Last week, I got to do something that I truly enjoy.  I was able to go into my 4th grade son’s Elementary School class and do a couple of science demos.  Nothing fancy…just fun stuff. mix of 1 box of baking soda (NaHCO3) and vinegar (HOAc) – produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and a lot of ...

The internet is a voluminous source of health-related information, and with that it bestows upon the public the resources and untapped potential to self-diagnose. Simply enter your symptom(s) into a search engine and you will more than likely be met with a myriad of potential diagnoses from which to choose, which may, or may not, ...

Since I recently covered how instant hot packs work, it’s only appropriate that I delve into how the instant cold pack works.  You’ve seen these packs – like the one shown below.  It’s just an innocuous white bag, you squeeze the bag, something inside ruptures and then it gets quite cold (< 40 °F).  In ...

Ever seen the self-heating cans and/or camping food containers in EMS or other camping stores?  You have food in an inner chamber, something in an outer chamber, you pull a ring attached to the outer chamber, chemicals mix and the outer chamber gets hot heating the food in the inner chamber.  This is the same ...

This weekend I was at my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah, and I was confronted with hoards of helium-filled balloons sitting on each table as party favors.  My nephew managed to get a hold of some of these balloons, inhaled the helium and…well, you know what happens.  When you speak, you sound like Alvin from Alvin and ...

I thought I was done with my musings about water….but I spoke too soon.  As soon as I published my blog on why ice is lighter than water, I was questioned as to whether it’s possible to have ice be heavier than water.  The answer is yes…it’s a great trick to play on unsuspecting guests ...

As you can tell from the title, I’m still thinking about water and ice.  I have been meaning to expand upon a question/comment about my recent blog: Why Does Salting Melt Icy Roads?  One astute observer queries: Why does ice float on water?  It’s because ice is less dense (lighter) than water – and I ...

My twin Aunts Ethel and Bertha turned 66 years-old and their neighbor who used to live in California gave them colloidal Silver in a brown glass bottle. She had made it herself and told them to use it on whatever ails them. The lady was very serious about this watery liquid in a brown glass ...

In continuing with my water-themed blogs of late, I pose a question that my wife often asks me: how can I get my big pot of water where I’m going to cook pasta for dinner to the boil faster?  I usually tell her to take out a flame thrower and use it to apply additional ...

I got a very good question as a comment to a recent blog I wrote on how sodium chloride (table salt) melts ice: does salt raise the boiling point of water? Sounds crazy – an innocuous substance being able to lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point of the same liquid! Can’t be ...