A house I walk past on the school run has recently installed an ultrasonic animal scarer – presumably to deter the urban foxes that are prevalent in the area. These devices are supposed to emit ultrasound that is too high for humans to hear, but makes a frightening or unpleasant noise for animals, who haveContinue reading “Ultrasonic animal scarers”
Category Archives: Science
Ecowitt weather stations, Prometheus, and Grafana
I recently received an Ecowitt WS2910 weather station for Fathers’ day. I’ve always wanted a weather station so I was very excited. This isn’t supposed to be a review of the product, but I think it would be helpful to go over the basics before we dive into the meat of this blog post (theContinue reading “Ecowitt weather stations, Prometheus, and Grafana”
Feline light metering
Cats have excellent night vision, because the pupils of their eyes can open up so wide, to let more light in. They can also see well in bright daylight because the pupils shrink and let less light in. This is exactly the same as the aperture on a camera, and it got me thinking: can IContinue reading “Feline light metering”
Putting my infrared filters to the test
I now have three infrared filters and one ultraviolet-pass filter of varying specifications, for different purposes. Two of the IR filters are cheap, one of them was expensive and the UV-pass filter was found in a charity shop and I have no information about it. They all behave differently – so I wanted to test themContinue reading “Putting my infrared filters to the test”
Making a solar filter
I wanted a solar filter for my camera, for safe observation and photography of the sun. Typically these filters have an optical density of OD 5.0, which for photographers is ND 100,000. This means that only 0.001% of light is allowed through the filter. You can buy pre-made solar filters, but they are expensive andContinue reading “Making a solar filter”
Frickin’ laser
A friend of mine is a researcher in the field of chemical physics. This week, he invited me to his lab to take a photograph of his 5 megawatt laser, which strikes a copper target and makes a plume of plasma that lasts for just a few fleeting nanoseconds. Normally, I like taking photos ofContinue reading “Frickin’ laser”
The chemistry of black & white photography
I’ve been practising traditional silver-based black & white photography for a couple of years but today it occurred to me that I don’t really know what is going on with the various chemicals. It’s just a process of remembering which bottle is which. I had a vague idea of what was going on, but IContinue reading “The chemistry of black & white photography”
Is Coke worse for your teeth when fizzy or flat?
Everyone knows that Coke is bad for their teeth. It’s sugary and acidic. The acidity is at least partially caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolved in the water, to make carbonic acid. We also know that if you pour a Coke and leave it, it fizzes away as the CO2 comes out of solution andContinue reading “Is Coke worse for your teeth when fizzy or flat?”
Autoradiographic plates
Outdated medical technology isn’t normally the kind of thing I’d be interested in, or would write about – but I was given some old glass autoradiographic stripping plates. I didn’t know what they were at the time – I assumed they were normal photographic plates, but I’ve done a little light reading. Autoradiography The gistContinue reading “Autoradiographic plates”
What about the other three?
I spotted this article on the web earlier today, which discusses a possible cure for peanut allergies. But one particular section jumped out at me: The largest ever trial to find a treatment for potentially fatal peanut allergies is to give sufferers tiny amounts daily to build up tolerance. Twenty out of 23 sufferers inContinue reading “What about the other three?”
Jonathan Gazeley 