Ice Cream Ball - Play & Freeze Maker

How to make ice cream in this clever contraption.

Just when you thought making ice cream was old hat, someone comes out with a cool contraption that makes you work for your dessert. With the Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker, there's no need for electricity. Just add ice and rock salt in one end and ice cream mix in the other end--then have a ball as you shake it, pass it, or roll it. The ice cream mix can be as simple as cream, sugar, and vanilla, but the footwork on the ball is all you.

Materials

The Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker comes in two sizes - standard and mega. You'll also need the ingredients to make ice cream. Here's the basic vanilla recipe...

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream

• 1 pint of Half & Half*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar
• Ice
• Rock salt

*Using whole cream makes a richer, creamier ice cream. Using part milk and Half and Half makes a lighter ice cream, but takes longer to freeze. Yield: about a pint of smooth and creamy ice cream.

Experiment

1. Fill the ice end with as much ice as possible and then add 1/2 cup of rock salt. (MEGA: Add 3/4 cup of rock salt).
2. The lid should be hand tightened - do not use the wrench! Mix up your ice cream ingredients in a container, then pour the mix into the end with the metal cylinder, leaving about an inch for expansion at the top.
3. Hand tighten the lid. Have a ball! Shake, roll, and pass it around as you mix and freeze the ingredients. It's not necessary to shake the ball...just motion will do it! After about 10 minutes (15 for the MEGA ball) open the ice cream end using the included plastic wrench.
4. Scrape the sides of the cylinder to mix up the ice cream using a plastic or wooden spoon (don’t use a metal spoon as it will scratch the cylinder). Then check the ice end.
5. Pour out the excess water and add more ice and up to 1/3 cup more rock salt to enhance the freezing ability. Close the lids securely and continue having a ball for approximately 5–10 more minutes. (15 for MEGA)

You now have about a pint (or quart for the MEGA ball) of delicious soft-serve ice cream. The consistency will vary based on the ice, your mix, the outside temperature, shaking frequency, etc. Once the ice cream is to the consistency of your liking, gently scoop it out, and enjoy!

How does it work?

What does the salt do? Just like we use salt on icy roads in the winter, salt mixed with ice in this case also causes the ice to melt. When salt comes into contact with ice, the freezing point of the ice is lowered. The lowering of the freezing point depends on the amount of salt added. The more salt added, the lower the temperature will be before the salt-water solution freezes. For example, water will normally freeze at 32 degrees F. A 10% salt solution freezes at 20 degrees F, and a 20% solution freezes at 2 degrees F. When salt is added to the ice, some of the ice melts because the freezing point is lowered.

Always remember that heat must be absorbed by the ice for it to melt. The heat that causes the melting comes from the surroundings (the warmer cream mixture). By lowering the temperature at which ice is frozen, you were able to create an environment in which the cream mixture could freeze at a temperature below 32 degrees F into ice cream.

source: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment

Color Mixing Wheel - Sick Science

Create a wheel that will show you color and color mixing in a new way

Our visual division here at Steve Spangler Labs loves the science of color mixing. We've mixed gels, fizzing tablets, and even different colored lenses together to get the secondary colors. We needed something new. So, we found an amazing way to combine scientific principles of physics with the visual science of color mixing. Our discovery isn't just visually spectacular, it's scientifically sound!

Materials

• White corrugated cardboard
• Pointed tip scissors
• Red, blue, & yellow markers
• String or yarn
• Safety glasses

Creating the Color Mixing Wheel

1. Trace a circle onto a piece of white corrugated cardboard. Try to get the circle to be between 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Use something like a cream cheese lid, sour cream lid, or pickle jar.
2. Cut the traced circle out using the scissors.
3. Trace 3 smaller circles on the cardboard disc. Try to make each of the circles equal in width. This will enhance the visual aspect of the experiment.
4. Draw a single line through the middle of the disc that spans the entire diameter of the disc. Each of the three circles in the disc should now be divided in half.
5. Color half of the smallest circle blue and the other half yellow. Color the middle circle half red and half yellow. Finally, color the largest circle half blue and half red.
6. Grab an adult for this step: Using the pointed tip of the scissors, place two holes in the cardboard disc. Make sure the holes are an equal distance from the center of the disc and are about 1 inch apart.
7. Use the scissors to cut a piece of string or yarn that is 4 feet long.
8. Thread the string or yarn through each of the holes in the disc and tie the ends of the string together. Make sure the knot you tie is reliable and able to withstand a substantial amount of force. You are going to be tugging pretty hard on it.

