Physical Science
Physical science is the study of the physical world around you. Learn about everything from electricity to magnetism in this section.
Brown Noise vs. White Noise: Which Is Best for Quality Sleep?
Can a sound wave kill you?
Can two cans and a string really be used to talk over a distance?
What Color Is the Hottest Flame?
Why Do Bubbles Pop?
It's Elementary: The Periodic Table Quiz
How Electricity Works
How Faraday Cages Work
How Gasoline Works
What do bugs have to do with forensic science?
5 Things You Didn't Know About Autopsies
Do a Person’s Fingerprints Change After Death?
How Alchemy Paved the Way for Chemistry
How did Nikola Tesla change the way we use energy?
Time May Not Exist, Say Some Physicists and Philosophers
Why Does Ice Stick to Your Fingers?
What if I forgot to remove a piercing before an MRI?
A Kid-friendly Introduction to Magnets and Magnetism
What Is the Biggest Number? 6 Astronomical Contenders
How to Use the Rate of Change Formula in Math and Physics
Physics Displacement Formula: How to Calculate Displacement
5 Hugely Fun Facts About Mass (Not Weight)
Antarctica's Spooky Cosmic Rays Might Shatter Physics As We Know It
Entropy: The Invisible Force That Brings Disorder to the Universe
Half-Life Formula: Components and Applications
Could an 'X17 Particle' Hint at a Fifth Force in the Universe?
Image Gallery: Inside a Nuclear Power Plant
Why Are School Buses Yellow?
HowStuffWorks: How To Draw An Impossible Shape
What Are the Colors in the Visible Spectrum?
Learn More / Page 9
An imaginary number is a value that's the square root of a negative number. It can't exist on a one-dimensional number line. We'll explain.
First discovered in the late 1930s, muons are passing through you and everything around you at a speed close to light, as cosmic rays strike particles in our planet's atmosphere. So what are muons and how are they informing the new physics?
The lava-like material that formed after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is a deadly example of corium, a hazardous material created only after core meltdowns. Five minutes next to it can kill a human.
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The answer to the question "Does time exist?" may seem obvious, but is it? And what if time doesn't exist, but is merely a human construct?
By Sam Baron
With a little patience, you can master this trick of converting binary code to decimals — and have fun doing it!
By Mark Mancini
Autopsies have been around since ancient times, but they seem so shrouded in secrecy. What goes on when a corpse goes under the knife?
By Mark Mancini
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The proposed collider would dwarf the existing Large Hadron Collider. But is the $22 billion price tag worth it?
What is white noise? There's a little more to it than the ambient noise you associate with a humming air conditioner or whirring fan.
Can you name even one female mathematician? Don't worry if you can't. That just means you need to read our article on five famous female mathematicians to up your cred.
By Dave Roos
Modern color theory got its start with, believe it or not, Sir Isaac Newton, who also discovered a little thing called gravity and invented calculus.
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Mathematician Andrew Booker has found the three cubes that add up to the number 33, a long-unsolved math problem.
Borax, a popular addition to laundry detergents and slime recipes, is a natural ingredient that has been getting flack for possibly being harmful to children. But is this true?
By Alia Hoyt
You probably have a bottle of the stuff at your house. Have you ever seen it come in any color bottle besides brown?
Something very strange is afoot above the frozen landscape of Antarctica.
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Developed in Israel, this foul-smelling liquid has been used on Palestinian and Israeli protesters … and it's showing up in the United States.
By Sarah Gleim
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
It's an important question, so come with us and we'll show you how to figure it out.
A simple math problem may seem to some of us like an inscrutable pile of numbers and symbols, just waiting to trip us up. PEMDAS to the rescue!
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Although the term might be unfamiliar, you know all about alkali metals. Ever used salt or eaten a banana? So, what special properties do these elements have?
Vantablack is one of the darkest substances known, able to absorb up to 99.965 percent of visible light. But is it the blackest of blacks on the planet?
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.
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
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In 1999, Hisashi Ouchi, a Japanese nuclear fuel plant worker was exposed to critical levels of radiation. He suffered the worst radiation burns in history. He lived for 83 agonizing days afterward as his body all but disintegrated.
You use solenoids every day without ever knowing it. So what exactly are they and how do they work?
By Mark Mancini