Shrimp and Grits

Terra Sig links to a neat demonstration of the properties of non-Newtonial fluids.  Or, more specifically, the properties of shear-thickening fluids – fluids whose viscosity increases when deformed.  Put simply, these are liquids that act more like solids when you try to change their shape too quickly.

The test fluid for the demonstration?  Silly Putty.  Fifty pounds of it.  Dropped off of a building.  Neat, eh?

I do have a suggestion for next year’s demonstration, though.  Drop the fifty pound silly putty block from the building into a large vat of corn starch in water.

Why corn starch and water?  Corn starch/water mixtures are also shear-thickening fluids.

Which shear-thickening fluid would reign supreme? Tune in next time to find out!

It’d be an Iron Chef of non-Newtonian fluids!

I didn’t have the opportunity to record my thoughts on the debate as it happened, but here are some thoughts on the final Presidential debate.  I’ll probably post some more as I get time.

Here’s a link to the debate transcript from CNN.

Let’s talk about education.  Here’s John McCain talking about what he will do about science education. He’ll cut spending on things that are useful to science education as wasteful “pork”.  Things like planetariums.

Sen. Obama has asked for nearly $1 billion in pork-barrel earmark projects… including $3 million for an overhead projector in a planetarium in his hometown. That’s not the way we cut — we’ll cut out all the pork.

I’m not sure who McCain thinks this tidbit – which he’s mentioned in the past two debates – is supposed to impress.  I do know that he’s probably managed to alienate any science educator in the country who is paying attention.  For those of you who weren’t – John McCain thinks science outreach is wasteful “pork”, and he will eliminate it.

And while we’re on the subject of “pork”, Obama happened to bring up an important point:

Now, Sen. McCain talks a lot about earmarks. That’s one of the
centerpieces of his campaign.

Earmarks account for 0.5 percent of the total federal budget.

So McCain’s campaign is built on obsessing over half a percent of the budget?  No wonder Republicans are so bad at controlling the national debt.  They can’t see the forest for the trees.

Looks like our northern neighbor is affected by the same disease that Upstate SC has:

the Brunswick County school board began discussions on teaching creationism alongside evolution – something all four board members present showed a strong interest in. The talk began after Joel Fanti, a parent and graduate of the school system, told the board that he considered it a problem to teach evolution as a fact and that science teachers should include creationism in the curriculum, as well.The audience applauded.

… a case of The Stupid.  At this point, it seems that the state will squash this little Stupid outbreak.  The higher-ups in the NC school system recall the Dover trial.  This, after all, would be a more blatant attempt than the one in Dover to replace science with religion in the science classroom.  A lawsuit would almost certainly follow.

One more disturbing point:

Teachers have alternative assignments for students whose parents have objections about evolution, but students are still assessed on the topic in state tests

Lovely.  Parents can opt their kids out of biology, but teachers are still held responsible for students whose parents won’t allow them to learn?