HS-PS4-1
Use mathematical representations to support a claim regarding relationships among the frequency, wavelength, and speed of waves traveling in various media.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Tenebrescence
Under ultraviolet light, some minerals adopt long-lasting new hues.
- Physics
Here’s how to levitate something without magic
Levitation may seem like fantasy. But all it takes is a little physics — and sound waves, magnetism or electricity.
- Animals
Rudolph’s red nose could glow through bioluminescence
Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his iconic red snout. But physics would make it look different colors to anyone who spied Rudolph from the ground.
- Psychology
Listening to slightly different sounds in each ear may boost focus, teen finds
While “binaural beats” may boost attention, his research shows video game music is distracting.
- Space
Scientists caught a black hole ringing like a bell
Two black holes merged, creating a new, bigger one. This event triggered the clearest ripples in spacetime ever observed.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Infrasound
“Listening” for changes in these deep rumblings can allow scientists to predict earthquakes and other geological events.
- Physics
This device creates rainbows of sound
A plastic structure separates the pitches in mixed sounds like white noise, much like a rainbow spreads out colors of light.
- Physics
How polarized and UV-blocking sunglasses protect our eyes
Their filters can cut glare to help us see more clearly. The best ones also filter out the sun’s UV rays — even on cloudy days — to limit eye damage.
- Physics
Physics finally explains the sound of clapping
The “Helmholtz resonator” concept is responsible for the sound produced by hand-clapping.
- Microbes
Living lenses? Glass-coated microbes might take better photos
Bacteria with a gene from sea sponges can coat themselves in glass. Working as tiny, bendable lenses, they could lead to thinner cameras or sensors.
- Materials Science
Orange food dye can temporarily turn skin transparent
When mixed with water and rubbed on the skin, a common food dye allows researchers to peer inside the body of a mouse.
- Earth
Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of high-energy gamma rays
A thunderstorm seen in gamma ray vision plays out as a complex, frenzied lightshow above the clouds.
