Physical Science
Physical science is the study of the physical world around you. Learn about everything from electricity to magnetism in this section.
Why Can You Hear the Ocean When Holding a Seashell to Your Ear?
Can a sound wave kill you?
Can two cans and a string really be used to talk over a distance?
Why Do Bubbles Pop?
It's Elementary: The Periodic Table Quiz
10 Things You Should Never Mix With Alcohol
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
Can you explain the diameter measurements used in bullets, wire and nails?
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
We've Got Your Numbers Quiz
HowStuffWorks: Illustrated: Scutoids! Just Like Spheres and Cubes, But Not
11 Basic Math Symbols and How to Use Them
5 Hugely Fun Facts About Mass (Not Weight)
Antarctica's Spooky Cosmic Rays Might Shatter Physics As We Know It
Could Newly Measured W Boson Break the Standard Model?
Could an 'X17 Particle' Hint at a Fifth Force in the Universe?
Where do they get the particles for accelerators?
5 Baffling Subatomic Particles
Why Are School Buses Yellow?
Why Spinning Blades Look Weird on TV
HowStuffWorks: How To Draw An Impossible Shape
Learn More / Page 14
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
It's called fusion ignition and it's being hailed as a historic development in nuclear fusion that could pave the way for clean energy. We talked to a nuclear physicist who explained it all.
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.
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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.
We take the mystery out of reporting the percent error correctly and show you how to use it in real life.
By Mark Mancini
The Collatz conjecture can be worked on by 9-year-old math whizzes, but it's flummoxed some of the greatest minds of the past century. Will it ever be solved?
It looks completely impossible that this rock should stand, balanced as it is, but it has not moved since the last ice age.
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How large does a random group of people have to be for a 50 percent chance to exist that at least two of the people will share a birthday?
A rise in carbon-14 in the early 1960s from nuclear bomb testing and radioactive contamination had some unexpectedly useful side effects. It's called the bomb pulse, but its benefits won't last forever.