Want to make boring old colorless water brighten up on command? Well, you can control the color of water with this little magic trick. Actually, it's not really magic, but a classic science experiment known commonly as the iodine clock reaction, which uses the reactions betwee ...more
Sure it's been done before, but it never gets old. There's something magical about dry ice, bubbles, and especially the result you see when they're combined! Video: . For this experiment, I filled a bowl about half full with warm water, and placed a few chunks of dry ice insid ...more
It's a small but very real frustration: you want a chilled drink, but you open the freezer only to see nothing but empty ice trays. Fortunately, there's a simple way to make ice cubes quickly—use hot water. Yup, you read that correctly. Hot water freezes more rapidly than cold ...more
Onshore, or on a boat, have you ever wondered what swims below in the dark water? Using standard equipment and a new process, marine scientists can now get a good look at what is swimming by—just by analyzing the water. Taking stock of fish living or passing through a river, ...more
Sound waves are a lot more versatile than you'd think. For starters, you can use them to project images onto a bubble and liquefy gummy bears. And now, YouTube scientist and optical illusionist extraordinaire Brusspup shows how sound waves can also be used to manipulate a stre ...more
Impossible, right? Ahh, well science says fire and ice can and do coexist. The Science of this experiment:Dry ice at -109ºF, is frozen carbon dioxide (CO2), not water (H2O). Dry ice is also much colder than a freezer ice cube. To be exact it is almost as cold as Earth's cold ...more
Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed that "the seed of science" was "wonder," and taking a look at this nine-layer liquid tower from Steve Spangler's Sick Science! channel, one can't help but do just that — wonder. How is this possible? Is this magic or what? While it's not exac ...more
If you drop your smartphone in water, take it apart as much as you can and place it in rice. It's been the most recommended method of cell phone rescue since the days of clamshells. In fact, it's usually the only thing recommended when searching for "how to save your wet phone ...more
When the arrow is moved to a particular distance behind the glass, it looks like it reversed itself. When light passes from one material to another, it can bend or refract. In the experiment that you just completed, light traveled from the air, through the glass, through the w ...more
There's no shortage of ways to filter water, but it doesn't get much simpler than this. Researchers at MIT have found that you can turn dirty water into drinking water with nothing more than a stick. Mechanical engineer Rohit Karnik figured out that the xylem tissue in plants ...more
Preparing and serving seafood can be a daunting task. Fish is so delicate that one extra minute of heat can turn a juicy, flaky filet into a dried-out disaster. But that same fragility also allows us to use unconventional methods to chemically transform the fish into its cooke ...more
Here's how to make dry-ice at home, or wherever you feel like it! All you need is a pillow case, and a CO2 fire extinguisher. Video: . WARNING: Dry Ice is extremely cold! (-78C/-109F) and can cause instant frost-bite to exposed skin. This project should not be attempted withou ...more
Do you have a major mosquito problem? Well, here's a solution used by the military to drastically cut down their numbers. Video: . Step 1: Getting Started. Grab a plastic bottle from your recycle bin. The bigger the better. This concept will work with many types of containers ...more
While you may look ridiculous doing the potty dance and crossing your legs back and forth, holding it in can be worth the discomfort when you've got an important decision to make. While it's well known that we make more impulsive decisions when under visceral states, such as ...more
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! Continuing with my Wi-Fi hacking series, this article will focus on creating an invisible rogue access point, which is an access point that's not authorized by the information technology staff and may be a significant security vulnerability ...more
Cooking rice, pasta, and other grains in water is so boring. There is a much better way to guarantee they will have your mouth chewing something seriously tasty: cook them in something that isn't water. Alternative liquids such as stock, milk, juice, or even tea will give blan ...more
In this video, I will show you how to make copper glow red hot with the catalytic oxidation of acetone. For this science experiment, we'll just need some acetone, copper wire, and a flame source to initially heat the copper coil we'll make. Video: . Materials Needed Pure acet ...more
Everything you thought you knew about cooking pasta is wrong. When I took cooking classes in Italy, they taught me to bring a large volume of salted water to a rolling boil, add a drop of olive oil so that the noodles wouldn't stick together, and wait several minutes until it ...more
Unless you're a pretty avid home cook, you probably don't know a lot about sous vide. Sous vide is a low-temperature cooking method where food is cooked in vacuum-sealed plastic bags in a water bath for a prolonged period of time. Sous vide machines are used mostly in high-en ...more
