If sodium weighs the same as a duck …
…Even Though The Sound of it is Something Quite Atrocious
More superhydrophobic fun
Superhydrophobic Coating Allows Boiling Water without the Creation of Bubbles
Water can be made to boil without any bubbling if a boiling surface is specifically treated so that the vapor cushion does not break down. This is linked to the Leidenfrost effect.
Here Be Dragons
Being a map of physics, containing a brief historical outline of the subject as will be of interest to physicists, students, laymen at large; Also giving a description of the land of physics as seen by the daring sould who venture there; And more particularly the location of villages (named after pioneer physicists) as found by the many rivers; Also the date of founding of each village; As well as the date of its extinction; and finally a collection of various and sundry symbols frequently met with on the trip.
Large version of the map, from The Quantum Pontiff blog.
Straight Though the Heart
There’s nothing physically blocking the atoms from flying right through the channel– in fact, an atom that enters the channel will always exit the other side without slowing down along the way. This is termed “ballistic,” a term that will always have a special place in my heart thanks to an incident at my Ph.D. defense.
After This We Hypnotize the Drops
Acoustic Levitation of Liquids Looks Like Magic
No magic show: Real-world levitation to inspire better pharmaceuticals
The acoustic levitator uses two small speakers to generate sound waves at frequencies slightly above the audible range – roughly 22 kilohertz. When the top and bottom speakers are precisely aligned, they create two sets of sound waves that perfectly interfere with each other, setting up a phenomenon known as a standing wave.
The speed of sound is about 340 m/s, so a 22 kHz wave has a wavelength of about 1.5 cm; the nodes would thus be half that distance apart, but you wouldn’t have to fill every node. Notice the effect at 0:30, where the standing wave is adjusted — you can see the drops move up and down, in tandem.
This seems to be analogous to a dipole force trap in atomic physics. If that’s so, you’d have a radial pressure gradient also giving confinement, which might account for the somewhat strange look to the speakers.
A Robot Called Horse
This video depicts field testing of the DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The goal of the LS3 program is to demonstrate that a legged robot can unburden dismounted squad members by carrying their gear, autonomously following them through rugged terrain, and interpreting verbal and visual commands.
How Does it Do in the Rain?
This $9 Cardboard Bike Can Support Riders Up To 485lbs
Engineers told Gafni that his idea was impossible. Yet he realized that paper could be strong if treated properly. As in crafting origami and tearing telephone books, he explains, “[if] you fold it once, and it’s not just twice the strength, it’s three times the strength.”
"Dip" for Gummi Bears
The Trouble with TBBTles
The Problem With The Big Bang Theory…
When Big Bang came along it claimed to be heralding a new age of “geek chic”, nerd culture was cool and mainstream television wanted a piece of the pie (or should that be pi?). Here was a programme whose main ensemble was made up of four highly intelligent scientists who love science fiction, fantasy and gaming. Here was a show with nerd protagonists aimed at the mainstream. We were finally getting some representation.
Except that we’re not. At least not any more.
And here’s my issue, here’s why The Big Bang Theory makes me feel uncomfortable. We aren’t laughing with Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Howard. We’re laughing at them. Chuck Lorre has given us four exceptionally intelligent, nerdy main characters and he’s positioned us as an audience against them. When I watch Big Bang it becomes more and more obvious that I’m not supposed to relate to the guys (or more recently Amy Farrah-Fowler). I’m expected to relate to Penny. You only need to pay attention to the audience laughter to realise that TBBT relies on positioning us as an outsider to the nerds, as someone like Penny who doesn’t understand their references, their science, their vocabulary even, and who doesn’t care to learn.
I’ve only seen parts of of few episode, so my own analysis could not go this far; to me the show is unwatchable.
Wrong Heisenberg is Wrong!
Another article on the Heisenberg experiment I linked to earlier
Common Interpretation of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle Is Proved False
However, I think that the author is not quite getting it
The uncertainty principle limits what we can know about a quantum system, and that fuzziness is not entirely caused by the act of measurement.
No! The Heisenberg uncertainty is not at all caused by the measurement! That’s a separate phenomenon that can add to the total uncertainty you have. The thing is, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle doesn’t require uncertainty of any one parameter, it limits the accuracy of simultaneous measurements of certain parameters.
The critique of incorrectly teaching the observer effect as the HUP in intro classes is quite correct, though.