Performing the Experiment

1. Start by holding the string on both sides of the disc with your hands. Make sure the disc is as close to the center of the string as possible.
2. Spin the disc in a motion similar to a jump rope. This is a quick way to get the string wound up.
3. Once the string on both sides of the disc is twisted, pull the string tight to get the Color Mixing Wheel spinning. It might take a little practice to get it just right.
4. Once you have the hang of how the Color Mixing Wheel works, you'll be able to keep it going as long as you want.

Observations

You may have noticed that the colors you put on the Color Mixing Wheel were the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Once you started spinning the wheel, what did you notice about each of the three color circles on the cardboard disc?  What do you think makes this happen?

How does it work?

Let's start with the visual part of the experiment - color mixing.  The colors you put on the Color Mixing Wheel are the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow.  When you combine two primary colors you get the secondary colors: green, purple, and orange. Obviously, the individual colors on the wheel are not mixing. The color mixing that happens is due to the speed at which the wheel is spinning as the string twists it.  The colors are spinning at such a rate that your brain is unable to process them as the individual colors that are on the wheel.  Instead, your brain takes a shortcut and creates the secondary colors.
Now, why does the string continue to twist?  The answer lies in physics and, in particular, momentum.  Once you have the string twisted, pulling on each end causes it to go tight.  When the string is pulled tight, it wants to be completely straight.  In going straight, the string unwinds from itself and causes the disc to spin one direction.  But the string doesn't stop once it's unwound. It speeds past and gets twisted again.  The momentum from pulling the string tight keeps the disc spinning until all the momentum is gone. Then you pull the strings tight again and set the disc spinning in another direction.

source: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment

Top 20 Unique Facts

This list explores a variety of fascinating scientific facts that you probably are unaware of. Science is still a very mysterious subject so there are millions of trivial facts about it – this will be the first of many scientific fact lists in the future.

Facts 1 – 5



1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times
2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth
3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years
4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons
5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs

Facts 6 – 10

6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide
7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg
8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine
9. 65% of those with autism are left handed
10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles.

Facts 11 – 15

11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet
12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [ JFrater is planning to move there in the near future ]
13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air
14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor
15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur

Facts 16 – 20


16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life
17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground
18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade
19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours
20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/12/19/top-20-amazing-science-facts/

Eye Dropper Cartesian Diver

Is it mind control or just a clever science trick

Is it mind control or just a clever science trick? It's a classic science experiment using an eye-dropper, a soda bottle filled with water, and some great showmanship. Explore the science of Cartesian divers while amazing your friends with your telekinetic powers. Yeah, right!

This experiment is named after Ren Descartes (1596-1650), a French scientist and mathematician who used the diver to demonstrate gas laws and buoyancy.

Materials

• A plastic soda bottle with a cap
• A glass eye-dropper
• Water

Experiment:

1. Fill the plastic soda bottle to the VERY top with water.
2. Fill the glass eyedropper 1/4 full with water.
3. Place the eyedropper into the soda bottle. The eyedropper should float and the water in the bottle should be overflowing. Seal the bottle with the cap.
4. Squeeze the sides of the bottle and notice how the eyedropper (called a diver) sinks. Release your squeeze and it floats back up to the top. Squeeze again and observe the water level in the eyedropper (it goes up). Practice making the diver go up and down without making it look like you're squeezing the bottle. Amaze your friends with your ability to make the eyedropper obey your commands!

How does it work?

Squeezing the bottle causes the diver to sink because the increased pressure forces water up into the diver, compressing the air at the top of the eyedropper. This increases the mass of the diver causing it to sink. Releasing the squeeze decreases the pressure on the air at the top of the eyedropper, and the water is forced back out of the diver.

How to get Approval from Google Adsense in 48 Hours

This is my experience when trying to submit this blog to google adsense. It's too hard to get approved by google. But now, you can get approval easily.

