TV is Cool!

Monday 25 January 2016

Physicist Andreas Wahl risks life to prove physical law

Physicist Andreas Wahl knows that things rotate faster when they approach a central point. Therefore he is letting himself be dropped 14 metres towards the ground - only attached to a loose rope with a weight at the other end.

15 Year Old Trevor Sullivan waking up after his heart transplant

Trevor, age 15, waking up after his heart transplant on 11-13-15.
To follow his story join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeamTrevor/
#TeamTrevor

Arsenio Hall stands his ground against protesters; supports gay guests.

A group of protesters confront Arsenio during a taping of his show. He stands his ground, flabbergasted at the notion he would not feature a gay guest. Aired sometime in 1993/1994, I believe.

Arsenio Hall spoke about this incident back in 2013
"That legendary battle. That’s one interesting thing of coming back. I went through a lot of things, and now I get to do it in a different climate. When I analyze the Queer Nation battle now, I think about why it bothered me so much. It’s because I knew who I was. I knew a lot of my friends didn’t come to my defense when everyone was in the closet. I can give you 20 guests on my show in a month [who were gay], but they weren’t talking about it. Luther Vandross ain’t talking about it. He can’t at that time. Louie Anderson can’t then. Ellen can’t then. Rosie can’t then. They couldn’t even say, “Leave [Arsenio] alone!” Only that writer in New York, Harvey Fierstein [repeats Fierstein’s name in an incredible impersonation], was sitting on my couch and talking about issues. I had to let the world be what it is and catch up to the moment, but I knew what I was doing."

Atomic Trampoline

This amazing toy gives us an insight into the behaviour of metals at an atomic level!

There are two perspex tubes, and each has a circular lump of metal at the bottom. They appear pretty much identical. If you drop a ball bearing into the first tube, it falls onto the piece of stainless steel at the bottom, and it bounces a few times before stopping. The kinetic energy that it had originally has been dissipated. Some of it has been converted into sound - we hear the ball bearing hitting the metal. However there are other ways in which the kinetic energy is dissipated.

Most metals, including stainless steel, have a crystalline structure. This means that the atoms in the structure arrange themselves in an ordered manner, in which a small repeat unit called a 'unit cell' can be identified. This unit cell, which in some cases contains just several atoms, is repeated in all three directions, and in this way, the entire structure is built up. This unit cell description of a crystalline structure implies the atoms are arranged in perfect order, which is only true in an ideal solid. All crystalline solid structures contain missing atoms, called defects, impurity atoms of other elements, and misaligned planes of atoms called dislocations, or 'slip planes'. Because this helps the atoms to slide past one another, this is an important way in which energy is absorbed.

Now, drop a ball bearing into the other tube, and watch what happens. The ball bearing bounces back almost to the point at which is was dropped, and it continues to bounce for a considerable length of time. How is this happening?

On top of the lump of stainless steel is a disc of a metal alloy, called 'amorphous metal'. This alloy, which was discovered in 1993, consists of 5 metals - Zirconium, Beryllium, Titanium, Copper, and Nickel. The atoms in an amorphous material are not arranged in any ordered structure, rather they have a tightly-packed, but random arrangement. Amorphous materials are formed by cooling the liquid material quickly enough to prevent crystallization; the atoms do not have time to arrange themselves into an ordered structure. Liquidmetal® is an amorphous alloy (also known as a metallic glass) containing five elements, with the elemental composition is 41.2% zirconium, 22.5% beryllium, 13.8% titanium, 12.5% copper, and 10.0% nickel.

Because of the varying sizes of these atoms, and their random arrangement in the solid, there are no groups of atoms that can easily move past one another. Because there are no planes of atoms in an amorphous material, the atoms are gridlocked into the glassy structure, making the movement of groups of atoms very difficult. One consequence of this atomic gridlock is that some amorphous metals are very hard. Liquidmetal® is more than two times harder than stainless steel. However, besides being a very hard material, this amorphous alloy has a low elastic (or Young's) modulus. The combination of hardness and elasticity of amorphous metals gives them their unusual properties.

Competition: Win Romanzo Criminale: Season 2 on DVD

Romanzo Criminale: Season 2 will be released on DVD on 1st February and to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 2 copies on DVD to give away!

Synopsis:
A criminal known as 'Libanese' has a dream: to conquer the underworld of Rome. To carry out this unprecedented feat he puts together a ruthless and highly organised gang. Their progress and changes in leadership take place over twenty-five years, from the 1970's into the '90's, and are inseparably intertwined with the dark history of modern Italy: terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government.

Throughout these years Police Lieutenant Scialoja sticks to the gang's trail, trying both to bring them to justice and to win the heart of Dandi's girlfriend Patrizia. It's now 1981 and the Rome crew are in disarray: Libanese is in the morgue, full of holes, which sparks a race to find the killers and exact revenge before the police can make arrests. It also creates a power vacuum with Freddo and Dandi in the frame to be the new boss.

Win This:
Romanzo Criminale: Season 2 [DVD]

To enter all you have to do is answer this easy question...

Competition Closed

Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.