Gas

Let’s face it: as stars go, our Sun is actually, well ... pretty boring. C’mon, there’s nothing unusual about it. There are millions of similar yellow dwarfs in the universe. And yet we love it. After all, it’s the only star we have, and it gives us life. However... it wasn’t always like that. Once upon a time, the Sun had a twin... possibly an evil one! What happened to it? Well, let’s find out. This here is a giant molecular cloud. They’re also sometimes called dark nebulae. Here, there are many interstellar clumps full of gas, dust, and piles of stars. These clouds have no clear boundaries and often take weird crazy forms. You can even see some of them with the naked eye. Look at the clear sky at night — they look like dark spots all across the bright Milky Way.

Tired of boring old Earth? Want to know what lies beyond the starry night sky? You’re not the only one. People have been asking the same question for centuries. Luckily, scientists got you covered. They have discovered a lot about amazing places light-years away from our Blue Planet. Just one light year is about 6 trillion miles; mind-blowing, huh? So, hop on, the spaceship of knowledge is lifting off.

You’re on a spaceship flying through outer space at a speed of 180,000 miles per second. This is almost the speed of light. Make yourself comfortable, because the voyage is gonna be long. It will last a little more than 90 years. It’s better to use a cryo capsule to not get bored. In short, you need to fly for almost a century at the speed of light to get to a mysterious exoplanet that scientists have recently discovered.

The Universe is not static. It evolves all the time and grows in all directions. It’s expanding, and scientists found this out almost a century ago. And it’s not at a stable rate — the more time goes by, the faster the Universe expands. As this happens, stars, planets, and galaxies move farther and farther apart, which leaves more space between them. If that’s the case, the Universe is supposed to become colder as it expands, right? After all, it was a lot denser when the Big Bang happened. And a lot hotter. As it was expanding, space was cooling down, which created conditions for planets, stars, and other space objects to form.

It’s dark outside — almost 2 AM. You go outside and look at the sky. And here it is — bright, full Moon. You might think you know a lot about Earth’s natural satellite, but let me ask you this, “How did it form?” The answer is “nobody knows”! But, of course, there are theories. The most popular one, called “the giant-impact theory,” claims that the Moon formed during a collision between Earth and another planet. This planet must have been smaller than ours, the size of Mars. And the collision itself probably happened around 4.5 billion years ago.

Way back in the Victorian Era, a strange celestial body appears to have popped up in our solar system. Was it an asteroid? Or maybe a comet? It took us until October 2017 to notice it and to start studying it closely. It was named Oumuamua [Oh-moo-ah moo-ah] — which is Hawaiian for “scout”. Not only is its shape extremely unusual — highly elongated and narrow — but it’s also speeding so fast that it appears the Sun’s gravity doesn’t affect it so much.

What do you know about the weird and wacky world of states of matter? Most of us know that matter can be solid, liquid, and gas. Some of us even know about a special fourth state called plasma. But what about the extraordinary states that behave in crazy ways, like dancing and color-changing? Forget what you thought you knew about solids, liquids, and gasses, because we’re diving into the wild side of physics. Let’s go.

Some strange seismic activity begins all over the world. Volcanoes on the planet are waking up. But instead of lava, fiery stones, and black ash, they release an invisible gas that slowly fills the atmosphere. This gas is safe for all mammals and insects, but for some reason, it harms people. Gas masks, medications — nothing helps. It’s like Earth says: “Hey, people, I’ve had enough! Get out of here.” To survive, humanity decides to move to a place where gas can’t reach — underwater.

Somewhere near California, there’s a curious place with over 5,200 underwater holes located right on the seafloor. No one was bothered much about them, — those holes were known to the maritime community and weren’t a big deal. Everyone just thought it was due to underground gas. However, back in 2019, the seafloor was investigated with a robot, and guess what — no gas was found there.They did find something, though. It turned out that 15,000 more holes appeared on the seafloor. Some scientists claim those were fish that had dug those holes. Seems like they just kicked up dust to accommodate themselves, and the dust was simply washed away by the currents. Right, some fish did live in those holes, but most of them were vacant. So, the mystery is yet to be solved!

Imagine you decided to take a road trip the old-fashioned way. And by that I mean you decided to do it without the help of any technology. (What?) So, you go to the nearest convenience store and buy a map of each state you plan to pass through. You buckle them up on the passenger’s seat right next to you and set off on your adventure!

Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered in a thick layer of ice, but underneath it is a vast ocean of water, measuring up to 100 miles deep. Water ice was previously thought to be rare and only common for Earth, but it can, in fact, be found all over the Solar System, even on Mercury and the Moon. Saturn is less dense than water, so if it were thrown into a giant pool, it would float. Space isn’t supposed to be black: there are stars everywhere. Shouldn’t they light up everything around? You don’t see stars wherever you look because some of them haven’t existed long enough for their light to reach Earth! There are eight confirmed planets in the Solar System, but evidence shows there can be a ninth — we just haven’t discovered it yet.

The hunt for interesting exoplanets and life forms somewhere out there in the vast expanse of the Universe keeps going; no stopping here! We’re basically searching for a second Earth — a planet that’s similar to our home and where we could finally find some space friends. We’re not picky, any form of life is fine, even some bacteria-sized organisms. And this search has mostly been going on in the habitable zone around other stars. We also call this the Goldilocks zone. That’s a region where conditions are “bearly” just right for liquid water to exist, whether we’re talking about the surface of a planet or a moon.