Everyone like advertisements from google adsense for their websites because google adsense most popular than any advertisement internet services in the world and integration with google. Google adsense is a program which enterprises can display google advertisements on websites and earn revenue from hits that generate traffic for the google search engine’s.

The big problem from google adsense is about get approval. Google adsense only for websites or blog with specific terms like below:

1. English languange or other languange support by google adsense is a primary key for a website.
2. Must have unique contents and not duplicate from others website or using autoblog feature.
3. That’s website must running up to six months and not in “under construction”.
4. Must top level domain and not part domain.

That’s too hard and long for beginners to get approval from google adsense and maybe fifty-fifty to success. I have the best and quickly solution for thats problem with third-party sites like indyarocks.com and docstoc.com from my experience. In this tutorial only explain how to get approval 100% from google adsense with indyarocks.com. Indyarocks.com is a social networking similarly as facebook from india.

1. Click this link to indyarocks.com
2. Must register with your account e-mail from gmail.com and not from other e-mail services because its about strategy marketing from google.com.
3. Complete your profile up to 50% or 97% (recommended).
4. Upload 10 photos or more.
5. Write 2 or more blogs originally content with english language and don’t forget set visible to everyone and add related tags.

After you fulfilled all the requirements above, click “my life” at indyarocks.com and right sidebar write “Google Adsense” click and submit your request. You have received a mail from indyarocks.com with title “Google AdSense Access Verification for indyarocks.com” for complete verification and after that you should get google adsense mail with approximately 48 hours.

hope this tutorial can help you to get the Google Adsense.

Dry Ice Crystal Ball Bubble

It's the world's coolest crystal ball.

It's the world's coolest crystal ball. Create a soap film on the rim of the bucket and you'll have what appears to be a crystal ball filled with a cloud-like mixture of water vapor and carbon dioxide.

Materials

• Large bucket with a smooth rim
• Solution of dish soap and water
• A piece of cloth 18 inches long
• Gloves
• Safety glasses
• A few pieces of dry ice

Dry Ice - Grocery stores use dry ice to keep food cold during shipping. Some grocery stores and ice cream shops will sell dry ice to the public (especially around Halloween) for approximately $1 per pound. It's a good idea to take a beverage cooler with you along with a pair of gloves to protect your hands. If you are planning to perform a number of dry ice demonstrations, plan to purchase 5 to 10 pounds.

Experiment

1. Select a bucket or container that has a smooth rim and is smaller than 12 inches in diameter.
2. Cut a strip of cloth about 1 inch wide and 18 inches long (an old t-shirt works well). Soak the cloth in a solution of Dawn dish soap or use your favorite recipe for making bubble solution. Make sure that the cloth is completely soaked.
3. Fill the bucket half full with water. Have tongs or gloves ready to transfer the dry ice to the bucket.
4. Place two or three pieces of dry ice into the water so that a good amount of fog is being produced.
5. Remove the strip of cloth from the dish soap and carefully pull the strip across the rim. The goal is to create a soap film that covers the top. It also helps to have the rim wet before you start. This may take some practice until you get the technique mastered. Remember that a bubble's worst enemies are dirt, oil, and rough edges. Your patience will pay off in the long run.

If you accidentally get soap in the bucket of water, you'll notice that zillions of bubbles filled with fog will start to emerge from the bucket. This, too, produces a great effect. Place a waterproof flashlight in the bucket along with the dry ice so that the light shines up through the fog. Draw the cloth across the rim to create the soap film lid and turn off the room lights. The crystal bubbles will emit an eerie glow and you'll be able to see the fog churning inside the transparent bubble walls. When the giant bubble bursts, the cloud of "smoke" falls to the floor, followed by an outburst of ooohs & ahhhs!

source: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com

The Egg in the Bottle Trick

How to get the hard-boiled egg into the milk bottle.

Here's a classic science experiment that is more than a hundred years old and is guaranteed to fool your friends. The original demonstration used a hard-boiled egg and a glass milk bottle. Since old milk bottles are hard to come by, here's a modern day version of the same experiment, only this time we're using a juice bottle and a water balloon. For even more fun, try our "eggsclusive" upside-down version of the trick!

