When it comes to measuring the "hardness" of a material, most tests are distinctly low-tech and basically involve pressing a diamond tip into the surface and measuring the size of the dent produced.

This is a classic introductory physics problem. Basically, you have a cart on a frictionless track (call this m 1) with a string that runs over a pulley to another mass hanging below (call this m 2).

It would take a foolhardy physicist to dare attempt to break the laws of thermodynamics. But it turns out that there may be ways to bend them. At a lab at the University of Oxford, UK, quantum ...

Jim Baggott is a science writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is co-author with John Heilbron of Quantum Drama. Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory, on which ...

The film discusses the evolution of navigation and the principles of buoyancy, stability, and propulsion in watercraft. It explains how objects float based on the displacement of water and the balance ...