYEAH, CHEMISTRY!
Caffeine actually stops the breakdown of energy so you have a surplus! In simple terms, ATP is what gives your body energy. Food is broken down and stored as ATP which is used as energy. When you start to feel yourself dragging, it is because you’ve used up all the ATP, because ATP cannot be stored for long term.
Caffeine blocks the signal in your body, adenosine, from binding and letting the body know you are out of energy. It tricks your body into thinking that there is energy there. The effects of the caffeine can kick in within 10 minutes and last up to 4-6 hours! That’s why you crash from caffeine, when the effect runs out, your body tries to use ATP and there’s none there!
Alligator Snapping Turtle
- Largest fresh-water turtle in North America
- Lives in rivers, canals, and lakes in Southeastern United States
- Can live to be 50 to 100 years old
- Males have been known to top 220 lbs
- Can submerge for 40 to 50 minutes before surfacing for air
- Uses a natural lure. Tongue is equipped with bright-red worm shaped piece of flesh which draws in curious prey
I do not own this image
(Source: fortheloveofherpetology)
Via Shychemist
Day 10: Interesting Facts About Neon
Atomic Symbol: Ne; Atomic Number: 10; Atomic Mass: 20.1797
- Neon is the fifth most abundant element in the universe, forming in stars when they reach a mass equivalent to eight of more of our suns.
- It is relatively rare on earth (taking up .0018% of our atmosphere); and, if you could gather all the neon from the rooms in a typical new home in the United States, you would get 10 liters (2 gallons) of neon gas.
- Neon is rare on Earth due to its lightness, high vapor pressure at low temperatures and chemical inertness. These properties make it escape being trapped in condensing gas and dust clouds during planet formation.
- Neon is commonly used in advertising signs (since it makes a bright reddish-orange color), cryogenic refrigerants, vacuum tubes, high-voltage indicators, lightning arresters, wave meter tubes, television tubes and lasers.
Image: Image of a neon filled discharge tube shaped like the element’s atomic symbol ”Ne”. Example of neon lighting.
Day 9: Interesting Facts About Fluorine
Atomic Symbol: F; Atomic Number: 9: Atomic Mass: 18.9984
- Fluorine does not exist in nature as a free element, but it can be isolated through complex electrolysis and in 1906, the French chemist Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan won the Nobel Prize for being the first to do so.
- Fluorine is the most chemically reactive element. It reacts, often very vigorously, with all of the other elements except oxygen, helium, neon and krypton.
- Fluorine is most useful for its compounds such as uranium hexafluoride which is used for processing nuclear fuel, fluorocarbon in the production of teflon, sodium fluoride in toothpaste, hydrofluoric acid for etching glass (since HF can dissolve glass), and formerly Chlorofluorocarbons, which were used as refrigerants in air conditioning and freezers, until they were banned for ozone causing ozone depletion.
- The term fluorescence was coined as a response to how light emissions are induced in fluorite by radiating it with lesser wavelengths of ultraviolet light. Fluorescence microscopes widely used in drug tests and infectious disease diagnostics operate on the principles of fluorescence.
Image: Liquid fluorine at cryogenic temperatures.
Day 8: Interesting Facts About Oxygen
Atomic Symbol: N; Atomic Number: 8, Atomic Mass:15.9994
- Oxygen is the 3rd most abundant element by mass in the Universe, behind Hydrogen and Helium, and the most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust.
- Oxygen on Earth actually usually exists in the form of O2 called dioxygen, but also exists as O3, which in our atmosphere helps to protect the Earth from UV rays from the Sun. If the UV rays were able to pass through the atmosphere unhindered, life would not be able to survive. Ironically the O3 in smog on the surface is harmful to animal lung tissue.
- Excited oxygen is responsible for the bright red and yellow-green colors of the aurora.
- Humans inhale more than 6 billion tones of oxygen each year and approximately 2/3 of the mass of the human body is oxygen.
- At the present rate of creation, by photosynthesis, and consumption, by respiration and decay, the entire Earth’s oxygen is renewed every 2000 years.
Image: Red and Green Aurora.
About me
It may not be updated every day, and sometimes you'll get more than one fact a day, but rest assured it will always be AMAZING.
