Daily Archives: July 7, 2009

Blame Feynman

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Built on Facts: Failures of Cuteness in Physics

There’s a unit of cross-sectional area used in nuclear physics equal to a trillionth of a trillionth of a square centimeter. It’s roughly the cross-section of a heavy atomic nucleus, and it’s used to discuss interactions with incoming particles. You could say in some ways it’s a measure of how easy it is to hit a nucleus with a projectile like a neutron. A big nucleus is as easy to hit as the broad side of a barn. And the unit is called the barn, for exactly that reason. I have no evidence, but I blame Feynman anyway.

Inventing Money

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Invent, Invent, Invent

Innovation — science and engineering — is the key to a sustainable economy.

Lately, there has been way too much talk about minting dollars and too little about minting our next Thomas Edison, Bob Noyce, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Vint Cerf, Jerry Yang, Marc Andreessen, Sergey Brin, Bill Joy and Larry Page. Adding to that list is the only stimulus that matters. Otherwise, we’re just Russia with a printing press.

Sunny Side Up

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If at first you don’t succeed … Fry, fry again

The Oatman sidewalk egg fry. Cook your eggs, using the sun.

The egg fry began at high noon, with temperatures coming in at 105 degrees at the start of the event, slightly cooler than organizers and contestants would have liked. The spectators, though, were appreciative.

Perhaps the most innovative – and certainly most effective – method of frying eggs on Saturday was that of Eric Schmidt and Xinaxiao Chou from Cibola, Ariz. Using a Frensel lens to intensify the heat, Schmidt was able to cook a perfect – and edible – sunny-side up egg in about 60 seconds.

(Some strange physics commentary, though, about sequestering Carbon.)

via

(note to self: bring Fresnel lens on vacation …)