Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. Sometimes, we learn things early on in life, and simply accept that's ...

You remember the sodium demo from chemistry class: Just a small chunk of the pure metal dropped into water causes a great big flash and bang. You might even remember ...

The first image shows a pure drop of sodium-potassium alloy; in the next images, we see the drop exposed to the action of the water vapor at 10-4 mbar. A layer of water forms on the drop, in which ...