Why Polymer Scientists Make Great Cooks
Okay, so my wife may disagree. However, the long chain nature of a lot of food products (i.e. their polymeric nature) allows us to at least understand the physics behind the behavior of food. Cooks have known the secret of thickening sauces and gravies with a fairly small amount of flour or cornstarch. A key […]
Rubber Band-based Air Conditioners?
A common science experiment is to have a student place a rubber band against their lips while rapidly stretching the rubber band. The student will feel the rubber band heat up. Rapidly relaxing the rubber band will result in the band cooling. What is happening is that in an unstretched state, the rubber molecules are […]