Copyright Felice Frankel, from "Envisioning Science, the Design and Craft of the Science Image;" larger image

Physics in Action: Ferrofluid Fun

Physics becomes art in this photo of a ferrofluid with permanent magnets underneath. In a ferrofluid, a region of constant magnetic field produces a pattern of spikes.

To find out more about ferrofluids, see the Physics Central feature Ferrofluid Fun.

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Make Tracks

Here's how to get ready for the amusement park: Visit Make Tracks (the link is just above), where you can design a roller coaster and then climb aboard and see how it rides. You can watch the ride from right above the car itself--it's pretty wild!

Also, you can go to Funderstanding Roller Coaster to design a roller coaster, by changing the heights of the hills and loop-the-loop, and then see what happens. If you get the coaster going too fast . . . well, you'll find out.

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credit: NASA

Flames in Space

The photo shows two flames, one on Earth and one in space, with both flames on identical candles.

For a NASA website on flames in space, see Not Just Another Old Flame.

To learn more about weightlessness, visit Fluids in Space at the American Physical Society's outreach website Physics Central.

This feature was updated on June 29, 2009

Bad Astronomy

This web site, by astronomer Philip Plait, is devoted to airing out myths and common misconceptions in astronomy and related topics. There's a general section on misconceptions, and then examples from movies, the news, and TV. You'll find a bulletin board with a huge number of posts on a variety of topics.