Imagine you’re looking up at the sky on a clear night, and you see all those beautiful stars twinkling up there. Well, one of them is Betelgeuse — a celebrity among stars. If you want to catch a glimpse of it, look up at the Orion constellation. It low-key looks like an archer holding a bow, and you can spot Betelgeuse as the reddish-orange dot on their shoulder. It’s one of the brightest stars in the sky, so it’s hard to miss! Betelgeuse is not your ordinary star. First of all, it’s gigantic, up to 1,000 times the size of our Sun. Can you imagine that? It’s so enormous that if we could somehow replace our Sun with Betelgeuse, it would engulf all the inner planets, including Earth!

As you walk down the street, it’s calm and quiet, but suddenly, a Tesla rolls past. The smooth quiet engine takes you by complete surprise. A great example of advanced technology we see today. But this futuristic tech isn’t that new of an idea, and there were actually electric cars manufactured over 100 years ago!

We all know about black holes. But what about their mysterious twin siblings — white holes? Have you ever even heard about these guys? Do they even exist? And the most important question of them all — are these two actually a big interdimensional portal? Let’s find out. A black hole is a creepy space object with an INCREDIBLY strong attractive force. Its gravitation is so great that even light cannot escape from it. That’s why it seems black to us.

When you order a drink that isn’t supposed to have cinnamon in it but still smells like it — don’t even try it! Chances are that someone has messed with your drink and tried adding some ingredients that shouldn’t really be there. Cinnamon has the superpower of covering up the smell and taste of other substances. So, the best you can do is never leave your drink alone and always sniff it before drinking.

Fasten your seat belts! We’re setting course for the most bizarre places in our Universe — and you’ll see the most mysterious phenomena few people have ever seen before!Recently, astronomers have discovered that the supermassive black hole at the center of our home Milky Way galaxy might be “leaking”! Why is it a significant change? Because it might mean that this black hole, called Sagittarius A*, whose mass is 4.1 million times the mass of our Sun, isn’t a sleeping giant as previously thought. It might still be active.

Welcome to the “Survive, no matter what” show! Today our host, Alberto, will perform a crazy trick. Last year he lived in a cave with a grizzly bear for two months and managed to survive. Do you remember how Alberto smeared himself with minced meat and jumped into a pool with piranhas? I hope you haven’t forgotten how Alberto grilled a barbecue on an awakened volcano? Well, forget it! Today Alberto will do the most dangerous and crazy trick in his life. Especially for you, dear viewers, he will get swallowed by a giant blue whale. Alberto goes to the North Atlantic. It’s a vast area of water where you can meet blue whales and cachalots. He gets on a yacht and sails far from the shore. He’s going to look for whales using echolocation and binoculars.

So, what kind of gas do you fill up with? Well, tacos usually do the trick for me, but at the filling station, you’ve probably noticed different tabs with some numbers on gas pump buttons. Those are octane levels, varying from regular and mid-grade to premium. Each one provides a different level of octane that your specific engine type requires functioning effectively. Your choice should be based on the compression ratio of your engine. So, the myth of using premium for a car that requires regular gas to gain better performance or to boost the engine’s health is false. Best stick to the fuel recommended for your car. You’ll save money buying the correct fuel. But what if you filled your gas tank on a cold morning, allowing the fuel to shrink? Won’t it make the fuel denser, providing more value for your dollar? This is another false myth. The supply tanks are buried so deep underground that the temperature inside doesn’t change at all.

Night. You and your friends are riding bikes around a small city and notice a meteorite flying in the sky. It burns with a bright green flame and then falls right into a small pond near the town. You instantly dash to the crash site. The water on the pond’s surface is foaming and bubbling. The incandescent meteorite slowly sinks to the bottom and illuminates the black waters with a green light. Mesmerized by this picture, you approach the edge of the pier. The green glow is reflected in your glasses, beckoning you. You take a step, suddenly fall into the water, and pass out.

The Milky Way Galaxy where we live looks like a ginormous pinwheel rotating in space. It’s a spiral galaxy that appeared around fourteen billion years ago. It’s filled with a lot of stuff: stars, nebulae — which are clouds of dust and gas, planets, asteroids, you and me and your parents and that messy kid down the street — you get the idea. And all these fans out from the center of the galaxy in long spiraling arms — a marvelous view!

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” We know that no supernovas, crashing asteroids, and burning planets make a sound in space. Or do they? What if you actually CAN hear something out there? Well, let’s see!Okie-dokie, back to middle school. “Sound is a mechanical wave originating from vibration.” Umm... what exactly does that mean? The simplest example is guitar strings. Let’s pull one of them. It starts to vibrate. The atoms inside the metal string begin to push and beat the atoms of the air around them.So, now, atoms are constantly pushing each other — until they reach our ears. It’s like a wave from a pebble thrown into a pond. And it happens very quickly — at a speed of about 0.21 mi/s!

Imagine sitting at home, drinking coffee and watching a new episode of your favorite series. And suddenly — BOOM! CRASH! What’s happened?! Nothing terrible — just a meteorite that has just crashed into your kitchen after breaking the roof.

If you look at it on the street, you’ll think a fire hydrant is about 3 feet in height. But the actual size of the device used to provide water supply to firefighters all over the world is twice as large. That is if you count the rest of the hydrant, which is hiding underground. They are mostly red, and it’s not just a matter of urban design.