Physical Science

Crystals are a highly organized form of matter.  This is obvious to anyone who has looked at crystals, as they naturally tend towards particular geometric shapes.  Each crystalline compound has a characteristic form, regardless of its size.  This rigid organization…
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Helium, the second element on the periodic table of elements, is a very underrated discovery. This leader of the noble gases is a very important treasure and we should thank the man who detected it, Pierre Jansen. Pierre stumbled upon…
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The periodic table is a tool used in chemistry which lists and ranks elements – gas and solid – by grouping according to weight and atomic number.  Conceptions of science were altered by the development of the periodic table and…
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The Bohr model is a graphical model of an atom introduced by Danish physicist, Neils Bohr. Basically, the Bohr is an illustrative presentation of the atomic structure. It gives an overview of the basic atomic components and functions in a…
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Oh wow, groovy man! It’s a blast back to the 1970s, and you want to know what makes a Lava Lamp—officially called a Lava Lite®—flow. The physics can get complicated and mathematical, but what’s mainly at play with any Lava…
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Ultraviolet (UV) light is invisible to the human eye, but gets a lot of attention.  After all, UV light can cause sunburns, suntans, or skin cancer.  It can fog photographs, make objects fluoresce, or even attract butterflies to flowers (they…
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Chemical changes are those changes that result from a chemical reaction.  A chemical reaction involves the breaking and/or formation of a chemical bond.  Anytime chemical bonds change, the new chemicals that are produced have their own unique set of properties. …
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When one thinks of precious metals, Gold is often first to come to mind. The craze for gold was responsible for the California gold rush of 1848 in which approximately 300,000 people traveled to California to fill their pockets with…
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The element Lithium (Li) is found in period 2 and group 1 of the periodic table. Group 1 is also known as the alkali metal group and in addition to lithium includes sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium and francium. It is…
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What is matter?  Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space.  Generally, matter is classified into 3 different states: solid, liquid, gas. A substance can be changed from one state to another by the process of heating or cooling. …
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