Stories by Jearl Walker

Why do particles of sand and mud stick together when they are wet?

Reflections on the rising bubbles in a bottle of beer

The pleasures of the pinhole camera and its relative the pinspeck camera

The aerodynamics of the samara: winged seed of the maple, the ash and other trees

Why do honey and syrup form a call when they are poured?

Interference patterns made by motes on dusty mirrors

Anamorphic pictures: distorted views from which distortion can be removed

The physics and chemistry of the lemon meringue pie

About phosphenes: luminous patterns that appear when the eyes are closed

The charm of hydraulic jumps, starting with those observed in the kitchen sink

The physics of spinning tops, including some far-out ones

How can the amateur detect metals in air, liquids or solids? Sam Epstein discourses

More about edifying visual spectacles produced by laser

The physics of the patterns of frost on a window, plus an easy-to-read sundial

More about random-dot displays, plus computer programs to generate them

A home made mercury-vapor ion laser that emits both green and red-orange

Billows in the ionosphere are tracked with transistor radios

Dazzling laser displays that shed light on light

In judo and aikido application of the physics of forces makes the weak equal to the strong

Mysteries of rainbows, notably their rare supernumerary arcs

Illusions in the snow: more fun with random dots on the television screen

Visual illusions in random-dot patterns and television "snow"

Stalking the fossil trilobite, crinoid and seed fern in Ohio

Easy ways to make holograms and view fluid flow, and more about funny fluids