Steam Farting Beads! Do Jumping Beads Violate the 2nd Law of Thermo?!?!
Channel: Concordia Thermodynamics
Date: 23/11/2022

Following a student question, we started wondering whether jumping beads in a pan could be violating the 2nd law. Spoiler alert: nothing violates the 2nd law! What's going on, though? The answer is TINY STEAM FARTS!

Do watch the videos referenced yourself, the links are:
Jumping Beads: https://www.koreus.com/video/billes-hydrogel-poele-chaude.html
Hydrogel beads: https://www.amazon.ca/COSCANA-Children-Rainbow-Decoration-Centerpiece/dp/B08GYD6398/
Leidenfrost effect with molten metal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmLpsPdlxSg
Leidenfrost Effect with liquid nitrogen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ijwSZ3gnQ
Leidenfrost Effect at home with a hot pan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-eYykJj4rM

Some more information here:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2141618-screaming-gel-balls-reveal-a-way-to-power-soft-but-noisy-robots/
https://www.nature.com/articles/nphys4194