More from Theodore Gray

Instant Kool-Aid is a Marvel of Technology
DIY

Instant Kool-Aid is a Marvel of Technology

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: The Fire Bird
DIY

Gray Matter: The Fire Bird

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: Big Bang Theory
DIY

Gray Matter: Big Bang Theory

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: Easy DIY Gunpowder
DIY

Gray Matter: Easy DIY Gunpowder

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: Fire In The Hole
DIY

Gray Matter: Fire In The Hole

By Theodore Gray

Video: They Sure Don’t Make Pyrex Like They Used To
DIY

Video: They Sure Don’t Make Pyrex Like They Used To

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: A Foil Boat Floating On An Invisible Sea
DIY

Gray Matter: A Foil Boat Floating On An Invisible Sea

By Theodore Gray

Video: Gray Matter Is Big in Japan
DIY

Video: Gray Matter Is Big in Japan

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: In Which I Set Myself On Fire
DIY

Gray Matter: In Which I Set Myself On Fire

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: In Which I Fully Submerge My Hand in Liquid Nitrogen [Video]
DIY

Gray Matter: In Which I Fully Submerge My Hand in Liquid Nitrogen [Video]

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: A Not-So-Sweet Surprise
DIY

Gray Matter: A Not-So-Sweet Surprise

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: DIY LEDs
DIY

Gray Matter: DIY LEDs

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: Batteries Out of Thin Air
DIY

Gray Matter: Batteries Out of Thin Air

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: Trapping Burning Gasses With a Thin Wire Screen
DIY

Gray Matter: Trapping Burning Gasses With a Thin Wire Screen

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: DIY X-Ray Photos
DIY

Gray Matter: DIY X-Ray Photos

By Theodore Gray

Gray Matter: The Hidden Uses of Everyday Explosives
DIY

Gray Matter: The Hidden Uses of Everyday Explosives

By Theodore Gray

A person using a grinder to create a spray of white sparks from a piece of a bicycle.
DIY

Gray Matter: An elemental recipe for creating great showers of sparks

By Theodore Gray

A person melting diamonds in a ring with a torch.
DIY

Gone in a flash: burning diamonds with a torch and liquid oxygen

By Theodore Gray

On the left, a steel washer and a small peace-sign earring made out of tin. On the right, a round, carved piece of metal that's a microturbine for a water pump.
DIY

Carve steel with salt water, electricity, and a tin earring

By Theodore Gray

A fish sculpture made out of mercury that's been frozen by liquid nitrogen.
DIY

Sculpting in solid mercury, with some help from liquid nitrogen

By Theodore Gray

Wolfram Co-Founder On Why Wolfram|Alpha Doesn’t Need to Kill Google
Science

Wolfram Co-Founder On Why Wolfram|Alpha Doesn’t Need to Kill Google

By Theodore Gray

An iPhone plugged into a battery made out of apples and pennies.
DIY

Gray Matter: Apple juice

By Theodore Gray

A hydrogen-filled soap bubble exploding when touched by a lighter.
DIY

Gray Matter: Blowing (up) hydrogen bubbles

By Theodore Gray

A black charcoal grill with its lid on, billowing flames. There's a vacuum cleaner attached to its underside.
DIY

Gray Matter: Making glass in a grill

By Theodore Gray

A piece of pure aluminum after being treated with muriatic acid, having changed color to blue, green, yellow, and red, with crystal-like patterns.
DIY

Gray Matter: Metal’s hidden treasure

By Theodore Gray

A .44-caliber bullet impact.
DIY

Make your own ammo

By Theodore Gray

A person using a metal cocktail stirrer to mix chlorine and hydrogen peroxide in a champagne glass. The liquid is foaming and glowing red-orange.
DIY

Gray Matter: Quantum physics in a glass

By Theodore Gray

A person breaking the tail of a Prince Rupert's glass drop, causing the entire piece to explode.
DIY

Gray Matter: Shattering the strongest glass

By Theodore Gray

A white man with graying hair and a straw hat standing in a steaming hot tub on a prairie in front of a canvas painted with palm trees.
DIY

Gray Matter: The instant hot tub

By Theodore Gray

A beverage can over a flame, with smoke nearby. The can contains liquid nitrogen boiling at -320 degrees Fahrenheit, and liquid oxygen is dripping off at -297 degrees. They burst into flame when they hit a burning paper towel.
DIY

Gray Matter: Flaming oxygen drops

By Theodore Gray

A 1-ounce bar of fine gold, with the Credit Suisse name on it.
DIY

How to make convincing fake-gold bars

By Theodore Gray

O’Reilly Introduces Mathematica-based Online Math Classes
Science

O’Reilly Introduces Mathematica-based Online Math Classes

By Theodore Gray

A propane torch blowing gas onto a catalytic converter, heating the ceramic red-hot.
Climate Change

Gray Matter: Fire without flame

By Theodore Gray

A person grinding real titanium against a grindstone, producing white sparks, and also grinding steel, producing yellow sparks.
DIY

Gray Matter: Titanium or plain ol’ steel?