While it's easy to make fun of water with "electrolytes," there's actually some science behind it. Despite the name, electrolyte-enhanced water isn't all that high-tech, it mostly means that it's been infused with vitamins and minerals such as potassium and sodium, which are v ...more
As a kid, my mother would always bring the noodles onto the table in a colander, then bring the pot of sauce she cooked separately. So I grew up with the idea that pasta and sauce were two separate entities that you combined table-side, and continued to eat pasta that way well ...more
Having a store-bought cold pack on the ready is the perfect solution for minor bumps, bruises, sprains, and strains, but why spend money on bright blue ice packs when you can make your own right at home? These homemade cold compresses will give your the same level of pain rel ...more
Things aren't looking good for Uber after its driverless experiment in Pittsburgh soured relations with local authorities. Surprised? Me neither. The New York Times reports that the ride-sharing company didn't fulfill their end of the bargain in terms of job creation in low-i ...more
This is a tale about microbes, a man who became a hermit, and the parchment that carries both of their stories. Sometime around 1190 AD in Italy, a man named Laurentius Loricatus was born. Trained to be a soldier, Loricatus killed someone by accident and was stricken with rem ...more
Boozing it up at work might have been okay back in the days of Mad Men, but today, employers prefer that their workers stay sober. What you and your bosses probably don't know is that a little drinking on the job can actually increase your creative capacity and problem-solving ...more
You Want White Teeth Without Expensive Over-The-Counter Products? Here's An Inexpensive, Effective Solution. Everywhere you look there are products for whitening teeth. You could spend a fortune on products you have to use everyday. This tutorial will show you a natural, inex ...more
There's a lot that goes into making a nice crystal radio set, so this is going to have to be broken down into two parts. The first part is the actual making of a functional radio, and the second part is making the whole arrangement look nice. In this part, I'm actually going t ...more
McDonald's is probably the most recognizable fast food chain in the entire world, with over 34,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. In may not be the healthiest place to get a meal, but like millions of kids in America, I grew up on McDonald's unquestionably delicious p ...more
Think of the coolest, most unique way to create art that you can. Got it? Now think about creating that art out of living things. The American Society For Microbiology (ASM) holds an annual art contest, but it's no ordinary art they look for. The ASM looks for agar art, which ...more
Nintendo set the internet ablaze Wednesday night with two big announcements. First, Nintendo revealed that the Switch's paid online service will begin in September (boo), but it was the other report that really got fans excited — Mario Kart is coming to your iPhone. The news ...more
The year 2018 was a rough one for Snap, the company behind the Snapchat app and the Spectacles wearable camera device. From executive departures to reports of slowed user growth, the company that once spurned Facebook's multibillion-dollar advances is now facing a moment of tr ...more
If there ever was a day to eat green candy, St. Patrick's Day would be it. But is there something better than the banality of green candy swarming the streets on St. Patty's Day? Yes—glowing green candy, and Instructables user BrittLiv wants us to show you how it's done. She ...more
Fire. It’s everywhere— always has been. From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene. Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, i ...more
This video shows how sublimation works. The instructor shows how to mix bubbled water, ice water and dry ice to create dry ice smoke. He is essentially making a hand made fog machine. This task must be done carefully because if the solution is isolated and concealed it will bu ...more
In this video, you'll see how and why wax can be a deadly. This is how it works,When the test tube is submerged in cold water, the glass forms tiny cracks. The Water enters gets into the tube and vaporizes causing a micro explosion. The hot wax is then ejected from the tube qu ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make "hot ice". Begin by adding water into a pan and heat it until it’s simmering, but not boiling. Add the sodium acetate to the water. Keep adding the sodium acetate until the water cannot dissolve it anymore. Stir constantly. Now ...more
Turn your kitchen into a science lab with this egg-tastic science experiment, which turns a shelled raw egg into a bouncing translucent ball. It's one of the simplest tricks of all time, and all you need is a raw shelled egg and some vinegar. Video: . Let the egg soak in the v ...more
