I feel it would be inexcusable to let a total eclipse of the sun pass without comment on a physics blog. This is especially true since I am one of the lucky people who have seen a total eclipse – in my case the 1999 eclipse that scythed across Europe. There will no doubt be millions […]
Continue readingLast week we thought we’d have a go at weighing our cat. See how much weight he’s put on since we got him back in February. As you can imagine, this isn’t an easy process for a number of reasons, but we just about managed it. We put the kitchen scales on the floor, put […]
Continue readingHorrible…dark…mornings…..Can’t….get….out…of…bed……. It’s close to four weeks since the winter solstice (for us Southern Hemisphere types) and it’s already noticeable that the evenings are less dark that they were a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about the mornings. This is the equation of time kicking into play again – the darkest morning […]
Continue readingOur second semester of the year started on Monday, and I have begun teaching a course on dynamics of machines, for the first time. (That is, it’s the first time I have taught it). Although I’m familiar with a lot of the material, there are bits of the course that are new to me, as […]
Continue readingLast Friday I skived off work (well, I took a day’s leave) – it was the last day of the break between our semesters and the last chance for a day off work for a while – and went luging again. But this comment doesn’t concern the luge, rather the sky swing which is located […]
Continue readingFor Dan Brown fans. Don’t worry, no-one is likely to blow up the world with antimatter.
Continue readingI’ve noticed that when I get a cup of coffee out of our machine, and walk with it back to my office, the small amount of froth on it can start forming patterns. A stripy one is quite common – I get alternate stripes of froth and no froth – maybe about six stripes in […]
Continue readingLast week I received my (dare I say annual?) invitation to be a judge at the Waikato Science Fair. This is a great event where school children get to show off some of the science projects they have been working on. It fills the pavilion at Hamilton Gardens and is a great exhibition to look […]
Continue readingI came back to work last week from Germany to find, as expected, a pile of exam papers to mark. This is par for the course for a university lecturer. Also par for the course, regrettably, is seeing the same mistakes made time and again from students. And the biggest and simplest mistake of them all […]
Continue readingAt my recent conference, one of the speakers (Karl Friston) began by remarking on the curious relationship between biological systems and the second law of thermodynamics. What is curious about it, is that there doesn’t appear to be one. As any physicist knows, the second law of thermodynamics is inescapable – things break, electronic equipment […]
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