Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with experiment

How much more can we reasonably hope to learn from practical physics?

Joe Beese — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:35:57 -0800

How much more can we reasonably hope to learn from practical physics? To be clear, I'm not asking "Is it worth the cost?" or "What gadgets will we get out of it?"

Perhaps it will help to use a specific example. I'd like to know the ultimate fate of the Universe - not a matter of any great practical import. Could the $9 billion Large Hadron Collider tell us? (At least to the degree of certainty with which we have established the Big Bang.) Or would it take a $900 billion Super Enormous Hadron Collider? Or is it even determinable by any physical experiments we can presently conceive?

If TUFOTU is out of reach for budgetary or scientific reasons, then the question becomes: What can we hope to learn from any physical experiments within the realm of feasibility?

And how large an expansion of our current knowledge would those hoped-for discoveries represent? Would it only be sharpening the focus of a picture we've already more-or-less drawn? Or would it be filling in the "Here be monsters" part of the map for the first time?

Is practical physics already a poor relative to theoretical physics? Might the era of practical physics come to an end within the careers of today's graduate students?

Common characteristics of scientific fraud or misconduct

Mapes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:19:21 -0800

Article or book that discusses common characteristics of scientific fraud or misconduct? Several years ago I read an article, essay, or book chapter that listed common factors in many uncovered cases of scientific misconduct. One was that subjects typically acted alone; conspiracy was extremely unusual. Another was that researchers generally believed that the faked data represented the truth and would be confirmed if more time or resources were available.

Does anybody know what I was reading?

Where can I find a copy of a classroom discussion activity where you are forced to save 6-8 people in an apocalypse to start a new society?

jeisme — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:37:37 -0800

I remember doing a discussion activity/thought experiment in high school where we had to choose 6-8 people from a list (e.g. pregnant teen, scientist, priest, stay-at-home mom, doctor) to save in a nuclear apocalypse and justify our decision. There was a paper handout associated with the activity, and I'm pretty sure my teacher didn't write it himself, because I've talked to friends who've done the same thing in a different context (church groups, retreats, etc. ). I'm looking for a link to a copy of this activity, or a place where I'd be able to find it.

Help teach Boy Scouts about the scientific method.

Doug — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:02:12 -0800

Looking for ideas to help kids (2nd graders) learn the scientific method in a hands on way. A friend of mine is a cub scout leader, and the kids are set to earn the "Science Belt Loop." One of the requirements is to "Use the scientific method in a simple science project Explain the results to an adult." Any ideas for an experiment to set up for the kids that offers a good chance for them to work out the problem on their own? Whatever the experiment is the scout leader will provide all of the preparatory instruction, but wants something 'neat' that offers a good opportunity for the kids to figure out what tests need to be run, to run those tests, and then to draw conclusions. Also due to their age (2nd graders) it should be setup so that if the proper tests are done the answers wont be too ambiguous. Due to the openness of the requirement it can get a little in-depth (as necessary) into whichever field of science the experiment deals with (physics, chemistry, etc).

How can I update a textbox in a slide object in the middle of a loop in E-Prime?

scrutiny — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:34:37 -0800

Computer Coding: I'm trying to write an experiment in E-Prime that uses a Visual Analog Scale to allow subjects to bid on items. Basically, this means they move a slider with their mouse over a bar, and the position on the bar represents how much they are willing to bid. The thing is, they need to know what value the slider currently represents before they can actually bid, and I'm having problems getting the text to update with the cursor position. Now, if any of you out there are E-Prime gurus I could really use your help for this bit. I need to figure out how to update a textbox in a 'slide' object in the middle of a loop. I've also posted this question on the E-Prime forum and was basically met with crickets. I'm a decent (not great at all) programmer in some other languages so I've been picking this stuff up pretty fast, but I'm under a pretty tight deadline right now.

There's an example of the code available for download on the forum post, but I think you have to sign up to get it. If you use E-Prime and aren't on the forum, feel free to MeMail me and I'll send you a copy of the code.