Materials

• A wide mouth juice bottle
• Hardboiled eggs
• Several strips of paper (2 x 6 inches)
• Matches
• A few balloons
• Water
  

Warning: This experiment requires the help of an adult partner. Don't just pick any adult... try to find a smart one!

1. Carefully fill the balloon with water so the balloon is about the size of a tennis ball. Tie it off. Make several balloons just in case the first one breaks!
2. Rinse out the bottle to remove any leftover, sticky, slimy stuff that might be in the bottom. Before going any further, make sure that the water balloon is slightly larger than the mouth of the bottle.
3. Here’s the challenge... Your job is to find a way to get the balloon into the bottle without breaking it. How are you going to do it? It’s important that you take a minute to test out some of your ideas before jumping ahead to read our solution. Keep trying! Once you've come up with your hypothesis, read on to find out our answer!
4. Start by smearing some water around the mouth of the bottle.
5. Have the adult light a match and set the strip of paper on fire. Quickly put the burning strip into the bottle. Be careful you don't accidentally burn your fingers.
6. Immediately cover the mouth of the bottle with the balloon. In just seconds, the balloon will start to wiggle around on the top of the bottle, the fire will go out, and some invisible force will literally “push” the balloon into the bottle. That’s amazing!

Now that you've mastered the trick, it's on to the next challenge. Can you get the balloon back out of the bottle? Use what you learned about air and air pressure to come up with a way to get the balloon back out. Here's a hint... Try sneaking a straw alongside the balloon when you pull it out. If the outside air can get inside the bottle, the water balloon will come out!
Try it with an egg!
Now that you've mastered the technique, repeat the steps above substituting a hardboiled egg for the water balloon. The trick here is to find an egg that is just a little bigger than the mouth of the bottle - medium size eggs work the best. The other little secret is to grease the mouth of the bottle with vegetable oil so the egg slides right in!
The Upside-Down Twist
All you need for this "eggciting" variation is a hardboiled egg, a bottle, several birthday candles, and a match.

1. Carefully hold the wider end of the egg in one hand and slowly push two birthday candles into the narrow end of the egg.
2. Light the candles (with the help of an adult) and sing happy birthday to the egg.
3. Turn the bottle upside-down and slowly move it into position above the flaming candles.
4. Allow the flames to heat up the air inside the bottle for just a few seconds and then place the bottle down over the candles. The candles will go out and with a "Pop!" the egg will squeeze up into the bottle.

Want to get the egg back out so you can do it again? Try this, if you dare... put your mouth over the mouth of the bottle and forcefully blow air into the bottle. The egg should pop back out of the bottle right into your mouth! Can it get any cooler than that? (Check out the video called Egg in the Bottle - Upside Down Twist.)

How does it work?

In the traditional version of the Egg in the Bottle Experiment, the burning piece of paper heats the molecules of air in the bottle and causes the molecules to move far away from each other. Some of the heated molecules actually escape out past the egg that is resting on the mouth of the bottle (that’s why the egg wiggles on top of the bottle). When the flame goes out, the molecules of air in the bottle cool down and move closer together. This is what scientists refer to as a partial vacuum. Normally the air outside the bottle would come rushing in to fill the bottle. However, that darn egg is in the way! The “push” or pressure of the air molecules outside the bottle is so great that it literally pushes the egg into the bottle.
In the Upside-Down Twist, the science is the same as the traditional Egg in the Bottle trick, but the whole thing is just inverted. It's a nice twist on a classic science demonstration.

source: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com

Buzkashi, The unique sport

Game of Buzkashi in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan

Buzkashi is the Afghan national sport. It is also a popular sport among the south Central Asians such as the Uzbeks, Hazaras, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Turkmens and Pashtuns. The Turkic name of the game is Kökbörü; Kök = "blue", börü = "wolf", denoting the grey wolf—the holy symbol of the Turkic people. Other Turkic names of the game are Ulak Tartish, Kuk Pari, Kök Berü, and Ulak Tyrtysh. Kökbörü is the most popular national sport of Kyrgyzstan. In the West, the game (Turkish: Cirit) is also played by Kyrgyz Turks who migrated to Ulupamir village in the Van district of Turkey from the Pamir region.

