The Kid Should See This.

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There's just so much science, nature, music, art, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven't seen. It's most likely not stuff that was made for them...

But we don't underestimate kids around here.

Kid-friendly not-made-for-kids videos for all! Collected by Rion Nakaya and her three four year old co-curator.

Tip Jar: Curating this blog takes work! If you like the videos on this site, please support the science education projects that we've picked on DonorsChoose.org.

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The Pour Paintings by New York artist Holton Rower (grandson of Alexander Calder) are quite interesting looking at them from “above” — but the process of them being made is where the real fireworks are. Gravity has never looked so colorful!

Or has it?! Check out these poured paintings of urban landscapes by Amy Shackleton (with video).

via Open Culture.

Eske Rex’s Pendulum-Powered Drawing Machine immediately came to mind when I first saw Robert Howsare’s Drawing Apparatus. They both play off of the old spirograph-ish connection, however the pendulum-powered machine is fascinating because it’s using gravity (transferring back and forth between potential and kinetic energy) to power the drawing, vs. being motor-powered. Science + Art FTW!

From the upcoming Special Edition Ascent: Commemorating Space Shuttle DVD/BluRay a movie from the point of view of the Solid Rocket Booster with sound mixing and enhancement done by the folks at Skywalker Sound.

Why this video is great: shot in real time, a good look at the shuttle’s heat-absorbing ceramic tiles, the super-unique and riveting perspective of the booster, and the sounds! (I just wish I knew how “enhanced” the sound was from the original… it is such a powerful component of the storytelling.)

via Kottke.

The Archimedes Marble Rollercoaster was built in 1990-91 by Mark Schutte. It is made of balsa wood and with the exception of the ball-bearing lift in the back, uses gravity to propel the ride. Great stuff!

via The Awesomer.

How our Earth and solar system were formed, from The Universe With Stephen Hawking - The Story of Everything. (Narrated by Stephen Hawking and Benedict Cumberbatch.)

Have the kids seen W.T. “Wally” Wallington yet? He’s a retired carpenter who believes he knows how Stonehenge was built. With 35 years experience in construction under his belt, he’s been practicing how to move 300 lb blocks… 1600 lb blocks… 1 ton blocks… massive barns… all by himself! Wally has been working on building his own Stonehenge at his home in Michigan using no machinery — just his engineering techniques using structures of sticks, stones, and his favorite tool: gravity!

The Gravity Stool thanks its unique shape to the cooperation between magnetic fields and the power of gravity.

Departing from the idea that everything is influenced by gravitation, a force that has a strongly shaping effect, Jólan intended to manipulate this natural phenomenon by exploiting its own power: magnetism. The positioning of the magnetic fields in the machine, opposing each other, has largely determined the final shape of the Gravity Stool.

It is the combination of the magnet machine with the plastic material, developed especially for this purpose, that enabled Jólan to start a small but efficient chain of production. The forms and products are characterized by the freakisch and organic shapes that are so typical of nature itself.

Thanks, @wizzyrea.

Neodymium magnet + copper pipe = magnetic damping:

When a magnetic field moves through a conductor a current called an Eddy current is induced in the conductor due to the magnetic field’s movement. The flow of electrons in the conductor creates an opposing magnetic field to the magnet which results in damping of the magnet and causes heating inside of the conductor similar to heat buildup inside of power cords. The loss of energy used to heat up the conductor is equal to the loss of kinetic energy by the magnet.

One note of caution if you decide to try this, these magnets are not for unsupervised children. In fact, everyone should be careful: 

Neodymium magnets larger than a half inch are very strong and should be handled with extreme care since they can be dangerous… It is best to stick with neodymium magnets of quarter inch diameter or less.

via Stellar.io. 

Flying Frogs! Sort of… The short answer is that living things — even humans — can levitate when a ridiculously strong/large magnet is used to repel the frog’s atoms’ magnetic fields. 

Here’s a more in-depth explanation, edited down here: 

…all matter in the universe consists of small particles called atoms and each atom contains electrons that circle around a nucleus. This is how the world is made. If one places an atom (or a large piece of a matter containing billions and billions of atoms) in a magnetic field, electrons doing their circles inside do not like this very much. They alter their motion in such a way as to oppose this external influence.

As you probably saw many times when playing with magnets, magnets push each other away if you try to bring together their like poles, for example, two north or two south poles… 

In this field, all the atoms inside the frog act as very small magnets… One may say that the frog is now built up of these tiny magnets all of which are repelled by the large magnet. The force, which is directed upwards, appears to be strong enough to compensate the force of gravity (directed downwards) that also acts on every single atom of the frog.

So, the frog’s atoms do not feel any force at all and the frog floats as if it were in a spacecraft.

More levitating things: a grasshopper and a strawberry.

Thanks, DJ!

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