Bill Nye should be a Mefite.

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:13:46 -0800

What are some simple experiments that help explain complicated phenomena? I was at a geology museum last year, and they had an exhibit where water slowly trickled down an embankment of sand. The path the water took was a seemingly random assortment of forks and zigzags. The accompanying placard read, "This is how Earth's rivers were formed over millions of years." The kid in me just went, "OHHHH!!"

When I was 7, my older brother challenged me to a bet of what would hit the ground first if dropped from the same height (a tie would mean I was wrong): a sandbag or a pen cap. I lost a dollar. Then two. Three. Then he offered to let me try. Four dollars. Five. I quit in frustration. Then came back when he left and kept trying for a half hour, and I thought I was going insane. When 3rd grade rolled around and we began learning about gravity in science class, I was well ahead of the curve, $5 poorer yet $5 wiser.

During Seder this year, my cousins were presented with the Monty Hall problem, and after at least 30 mins. of discussion, they still would not budge on the odds being 50/50. So I came up with this experiment. "I'm going to write down a number between 1 and 1 million. Try to guess it. Can we all agree that you have a 1 in a million chance of getting it right?" (Yes.) The guess was 23. "Alright, I'm going to eliminate numbers 1 through 22, 24 through 625,624, and numbers 625,626 through 1 million. Now would you like to stick with your original guess, 23, or switch your answer to 625,625?" Their eyes lit up. Well, at least three of them. My fourth cousin stubbornly stood by 23. I challenged her to try being the "host," and halfway through, it clicked, and she started damning herself.

What other interesting concepts or phenomena can be broken down in simple terms/experimentation?

Oh, how very random (or, how best to randomise my experiment)

doctor.dan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:50:54 -0800

Okay, here is my dilemma. I'm trying to get an experiment running in which I present a series of BMPs to my participants. After months of pain and suffering, I have finally tweaked a set of stimuli which work for me, so I'm swimming in around 3500 BMPs. But, since I can only torture my participants for an hour, I can only ask them to go through about 1200 of these BMPs, so I need some way to quickly and easily generate a selection of random BMPs from my bigger collection. Here is where my dilemma comes in. I can't use any stock-standard randomisation, because these stimuli are broken up into a variety of different conditions, and I want to keep the number of stimuli from each condition consistent (say, 30 items from each of 24 conditions). Now, for added fun, I want to, at will, be able to ignore certain conditions and the stimuli which fall within those and create a list of trials only using what is left.

I have tried to use the randomisation and loop functions within the experimental control software that I'm suing, but the problem is that you have to declare every BMP that could possibly be used. This means that the application tries to load 3500 BMPs into RAM, which, apart from being slow and redundant, is impossible on a 32-bit system.

This also leads into another impossible demand I have. I would love to be able to somehow manipulate the output, so that it is easier to transfer it into the experimental control program I'm using (Neurobehavioral System's Presentation, in case anyone is interested).

Mystery vials on lamp post.

lucidium — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:24:05 -0800

What are these odd little vials? They're zip-tied fairly high up to a lamp post on a main road, appear to be glass, and are about the size of a finger. They have small labels on them that are mostly hidden by the black arms.
Oddly, they don't seem to have a bottom at all, although as I couldn't get a close look they might just have a very thin bottom. I realise now I should have taken a photo from directly beneath as well, but I couldn't see anything obvious inside.

They seem far too small to be a rainmeter, which was my first thought. Some kind of pollution test perhaps?

This is in Greater London.

Thanks!

Bond angles

metastability — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:03:27 -0800

According to Wikipedia, the bond angle for water is precisely 104.45 degrees. How do they get that number? And how would one experimentally verify it? Is it just the result of some really long quantum mechanics calculation? Or is there an easier way to see it? And how do you design an experiment to measure it?

help my kid drop acid (on plants)

headnsouth — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:04:16 -0800

ScienceProjectFilter: What household chemicals can my son use to simulate acid rain for a science project? We need nonorganic acids that would remain in the soil like "real" acid rain (I'm assuming lemons and vinegar won't work because they'll break down). His control will be watered with neutral water, then he'll have samples to be watered with 5.6 pH, 4.9 pH, and 3.9 pH (I might not have those numbers right but you get the idea). He'll be logging the soil pH for three weeks.

