Meet PopSci's resident mad scientist Theodore Gray, master of concoctions and combustions
Posted 01.21.2008 at 2:00 am
3 Comments
by Jeff Sciortino
Jeff Sciortino
Periodic Table: And be sure to check out Theodore Gray's one-of-a-kind periodic table at periodictable.com.
Each month, Popular Science features one of Theodore Gray's DIY (if dangerous) experiments. See the whole list here.
2006
January
Making a Perfect Match
How do you create a mixture that can easily burst into flames, but only when you want? Just use one of the most unstable mixtures on Earth, plus Elmer's glue
March
Save a Snowflake for Decades
Create a lasting cast of nature's perfect crystals with a drop of chilled superglue
April
Nickel Growing in Trees
Electroplating makes bumpers shiny and rustproof. It also makes these beautiful bits of industrial waste
May
Stir Up Some Nylon
As one of the first synthetic materials ever made, nylon changed fashion—and the world. Now you can make thread yourself by pulling it from a glass of chemicals
June
Rocket Food
Want to see a real sugar high? Launch a model rocket with Oreo cookies
July
Ice Capades
Ice is supposed to float, but with a little heavy water, you can make cubes that sink
August
Dry Ice Cream
Skip the fancy ice-cream maker—all you need is a pillowcase and a fire extinguisher
September
Playing With Poison
Mercury used to be lots of fun—before we knew that it could kill you. Here's how several pounds of it made the first electric motor spin
October
Making Salt the Hard Way
Sodium + chlorine = your favorite popcorn condiment (and lots of smoke and fire!)
2007
February
A Tall Glass of Juice
Power your stuff like it's 1899 by building your own liquid battery
June
Atoms and Eves
Before lava lamps and laser light, all you needed for romance was some radioactivity
July
Pretty Penny
Turn your cheapest coins inside out using some hardware-store chemistry
August
Make Your Own Ethanol
Brewing your own fuel is easy—it's also dangerous and potentially illegal
September
How to Make a Lamp out of Lime
Create a superbright spotlight just like the stagehands of old: with a blowtorch and a hunk of quicklime
October
Transform Hand Warmers to Liquid Ice Sculptures
The mysterious material inside hand warmers "freezes" almost instantly
November
Burning Metal
Send steel up in flames—as long as it's in wool form
December
Plate Your 'Pod
How do you keep the back of your iPod clean? Sandpaper and electricity
2008
January
Titanium or Plain Ol' Steel?
Cut through titanium-marketing hype—take a grinder to your stuff
February
Fire Without Flame
Precious metals in your car burn up the dirty exhaust, with no flame to be seen
March
Trap Lightning in a Block
To create beautiful electrical-charge patterns like this, you could use a giant particle accelerator. But shag carpeting will also do just fine. Watch how Lichtenberg figures are made in our amazing video
And for Theodore Gray's one-of-a-kind periodic table poster, head to periodictable.com/posters
Want to read more articles like this, plus tips and tricks, home hacks, DIY projects, and more? Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!
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Very cool! Thanks for posting these articles ... I'll use them in my high school chem classes.
Who is gray
Speeding
Where can I get the blocks?
I agree, this is a evden eve nakliyat very cool experiment. As to how long evden eve the acrylic can hold the image, permanently. If you mean nakliyat how long the lightening flashes, I would imagine until the block is grounded, the flashes would persist.
I would imagine evden eve nakliyat that on could generate a fair amount su deposu of income selling these su deposu Lichtenberg figures.
1 out of 1 people estetik found this comment helpful ankara nakliyat
there are many nakliyat lichtenberg figures estetik on the ice near my ankara nakliyat home and they are not drain holes. They are merely the first places that the sun melts the ice,
evden eve usually caused by something evden eve nakliyat dark at the center which heats up and starts the melting. I have 40mg of pix if pop sci is interested.
Cool and beautiful!
How long could the bock trap the lighting ?
0 out of 0 people found this comment helpful
very nice blogs.
thanks.
very nice blogs.
thanks.
Some Articles bring back a lot of Nostalgia. My dad is a Chemistry Teacher at my home town's High School. The Gray Matter article the March 2009 issue of Popular Science was one that brought back a lot of fond memories for me. In stead of using Hydrogen and Oxygen bottles for the experiment of Explosive Bubbles mentioned in the article, dad used the gas lines meant for the Bunsen Burners that went to his fumigation hood. All he needed was bubble solution, a rubber hose meant for a Bunsen Burner, a clamp, and a lit candle taped to a broomstick.
He turned the gas on while clamping the rubber hose. Then he dipped the open end of the rubber hose into the bubble solution and lit the resulting bubble while it floated in the air (which looked like a standard blown bubble by the way). This in turn created a small fireball that almost reached the sealing of his classroom (I can still see slightly charred marks just next to where the fumigation hood meets the ceiling).
My father always showed me this one when ever he could. I have seen the experiment since Kindergarten and it has always been my favorite. Thank you Popular Science for reminding me of such a fond memory by publishing that Gray Matter article for March 2009.