If you have a video camera, even a very simple one, and some things, then you can make something like the video below. This is why I love YouTube! When I was at Prep School I used an 8mm cine camera to produce similar animations with coloured pens. It took ages and had to be …
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Category:Just For Fun
Sparkly Things…
The video shows some footage of our fireworks display, bravely deployed by DCP and CS. The different colours are produced by different metal elements mixed in with the gunpowder. You can identify different metals from the flame colours they produce. This post here explains a little more about it. Many thanks to Caspar for filming …
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Now It All Makes Sense…
I don’t know about you but I find international politics a tricky thing to understand. Why don’t politicians make good decisions? Why aren’t we all a lot kinder to each other? Fortunately the nice lady in the video below explains it all in clear and easy to understand terms. .. Isn’t that better? It’s all …
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My Only Theory…
In science, the word theory has a very specific meaning. It refers to the best possible explanation for a collection of facts and observations; and then only after rigorous testing. Thus we have Germ Theory to explain certain types of disease; the Theory of Gravity to account for falling objects; the Theory of Evolution to …
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Marking Is Dangerous…
Gravitational Potential Energy…
One of our new toys is this rollercoaster design kit. Good old Amazon! The physics of rollercoaster design is fascinating. It is one of the few gravitational potential energy powered machines around and modern low friction bearings and computer design have meant that the initial store of energy is used in a highly efficient way. …
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More Incentives To Practise…
YouTube recommended a video to me because I had watched some nonsense or other and unusually it unearthed a gem. I love my rock music but I can be just as easily wowed by anyone performing in any field of endeavour where complete mastery is demonstrated. I was reminded of this today as my cricket …
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We’ve Been Building Rockets…
My favourite time of the summer term is when the scholarship exams are over, the Winchester entrances are done and Fifth Form and I can settle down to the important business of rocket building. The machines are black powder fuelled and reach 300 metres or so in a remarkably short time. They are sometimes constructed …
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Iron Man 2…
Can’t think what the science connection is here but the idea of a Sci-Fi blockbuster with an exclusively AC/DC soundtrack moves me deeply. This is the same line-up I saw at the Birmingham NEC in 1987, and they may be a little greyer now but they still know how to put on a show. Most …
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Too Much TED…
And another one. This chap’s name is Arthur Benjamin and he is jolly good at sums. When you have a spare 15 minutes watch his performance at TED below. Breathtaking!