Wringing out a Washcloth on the ISS

Space Canadian Chris Hadfield continues his quest for interplanetary internet dominance with this incredible experiment submitted by two Nova Scotia high school students: Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner

They wanted to know what would happen if you wrung out a washcloth on the ISS? I won’t spoil the ending for you, but suffice to say it’s about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

I love how he doesn’t even have to hold the mic. Great job, Kendra and Meredith! For science!

Source: youtube.com

Frozen Glass I was pretty shocked to find out just how little liquid fresh water Earth contains, like we saw in this post. But I was equally shocked to find out that as much as one-fifth of Earth’s fresh water is locked up in the beauty above: Lake Baikal. Siberia’s Lake Baikal, not only the world’s oldest lake at ~25 million years of age, is the largest single fresh water source on the planet. The water is so deep and so pure that when it freezes it becomes a sort of cold, turquoise glass, giving an observer a lens that can see over 100 feet straight down. There’s more pictures not to miss at My Modern Met.
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Frozen Glass

I was pretty shocked to find out just how little liquid fresh water Earth contains, like we saw in this post. But I was equally shocked to find out that as much as one-fifth of Earth’s fresh water is locked up in the beauty above: Lake Baikal.

Siberia’s Lake Baikal, not only the world’s oldest lake at ~25 million years of age, is the largest single fresh water source on the planet. The water is so deep and so pure that when it freezes it becomes a sort of cold, turquoise glass, giving an observer a lens that can see over 100 feet straight down.

There’s more pictures not to miss at My Modern Met.

Water/World Earth contains over 10 million cubic kilometers of liquid fresh water. Most of that water, whose approximate volume compared to Earth is represented by the large water droplet at the top, is buried groundwater, much of which isn’t accessible by humans. Instead of flowing in our rivers and lakes or out of our wells, it’s buried deep inside the rocky nooks and crannies of Earth’s crust. Our ice caps, permafrost and permanent snows hold much more, although it’s equally inaccessible. That smaller water droplet represents all the liquid fresh water that can be accessed by the world’s 7+ billion people. That droplet represents less than 100,000 cubic kilometers, and we have to share, recycle and conserve all that we can. Nearly a billion people don’t have access to clean water, and 2.5 billion don’t have anything resembling modern sanitation. Learn more about how we can all help at the UN’s World Water Day website. More about where to find Earth’s water from the USGS. We live on a blue planet, but only a tiny speck of that blue is available to us. Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink/irrigate/wash with. Important to remember how precious that wet stuff flowing out of your faucet is. (image remixed via MarcelClemens/Shutterstock)
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Water/World

Earth contains over 10 million cubic kilometers of liquid fresh water. Most of that water, whose approximate volume compared to Earth is represented by the large water droplet at the top, is buried groundwater, much of which isn’t accessible by humans. Instead of flowing in our rivers and lakes or out of our wells, it’s buried deep inside the rocky nooks and crannies of Earth’s crust. Our ice caps, permafrost and permanent snows hold much more, although it’s equally inaccessible.

That smaller water droplet represents all the liquid fresh water that can be accessed by the world’s 7+ billion people. That droplet represents less than 100,000 cubic kilometers, and we have to share, recycle and conserve all that we can. Nearly a billion people don’t have access to clean water, and 2.5 billion don’t have anything resembling modern sanitation. Learn more about how we can all help at the UN’s World Water Day website. More about where to find Earth’s water from the USGS.

We live on a blue planet, but only a tiny speck of that blue is available to us. Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink/irrigate/wash with. Important to remember how precious that wet stuff flowing out of your faucet is.

(image remixed via MarcelClemens/Shutterstock)

How polarity makes water behave strangely

Polarity can be a bad thing when we’re talking about politics or family drama, but it’s essential to the workings of the chemical world.

That’s especially true for water, whose uneven distribution of positive and negative charges is quite literally the reason that life exists in Earth. It makes everything from our DNA to proteins stay soluble, it helps balance the salts and minerals that are essential to our most core functions, and it’s a sidekick to almost every biochemical reaction.

And it’s not just essential on the smallest scale! Insects use surface tension to walk across its surface, and fish survive frozen winters thanks to its density. It’s no coincidence that water is the key ingredient for life. And it’s polarity that made it so.

Enjoy this lesson by Christina Kleinberg by TEDEducation. Try to overlook the fact that she says “wooter” :)

Source: youtube.com

Bridging the Zap When very high voltages are applied to water in two adjacent beakers, they spontaneously form a “water bridge”. It’s a phenomena that, despite being known for more than 100 years, is not completely understood to this day. It is thought that the extreme voltages, in the thousands of volts, are able to pull the positive and negative charges of the water apart in a way that the thread can overcome gravity. From this video. Read more here. (via Science-Based Life)
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Bridging the Zap

When very high voltages are applied to water in two adjacent beakers, they spontaneously form a “water bridge”. It’s a phenomena that, despite being known for more than 100 years, is not completely understood to this day. It is thought that the extreme voltages, in the thousands of volts, are able to pull the positive and negative charges of the water apart in a way that the thread can overcome gravity.

From this video. Read more here.

(via Science-Based Life)

Derek from Veritasium (with help from many of our YouTube friends, including Hank Green) reminds us that Trees Are Freaking Awesome! 

Of course, we already knew that. As Richard Feynman reminded us, they (sort of) grow out of the air, and they feed off of the Sun. That’s a pretty cool trick. But do you know how they grow so tall? I mean, how exactly do they get water all the way from the ground up to their leaves, which can be 30+ meters above the roots?

If you guessed physics, you’d be right … but you’ll be amazed by exactly how they do it. Mother Nature is certainly the finest engineer on Earth.

Source: youtube.com

explore-blog:

30 seconds of breathtaking awe at physics – watch a water droplet bounce in ultra-slow-motion. Then, see 7 more everyday things in mesmerizing slow motion.

(↬ Open Culture)

Who knew water could bounce on water?!?

Surface tension is amazing. Phenomena like this are dependent on the size of the drop, of course, so that the mechanical force of falling and bouncing doesn’t overcome the hydrogen bonding that keeps the droplet/surface intact.

Definitely the coolest example of crazy fluid dynamics I’ve seen since these superhydrophobic nanotubes (also in GIF form).

What Earth’s Swirling Groundwater Looks Like From Outer Space

About 99% of the Earth’s groundwater sits invisibly beneath our feet. As global climate change and population growth continue to put stresses on our access to fresh water, it’s important to know where it is. A pair of satellites orbiting the Earth have been using detailed measurements of Earth’s gravity to map underground water as it changes throughout the seasons.

Very cool, and very informative.

(via Popular Science)

Source: popsci.com