Suggestions for nonorganic alkaline substances would be good too, in case we need them to get the pH just right. But mostly we need to create acid rain. I'm happy to shop at Home Depot for what we need, but I don't want to break the bank or buy huge lots of chemicals I'll never use again.

Also, battery acid is not an option, since another kid wanted to do a battery acid-related experiment & the teacher rejected the idea.

DISASTER!

backwords — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:34:13 -0800

I'm looking for science experiments about natural disasters... I'm a volunteer at an after school program for middle schoolers and I want to do some experiments with the students, but I'm only coming up with a few (tornado in a bottle, using playdoh to make earthquake faults). Any ideas for easy to set up, cheap to do experiments?

More forbidden experiments

Nonce — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:06:51 -0800

Point me to the great forbidden experiments of our (or any) time! I have read about various psychological experiments that were conducted in the past but now are considered unethical and will likely never be repeated. Examples of what I'm talking about include the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment.

I also can vaguely recall an experiment involving two rival children's summer camps, or perhaps two competing teams of children in one camp, that reminded me of the Stanford Prison Experiment.

These experiments fascinate me! Are there any more like them?

I prefer psychological studies rather than medical (unless there is a strong psychological component, such as an emphasis on the placebo effect), and the study has to revolve around volunteers who gave at least a semblance of informed consent (no Nazi science, please! and no need to point me towards THE forbidden experiment). Lots of bonus points if you can link directly to the full paper.

How to measure the volume of gas produced?

pigelb — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:48:40 -0800

I would like to find out how much gas I can produce by electrolysis using homemade stuff. Is there any cost efficient/accurate way to measure the quantity of gas produced? I was thinking of simply using a balloon but I believe that it won't be that accurate.

Basically what I have is a closed system (a small reservoir) which will produce gas. I would like to quantify gas production quite accuratly in order to do some analysis of what can be done with it.

Help me, in the naaaaame of love!

GrooveStix — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:40:19 -0800

Help me find a video/article about a race experiment. I swear I watched this video on Youtube, but for the life of me I can't find it. It was about students in a racially diverse classroom that were encouraged to pick classmates that were presumably their most similar match - genetically. Then they (possibly) did a DNA analysis and it turned out that they were all wrong, because all kids chose their similar classmate on a basis on their skin color.

Does anyone know about this, or am I hallucinating about me watching it?

Homelessness how-to?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:57:01 -0800

How to be homeless? Yes, step one, lack a home. Then what? I'm a young, healthy guy in my early 20s who has so far lived an uneventful, sheltered life. I'm thinking about willingly forgoing my apartment/job/life, moving to a new city, and living on the streets. (I know this profoundly unwise, that's part of the idea.)

Essentially, I want to learn how to be homeless. What are some useful strategies? Tips? Tricks? What should I "take with me" when I go? What should I look like? How can I fit in with a young homeless population (refuge in numbers)? What city should I move to? Etc.

I also seem to recall seeing on the internet at one point a .pdf guidebook about homeless living.

Unless you have a shocking statistic like, "95% of all homeless people are eaten by dung beetles," I'm not looking to be told this is a bad idea; I know the risks, and I know I'm naïve. Please don't try to persuade me not to do something -- the question is "How?" not "Should I?" So. How?

(Email: anonmefi12008@yahoo.com)

equatorial physics

tkolar — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:50:11 -0800

Are there any easily demonstrable physical effects to being on the equator? So I'll be standing on the equator in a week or two and was hoping to do something more entertaining than watching other tourists being taken in by various scams.

If I'm visualizing the celestial mechanics correctly the sun won't be even near to directly overhead this close to the solistice, so building a linear sundial won't work. I'll do that another day.

