Blog Profile / Dot Physics
| URL : | http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/dotphysics | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / Physics | |
| Posts on Regator: | 319 | |
| Posts / Week: | 3.1 | |
| Archived Since: | July 11, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Why Does a Comet Have a Tail?
Actually, comets have two tails. So, this is the tale of two tails. Ok, that was a poor pun – I’m sorry. But comets are a hot item now. First, there is the comet Pan-STARRS as seen above. This isn’t...
Why Should You Plot Your Data?
Let’s pick a lab. Maybe it is a lab that looks at masses oscillating on a spring. In this lab, students could put different masses on the end of a spring and let it oscillate up and down. Theoretically, the...
How Difficult is a 70 Yard Field Goal?
Yup. He just did that. He kicked the football at from the opponent’s 40 yard line. That is 60 yards to the endzone plus 10 more yards to the field goal post. Obviously, this kind of kick isn’t too easy....
Can You Determine Pi With a Pendulum?
The answer is yes. Yes, you can get a value of pi using a pendulum. Well, you need a few other things. Of course, this is the experimental part of my previous post on the connection between pi and the...
What’s the Steepest Gradient for a Road Bike?
Why would cyclists push a bike? In the case of a recent stage of Tirreno-Adriatic, there were three parts with a 27 percent gradient. Yes. That’s pretty steep for a bike. Surely you know I don’t really report on the...
How Fast Would the Earth Have to Spin to Fling People Off?
Alternative title: Neil deGrasse Tyson Still Complains About The Daily Show’s Globe Is there a better person to have on a show for a science topic than Neil deGrasse Tyson? Yes? Yes, me. Maybe? Ok, well Neil does a smashing...
What Does Pi Have To Do With Gravity?
Let’s start with a quick calculation. You might need your calculator. What is ? squared? Does that number look familiar? Does it look like the local gravitational field on the surface of the Earth, g? Well, no – it doesn’t...
The Acceleration of Moon Dust
This is a video I mentioned a while ago as a potential project for video analysis. Why? Because it’s on the moon and that makes it have a double cool factor. Dust on the Moon I love this video, not...
Another Look at Friction in Bad Piggies
I have been bothered with my last model for the frictional force in Bad Piggies. It seems the biggest problem with my last Bad Piggies friction post was the data. I used a level that didn’t really let the vehicle...
Physics and Green Beer Bottles
I have a new beer rule. Avoid beer in green bottles. Just to be clear, this is a rule for myself. You can drink green bottled beer. In fact, you should always try to drink the beer that you like....
How Far Could a Drug Cannon Shoot?
Drug cannon? What’s that? So, apparently some drug smugglers decided not to smuggle drugs but instead shoot them over the boarder. Ok, drug smuggling is not a good thing, but this is an awesome idea (but don’t do it). It...
How Fast Would a Small Meteor Travel?
Note: I actually wrote this the day before the whole Russian Meteor event. I was going to post it but it didn’t match with the awesome current meteor event. Here it is as I originally intended. I ran across...
Could You Build a Banana-Powered Generator?
I’ll just go ahead and say it. Bananas are AWESOME. Maybe you like the taste and maybe you think they are disgusting. This has very little impact on the awesomeness of bananas. Why? Well, first there is the obvious nutritional...
A Duet From Space
It might seem like a trivial process to communicate with astronauts on the International Space Station, but there is a small problem. Suppose you have a radio transmitter and receiver in Houston, Texas. You could use this to send a....
Why Would I Fight a Horse-Sized Duck?
This is a famous question often asked online. Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? I asked my kids and they had a very interesting discussion. For me, the answer is the horse-sized duck. Now I...
Video Analysis of the Russian Meteor
I was originally going to use a video similar to the shot from above. It shows a moving shadow from the intensely bright meteor. Well, it seems someone beat me to it. Ogle Earth: Reconstructing the Chelyabinsk meteor’s path, with...
Why Does a Meteor Explode in the Air?
Let me start our meteor discussion with a comment Dear Russians. I am sorry so many of you were injured and sustain property damage. However, I am very thankful for your abundance of car mounted video cameras. Keep up the...
Reddit Inspired Star Wars Physics Homework
Everyone loves Star Wars. And what goes better with Star Wars than a nice side dish of physics? Nothing. I recently did a Reddit AMA on the Science of Star Wars. If you like, you can check some of the...
How Much Does Darth Vader Weigh?
You remember the scene. Darth Vader picks up a rebel soldier by the neck as a means of interrogation. Yes, I know Star Wars Episode VI is quite old. However, I was reminded of the powers of Darth Vader after...
What If Everyone Jumped in a Lake?
Everyone loves these types of questions. I’m not sure why, but they are indeed fun. This one was suggested by @bfuller @rjallain Student asked “What would happen if everyone on the planet jumped into the water?” Thought you might be...