Researchers solve mystery of odd behavior by droplets of food coloring (2015) • Hacker News Board

TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

teekert wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it would be nice if they just explained where the energy comes from and how it flows to drive this, imho the most interesting question. But I guess "a mystery" draws a bigger public. For me it just means frustration after watching the movie.

I guess it's a difference in the target audience. They're writing for the people who will look at it and exclaim, "oh, how beautiful deep and profound this Science is". Myself, I look at science articles with questions that boil down to "how can we make use of it to build something cool?". I look for explanations, even coarse, of what's going on - what are the critical conditions that need to be preserved for the phe…

I think you are right. These are marketing pieces, not journals. I do not think that's not bad at all. I am certain the journal article for this story satisfies demands of rigor.

But I like being able to take this piece to my 10 year-old who may focus her 5th grade science project on yogurt and getting her inspired to be curious about the fluids she plays with every day.

Re: Researchers solve mystery of odd behavior by droplets of food coloring (2015)

#14

Post by robk » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 7:00 PM UTC

lolc wrote: post #2

Brb buying propylene glycol! Turns out there are vape-shops that sell the glycol, the water, and the paraphernalia to mix them! There is some food coloring left from the last party. Will have to source some glass plates still :-)

You can do this with milk and liquid food coloring. Our kids do it at nursery school.

Re: Researchers solve mystery of odd behavior by droplets of food coloring (2015)

#15

Post by teekert » Fri, Nov 20, 2020, 8:18 PM UTC

xbar wrote: post #13

TeMPOraL wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's a difference in the target audience. They're writing for the people who will look at it and exclaim, "oh, how beautiful deep and profound this Science is". Myself, I look at science articles with questions that boil down to "how can we make use of it to build something cool?". I look for explanations, even coarse, of what's going on - what are the critical conditions that need to be preserved for the phe…

I think you are right. These are marketing pieces, not journals. I do not think that's not bad at all. I am certain the journal article for this story satisfies demands of rigor. But I like being able to take this piece to my 10 year-old who may focus her 5th grade science project on yogurt and getting her inspired to be curious about the fluids she plays with every day.

Exactly, I mean you can just add a small animation of how evaporation in 1 component is faster and pushes the two-bubble structure in one direction. It runs untill it gets too cold (endothermic reaction). Or something like that.. but correct ;)