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Tag: physics
May 18, 2012
Benjamin Franklin, scientist, ready to kick butt.
Some science trivia from wikipedia to go with this awesome picture:
“In 1750 he published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752 Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin’s experiment using a 40-foot (12 m)-tall iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15 Franklin may possibly have conducted his famous kite experiment in Philadelphia, successfully extracting sparks from a cloud. Franklin’s experiment was not written up with credit until Joseph Priestley’s 1767 History and Present Status of Electricity; the evidence shows that Franklin was insulated (not in a conducting path, where he would have been in danger of electrocution). Others, such as Prof. Georg Wilhelm Richmann were indeed electrocuted during the months following Franklin’s experiment.”
Also this:
“Franklin was, along with his contemporary Leonhard Euler, the only major scientist who supported Christiaan Huygens’ wave theory of light, which was basically ignored by the rest of the scientific community. In the 18th century Newton’s corpuscular theory was held to be true; only after Young’s famous slit experiment (1803) were most scientists persuaded to believe Huygens’ theory.”
Image by Dik Pose, via Hey Oscar Wilde!
May 17, 2012
A mundane tragedy is actually a great lesson in thermodynamics (or I’m such a geek)
First, show your audience this awesome strip:
Next, discuss the first law of thermodynamics, systems, dQ and all of that. Then, wait for the merriment to ensue.
May 4, 2012
The physics of the Hulk’s jump.
With lots of great discussion like the below:
While I am talking about mass, there is something that always bothered me. Bruce Banner is a pretty normal-looking human, right? But then he turns into The Hulk (I guess The is his first name since it is always capitalized). So, if he goes from 70 kilograms as a human to almost 300 kg as The Hulk, where does the extra mass come from? What if this is conversion of energy to mass from Einstein’s E = mc2? This would take 2.7 x 1019 Joules of energy. Where does that come from? The total power output from the Sun is about 4 x 1026 Watts. However, only about 1.7 x 1017 Watts hits the Earth. If The Hulk used ALL of this solar energy, it would take over two and a half minutes in order to capture enough energy to “transform.” I guess this could be the “getting angry time.”
Read the whole thing at Dot Physics.
May 3, 2012
WANT! The atom ukulele.
I think this is making me freak out a little…
The Atom Ukulele, By Paul Celentano and available for purchase here.
May 2, 2012
Einstein Time Quote on a lovely poster (Great typography).
By Melissa Alaverdy , available at Etsy.
May 1, 2012
This cat has located a wormhole
This picture, right here, is why I want to include more physics in the ASIC200 course next year!
Found via LOLCats.com.
April 26, 2012
The Higgs Boson Explained. Great video by the creators of PhD Comics.
Definitely worth geeking out to for 7 minutes.
Via PhD Comics.
April 20, 2012
Physicists make funny with a coffee machine. #quantum
(Can’t find the original source for this)
April 14, 2012
Benjamin Franklin produced electricity by rubbing cats backward.
The phrase is all over the internet (and the picture is by Dr. Seuss!). Via Fresh Photons.
April 11, 2012
Publishing a scientific paper to get out of a speeding ticket. #ScienceFTW
This is freakin’ awesome! The story goes that this paper was used to get out of a speeding ticket, by being able to show reasonable doubt for his offence. Although the paper was released on April Fools, it would appear that perhaps it’s still real (link)
TITLE: The Proof of Innocence
AUTHOR: Dmitri Krioukov
ABSTRACT: We show that if a car stops at a stop sign, an observer, e.g., a police ocer, located at a certain distance perpendicular to the car trajectory, must have an illusion that the car does not stop, if the following three conditions are satis ed: (1) the observer measures not the linear but angular speed of the car; (2) the car decelerates and subsequently accelerates relatively fast; and (3) there is a short-time obstruction of the observer’s view of the car by an external object, e.g., another car, at the moment when both cars are near the stop sign.
SINGLE SENTENCE SYPNOSIS: A way to fight your traffic tickets.
