What causes the phases of the moon? The common incorrect answer is the shadow of the Earth. The phases of the moon are actually just a result of our perception of the moon’s half-illuminated surface. When the moon does pass through Earth’s shadow the result is a lunar eclipse. This can be spectacular as the moon turns a deep shade of red.

Images courtesy of NASAimages.org and Geoff Wyatt, Senior Astronomy Educator Powerhouse Museum

A quote by Einstein: A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

Einstein’s classic thought experiment involves sitting on a train travelling at the speed of light. If you hold a mirror in front of your face, will you see your reflection in a mirror? How could light from your face reach the mirror if the mirror is travelling away from you? But it would be a pretty spooky train if you couldn’t see your reflection so Einstein felt this solution wasn’t realistic. On the other hand if you could see your reflection, it would mean light was travelling at the speed of light inside the train. But that meant the same light observed from outside the train would be going twice the speed of light. This again seems inconsistent. So Einstein resolved that you must see your reflection but that light must travel at the same speed inside and outside the train. The only way this is possible is if space and time are perceived differently by observers inside and outside the train.

The Nobel Prize for physics in 2011 was awarded to Brian Schmidt, Adam Riess, and Saul Perlmutter for discovering that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. This finding was completely unexpected because it was thought that gravity should slow the expansion of the cosmos. The best current explanation of why the universe is accelerating is that there is some energy tied to empty space which pushes matter apart. This ‘Dark Energy’ makes up 73% of the universe but is very difficult to detect. Hopefully a better understanding of it will lead to a unification of our theories of gravitation and quantum mechanics.

Images courtesy of NASA – NASAimages.org

What happens when a super long slinky is dropped?

When a grape is cut nearly in half and placed in a microwave, plasma is produced. Please use caution if attempting this experiment: don’t leave the microwave on for too long, make sure the area is well ventilated, and stand back. Remember the contents will be very hot afterwards.

Want more awesome HD slow-mo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiyMuHuCFo4
Slinky not long enough? Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsytnJ_pSf8
How does a slinky fall when extended by its own weight and then released? We discover the surprising answer using a slow motion camera that records 300 frames per second. Answer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKb2tCtpvNU

For a great explanation, check out Rhett Allain’s analysis here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/modeling-a-falling-slinky/

Everyone is familiar with liquid water, ice and water vapour, but what are the differences between these three states of matter? Solids, liquids and vapours of the same substance differ in the motion of the molecules and the distance between them.

Animations courtesy of VisChem (Trade Mark), Copyright 1995, Roy Tasker. Thanks for all your help!

The atmosphere applies a pressure of about 100 000 N to every square metre on Earth’s surface. We take this pressure for granted because we have the same amount of pressure pushing out. But what happens when the pressure of the atmosphere is applied to an object with no outward pressure? It implodes. In spectacular fashion.

Scientific research has shown that heterosexual males and females find members of the opposite sex more attractive when they wear the colour red. This is a subconscious preference that seems to have some evolutionary basis. We attempted to replicate these findings in Sydney but our methods were much less controlled and the results achieved were not statistically significant.