Pointless ExperimentsPavlov's Frog writes: I once spent 20 minutes with my eyes closed to see what it was like being blind. I smashed my knee on the kitchen cupboard, and decided I'd be better off deaf as you can still watch television.
(
Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 24 Jul 2008, 12:00)
« Go Back
The burning fiverOur chemistry teacher once demonstrated the fantastical experiment whereby you soak a fiver in ethanol, and set it on fire. The ethanol burns below the combustion temperature of the cotton paper of the money, and the fiver remains intact.
We learnt two more things in that lesson.
1. Rob's polyester trousers are not the same as a five pound note.
2. When someone stands up with flaming trousers, their shirt catches fire.
Obviously, the error analysis on this experiment is extremely complex, but I am confident that a Nature paper will come out of it.
(, Mon 28 Jul 2008, 14:06, 2 replies)
The solutionis actually a 50:50 mix of ethanol and water.
Quite a nice experiment that.
(, Mon 28 Jul 2008, 14:18, closed)
Aaaaaaaaaah...That might explain the extreme combustion of trousers.
(, Mon 28 Jul 2008, 14:33, closed)
« Go Back