Science & Nature

An ecosystem includes all the living organisms within an area and their physical surroundings. These two features of an ecosystem are described as biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors.

Weather professionals measure the moisture content of the air in several different ways. Additionally, the interaction of other elements of a particular locale's environment has an impact on...

Humidity, a measure of water vapor in the air, is one of the variables measured in basic meteorology. There are actually several different kinds of humidity, but what most people mean when they...

Want to convert a temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit? This 'how to' will show you how - it will give you a degree in converting degrees! Only simple math skills required for this calculation.

Air moves from place to place in a wind. When the air from one weather system moves in to replace the air in another weather system, the wind brings in the air's temperature. If the two weather...

While the United States uses the Fahrenheit scale to measure temperatures, most of the world uses the metric measurement, Celsius. The two scales represent the same temperature in widely different...

Welding cast iron using a tungsten inert gas (TIG) welder is possible, but will challenge even the most seasoned welder. Cast iron contains a lot of carbon; anywhere from 3 percent to as much as 8...

In the simplest terms, a thermometer is used in weather forecasting by measuring temperature. The name is made up of the two words: "thermo" meaning heat and "meter" meaning to measure....

Specific gravity is a unitless measure of density, defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of water at some specified pressure and density. In tables, the temperature and...

Plain water freezes at 32 degrees F, but a mixture of water and rock salt must be much colder to freeze. This means that adding rock salt to ice water will also cause the ice to melt more slowly...

While temperature has little direct effect on wooden beams, it does have a great effect on the moisture both outside and within the beams. By increasing and decreasing the levels of moisture in...

A fuse is an electrical component used in an electrical circuit for safety reasons. A fuse opens the circuit, or prevents the flow of electrical current, when conditions exist that will cause the...

Something is considered magnetic when it attracts or repels an item. Every magnet has two sides, known as poles. When similar poles are near each other, the magnets are repelled; when opposite...

Modern commercial airliners fly at altitudes which, without protection, would quickly become dangerous for anyone flying inside. To counter the low air pressure and cold temperatures, aircraft are...

Pyrex brand cookware has been around since 1915. It was originally owned and manufactured by Corning Glass, but they sold it in 1998 to World Kitchen. Corning Glass used mainly borosilicate glass...

Copper is the most widely used electrical conductor because it is inexpensive and second only to silver in electrical conduction. Although low, copper does provide some resistance to current that...

A sensor is a device that measures a particular characteristic of an object or system. Some sensors are purely mechanical, but most sensors are electronic, returning a voltage signal that can be...

With the proliferation of digital weather stations and online networking of weather watchers, an increasing number of individuals are recording outdoor temperatures near their homes. A variety of...

An incubator is an apparatus that facilitates the artificial hatching of eggs and serves as temporary housing for newborn chicks before they're moved to a brooder. Maintaining the right...

The rolling fog that results from the reaction of dry ice and water is one of the most familiar and impressive special effects that you can produce without extensive preparation or special...

A thermistor is a semiconductor device with an electrical resistance proportional to temperature. The name is formed from a combination of the words "resistor" and "thermal." Thermistors come in...

The conversion of temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius is a very easy equation. A calculator will make it easier but is optional. There are also many online conversion calculators as well to...

There are two types of mercury thermometers. The first type of thermometer either measures the temperature, indoors or out. Used in medicine, the second type of thermometer measures body temperature.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as much as 71 percent---nearly three-quarters---of all the earth's surface is covered by the oceans, which hold 97 percent of the...

Thermocouples are temperature sensors that are made from two different metals. A voltage is generated when the metals are brought together to form a junction and there are temperature differences...

Thermocouples are temperature sensors formed from two dissimilar metals. When the metals are joined together in a junction and are held at different temperatures, a voltage is generated. These...

The sun provides a handy benchmark for describing other stars. The mass of this solar system's sun gives us a unit for measuring other stars' masses. Similarly, the sun's luminosity and surface...

A thermocouple is an electronic circuit that is used to measure temperature. A thermocouple uses two different metals to form a junction, which produces an electrical potential that can be...

Rock crawlers are a small insect that lives in the Northern hemisphere, including the United States. They are slender, ranging in length from 15 to 30 mm, with long antennae. Larger males are...

Cesium (Cs) is a chemical element and has the atomic number 55. It's highly reactive with water and is one of the few metals that are liquid at or near room temperature.

The Galileo thermometer is both a scientific tool and a decorative display of physical forces. Unlike standard thermometers, which are constructed for practical purposes of temperature...

Salt is often used in ice cream makers to make the water surrounding the inside container cold enough to freeze the cream. In fact, within half an hour or so, the super cold water can freeze...

For decades, optical sensors have been finding their way into an increasing number of applications. The development of semiconductors in the 1940s and '50s led to lower-cost, compact and efficient...

Sodium metasilicate, Na₂SiO₃, can be synthesized with various degrees of hydration. This very alkaline substance is formed by combining and melting sodium carbonate with silicon...

Thermocouples are temperature sensors that are made from two metal alloys. When the two metals are brought together to form a junction, a voltage is generated when there are temperature...

The reaction that produces hydrogen gas was discovered by Robert Boyle in 1671. French chemist Antoine Lavoisier derived the name hydrogen from the Greek words for "water former." The atmosphere...

Refractometers have been used since 1874 to determine the concentration of solutions and to identify unknown substances by the way light refracts through them. There are refractometers that are...

Most mushrooms today are grown indoors, allowing them to be grown year round. They grow rather fast (within 6 to 8 weeks) and need to be placed in a cool, damp place where the humidity can be...

The term water currents means sections of water moving in a single direction. The only force necessary to create a water current is a force that moves the water down a gradient. A difference in...

When we wonder why air expands with heat, it's like asking why volume is a function of temperature. The answer is because heat in a gas is the random kinetic energy of the molecules. Pressure is...

BTU stands for "British Thermal Unit." It is a measurement of heat, and each individual unit represents the amount of heat required to raise 1 lb. of water 1 degree F. Each BTU is equivalent to...

Two standard experiments are used to demonstrate Newton's law of cooling. One is to heat a thermometer, and then note the rate at which the temperature drops as it cools. Another is to heat a...

When we look at the stars in the night sky, it is difficult to imagine that our blazing sun is also a star. It is the star nearest to the Earth. Although the sun is close to the Earth in cosmic...

Silicone is a form of specialty polymer that can be manufactured in more than 2,000 forms. These forms are broken into liquids, solids and gases. Silicone is resistant to moisture, chemicals, UV...

A psychrometer, sometimes called a "wet bulb/dry bulb thermometer," is just that. It has two thermometers, one red and one blue. They may read in the Celsius scale or in degrees Fahrenheit. One...

A sling psychrometer is an instrument that measures the relative humidity and dew point in an area. A sling psychrometer has two thermometers: a wet bulb and a dry bulb. The wet bulb has a cotton...

Rhenium, discovered in Germany in 1925, is a transitional metal, and one of the rarest naturally occurring elements in the world. It is a very dense metal, with a higher melting point than every...

Making a homemade liquid thermometer is fun and very easy. This will teach you and your kids about how mercury works in a store-bought thermometer, and will be a fun home science project. This...

Specific gravity is a unit-less measure, defined as the ratio of the density of an object divided by the density of water at a specific temperature. sually the temperature used is 4°C or...

Rhenium is a silvery-white metallic element with atomic number 75 and symbol Re in the periodic table of elements. Discovered in 1925 in Germany, rhenium has many uses in industry, but the element...