Category Archives: Science

A second moon

Jet Propulsion Lab/NASA: Small Asteroid Is Earth’s Constant Companion.

“A small asteroid has been discovered in an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth, and it will remain so for centuries to come.

As it orbits the sun, this new asteroid, designated 2016 HO3, appears to circle around Earth as well. It is too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion, or “quasi-satellite.””

The picture of the orbit reminded me of my first (and second-to-last) programming project: During my first year of university I had to write a program that calculated orbits of a satellite influenced by the gravity of sun and earth, also known as three-body-problem. Even though I checked my work again and again, the stupid program wouldn’t turn out the right (periodic or chaotic) orbits, so I had to get an extension on the deadline for handing in the project. Took me two whole days to find the sign error.

And now you know why I hate programming. ;-)

Electric Train

Physics Girl: World’s Easiest DIY Electric Train.

These trains are so much fun! I’ve actually built one last year with students after I saw the instructions on a Swiss/German site that sells neodymium magnets:

Supermagnete.de: Der einfachste Elektrozug der Welt.

The hard part was finding copper wire without insulation, which doesn’t seem to be available in German hardware stores. If you try and build one, don’t be surprised if the battery runs out fast – it’s short-circuited by the coil, so the fun runs out after a short while.

If you need more inspiration, take a look at World’s Simplest Electric Train (2) by Amazing Science.

Glaubuli (2)

Deutsche Welle: Homöopathie – mit Zuckerkügelchen heilen? “Homöopathie verkauft sich gerne als Arzneitherapie. Das ist sie aber nicht, denn die Mittelchen entfalten keine spezifische medikamentöse Wirkung. Was ist es dann? Zehn Fragen und Antworten.”

Kommentar: Schluss mit dem Hokuspokus. “Ab diesem Donnerstag treffen sich in Bremen über 500 Ärzte zum 165. Homöopathie-Kongress. Dass Mediziner im 21. Jahrhundert noch immer solchen Aberglauben pflegen ist ein Skandal, meint Fabian Schmidt.”

Spiegel online: Esoterik: Homöopathen tagen unter wissenschaftlicher Schirmherrschaft. “In Bremen treffen sich Homöopathen zur Jahrestagung, Schirmherrin der Veranstaltung ist die Wissenschaftssenatorin der Stadt. Ärzte und Forscher protestieren.” Von Silvio Duwe.

Zu diesem Thema siehe auch mein Posting vom 6. April 2016.

Chemistry in the Kitchen

Serious Eats: How to Make Rich, Flavorful Caramel Without Melting Sugar by Stella Parks.

“Melting is a phase change that has no impact on chemical composition, like the transition from ice to water. […]
Thermal decomposition, on the other hand, is a chemical reaction that breaks down molecular bonds to produce new substances. […]
In fact, caramel is so unlike sucrose, C12H22O11, that its nature can’t be expressed by a single chemical formula. Instead, it’s a mixture of caramelan (C15H18O9), caramelane (C12H9O9), caramelen (C36H48O24), caramelene (C36H25O25), caramelin (C24H26O13), and over a thousand other compounds ‘whose names,’ one scholar lamented in 1894, ‘science seems to have invented in a fit of despair.'”

(Finally there’s a reason to learn organic chemistry. ;-) )

Harold McGee (of “On Food and Cooking” fame): Caramelization: new science, new possibilities.

“How does heat turn sugar into caramel? Heat is a kind of energy that makes atoms and molecules move faster. […]
That’s what I’ve thought for many years, along with most cooks and confectioners and carbohydrate chemists: heat melts sugar, and then begins to break it apart and create the delicious mixture we call caramel.
And we’ve all been wrong.”

Link via MetaFilter.

I think I will need to try to use caramelized sugar in shortbread, which I love. By the way, the secret to shortbread with that great crumbly texture is to substitute one of the three parts of flour with rice flour:

Shortbread:

Ingredients:
375g flour: 250g wheat flour, 125g rice flour
250g butter
125g sugar
vanilla aroma
pinch of salt (flaky sea salt works best)

Mix everything into a dough, don’t knead too much. Spread onto a baking sheet (23cm x 30cm) lined with baking paper and mark rectangles, pierce each rectangle twice with a fork. Bake for 50 minutes at 150°C (300°F), then cut into rectangles while still hot. The shortbread should have a little bit of color, but not too much.

Recipe found at German cooking/baking weblog Chili & Ciabatta and translated to English. See also here.