By Theodore Gray

Colorful flames on wood.
DIY

Gray Matter: How to make colored fire

By Theodore Gray

Burning steel wool against a green background.
DIY

Gray Matter: Burning metal

By Theodore Gray

Clockwise from bottom left: white sodium acetate crystals, a pile of raw white sodium acetate, and a person wearing black gloves pouring a white bottle of water into a lump of solid white sodium acetate.
DIY

Gray Matter: Transform hand warmers to liquid ice sculptures

By Theodore Gray

The blue flame of a blowtorch heating up a block of quicklime.
DIY

Gray Matter: How to make a lamp out of lime

By Theodore Gray

A pie of sticks above a pile of yeast, a pile of cane sugar, and a pile of cornmeal, on a blue surface.
DIY

Gray Matter: Make your own ethanol

By Theodore Gray

From left to right: A person wearing blue gloves pouring a glass full of acid into a strainer over a sink to catch a penny; a glass of acid with a penny in it; a person wearing blue gloves filing a penny on a file atop a white surface.
DIY

Gray Matter: Pretty penny

By Theodore Gray

A spinthariscope.
DIY

Gray Matter: Atoms and eves

By Theodore Gray

Five drinking glasses filled with clear liquid on top and blue liquid on the bottom, linked together to create a gravity-cell battery.
DIY

Gray Matter: A tall glass of juice

By Theodore Gray

A periodic table poster.
DIY

Gray Matter: An elemental fascination

By Theodore Gray

An explosion of fire and smoke creating table salt to season a bag of popcorn in a lab.
DIY

Gray Matter: Making salt the hard way

By Theodore Gray

A bowl of mercury with a wire connected to a battery hanging from a hook and rotating around a magnet in the mercury.
DIY

Gray Matter: Playing with poison

By Theodore Gray

Ice cream made with a fire extinguisher in a goblet next to a napkin and a spoon, with dry ice vapor all around.
DIY

Gray Matter: Dry ice cream

By Theodore Gray

Heavy ice cubes at the bottom of a glass of water, and regular ice cubes floating on top.
DIY

Gray Matter: Ice capades

By Theodore Gray

A model rocket with a red body and gold tip and fins, with flames coming out the back, against a black background.
DIY

Gray Matter: Rocket food

By Theodore Gray

A person holding a paint roller with a roll of paper towels on it and using it to spin nylon thread out some some chemicals in a wine glass.
DIY

Gray Matter: Stir up some nylon

By Theodore Gray

A T-shaped wing nut with bulbs of chromium on it, flanked by two other clumps of chromium.
DIY

Gray Matter: Nickel growing in trees

By Theodore Gray

A person wearing white work gloves striking a match on a light brown surface against a blue background.
DIY

Making a perfect match

By Theodore Gray

A tungsten lightbulb burning in a lab, with helium pumped into the makeshift bulb.
DIY

Make your own lightbulb

By Theodore Gray

A person purifying silicon in a glass bowl. Top: burning magnesium in a mushroom cloud of white smoke; middle top: burning hydrogen as a flame; middle bottom: burning silane gas as white bursts; bottom: falling silicon particles.
DIY

Making silicon from sand

By Theodore Gray

A person using batteries to anodize a titanium birdhouse.
DIY

Titanium in technicolor

By Theodore Gray

Graphite bullet molds and silver bullets that won't fire.
DIY

Calling Van Helsing

By Theodore Gray

A number of objects covered in gold, including a baseball.
DIY

Make everything golden

By Theodore Gray

A person pouring an indium alloy into a spoon mold.
DIY

Gag with a spoon

By Theodore Gray

A wardrobe from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with sulfur inlay.
DIY

The worst way to inlay

By Theodore Gray

The name of the Gray Matter column. Text.
DIY

Grow crystals in a cup

By Theodore Gray

The Amazing Rusting Aluminum
Aviation

The Amazing Rusting Aluminum

By Theodore Gray

From left to right: a pile of white aluminum powder and a power of black magnetite powder; a crucible over a heat source; thermite burning; a solid welded T-handle on a bolt.
DIY

Making steel with beach sand

By Theodore Gray

Patent Nonsense
Science

For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation!

By Theodore Gray

Top left: a person using a magnet to pull magnetite grains out of sand. Top right: a person using a smaller magnet to pull more magnetite grains out of finer sand. Bottom left: three lines of sand and magnetite of varying purity. Bottom right: magnetite grains on a piece of paper with a magnet underneath, with the grains showing the lines of the magnetic field.
DIY

Uncovering a natural (magnetic) attraction

By Theodore Gray

A furnace made out of white firebrick with a tungsten rod in the center.
DIY

Melting the unmeltable

By Theodore Gray