Andy Hall's avatar

Andy Hall

@testtubegames.bsky.social

257 followers 314 following 402 posts

Sharing science through games, simulations, and toys. You can find the projects I’ve built at TestTubeGames -> testtubegames.com

Gravity Simulator, the Electric Shocktopus, Bond Breaker, Agent Higgs 2, Velocity Raptor, and more. he/him

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.'s avatar Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social
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IT IS TIME.

The 6th annual United States of Science Challenge begins NOW.

Each bubble represents classrooms we matched w/scientists over the last year.

$10 donations fill in bubbles.

The first region to close all their bubbles wins!
givebutter.com/Wj5JGG

5 replies 96 reposts 111 likes

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Katie Slivensky's avatar Katie Slivensky @kslivensky.bsky.social
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"The ex-orphans must have come across him alone in the bush and, realising that he was in dire need of help, frogmarched him to the place they knew to be a refuge for all elephant." MY HEART ❤️❤️❤️

7 replies 142 reposts 346 likes

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Constance Lee Menefee 's avatar Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social
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Downy Woodpecker using her extra-special longer tail feathers for stability and balance. The stiffer tail feathers are black - melanin confers resistance & wear-proofing to feathers. Youngsters might have to spread feathers more until they get the hang of bracing. 🌿🪶

3 replies 14 reposts 135 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Time once again for everyone's favorite game... "Guess... that... Force Law!" Here's a single star being orbited by an asteroid. Is the force law... a) Fg ~ r^1.5 b) Fg ~ r^1.0 c) Fg ~ r^0.5 d) Fg ~ r^-3 Show your work. ⚛️🎢

0 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Huh, can't believe it wasn't on The Science Playground yet...

Veloc-t in Space, a simulation where you fly through the universe at relativistic speeds. Can you make it to Andromeda in one dino’s lifetime? Built by me.

testtubegames.com/veloctinspac...

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Time once again for everyone's favorite game... "Guess... that... Force Law!" Here's a single star being orbited by an asteroid. Is the force law... a) Fg ~ r^1.5 b) Fg ~ r^1.0 c) Fg ~ r^0.5 d) Fg ~ r^-3 Show your work. ⚛️🎢

0 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Metaflora is a super fun way to learn how plants are related.

Figure out today's plant - and along the way have your mind blown countless times. (Cucumbers are closely related to melons?! The universe all makes sense now.) Built by Trainwreck Labs.

flora.metazooa.com

0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Are the neutrinos ghosts now? Yes... they are ghosts now.

But, ghosts won't block Higgs (neutrinos don't interact directly with the Higgs field, you see) -- so you'll need to find another way to beat today's daily level...

testtubegames.com/dailyhiggs.h...

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Heading into school break, and want to play around with fun science this summer?

I've pulled together a list of some of my favorite science games & simulations. 🎢🥽

The Science Playground: thescienceplayground.com

6 replies 24 reposts 54 likes

Reposted by Andy Hall

Dr Dan Jones's avatar Dr Dan Jones @hookean.bsky.social
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This trick works with most light, uniform cylinders. Wine corks are particularly good apparently! Drop from 1.25x the height of the cylinder and this should happen most of the time. Moments in action! #ITeachPhysics
www.youtube.com/shorts/gOpFJ...

1 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Bicycle - a page filled with interactives that is literally a Tour de Force of a whole bunch of physics + mechanics.

Created by Bartosz Ciechanowski. ⚛️

ciechanow.ski/bicycle/

0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

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Gayer Than Thou 🏳️‍🌈 's avatar Gayer Than Thou 🏳️‍🌈 @gayerthanthou.bsky.social
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This might be the coolest thing I've seen on the internet in a while. You can put in a location and pick a date in history to see where on the Earth's surface that location was at that time (and how it was arranged).

dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-eart...

10 replies 104 reposts 229 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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I enjoy that I can sort The Science Playground by categories -- and even share that via links.

Like, if you just want to see *free* science interactives available on the *web*, and sorted with the *newest added* at the top... you just go here: thescienceplayground.com?Cost=Free&Pl...

0 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Reposted by Andy Hall

Katie Slivensky's avatar Katie Slivensky @kslivensky.bsky.social
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Our 2yo has moved on from an obsession with Pavarotti to an obsession with David Bowie. Me, as we watch Dancing in the Street for the ??? time: "I notice you don't help David Bowie sing like you help Pavarotti sing." ("Help" = sings along) "Do you want to help?" 2yo: "No. David Bowie's got it."

9 replies 32 reposts 216 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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A science toy to check out today -- Quantum Game.

Reflect photons, destructively interfere wavefunctions, and feed weird little monsters. A pretty solid game about quantum mechanics. Built by Quantum Flytrap. ⚛️

lab.quantumflytrap.com/game

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Something cool (though temperatures may vary) for your Friday - Interactive Molecular Dynamics.

It's a particle simulation that's great for exploring thermodynamics, or Newtonian mechanics, gas laws, etc. Created by Dan Schroeder. ⚛️

physics.weber.edu/schroeder/md/

0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Player "sillygoose" shared this level they made in The Electric Shocktopus. A nice example of what it takes to sail through electric fields.

(arrows to run/jump, shift to charge electrically)

testtubegames.com/shocktopus_w...

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Today's science toy -> Black Hole Explorer

It's Black Hole Week apparently (seems earlier and earlier every year, eh?) - so go ahead and fly a rocket through the spacetime around a black hole. By, well, me, I guess. ⚛

testtubegames.com/blackhole.html

0 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Science toy of the day -> Reaction Diffusion System.

Fun toy that lets you play with a Reaction Diffusion, a simulation that easily makes interesting patterns and has a connection to how biological systems grow. Created by pmeila.

pmneila.github.io/jsexp/graysc...

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Physics toy of the day -> The Hunt for Dark Matter

Learn about a way that weak gravitational lensing can be used to find Dark Matter... then play a game where you do just that!

Like a super physics-y version of minesweeper. By Shaun Hotchkiss and crew. ⚛️
gravitational-lensing.explored.info

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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The crates thought they were safe... And also I thought I had the eyeballs turned off on the boxes. Ah well, live (or plummet to your doom) and learn. In less tongue-and-cheek news, Z bosons in Agent Higgs can now push a variety of objects... since that's their major skill.

0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

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Robert McNees's avatar Robert McNees @mcnees.bsky.social
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“It’s what keeps you going as a theoretical physicist to hope that one of your squiggles will turn out to describe reality.”

They were very good squiggles!

home.cern/news/news/ce...

1 replies 4 reposts 8 likes

Reposted by Andy Hall

Kelly Lepo's avatar Kelly Lepo @kellylepo.bsky.social
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I came across this delightful video this afternoon and paused what I was doing to watch the whole thing.

It's a supercut of 18 astronomy visualizations from @spacetelescope.bsky.social, using computer simulations and Hubble images to create 3D flythroughs of objects in space 🔭🧪
youtu.be/24cV8GYe-iw

1 replies 7 reposts 15 likes

Andy Hall's avatar Andy Hall @testtubegames.bsky.social
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Science toy for today -> Evolution by Keiwando.

Draw the bones and muscles for your stick-figure creatures, and evolve them into better racers. Free and available on the web.

keiwan.itch.io/evolution

0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes