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Five years ago Brent Christensen thought it might be fun to build his kids an ice fort on his front lawn. Building such a fort wasn’t exactly a cinch, however, and he spent several winters perfecting the process for constructing what his kids came to call “the ice castle.”
Soon, locals were cruising by his house to gawk the icy mass …
Sometimes, after we have looked at something in a certain way for a really long time, we cannot see it any other way. Then someone with the stuff of genius comes along and reconceptualizes it and we say, “why didn’t I think of that!” Such is the case with the conventional four-stroke internal combustion engine. [...]
Have you ever wondered why internal combustion engines have been around, pretty much unchanged, since Henry Ford popularized them in the 1910s? Sure we’ve made internal combustion engines more efficient and less polluting, but the engine in the Model T has the same pistons, cylinders, spark plugs crank shafts and cam shafts found in every engine today. Why the longevity? Why the lack of change?
You Asked: What happens to water if it’s not allowed to expand when frozen? — Tony, Cut Off, La. Marshall Brain Answers: In nature, or in your kitchen freezer, water expands when it freezes. It gets about 9% bigger. This video gives you a dramatic demonstration of what happens when water freezes in a closed [...]
You Asked: How do ice breaking ships work? — Chris, Reading, Penn. Marshall Brain Answers: An ice breaking ship has three things that help it do its job. First, it has a high-strength hull that is able to crash through ice that can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) thick and then move it [...]
Good question – How do you train for Olympic speed skating?
by Marshall Brain | February 15, 2010
This is a really interesting video that shows how Apolo Ohno trains for Olympic speed skating competition: How They Train: Speed Skater Apolo Ohno See also: Unexpected equipment: US Speedskating: athletes answer fan’s questions: More info: – How Competitive Figure Skating Works – Inside Winter Games Technology – How Ice Rinks Work [[[Jump to previous [...]
Why do we breathe more rapidly when we get in very cold water?
by Marshall Brain | December 18, 2009
You Asked: Why do we breathe more rapidly when we get in very cold water? — Beristogenes, Denver, Colo. Marshall Brain Answers: Scientists aren’t sure why this happens because it makes no sense – it’s a leading killer of people who get immersed in cold water. But they do have a name for it. It [...]
I ran across an article in June 2009 edition of The Atlantic that opened my eyes to how the oft-ignored ice cubes can make or break a fabulous drink. The machine-generated pellets you’ll encounter behind most bars are often sub-par pairings because they’re porous and melt quickly. The chichi Chicago bar that the Atlantic writer visited offered eight different types of ice — chunk, shard, chipped, etc. — tailored for various spirits.
What makes some ice cloudy and some perfectly clear? Discover the answer and learn how to make your own batch of clear cubes in this HowStuffWorks podcast.
Brain freezes may be the result of a nerve center over the roof of the mouth. Learn more about brain freezes in this podcast from HowStuffWorks
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