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I went to a communications training course at the Royal Society a few weeks ago, and I've been meaning to share this video ever since. The training course was for people who will be manning stands at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in July (details in a forthcoming post). In addition to designing part of the exhibit on the Cluster mission, I'll be on the stand for most of the exhibition.
While on the course, I met a group whose exhibit will be about polymers. They brought along a few for us to play with, including a perennial favourite, sodium polyacrylate. This is the stuff used in diapers, as it can absorb 200-300 times its own weight in water. If you make a sphere of it and soak it overnight, it takes on all the optical properties of water. Therefore, if you drop it in a glass of water, it seems to disappear. Like so (YouTube video, 24 seconds):
The second video shows a section scan through my brain (YouTube video, 15 seconds). Ooer.
While on the course, I met a group whose exhibit will be about polymers. They brought along a few for us to play with, including a perennial favourite, sodium polyacrylate. This is the stuff used in diapers, as it can absorb 200-300 times its own weight in water. If you make a sphere of it and soak it overnight, it takes on all the optical properties of water. Therefore, if you drop it in a glass of water, it seems to disappear. Like so (YouTube video, 24 seconds):
The second video shows a section scan through my brain (YouTube video, 15 seconds). Ooer.
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