I'm pretty sure a pendulum would need a bob with more mass than I'm willing to carry to show anything about centripetal force (and frankly I'm not sure what it would show).

At this point I'm pretty much reduced to taking pictures of the 0.0000 latitude on my GPS.

Hope me, Metafilter!

Looking for help programming a flash game to do a psychology study

socialpsychologist — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:51:15 -0800

I'm a social psychologist looking for some advice about where to find a programmer to write what would basically be a very simple flash-type game. The game itself would require some simple user-interactiveness (e.g. selecting options), a fairly low level of graphics (maybe not stick figures, but nothing too artsy), and the ability to collect and store user data. Any suggestions? I don't have a huge budget, but I can pay somewhere in the range of $500-$2000 depending on the job.

The idea is simply to have people be able to "play a game" and essentially be doing a psychology experiment. For instance, one thing I study is sunk cost -- the tendency to persist in an "investment" even after it starts failing in order to justify the original investment. In a game setting, I could see it playing out this way: you are the head mechanic of a racing team and your job is to fix up your car to win races. (There could also be an actual racing component of the game -- but this would be just for fun, not actually necessary). The sunk cost would come into it as follows -- you have to decide at Time 1 whether or not you would like to enter a race and pay the fee -- this would be a sunk cost -- then before the race you would find (sometimes) that your car has a high chance of breaking down and costing you a huge amount of money in repairs. The question would be whether people who had to decide in advance to pay an entry fee would be more likely to race despite the risk. Just one example...

What I would need is a program that puts this into a simple game format and can collect and save user data for analysis (players would be asked if they consented to participate in an experiment before starting, though the hypothesis wouldn't be revealed to them until after they play).

Any suggestions as to how to find someone to help me do this? I talked to someone who suggested that I outsource it to Indian programmers - is that a sensible thing to look into?

Thanks!!!

What would happen if you could create a perfect two-way mirror into a sphere?

Lownotes — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:37:01 -0800

What would happen if you could create a perfect two-way mirror into a sphere? Imagine a hypothetical perfect two-way mirror. All light passes through one side, no light can penetrate the other.

Now, make it into a sphere with the mirrored surface on the inside.

What will happen as it collects light? Will it collect light forever? Will it fill up and burst like a supernova? How would it look to an outside observer?

Cornhole

Parasite Unseen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:43:04 -0800

What would the effects on my poop be, and what health risks would I incur, if I were to eat nothing but corn for a week? We've all had that moment where we've looked into the toilet and thought man, that corn is some seriously hardcore non-soluble fiber. This got me wondering, if eating a small amount of corn causes corn bits to show up in my waste, what would happen if I ate nothing but corn for a week?

Worrying about the state of the world doesn't keep me up at night, but I've actually lost some sleep pondering this.

So, what would happen to my poop if I tried this? More importantly, are there any significant health risks that I would face if I were to undertake such an experiment? I'm curious about this, but I'm not yet ready to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of science.

All right, hivemind, let's put our minds in the toilet.

help me find an old book of science projects

Good Brain — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 23:16:58 -0800

Can you help me find an awesome old book of science projects. I remember many relevant details, but nothing handy like the author or title. In the early 80's when I was growing up in Salt Lake City, I found an awesome book of science projects in the main branch of the public library. It was old, I'd guess late 50s, perhaps pre-sputnik, because I don't remember much space or rocketry content. A substantial portion of the original slip cover looked like it had probably been safety orange, though it was faded by the time I got my hands on it. Lettering on the covering was sans serif and there were various halftones of apparatus and experiments from the book.

I most clearly remember the chemistry experiments with luminol and other forms of chemiluminescece, and a variety of awesome electrical apparatus including Van de Graf generators, enormous transformers, tesla coils, induction coils and Jacobs ladders. There was also a section on kirlian photography. It may or may not have had a section on lasers and holography (which would place it into the 60s). There may also have been sections on radio transmitters and more, but they didn't make the same impression.

