“By Heidi Sandhorst
Famous Physicists 2010 Trading Card Set for sale. 20 4″ x 6″ glossy cards with rounded corners featuring handmade artwork and information about each physicist on the back as well as an inspirational quote from each physicist. Each set comes in a black box with hand drawn label and gold rubber band to hold it shut. $20 plus s+h (if applicable).
Email me at heidisandhorst@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a set.”
Via Fresh Photons.
This is apparently a vintage 60s poster for a primary school classroom, and I think it’s lovely (it’s drawn by Cynthia Amrine). Would also make a great graphic when discussing something like why gravity is a “law.” I.e. you know what it is, and it works in very defined ways, but why does it do what it does? Well, that’s not so clear…
More at neatocoolville.
Great example of how intuitive data interpretation can get it wrong.
Abstract: It is well known that falling cats usually land on their feet and, moreover, that they can manage to do so even if released from complete rest while upside-down. This phenomenon has given rise to questions of Dynamics as well as Physiology, and these have received attention in the literature of both fields [1-7]. In particular, numerous attempts have been made to discover a relatively simple mechanical system whose motion, when proceeding in accordance with the laws of Dynamics, possesses the salient features of the motion of the falling cat. The present paper constitutes such an attempt. (By T. R. KANE and M. P. SCHE)
Found via Fresh Photons via Guardian.
For more, see here. Via Improbable Research.
I remember seeing this in elementary school and thinking, “Whoa…” The remarkable thing is that it is still awesome.
Can’t find source for this one: from the internetz?
Via “What Do you Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman.
Perhaps a commentary on how sometimes science (and esp. some aspects of physics) is not obviously applicable?
Via Rock Paper Cynic.
I especially love the fact that there is a devoted wikipedia entry for this. It notes:
“In reality, cats do possess the ability to turn themselves right side up in mid-air if they should fall upside-down. The cat righting reflex is made possible in large part through being able to independently rotate the front and back sections of the body. This allows them to rotate without violating conservation of angular momentum by tucking in the front paws to lower the front section’s moment of inertia and extending the back paws to increase the back section’s moment of inertia. Thus, a cat can turn the front half of its body through a considerably larger angle than the back half.”
“Most people have forgotten the mysterious questions that a box of crayons presents to a kid such as: what am I supposed to do with this useless white crayon? why is the yellow crayon so dark and greenish, but draws such a pure, light yellow? is it just my eyes, or are the paper wrappers on the blue, indigo, and cerulean crayons the exact same color?”
Via Mark Meyer
popperfont.net 