 By Boyuan Chen
Have you ever noticed that, even if you turn the water all the way up—whether it’s in your shower or from a garden hose—it never travels far in a continuous stream before breaking into discontinuous drops? Or that, whether you go swimming or scuba diving, the air you exhale underwater always comes out in the form of bubbles? If so, you might wonder: Why can’t water or air travel normally in streams, like how they flow in a hose or through your trachea? Why must they always break off into smaller droplets or bubbles? Although the two phenomena seem similar, they are, in fact, very different physical processes, and we must discuss them separately for a deeper understanding.
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 By Boyuan Chen
One of the more confusing sights on a dinner table is the mysterious streaks of green on fresh slices of beef. It appears as if the beef has gone bad — and, alas, there goes your appetite. But sometimes, when you take a closer look, you might just behold the entire spectrum of a rainbow glittering on the surface, defying your basic intuition of what beef should look like—brown and boring, but delicious. As you gobble up that dangerously vibrant slice of meat (or scrape it into the trash), you may wonder: why was that beef shiny? |