While there is some great fiction out there, one really shouldn't try to learn much physics from it. One case in point, which I am forced to listen to over and over by the youngest member of our house, is the story of the Three Little Pigs. I'm not talking here about the relative merits […]
Continue readingYear: 2015
How high is a winning cricket score?
I can't help thinking that the West Indies team got their run chase strategy wrong on Sunday night. They had a tricky task ahead of them. One might say the problem was one of their own making, judging from the rubbish that they served up to Guptill to hit at the end of tne New […]
Continue readingThe difference between a theoretical physicist and a mathematician is…
A mathematician can say what he likes… A physicist has to be at least partly sane J. Willard Gibbs What is it that makes a physicist sane (if only in part)? Everything has to be related back to the 'real world', or the 'real universe'. That is, a physicist has to talk about how things […]
Continue readingWhy does time go forwards?
Further to my last post, here's a very accessible discussion on some of the physics related to 'the arrow of time'. Maybe, just maybe, Benjamin has the right idea after all… http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150309-why-does-time-only-run-forwards
Continue readingThe arrow of time
Benjamin is now two-and-two-thirds, or near enough. As ever, his grasp of physics continues to improve. In the last few weeks, he has been picking up the idea of time. We have a large (more accurately, LARGE) analogue clock on the wall of our lounge. He's watched me take it off the wall, change the […]
Continue readingFirst a cricket fan, second a physicist
I've spent most of today thinking Google's image-of-the-day is a wicket, but have just realized it is in honour of Alessandro Volta.
Continue readingStatic friction is something sticky (as is Scholarship physics)
In January I had a go at the 2014 Scholarship Physics Exam, as I've done for the last couple of years. Sam Hight from the PhysicsLounge came along to help (or was it laugh?) The idea of this collaboration is that I get filmed attempting to do the Scholarship paper for the first time. This […]
Continue readingConduction in semiconductors – the tennis ball model
Not so long ago, a tennis ball appeared in our garden. It's a rather distinctive red one. It doesn't belong to us. It was lying close by to the (low) fence between us and our neighbour, so I just chucked it back. Next morning, it was there again. I threw it back. And, more or […]
Continue readingSeeing spots before my eyes
"Doctor, Doctor, I keep seeing spots before my eyes" "Have you ever seen an optician?" "No, just spots". The concept of seeing an optician floating across my field of view is a scary one indeed. However, the concept of seeing spots doing the same is one I'm coming to terms with. I had a talk […]
Continue readingModes of a square plate
Alison has drawn my attention to this video. It demonstrates vibrational modes of a square plate by using sand. At certain frequencies, there are well defined modes of oscillation, in which parts of the plate 'nodal lines' are stationary. The sand will find its way to these parts and trace out some lovely pictures. Vibrational […]
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