LINK: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0162 | PDF: click here
Going to guess there aren’t too many method sections that rely on a Subaru versus Toyota system.
April 6, 2012
I was Plancking…
In reference to Nobel Laureate and founder of Quantum theory, Max Planck, and to the act of “planking,” a sort of fad. Note that Max Planck did not start the planking phenomenon.
April 6, 2012
Notes from Mattel’s “Future of Barbie®” Brainstorming Session (including Stem Cell Barbie and others…)
I always thought the Stem Cell Barbie’s slogan would make an interesting t-shirt. Note that this was originally published at Yankee Pot Raost.
By DAVID NG
Concept: Stem-Cell Barbie®
Description: Produce a plastic mesh form in the shape of a Barbie doll. Seed this mesh with embryonic stem cells. Culture in bio-chambers until cells infiltrate and coat the plastic form.
Pro: This Barbie might get pregnant.
Con: This Barbie might get cancer
Potential slogan: “Feels like real skin because it is real skin.”
—
Concept: Hybrid Barbie®
Description: Barbie doll powered by both conventional gasoline engine, as well as an electric motor.
Pro: Barbie is emissions-compliant.
Con: No one can figure out a good place for the gas nozzle to go in. It always ends up looking dirty.
Potential slogan: “This baby gets up to 40 miles per gallon.”
—
Concept: Schrödinger’s Barbie®
Description: Interactive Barbie doll placed inside a thick lead box, containing a mock cyanide canister, and mock Geiger counter. The Geiger counter may or may not release one decaying mock atom, which in turn, may or may not break the canister releasing the cyanide. Therefore, child would be uncertain as to the fate of the Barbie doll (who could be pretend-dead or pretend-alive) until the lead box is actually opened.
Pro: This is fun way to illustrate an aspect of quantum law, which suggests that due to the superposition of states, Barbie is both dead and alive until the box is opened.
Con: Huh?
Potential slogan: “Schrödinger’s Barbie—be the first to give a shit.”
—
Concept: Super Malleable Barbie®
Description: Produce Barbie dolls using the Dow Corning 3179 dilatant compound (a mixture containing silicone oil and boric acid, commonly known as Silly Putty).
Pro: Barbie can bounce.
Con: When Barbie pretend-falls asleep whilst pretend-reading a newspaper, the newsprint will show up on her face.
Potential slogan: “Ken will thank you.”
—
Concept: Flame-Retardant Barbie®
Description: Coat existing doll product with copious amounts of the common flame retardant, polybrominated diphenyl ether.
Pro: Excellent opportunity for accessories (fireworks, matches, flame throwers, etc).
Con: Excellent opportunity for accessories (fireworks, matches, flame throwers, etc).
Potential slogan: “Throw the Barbie on the barbie!”
—
Concept: Supercomputer Artificial-Intelligence Robot Barbie®
Description: Multiple clusters of high-powered processors networked to a Barbie doll mainframe. 2 USB ports standard. CD/DVD burner drive optional.
Pro: No more stupid brainstorming sessions—send Barbie instead.
Con: Small chance of total world domination and destruction of the human race as we know it.
Potential slogan: “Kicks ass at chess!”
April 3, 2012
Here is a song I wrote about thermodynamics. Be nice…
By DAVID NG
Lyrics as follows:
THERMODYNAMICS OF LOVE (demo mp3)
First you have one
It says a ton
Basically saying that something can’t come from nothing
Gives you the sum, of things to and from, making it all – total up – all working out
CHORUS
I should have you all figured
With a law like this in mind
Listen to my reasoning
You should know by now
The thermodynamics of love.
Then you have two
Messing with you
Telling you life is a journey full of disorder
Giving off heat, ordinary feat, and telling you work a bit harder – figure it out.
CHORUS
ITS very simple
very rational
really excerptional
just universal
absolute zero
not moving on
stuck in a standstill
we’re not responsible.
FADE TO END
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