πday Friday

Pi was calculated to 1,241,100,000,000 decimals in 2002.

Reciting those digits at four digits per second would take almost 10,000 years.

Makes Top Men feel like celebrating.

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Briggs-Rauscher Reaction

You gotta love it when a couple high school science teachers do something in the 70’s to get a chemical reation named after them. The two read about some obscure chemical reaction discovered by a Russian in the 1950s and modifed a couple chemicals to produce a striking chemical oscillation. The oscillations normally continue for about ten cycles.

Top Men would like to note that non-biological chemical oscillations were not even thought to exist prior to the 1950s, and through the wonder of modern technology you can watch it before your very eyes.

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Periodic Chemical Bits

Top Men lament the fact that chemistry sets are a thing of the past. National security trumps childhood discovery. Homes will no longer be filled with the amazing odor of ignited sulfur.

Well at least we can provide this exhaustive, interactive, colorful periodic table of elements. Explore with bits, if you can’t get atoms. The temperature slider is interesting – look for gallium: metal that melts in your hand.

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Previous related Wohba links:
Prescription For Gallium

Sodium Acetate

Talk about versatile! Sodium acetate is not only used in those convenient hand warmers, it’s also the chemical that gives salt and vinegar chips their distinctive flavor.

Oh, and this video shows some amazing stuff you can do when you supercool it (to room temperature.)

Pi-ano

Top Men return from a brief respite from the rigors of Wohba

And what better way to jump back into the thick of it than this site that allows you to not just see the digits of pi, or even touch pi, or taste pi – but to hear pi.

Everyone sing along!

(Thanks Eleri)

—- Related —-
π-retic
One Big Pi

Water Falls?

Toss some water on a hot surface and the water will sizzle and evaporate. Toss it on a VERY hot surface and some of the water will evaporate and create a vapor-cushion on which the remaining water droplet will ride and move around the hot surface.

Okay that’s pretty basic and established so you ask, “What’s so Wohba about that?”

Now make the surface a super hot brass saw-tooth ridged staircase and the vapor cushion will seek the easiest escape route —UP— along with its piggy backing water droplet!

Here is the movie.

For more information check it out here.

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Previous related Wohba links:
Superhydrophobicity
Zero Gravity Research