Physics
15 breaks
Forces, light, time and the odd behaviour of the very small.
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Why soap bubbles swirl with colour, then turn black just before they pop
Soap has no dye, yet bubbles shimmer with magenta, gold and green. The colour comes from thickness: light bounces off both the front and the back of the film…
Why the sky is blue and sunsets are red: it's the same light
The blue sky and the red sunset are the same effect, seen from two angles. Air molecules scatter short, blue wavelengths far more than long, red ones: about…
Why a rainbow is always a circle 42° around your shadow
Every rainbow is part of a circle centred on the shadow of your head, with its red edge about 42° away. That number comes from inside a single raindrop…