Requirements: 2 soft drink bottles, 2 or 3 balloons , screwdriver. First take the balloon and check the balloon. Push a deflated balloon in to each of the bottles and stretch the open end over the bottle's mouth to seal the bottle. And push the air into the mouth seal of the ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a mirror silvering solution from silver nitrate, ammonia, sugar, and sodium hydroxide. Glass surfaces can be given coatings of silver that make them into mirrors. WARNING: Perform the whole science experiment in ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make an erupting volcano with soap. Begin by adding some vinegar into a flask/baker. Then add some soap into the vinegar and stir it by shaking the flask/baker. Users may choose to add some food coloring to make the mix look more li ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make "hot ice". Users will need sodium acetate. Begin by putting the sodium acetate into a pan. Add a small amount water to the sodium acetate. Heat the mixture on a stove until the sodium acetate has dissolved. Pour the solution in ...more
Learn how to make liquid sculptures from a hand warmer in simple steps. First buy an instant reusable hand warmer which has sodium acetate in it and keep it ready. Now use 4 packets of the hand warmer and stir them out with water. Transfer them to a bottle and keep it aside. T ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make sodium silicate from drain cleaner and gel beads with Dr. Lithium. See how to make the sodium silicate from drain cleaner and those little gel beads you find packaged with electronic items for humidity control. ...more
You may remember the recipe for a basic non-Newtonian fluid from grade school science experiments (one part water to one and one third part corn flour or cornstarch), but those trials probably stopped at squeezing the mixture in your hands. While a regular fluid's viscosity wo ...more
Packaged macaroni and cheese dinners can be a quick, guilty pleasure, but making the real thing can be easy, too. This is the perfect recipe for a rainy day (and great for kids on spring break!) Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ingredients 2 cups macaroni nood ...more
Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science. Watch ...more
We all know what elephant toothpaste is, but what's the best way to make this massive growing foam? Dr. Lithium from NurdRage has answers. He'll show you the best way to reproduce this chemical reaction to get the best foaming action! This is a classic science class demonstrat ...more
Hot ice is a very cool experiment. This is a recipe for homemade 'hot ice' that mimicks the sodium acetate one but only requires simple ingredients! This tutorial shows you how to make an exothermic reaction creating hot-ice, easily done at home. You Will Need: *1 Liter Vineg ...more
It's a stormy winter night, and you're electricity goes out. You could grab some candles to add a little light to your life, or you could use glow-in-the-dark chemicals for a cool luminescent. Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a luminescent, phos ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make a desiccator bag for drying chemicals with Dr. Lithium. The complete guide to making a desiccator bag for thoroughly drying hygroscopic chemicals. Some chemicals are hygroscopic, meaning they absorb water from th ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make fire 4 ways without matches by using chemistry, without matches or lighters. WARNING: These experiments are for educational purposes only and are not meant to be repeated. First, a small mount of potassium perma ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to restore silver with electrochemistry. You can restore old silver with aluminum foil or a battery by simple electrochemistry. Old silver is often tarnished by a thin layer of silver sulfide that appears as a brown colo ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make silver chloride for a photochemistry test. They show the chemistry of photography using silver chloride that they make themselves from table salt and silver nitrate. Silver chloride has the interesting property t ...more
Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science. Watch ...more
One of the most famous and repeated chemistry experiments involves money. Some would say this is more of a trick than an experiment, but you can be the judge of that. No one can just turn pennies into silver or gold coins, but someone with a few chemicals can. So, if you want ...more
Watch this science video tutorial from Nurd Rage on how to make potassium permanganate with Dr. Lithium with potassium nitrate and manganese dioxide. WARNING: This experiment deals with very high temperatures in glass equipment. Face shields and protection against shattering ...more
Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science. Watch ...more
This extensive video series is all about making your own simple steam engine and boat, which is known variously as the "putt-putt" or "pop-pop" boat. Science Toy Maker gives the full details on making your own homemade steam engine model boat, which is similar to the one seen ...more
This video illustrates how to do a "free fall" experiment to understand orbits. Here are the following steps: Step 1: First of all take a weighing scale and stand on it and then just measure your weight and then jump over and see where the needle will move it will show zero a ...more
When he's not taking orbital videos of Earth's auroras, NASA Astronaut Don Pettit is experimenting with water in zero gravity. He's already shown us how water droplets can orbit around knitting needles in a microgravity environment. Now he's playing with water again, this time ...more