We rely on hard drives to store our data for us and we use them every day, but have you ever wondered just how they were made? This video, courtesy of How it’s Made, shows you how a hard drive is put together from start to finish.
Science
How Much does a Cloud Weigh?
How much does a cloud weigh? How about a Hurricane? I have spent a fair amount of time looking into the sky and watching clouds pass and trying to figure out which ones look like unicorns and which ones look like t-rex, but have you ever thought about how big they are? Sometimes, we see thunderstorms build up into massive towers that flatten out as they push up miles into the sky, and I have always wondered how much water is really up there.
Have you ever wondered how much all of that water weighs? Well, whether you have or not, NPR helps answer that very question in this great video.
Stunning Photo of a Meteor Flying Through the Aurora
The aurora was on and off all night, but at 11:10pm just as everyone else was packing up their camera gear, the green glow in the sky intensified. Bileski began snapping some shots with her Nikon D800 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, with settings at f/3.2, 8s, and ISO 800.
Suddenly, during one of the 8-second exposures, there was an intense streak of light in the sky and bright green flashes. It was a meteor that had broken up in the atmosphere, and Bileski captured the whole event as the photo above.”
Thanks to NASAWatch.
View of a Mach 1000 Shock Wave
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K. Eriksen et al.; Optical (starry background): DSS
This incredible image is of a remnant of the supernova Tycho, which blew up long ago. Supernova remnants are often able to be seen hundreds of years after the initial explosion because of a reverse shockwave that occurs.
This reverse shockwave is created when the outwardly ejected material of the supernova explosion creates sort of a backward current or backwash of material that heads inward at speeds up to mach 1000 or 1000 times the speed of sound. This material then begins to heat up to the point where it begins to emit X-rays, and that’s what you see here in the image above. This image is from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics where you can read more about this particular image.
We wouldn’t be able to study ancient supernova remnants without a reverse shock to light them up,” – Hiroya Yamaguchi
Draw Circuits With a Pen
Creating basic circuits by hand is the best way to learn about how electronics work and using a breadboard has traditionally been the best way to do this, at least until now. Circuit Scribe is a kickstarter project that features a cool new ball point pen that uses a conductive silver ink which is perfect for drawing simple circuits. Utilizing just a Circuit Scribe pen, piece of paper, and a few electronic components like a LED light or a small motor, you can create just about any small project that you can imagine. This catchy idea has already pulled in $260,000, which is far beyond the set goal of $85,000.
This pen would make a great tool for children to use in the classroom to learn about simple circuits and there’s even a Classroom kit that includes 10 basic kits and a activity book. You can also buy just one basic kit for yourself to see what you can come up with. You can also get two larger kits, the Maker Kit and Developer Kit.
Each kit includes the Circuit Scribe pen which can be purchased separately for $20.
Here’s what’s in the Basic Kit (Cost $30):
- 2 LED Boards each with two (2) LED lights attached
- 2 Coin Batteries
- 9V Battery Connector
- 2 PIN which you can add Resistors, Capacitors, and Switches to
- Slide Switch
- Jumper Stickers
- BJT NPN Transistor
Maker Kit ( Cost $50):
- Includes Basic Components
- Maker Notebook
- RGB LED
- Photo Sensor
- Sound Buzzer
- Potentiometer
- 8 PIN ( NAND Logic Gate, 555 Timer, OP AMP)
- Stencil
- 9V Battery
Developer Kit ( Cost $100):
- 2 Basic Component Kits
- Maker Notebook
- 2 Sets of Maker Components and Developer Components
- 10 Magnetic Connection Cords
- USB Micro B Power Adapter
- Motor
- 2 DPDT Switches
- 10 DIY Solder Boards
