Concentrated sound waves can collapse microscopic bubbles, creating light

Scientific applications of bubbles include logic gates, laser production, and medical imaging

Microbubbles of nonreactive gas can be administered to improve the reflection of sound waves and the resulting imaging during an ultrasound. Bouncing light waves within a bubble can stimulate emission of light from a trapped chemical, just as occurs within a laser, and bubbles can act as valves that control the flow and reaction rates in microfluidic systems.

Listen to samples of 'sounds' produced by the sun's internal vibrations

Sonification can turn otherwise inaudible vibrations into audible sounds, just as scientists colorize images of celestial objects taken outside the visible range into colors our eyes can interpret. This has been used to turn the vibrations within the sun detected by the Parker Solar Probe into audio clips that resemble chirping and whistling.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

A nuclear reactor's characteristic blue light is produced from superluminal particles

When light travels through water, its effective speed is 25% lower than its speed in a vacuum. Just as sound waves bunch up and produce a sonic boom when objects move faster than the speed of sound, particles moving faster than this reduced speed generate a shock wave of light, visible as a blue hue.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after explosion due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound

This shockwave is caused by the rapid release of energy and is one of the key characteristics of fireworks, alongside the bright light show. The colors result from chemicals that absorb light at different wavelengths in the spectrum, with higher-energy compounds leading to darker colors and lower-energy compounds—like strontium chloride—producing colors like orange and red.

Stimulating electrons to emit identical photons produces lasers

This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein in 1917, and requires all excited electrons in a material to exist in the same excited metastable state within their atoms. Pumping all atoms through the same mechanism, such as electricity or flash lamps, can create this environment.

Light echoes are expanding shells of reflected starlight

Just as sound waves reveal the location of obstacles by reflecting off them, pulses of light emitted by stars illuminate rings of interstellar dust, giving the appearance of ejected material as the light travels outward.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

Will-o'-the-wisps may be the result of microlightning between bubbles

Methane and air bubbles moving through water can generate small sparks between them, which can ignite gas. The above-ground phenomenon may have historically been the result of passing travelers igniting swamp gas with their lanterns. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Sound can shatter glass if its frequency matches the material's natural vibrations

The sound made by an object when struck is its resonant frequency, which is the sound made when energy is dissipated. Providing energy at that frequency amplifies the vibrations, rather than allowing them to dissipate, which can deteriorate the object's structural integrity.

Tiny water droplets can blur a rainbow's colors into a foggy white

When sunlight enters water droplets, it can reflect from the inside and spread out into different colors, producing a series of colorful arcs—supernumerary bows—which we refer to as rainbows. For droplets a few hundredths of a millimeter in size, these arcs overlap onto each other, producing fogbows of white light.

Distinguishing between various solar surface phenomena, including solar flares and sunspots

Flares are sudden eruptions of electromagnetic radiation caused by a buildup of magnetic energy in the sun's atmosphere and often occur near sunspots, where strong magnetic fields limit the flow of hot material, creating these cooler regions. Flares can also be accompanied by coronal mass ejections—large explosions of plasma from the sun's upper atmosphere with their own magnetic fields.

Physicists detect the sound of heat in superfluids, theorized since 1938

Referred to as "second sound," the flow of heat in a superfluid resembles a sound wave bouncing back and forth. The heat-mapping techniques used to make the detection may improve the study of neutron stars and superconductors.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Light waves can interfere and cancel each other out

When light waves travel past one another, their peaks and valleys combine, just as overlapping ripples in water can combine to form a larger ripple. When the peak of a light wave meets the valley of another of the same wavelength and brightness, the waves combine to produce no light.

Glow sticks feed energy released in chemical reactions to fluorescent dyes

When bent, the glass tube inside the stick breaks, releasing hydrogen peroxide into the surrounding solution. The ensuing reaction creates unstable molecules that decompose and release energy, which is then absorbed by molecular dyes that emit light when their excited electrons return to lower energy states.

Crackling, popping, and rustling sounds have been reported during auroras

At the altitudes where auroras take place—between 100 and 300 kilometers (62 to 186 miles)—air is not dense enough to efficiently vibrate and carry sound waves to the ground. However, one theory suggests that the geomagnetic energy behind auroras can trigger electrical discharges near the surface, which may be the cause of reported sounds.

Microchip fabricators create light by heating tin droplets to over 220,000 Kelvin

Every second, lasers strike 50,000 droplets moving at 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour, vaporizing the tin in supernova-like miniature explosions that produce ultraviolet light. Knowing this light will spread via diffraction as it passes through a filter during manufacturing, designers reverse-engineer the filter design based on the required final microchip pattern.

Solar sails use light as a means of propulsion

Photons possess momentum and can transfer it to objects they strike or bounce off, imparting radiative pressure, or a light-based force over a small surface area. Lasers fired at observational equipment with specially designed sails can theoretically use this mechanism to accelerate up to 20% the speed of light.

Watch an artist's impression of two neutron stars merging in a kilonova explosion

Such an event produces enough light to briefly outshine an entire galaxy and to produce characteristic gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals. On August 17, 2017, these signals were captured by the LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL observatories, respectively, from a kilonova about 130 million light-years away.

Artificial lightning can improve the yield of shiitake mushroom growers

Researchers have found that shockwaves produced from lightning strikes homogenously break internal filaments called hyphae, transitioning the mushrooms from a vegetative growth to a fruiting phase. Repeated minor shocks near mushroom logs mimicked this effect.

Why breathing helium, sulfur hexafluoride, and other gases changes your voice

The speed of sound varies depending on the properties of the material it travels through, including its density. Because helium is less dense than air, sound travels faster, altering the timbre of one's voice to be squeakier by enhancing its higher frequencies. In molecules that are heavier than air, low-frequency sounds are enhanced, producing a deeper voice.

38 thought-provoking facts about the ocean

Coral produces its own sunscreen, tsunamis move at 500 miles per hour, one of the loudest sounds ever recorded came from an ice quake, and other interesting facts collected from sources such as National Geographic and NASA.

Concentrated solar power systems focus sunlight in order to boil water

These systems use thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a central tower storing molten salt or multiple receivers housing heat transfer fluid that absorbs the radiation. The material is pumped through water to boil it, creating steam that drives a generator.

Ancient sunken plates may influence mantle convection and surface motion

Research suggests sunken tectonic plates can collide, assemble, and break apart to form structures called large low-velocity provinces. LLVPs can significantly enrich rising magma plumes with elements commonly seen on Earth’s surface.

The weakest form of light that is dangerous to humans is ultraviolet

Unlike radio waves, microwave, infrared, and visible light, UV light can produce chemical changes, such as curing adhesives and resins, causing substances to fluoresce, and destroying the genetic material of microorganisms. This makes UV light useful for sterilization, forensics, and quickly drying nail polish.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

How fusion—which releases energy when two lighter atoms combine to form a heavier atom—differs from fission

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

Watch what the Ebola virus does inside our cells and organs in order to spread and survive.