Physical Science

You use the number zero all the time, but it may surprise you to learn that it sometimes isn't a number at all. It may surprise you even more to learn that it was all but invented. See what else surprises you about zero in this article.

By Josh Clark

First there was Volvo. Then came IKEA. Well get ready for the next major Swedish export: snus, a smokeless tobacco product, similar to dip or chew.

By Matt Schwarzfeld

Mass spectrometry enables the major league to sniff out athletes guilty of doping. It can also help us locate oil or design a killer perfume. Who says chemistry isn't cool?

By William Harris

First, you burn the body until only brittle, pulverized bones are left. These remains are pulverized into ashes, and then placed into urns -- or diamonds, coral reefs and even outer space.

By Michelle Kim

Overtone is a sound accompanying the main tone produced by a vibrating body. The number and loudness of overtones determine the timbre, or tone color, of a musical sound.

An object free to vibrate tends to do so at a specific rate called the object's natural, or resonant, frequency.

When sound waves strike the ear, these waves produce the sensation of sound. Let's take a look at how sound waves work.

DNA found at a crime scene doesn't automatically mean the person matching it is guilty, say researchers of new forensics guide.

By Dave Roos

Static electricity happens when there's an imbalance between negative and positive charges in an object. It's when those charges get released that we feel that infamous spark.

By Sebastian Deffner

More than fodder for melt-in-your-hand YouTube videos, gallium is a key component in LED lights and the powerful microchips in your smartphone.

By Dave Roos

You use solenoids every day without ever knowing it. So what exactly are they and how do they work?

By Mark Mancini

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory just made history with einsteinium. They held a sample of the short-lived element long enough to measure some of its chemical properties.

By Dave Roos

From soap to pharmaceutical products, glycerine has many applications.

By Jesslyn Shields & Austin Henderson

You may remember from math class that a prime number is a number that can only be divided by 1 and itself. But why are they important anyway?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Rational numbers can be expressed as the ratio of two integers, while irrational numbers, such as square roots of non-square numbers, cannot.

By Patrick J. Kiger & Austin Henderson

Bayes' theorem describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event. Sounds intimidating, but we'll walk you through it.

By Mark Mancini

Science requires that we make guesses, which is why we have confidence intervals.

By Jesslyn Shields

Adrenochrome has been linked to schizophrenia and the LSD counterculture movement. Now QAnon conspiracy theorists say it's part of a child sex-trafficking cult. So what's the truth behind this chemical compound?

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

The fields of sciences and mathematics are capable of some amazing things and answering some of the biggest and most puzzling questions on the planet. But what may shock you is that some of the most mundane and seemingly simple questions have no real confirmed answers from scientists. From how a bike works to how […] The post 15 Seemingly Simple Questions We Don’t Know the Answer To appeared first on Goliath.

By Jack Sackman

Metallurgy involves studying how metals behave and using that understanding to manipulate and shape them into various forms.

By Desiree Bowie

If you're already familiar with subtracting fractions, learning how to add fractions will be a piece of cake for you. And if you haven't learned how to subtract fractions yet, don't worry — we've got you covered!

By Jesslyn Shields

Hand warmers work through simple chemistry. A massively sped-up version of oxidation (the chemical reaction that makes rust) is to thank.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

You can find the distance between two points by using the distance formula. It's an application of the Pythagorean theorem. Remember that from high school algebra?

By Mark Mancini & Desiree Bowie

The very idea of trying to subtract one fraction from another may send you into convulsions of fear, but don't worry — we'll show you how.

By Jesslyn Shields & Austin Henderson

Want to know the area of your pizza or the kitchen you're eating it in? Come on, and we'll show you how to figure it out with an area formula.

By Thomas Harlander