The New Sexy

2017-06-30 10:54:14 Cernan's space­walk was troubled from the start. His visor fogged, he sweated profusely and struggled with his tasks, and he had problems moving in microgravity

@facethenation Open / Comment

2017-06-29 20:44:33 We’re used to radiation being invisible.

With a Geiger counter, it gets turned into audible clicks. What you see above, though, is radiation’s effects made visible in a cloud chamber. In the center hangs a chunk of radioactive uranium, spitting out alpha and beta particles. The chamber also has a reservoir of alcohol and a floor cooled to -40 degrees Celsius.

This generates a supersaturated cloud of alcohol vapor. When the uranium spits out a particle, it zips through the vapor, colliding with atoms and ionizing them. Those now-charged ions serve as nuclei for the vapor, which condenses into droplets that reveal the path of the particle. The characteristics of the trails are distinct to the type of decay particle that created them.

In fact, both the positron and muon were first discovered in cloud chambers! Open / Comment

2017-06-29 20:44:27 Open / Comment

2017-04-11 17:04:44 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sorry. Open / Comment

2017-04-03 11:00:59 Very. Good. Joke. :) Open / Comment

2017-02-23 13:19:11 A water baby (similar to a gel orb) sprinkled with very thin glass shards resting on a mirror. Open / Comment

2017-01-10 23:47:03 @scienceissexy Open / Comment

2016-12-16 18:27:54 British guys sent PIE to the space because of course they did.





@scienceissexy Open / Comment

2016-12-09 09:47:20 RIP, John Glenn. Open / Comment

2016-12-06 11:02:43 @scienxeissexy Open / Comment