I met so many cool people, made new friends and greeted some old friends again. I had a great time seeing Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer (and president of the JREF) again (see picture above), schmoozed with Jamie from “The Cuter Side of Politics” (picture below, with Richard Saunders), watching the very talented Sarah Trachtenberg do her stand-up routine at the TAM Talent Show, and got to do an awesome audio recording with Richard Saunders from the Skeptic Zone that included beer, Australians and sound. Awesome!

The Think Tank Experiment

I had the great privilege to sit down with Richard Saunders, Brian Dunning (from the awesome skeptoid.com) Amanda Rose,  and others to record a special edition of the Skeptic Zone’s Think Tank at the sports bar in the hotel. We sat down with some beers and had a great time sharing a nice little demonstration about the different sounds you can make with half-filled beer bottles.

You are encouraged to listen to the entire episode, where Richard updates from The Amazing Meeting with some interviews and snippets from the different speakers, but if you want to jump straight off to the Think Tank experiment, it starts about an hour and fifteen minutes (1:15) into the show.

The different sounds bottles make

Richard drank all the liquid in his bottle, while I drank only a little bit. Mine was almost full, while his was almost empty. Tapping both bottles produced different sounds; the empty bottle produced higher pitched sound and the full one produced lower pitched sound.

However, when we blew air inside the bottles, the sounds were reversed. The empty bottle produced a low pitch sound and the full bottle produced a high pitch sound (You can see us in action in this great picture).

Why does that happen?

Tapping the bottle causes the glass to vibrate. When the bottle is empty, the glass moves more freely and produces faster vibrations (and higher pitched sound). When it’s full, the liquid prevents the glass from moving as much and the vibrations are slower (and lower pitched sound).

Blowing air into the bottle makes the air itself move around in the space inside the bottle. The sound is produced as the air molecules vibrate at the  bottle’s mouth . When the bottle is empty there’s more room inside for air to move around, and it escapes more slowly. When there’s liquid inside the bottle there’s less room for the air to move around, and it escapes more quickly. The quicker the air escapes the bottle’s opening, the faster the air molecules vibrate and create the sound.

Slow vibrations produce low pitch sound and high vibrations produce high pitch sound. This is one demonstration you can do anywhere where they serve drinks. Bottoms up!

The Awesomeness of TAM

I had a wonderful time in Las Vegas at The Amazing Meeting 7, and I just can’t wait for next year’s Amazing Meeting 8. Are you coming? You should, and if you end up there, walk around, make new friends, and hunt me down to say hello. It’s the best time of year!

Update: You can find more pictures of the great experiment with Richard Saunders at TAM7, in sc00ter’s TAM7 flickr album.

I hope this will give the project a bit more exposure, and give me another method of updating you about new and exciiiiting things that are about to happen to the website, as well as new experiment videos!

Fan me: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SmarterThanThatcom/30731268952

And spread the word!

I uploaded the new SmarterThanThat experiment video, but the quality was SOOOOO bad, I had to take it down. I am re-rendering the video now and it will be up as soon as YouTube allows for it.

Apologies  – but I promise it’s worth the wait!

~moo

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, I’m in Vegas, and contrary to common belief, this time what goes on in Vegas is not going to stay in Vegas – why, you ask? Well, because I’m here, and I’m tellin’.

We’ve just finished a busy-busy day full of amazing presentations, including a live recording of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe (Which I only wittnessed the end of, trying to figure out my way into the lecture hall, <sigh>), Openning words by James Randi, a great debunk of homeopathy by Dr Ben Goldacre, an uber-amazing presentation by Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson and a CSI presentation by Alec Jason, who helped James Randi expose Peter Popoff’s “tricks”.

I’ve also met (finally, face to face!) Richard Saunders (Australia Mystery Investigators and Tank Vodcast) and Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer).

So — TAM6 is still ongoing, and I already have another surprise up my sleeve that involves Richard Saunders and a very cool hushhush surprise for the attendees of TAM and the readers of the blog. So stay tuned for a definite awesomeness.

For those of you who are here in Vegas at the convention – look me up! You can write to me on the site, or by mail: moo [at] smarterthanthat [dot] com and we’ll get together for a beer. Or somethin’

Stay tuned for more Amazingness!

~moo

So I have been gone for a bit, but I had a good excuse – it’s the end of my semester – and you know what comes at the end of the semester, don’t you? No no.. before the resting time.. No.. after the week of last-classes… Before the partying— yes! That’s right.

Finals.

So, it seems like it’s going to be some quality time for me with Multivariable Calculus books (whoopie..), Electricity and Magnetism (<sigh>), and some computing books.

Oye.

But! Fear not! I shall come back twice as strong and double the enthusiasm – and I have a few experiments already planned and ready for you. Also, I owe you a correction video for the last “sucking” experiment.

By the way, if you are also students and facing the end of your semesters and some final exams, I have a tip taht may save your day: MIT is giving out free education!

MIT Open Courseware is probably the greatest online reference for final-exam studying. Other than notes and summaries, they also have some courses with full video lecture series. My physics improved greatly after watching Walter Lewin’s “Electricity and Magnetism” lecture series.

I definitely recommend this for everyone!

Also, make sure you sign up for “The Amazing Meeting 6” (TAM6) – a great science and skepticism convention. This year the subject is “Modern Skepticism in the Internet Age”, so if you’re reading this (on the internet) you’re probably going to enjoy it. And of course, there are great presenters planned, like Dr Neil Degrasse Tyson, Dr Michael Shermer, PZ Myers (from “Pharyngula” blog), Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer), Richard Saunders (“TANK Vodcast“) and more and more and more.

And of course, I’m coming too, so if you’re up for a beer (or a cup of coffee), send me a note to moo [at] smarterthanthat [dot] com
So – Sorry about that, but I will see you soon. I promise. Only a little bit to the end of finals (and I have 2 huge ones at the same week, egh)…
See you soon!

Just before another experiment comes out for this week, I must share one piece of news that is extremely exciting: The TANK Vodcast, a great skeptical podcast with Richard Saunders and Stefan Sojka as hosts, has featured SmarterThanThat with an interview with me, in its last episode for the season!

The episode is online here, or in the “Media Mentions” page. Also, they’re worth a subscription. Really!