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Awesomeness Science & Technology Video Clips

Hot, With a Chance of Coronal Rain

Every day is a scorcher on the star at the centre of our solar system. And on some days it even rains.

In mid-July 2012, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a most beautiful phenomenon that resulted from the combination of solar winds and a solar flare. It’s termed coronal rain.

As the plasma cools and fall back to the surface, the Sun’s magnetic field creates a series of coronal loops that look like they were streams from a sourceless waterfall. The time-lapse video captures a coronal rain shower that lasted 10 hours at temperatures over 49,000 degrees Celsius! See it below.

[via APOD]

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Hot and Steamy

Wikipedia defines the Leidenfrost effect as “a phenomenon in which a liquid, in near contact with a mass significantly hotter than the liquid’s boiling point, produces an insulating vapor layer which keeps that liquid from boiling rapidly.”

Reading the concept might be boring, but seeing it in action is somewhat cooler. In this little clip, a glowing ball of red hot nickel is dropped into a container of water. Thanks to Leidenfrost effect, the surface of the ball becomes insulated from the water by a blanket of steam. But the effect is temporary, watch what happens when the ball cools.

The Leidenfrost effect has been demonstrated in a few other ways, most notably when the mustachioed Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman dared to dip his little piggy into a pot of molten lead. Have a look at that reaction after the jump.

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The Incandescent Sun

Sometimes the boffins over at NASA like to have a bit of fun. Images of the sun captured from their Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission were enhanced, not to add any further scientific value, but to make them look purdy.

The visualization shows the movement of plasma in the sun’s atmosphere. The corona as it is called reaches temperatures of 600000 Kelvin, or 599726.85 degrees Celsius! Have a look at our beautiful Incandescent Sun below.

To download the images and HD video, travel to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

[via Holy Kaw]