For nearly a decade, Theodore Gray has been demonstrating basic principles of chemistry and physics through exciting, sometimes daredevil experiments that he executes, photographs, and writes about for his monthly Popular Science column "Gray Matter," as well as his bestselling, award-winning books The Elements, Molecules, Reactions, and How Things Work.
This books now collects Gray's Popular Science columns, along with hundreds of photographs -- many of which are never-before-seen. The second volume includes mad-scientist experiments, which features dramatic, enlightening, and often daring projects, such as demonstrating the Leidenfrost effect; crushing a tomato between two small magnets to show the power of neodymium-iron-boron magnets; and creating trinkets out of solid mercury to demonstrate how the state of matter depends very much on the temperature at which it exists.

Other experiments include:

• A foil boat floating on an invisible sea
• DIY X-ray photos
• A bacon lance that cuts steel
• Charging a smart phone with apples and pennies
• And dozens more