It was a pretty thick book, probably 2", the other dimensions were probably close to that of a typical trade hardback. Inside, the layout was pretty business-like. There were captioned halftone photos, illustrations and diagrams, interspersed with blocks of text. It did not mingle text with illustrations in the manner of the Golden Book of Chemistry.

It was not a kids book, I'd guess that it was targeted at teenagers, or even science instructors. I've looked through the online catalog and it looks like they've purged any science project books older than the late 60s from their collection.

I hope my description will ring a bell with someone. I'd love to pick up a used copy. It was a great book, and I think about it every time I open a new copy of Make magazine.

What can I learn in 3 minutes?

i8ny3x — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:36:11 -0800

I'm in the second round of interviews for this competitive science summer camp teaching position. This includes presenting a three-minute lesson on anything in particular that targets K-5 kids. My problem: I've never taught kids before, and I'm pretty sure those I'm up against have. What do you think would be a good, short demonstration that gives kids some hands-on experience and that would also blow their minds? Difficulty: It should be relative simple to perform, plus I need to know how to explain that phenomena in simple terms.

I've looked at several teaching-related sites,but most require something that might take longer than 3 minutes to set up and demonstrate. Or maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places.

Thanks in advance!

What's a good presentation for a kid's program?

Serial Killer Slumber Party — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:56:21 -0800

What's a fun but simple science or cooking presentation I can use in an audition for a children's show? I've been set up for an audition for a kid's show in two days time and for this audition I have to make a 3-5 minute presentation that would appear on the show, basically a cooking or science experiment type spot. All the science experiments I can think of are boring university type ones.

So what's a good presentation that:
a) Is 3-5 minutes long
b) Kids will dig
c) Has ingredients/equipment that are easily carried (seeing as how I'll have to tote them to wear the audition is held)

Cheers in advance.

I want to travel the West Coast for cheap

tweak — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:49:01 -0800

How do I travel the West Coast by rail for cheap? I have the general plan mapped out (I want to go north... or south?). I most certainly will see people and places in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego. Hopefully in a semi-linear fashion with interesting walk-abouts in between. I'm thinking railpass. I'm not really asking for nuts and bolts, I'm asking for your impressions. I would prefer not to wander farther East than Vegas.

Now then. If you were doing this, and you were traveling this general path, in either direction, or hopping from place to place, what would you want to do and see, and why? Oh yeah, one more thing, I'm not hung up on too many specifics, I'm just more interested in the first thing you would do, the first impression you have, because if I like it, I'll eventually do it, or some form thereof, during the trip. The only boundary is that outside a rail pass and a plane ticket I won't have more than $100 to spend. I know I can swing it. Anyway, I look forward to your responses. Also, I'd rather not read the Lonely Planet or any travel books written in vague generalities for 'Joe Reader'. Thanks in advance. I will probably ask more specific follow up questions when I remember that I wrote this post and actually hit the Post button.

Human vs Animal Brains:

0bvious — Tue, 09 May 2006 01:10:49 -0800

What experiments have been carried out where animals perform better than us at particular cognitive tasks? I remember reading / seeing an experiment performed with chimps that seemed to show that they could hold a higher number of objects in their mind at any one time than humans can.

I remember seeing them tapping on numbered buttons when objects were flashed in front of them. Humans perfomed less well on the same task at higher speeds and numbers.

Know this experiment?

How about ANY OTHER similar resulting experiments?

Thanks a lot

Mentos + 2 liter soda = explosion?

clh — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:38:53 -0800

Why does this work? Take a two-liter bottle of soda. Put 13 Mentos in a test tube. Tip the test tube over the open bottle and put a piece of paper between the test tube and the bottle. Pull out the paper so that all 13 Mentos fall quickly into the bottle of soda. Almost all of the soda will shoot up and out of the bottle. Why does this happen? The guy kind of explains it, but I don't get it. I'm definitely trying it!!