Video of the Moment: Big Oobleck Experiment

The boys from The Big Bang Theory play with a non-Newtonian fluid and a bass speaker.

Quotation of the Moment: Evaluation Time

At ConAgra, we are approaching the end of the fiscal year, which means performance reviews.  As I was working on mine today, I thought of this rant from Dr. Cox in the TV show Scrubs--

I wanted you to think about yourself...And I mean really think! What are you good at? What do you suck at? And write it down. Not so I could read it, or anyone else could read it. But so you could read it! You see in the end, Newbie, you don't have to answer to me, or to Kelso, or even to your patients, for God's sake! The only one you have to answer to Newbie, is you! There, you are evaluated. Now get out of here, because you truly make me so damn mad I might just hurt myself!

 (Season 1: My Fifteen Minutes)

Quotations of the Moment: Better Off Ted

I just finished working my way through Better Off Ted, a short-lived sitcom that ran for two years on ABC.  Both seasons are available on Netflix.  The show centers around Ted, a the head of Research and Development at Veridian Dynamics, a do-everything company that is an amalgam of GE and Kraft Foods.  The show is a great business satire that avoids the Dilbert trap of smart engineers working for stupid bosses.  Everyone on the show is smart and good as his or her job.  My favorite episodes out of the first 13 are the ones on affirmative action "Racial Sensitivity" and the project everyone wants to work on "Jabberwocky".  The scientists on the show work on everything.  Here are the materials-related lines I was able to pull from the first season.  (Veronica is a VP, and Phil and Lem are the main scientists.)

Veronica: We want to make a metal that is hard as steel but bounces like rubber...and is edible.

Phil: The plastic [in a solar-powered oven] we're using leaches toxins into food.
Lem: However, the toxins are only released when the ovens are exposed to sunlight.
Phil: Which is the only time solar ovens work.

Phil: You were right.  That polymer could burst into flames on high impact.
Lem: You owe me a smoothie.

After the jump, one of the fake Veridian Dynamics commercials.

Link of the Moment: Sid discovers elasticity

Those of you with small kids have probably heard of Sid the Science Kid.  It's a computer-animated show aimed at pre-schoolers that introduces scientific concepts and methods.  This fall's new shows are centered around physics topics like friction and inertia.  Here's a link to the parents review site on elasticity.  In the show, Sid discovers the concept of elasticity when his clay ball doesn't bounce the way he expects.

Song Lyric of the Moment (#2)

Another selection from the Halloween playlist and one of the great opening lyrics of all time...

I was working in the lab late one night...

Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers

Song Lyric of the Moment

For Halloween, here's part of the They Might Be Giants song Particle Man, which is on my Halloween song rotation.

Particle man, particle man 

Doing the things a particle can

What's he's like is not important

Is he a dot?

Is he a speck?

When he's underwater, does he get wet?

Or does the water get him instead?

Nobody knows

Particle man 

"Silly Putty with a Bang"

I searched for the "silly putty and nuclear reactor" epsiode that John mentioned, but a quick Google search for "MacGyver silly putty" provided the following clip:



Update: I never watched MacGyver much when the show was originally on, but I'm aware of the show's main premise.  Mac is a good guy who puts together spectacular escapes and fixes using the items at hand.

Comic Strip of the Moment

Back in my sales days, I often used the example of Silly Putty to explain the phenomenon of viscoelasticity.  Most people I met had played with the toy at least once, but they didn't remember the mechanical properties.  Everyone remembered the ability of the putty to transfer ink off a newspaper.  As this selection from the comic strip One Big Happy shows, something will be lost when people don't read comics in newspapers anymore.

Elvis was a Chemical Engineer

In the movie Clambake, Elvis Presley played a wealthy chemical engineer who is the son of a wealthy oil baron.  As part of the plot, Elvis develops a new varnish that helps him win a boat race and impress the girl.  According to the book ReAction!: Chemistry in the Movies by Griep and Mikasen, the varnish, called GOOP in the movie, is based on a real varnish that dissolves in water.

Sadly, movie this appears to be one of Elvis's poorer efforts.  Its main sin is that the songs are forgettable; after all, one doesn't watch an Elvis movie for the plot.

Quotations of the Moment

Up in the Air: Movie Edition

(George Clooney plays Ryan, and Anna Kendrick plays Natalie.)

Natalie: I followed him to Omaha.
Ryan: You did?
Natalie: I had a job waiting for me in San Francisco when he got an offer from ConAgra.  He said we could start a life together.  So, I followed him.
Ryan: To Nebraska?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Natalie: Are you going to be OK?
Ryan: What do you mean?
Natalie: In Omaha?
Ryan: I don't know.
Natalie: It's better than you think.

(Posted just because I live in Omaha and work for ConAgra.  Besides, these quotations are not on the movie's IMDb page.)

It's Not Really a Contradiction...

...it's just viscoelastic.

Starburst Candies has started a new ad campaign that states the chews are "solid, yet juicy like a liquid."

Here's one of the ads, which introduces the Scotch-Korean spokesperson.



Actually, the candies have a temperature-sensitive glass transition temperature. When the candies are placed in a warm, moist environment, they soften and can be chewed.

Quotation of the Moment

I enjoyed this comment from Conan O'Brien that he made during his final show last Friday.

All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

"Is a turkey sandwich a gel or liquid?"

Three years ago, Saturday Night Live broadcast a sketch on Transportation Security Administration screener training. In the sketch, the aspiring scanners discuss liquids, gels, and the differences between them. Here’s some of the dialogue…
A video doesn’t appear to be available online, but here’s the script.

Chris: You want to name some liquids, and/or some gels!
Dane: Liquids and gels.
[ no response from the stone-faced recruits ]
Dane: Anything you've got!
Kenan: Water.
Dane: [ pleased ] Water! That is a liquid! Good!
Maya: Toothpaste!!
Chris: Bingo!! That is a gel!!
Amy: Shampoo!!
Dane: [ smiling ] Wow! you guys are doing great!

UPDATE (9/2010): A link to a video of the sketch is here.

(Information for our foreign visitors after the jump)

Rheology & Pop Culture

I keep hoping that one day, there will be a CSI episode where the solution has something to do with rheology. In the meantime, I'll be temporarily satisfied with a scene from TNT's Leverage, which is a heist-of-the-week program. Follow this link to the show "The Two Live Crew Job" and forward to the 5:18 mark.

One of the characters holds a bomb, which uses a motion trigger in a flower vase. The quirky thief suggests using instant pudding to increase the fluid's viscosity in the vase, slowing the effectiveness of the bomb's trigger.