The carcass of a headless goat used in Buzkashi

Competition is typically fierce. Prior to the establishment of official rules by the Afghan Olympic Federation the sport was mainly conducted based upon rules such as not whipping a fellow rider intentionally or deliberately knocking him off his horse. Riders usually wear heavy clothing and head protection to protect themselves against other players' whips and boots. The boots usually have high heels that locks into the paddle of the horse to help the rider lean on the side of the horse while trying to pickup the calf. Games can last for several days, and the winning team receives a prize, not necessarily money, as a reward for their win. Top players, such as Aziz Ahmad, are often sponsored by wealthy Afgans.

A Buzkashi player is called a Chapandaz. It is mainly believed in Afghanistan that a skillful Chapandaz is usually in his forties. This is based on the fact that the nature of the game requires its player to undergo severe physical practice and observation. Similarly horses used in Buzkashi also undergo severe training and due attention. A player doesn't necessarily own the horse. Horses are usually owned by landlords and highly rich people wealthy enough to look after and provide for training facilities for such horses. However a master Chapandaz can choose to select any horse and the owner of the horse usually wants his horse to be ridden by a master Chapandaz as a winning horse also brings pride to the owner.

The game consists of two main forms: Tudabarai and Qarajai. Tudabarai is considered to be the simpler form of the game. In this version, the goal is simply to grab the calf and move in any direction until clear of the other players. In Qarajai, players must carry the carcass around a flag or marker at one end of the field, then throw it into a scoring circle (the "Circle of Justice") at the other end. The riders will carry a whip, often in their teeth, to fend off opposing horses and riders.

Buzkashi is often compared to polo. Both games are played between people on horseback, both involve propelling an object toward a goal, and both get fairly rough. However, polo is played with a ball, while Buzkashi is played with a dead animal. Polo matches are played for fixed periods totaling about an hour; traditional Buzkashi may continue for days, but in its more regulated tournament version also has a limited match time.

The calf in a Buzkashi game is normally beheaded and disemboweled and has its limbs cut off at the knees. It is then soaked in cold water for 24 hours before play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight. Players may not strap the calf to their bodies or saddles. Though a goat is used when no calf is available, a calf is less likely to disintegrate during the game.

A game of kokpar

Rules introduced by Afghan Olympic Federation

1. The ground has a square layout with each side 400 meters long.
2. Each team consists of 10 riders each.
3. Only five riders from each team can play in a half.
4. The total duration of each half is 45 minutes.
5. There is only one 15 minute break between the two halves.
6. The game is supervised by a referee.
7. Based on the referee's decision a rider can be substituted during the game.

A similar game is "kokpar", a traditional Kazakh game played on horseback in which two teams of players compete to carry a headless goat carcass into a goal.

Candiru, The Amazon's Most Feared Fish

Maximum Length: Up to 6 inches
The Amazon's Most Feared Fish: The Candiru is a terrifying fish, even when stacked up against its fellow river monsters of the Amazon. But this parasitic freshwater catfish does not instill fear by way of its monstrous size. On the contrary, it's small, eel-like and so translucent that it can be nearly impossible to spot in the water, which makes it even more terrifying. Some claim this fish is the most feared in the entire Amazon region, and the fear stems from the fact that it has a knack for finding open orifices and working its way inside. Once inside another organism, the Candiru feeds on its host's blood, becoming increasingly swollen. The Candiru is the star of an urban legend — which turns out to be true — of a man who was urinating in the Amazon River when a 6-inch Candiru swam up his urine stream into his penis. The fish remained there for days, until a surgeon was able to remove it. The Most Horrific Candiru: Perhaps the most horrifying Candiru species of all is the Candiru asu. This small catfish is a voracious parasite. It uses its circular mouth and sharp teeth to bite flesh and then enter organisms, leaving behind a wound that looks uncannily like a bullet hole. The Candiru asu proceeds to feed on the organs, literally eating its victim from inside. Human corpses have been discovered in the Amazon filled with more than 100 of these river monsters. Scientists and coroners have determined that the victims may have even been alive and simply incapacitated when the Candiru asu struck. In Jeremy Wade's Words: "The candiru usually targets a big fish as its host, drinking blood from its gills, but occasionally they make mistakes. This has resulted in one of the most infamous legends to emerge from the Amazon: a man urinating in the river who has a fish swim up his penis."