Author: Sergiu Pocol CAMERON-BASED SCIENCE
PHYSICS Longing to master soccer? Perhaps the greatest achievement would be a banana kick, in which a precise and impactful kick sends a soccer ball along a seemingly impossible trajectory.
The answer revolves around the balls interaction with the medium it flows through. The secret to the aforementioned trick involves kicking the ball so that you put a spin on it. The spin causes a pressure gradient about the ball because air moving against it that opposes its motion will build up creating higher pressure that applies a force to the ball, pushing it in the direction of lower pressure where the airflow is in the same direction as the spin. This is called the Magnus effect and the driving force is called the Magnus force. So to “wow” the crowd, kick the ball such that the spin applied will turn the ball in the desired direction (a useful rule is that counterclockwise spins will turn the ball to the left and vice versa). Needless to say, practice makes perfect! CHEMISTRY Lukewarm pops are arguably the bane of anyone’s existence, but, as usual, science has a clever retort! To chill pop in under 20 minutes, fill a bucket with water and add copious amounts of salt then ice and submerge the cans! When water freezes the hydrogen bonds that form between the opposite partial charges on the O and H2 (due to the difference in electronegativity) causes the molecules to align in a beautiful lattice: The dissociated sodium and chlorine ions that form by dissolving the salt interrupt this lattice. Consequently, this lowers water’s melting point so water can be cooled further and still remain liquid. This in turn increases the surface area in contact with the can and cools it faster! BIOLOGY Ever wonder what manages to make garlic taste so dreadful? In garlic cells, membranes separate the enzyme alliinase and the compound alliin which is the substrate. When crushed the enzyme converts alliin into allicin which is characterized by a largely unpleasant taste. Try smelling garlic before and after crushing it for a mini-experiment.
5 Comments
Reyna
14/10/2016 11:58:54 am
This is actually so great! Richard Feynman would approve. :)
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Suyog
14/10/2016 11:59:18 am
Nice!
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Shachi
14/10/2016 12:35:02 pm
This is awesome ! Love it :D :D :D
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Unknown
14/10/2016 09:02:34 pm
Lit. Lit. Lit. Fire! Fire! Fire! My favorite part would have been the physics component! 10/10 on the Explanation !! :D
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Edi
30/10/2016 01:35:22 pm
Lets see some tennis posts !!
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