Humbling at indexed.
Observation: Jessica’s plots vary as either 1/r, r or r2, but I can’t recall any that had an actual inflection point (in my semi-random sampling). There could be some subtle implications in inflection points. No asymptotic functions I can recall, either.
Why “Daisy” in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Possibly because a Bell Labs computer sang it years earlier, in a demo of voice synthesis and voice recognition.
Pangolins is practically chickens.
Jennifer has started the great pop-sci book project, a natural evolution (and yet intelligently designed progression) of The Big Read
The rules are familiar
1. Highlight those you’ve read in full
2. Asterisk those you intend to read
3. Add any additional popular science books you think belong on the list
4. Link back to me (leave links or suggested additions in the comments, if you prefer) so I can keep track of everyone’s additions. Then we can compile it all into one giant “Top 100″ popular science books list, with room for honorable mentions. (I, for one, have some quirky choices in the list below.) Voila! We’ll have awesome resource for general readers interested in delving into the fascinating world of science!
I don’t read tremendous amount of pop-sci, and not much in physics since A Brief History of Time, as I’ve gone to grad school since then and really don’t need much prose on how weird quantum mechanics and relativity are. (I had to put my foot down on getting pop-sci books as gifts after getting a pop-up book of cosmology; I felt a bit like John Cleese in a Monty Python sketch
Do you like your rattle? Do you like your rattle?
Ah, yes, the rattle.
Ooh, he’s talkin’ already
Of course I can talk, I’m the Minister for Overseas Development
But I digress.)
Read more »
21 Funny Airline Announcements
“In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite.”
Map of Springfield and an interactive version (the website mentioned on the map leads to a dead-end)
via Neatorama
Flash game. Build a device to move (push, pull, launch) an object to a goal. Physics and engineering at play!
Beijing 2008 – It’s a wrap at The Big Picture (39 photos)
If you look at the high jump of Blanka Vlasic, you can see how it’s possible to do a high jump with your center-of-mass (focus on the physics) never rising above the bar, though I think in this jump it is higher, since she’s clearing the bar by a bit. But I would guess that her COM is below her torso.
And that last one is going in my desktop picture rotation.
Oh, way cool. A rotating grid looks like a bunch of smaller grids when you rotate it.
I notice that the answers are posted for the “Presidential Physics quiz” in the NY Times (original quiz wording) and, well, blech. Sorta. I’ve read decent things about the Physics for Future Presidents book, but I don’t want this to be the example for “how to quiz presidents and justify the answers.”
QUESTION 1. How does the amount of energy per gram of TNT compare with the energy per gram of a chocolate chip cookie?
My answer is (d), the cookie contains nearly 10 times as much energy.
But the answer is really around 5 or 6, depending on what numbers you’ve used, and one of the other choices is “about the same.” If you’re going to do multiple-choice, try not to bracket the right answer this way.
I do like the defense of discounting the E=mc2 answer, because it shows recognition that we’re dealing with chemical rather than nuclear reactions. But in the defense of the answer, there’s
TNT explodes all by itself, no air needed.
Well, no, not really. If you balance the reaction, you’ll find that significant oxygen is needed. Sugars have oxygen in them, too. You still need external oxygen for that reaction as well.
But all of this ignores that science isn’t just a bunch of facts. What I’d rather see from a president (or student) is some reasoning, like “these are both basically combustion reactions, so to first order, I’d expect them to release similar amounts of energy” and worry about the details later on, like what difference there is because you have some nitrogen in TNT, and how that might affect the bottom line, and maybe the reasoning that you give up some energy for the convenience of a reaction that forms more moles of gases (and those gases want to occupy 22.4L each at STP, so boom!) instead of keeping the molar amount of gas the same (swapping CO2 for O2).
QUESTION 2. Based on the answer to the previous question, suggest an energy-efficient way to destroy a car.
Teaching evolution — and, by the sound of it, doing a good job — in Florida. He realizes that if the science sounds dogmatic he’s lost before he even starts.
A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash
When Florida’s last set of science standards came out in 1996, soon after Mr. Campbell took the teaching job at Ridgeview, he studied them in disbelief. Though they included the concept that biological “changes over time” occur, the word evolution was not mentioned.
He called his district science supervisor. “Is this really what they want us to teach for the next 10 years?” he demanded.
In 2000, when the independent Thomas B. Fordham Foundation evaluated the evolution education standards of all 50 states, Florida was among 12 to receive a grade of F. (Kansas, which drew international attention in 1999 for deleting all mention of evolution and later embracing supernatural theories, received an F-minus.)
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