GeekwithEnvy

Science

Veritasium and Things We Can Learn From a Slinky

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VeritasiumLogoAs a geek, science is just a daily part of our lives and it’s really cool when we get to see science put on display in an beautiful way so we can look on in awe. Fortunately for us geeks there is a YouTube channel dedicated to showcasing the beauty of science,  it’s called Veritasium.

If you haven’t seen Veritasium then you’re missing out on some really great videos. I have stumbled upon a video that showcases a simple slinky and surprisingly there is some very interesting science at work.

There are many things in the world around us that happen so fast that we completely miss them. Our interaction with the world around us seems instantaneous but that is just our  perception of things. If we slow things down a bit, perhaps with a high speed camera, we begin to see our world very differently.

I have always enjoyed watching high speed footage of everyday actions and I have learned quite a bit by spending time observing things in slow motion. The high speed camera itself is a tool, just like a microscope or a telescope, that allows us to observe things that we can’t normally see with our naked eye.

In an amazing and intellectually provocative video posted by Veritasium, a slinky is dropped from just above eye level and the fall of the slinky is then captured by a high speed camera. Once the slinky begins to fall, something unusual begins to happen; the bottom of slinky remains in place while the top appears to collapse in a downward motion. How is this possible? Watch the video below to find out.

 

For more great videos like this head to the Veritasium YouTube Channel.

Earthquake Tech

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Earthquake cracked ground floorThe latest earthquake ‘swarm’ in Southern California was comprised of more than 400 minor earthquakes in just a few days.  It leaves most of us to wonder if it is a sign of a larger earthquake to come. So who or what is keeping an eye on things for us? How far have we come in detecting and predicting earthquakes?

We have come along way in seismic research over the years and scientists and engineers at the California Institute of Technology, USGS Pasadena, UC Berkeley, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California have been hard at work on a Earthquake early warning system (EEW). This early warning system works by detecting the first bit of energy that radiates from a particular earthquake, known as P-wave energy. This P-wave energy is used to pinpoint the location and magnitude of the earthquake.

In demonstrations of the system, software sounds an alarm and then shows the center of the earthquake. Then a simulated wave of energy is displayed, indicated by a circle increasing in size to show where the energy is as it travels away from the epicenter. The software also displays the magnitude and indicates when shaking should end. This EEW system is still a prototype and would need greater funding in order to to be more accurate and reliable for use in California and the Pacific Coast. You can see this software demonstration in action at the bottom of this page.

You could use the information gathered by these systems to try to decipher patterns in the Earth’s seismic activity to determine where more earthquakes will occur but this system is mainly built around earthquakes that have already occurred. What scientists would really like to achieve is the abbillity to accurately predict seismic activity before it happens.

A publication in the Journal of Zoology indicated that the common toad known as (Bufo bufo), was able to predict seismic activity many days in advance of a an actual earthquake. The toads will abandon their breeding site before an earthquake occurs. Researchers believe that the toads are able to detect some subtle changes in their surrounding environment shortly before an earthquake occurs.

Some research has gone into detecting some of these changes including air ionization, magnetic pulsations, and infrared radiation emitted near the earthquake location, but it is difficult to gain accurate information from these potential warning signs as there are many factors involved that disrupt and interfere with readings.

Currently, scientists use educated guesses based on the history and current seismic activity of specific regions along with the general movement of tectonic plates. These predictions are not very precise and usually get compiled into probability percentages. It’s not to say we haven’t become better at predicting them, it’s just that we can do a lot better.

What is important to take away from this is that at this time we can not accurately predict earthquakes, so it is important to prepare for them. You should always keep an emergency kit in your home. Place your kit in a well known location thats easy to get to. Your emergency kit should contain food,water, first aid supplies, flashlights, a radio and spare batteries. These supplies should be able to sustain you and your family members for at least 72 hours.

Make sure shelves are secured and always place heavy objects on lower shelves. Do not place heavy objects like large mirrors above your bed or places people will sit. Remember that it’s not the earthquake itself as much as it is the objects around you that are a dangerous when an earthquake occurs.

Useful websites with more information on this subject:

For more information on what to do before, during and after an earthquake please visit the FEMA website here.

You also get the latest updates on seismic activity through the USGS website here.

Apps you can download to track seismic activity:

If you’re looking for good mobile app that will notify you of seismic activity you can download “EarthQuake Alert!” for Android. Information about this app can be found here.

For iOS devices you can try Earthquake! The description can be found here.

 

 

Living on Another Planet

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Mars

Published on August 14, 2012, by admin in Science, Space. With the recent success of “Curiosity” at JPL I can’t help but ponder the possibility of living on another planet. How soon could this happen? Could it happen at all?

As I load up some of the latest imagery from Curiosity, I find my imagination wandering. I look at pictures of a dusty and red terrain littered with rocks and think to myself, this looks similar to some places on Earth and sometimes I almost forget these are images from another planet. It really is something amazing and for me it just throws my imagination into overdrive as I think about ways we could live, quite literally in another world.

There are many ideas that scientists have come up with that would make other planets like Mars a safe place for humans to live. Some suggest building a base camp that would be built much like a land based space station. Then, we find ourselves getting into deep conversations about how we could collect energy and how we would keep ourselves nourished. Other more extreme ideas suggest we terraform Mars. Terraforming is a hypothetical process that would involve humans changing the climate and other properties of Mars in order to make it suitable for life.

There are a few different ideas on how to terraform a planet like Mars and what makes this even more compelling is that many of the components necessary for life already exist in abundance on the red planet. One of the biggest issues with Mars is its lack of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Argon. The atmosphere of Mars is comprised of about 95% Carbon Dioxide. We would need to build up a stable thick atmosphere capable of protecting us from radiation and it must have a pressure and gas mixture that would allow us to breath. Changing a planet is a massive undertaking and leaves us to question, where would we gather the resources to accomplish such a feat?

Mars isn’t the only planet we have gazed upon with ambitious eyes. Why attempt to change an entire planet when there might be billions of other planets that have everything we need already set up for us? There have been many planets found to be be in what is called a “Habitable Zone”, which is a zone that isn’t too far or to close to the star that the observed planet is orbiting. What is even more exciting is that so many good candidates for possible habitation have been found, and in such a tiny fraction of the sky. This means there could be thousands and thousands of planets in this “Habitable Zone” with liquid water and other elements needed for life just waiting out there for us to explore.

Just imagine having all new continents to explore and new geological features never seen before. Perhaps there are multiple moons and mountains that reach miles into the sky, even higher than our own mount Everest. Who will move there first, and which country gets what land? It’s these kind of questions the we love to ask, and hopefully someday we can achieve what seems to be the impossible and live on another planet.