"What happens when you pump 20,000 joules into a watermelon?" rhetorically asks The Backyard Scientist. "Two words. Pink Mist." Read the rest
Spoiler: the watermelon explodes when you run 20,000 volts through it
Customs officers not fooled by marijuana disguised as watermelons
Three-thousand pounds of marijuana were seized recently at Pharr International Bridge on the Rio Grande. Customs and Border Protection report that the weed, disguised as watermelons, did not fool the sniffer dogs during inspection of a 1993 Thermo King tractor-trailer.
Read the restThe search resulted in the discovery of 390 packages disguised as watermelons. The packages contained a total of 3,000 pounds of alleged marijuana, which CBP reports is valued at approximately $600,092.
“Smugglers continue to be creative as they attempt to introduce illegal narcotics into our country,” said Port Director Efrain Solis Jr., Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry in a release. “Our frontline CBP officers’ experience, vigilance and attention to detail prevents the introduction of these dangerous drugs into our country.”
At around 500 rubber bands, the external pressure forces the watermelon to explode
At around 500 rubber bands, the external pressure forces the watermelon to explode. https://t.co/xqP5IXz9Ht pic.twitter.com/IpJ0TnE3Hr
— Cliff Pickover (@pickover) February 21, 2016
This is from Mental Floss' gallery of 15 cool science GIFs. I love this one:
When you notice that the air bubbles “fall down,” you’ll realize these divers are actually walking upside down on the underside of the ice on a frozen lake. This becomes possible when they inflate their gear with air, which increases their buoyancy and makes them go up. A little fine tuning, and they can simulate gravity upside down. They can do that as long as they have air in their bottles, because the water pressure around them is supporting their entire bodies from all sides.
