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Tag Archives: measurement
FACT: Police in airplanes can hand out speeding tickets
As I was driving down a remote highway this afternoon I saw a curiosity-inspiring sign. “Speed Limit Enforced By Aircraft”. It immediately induced several silly scenarios to play out in my head. I suppose if you got it up to 260 km/h (160 miles per hour) you could potentially be chased by a Cessna aircraft… [...]
FACT: The universe laughs at your concept of sitting still
Please put your desk chairs in the full upright and locked position. We’re not expecting any turbulence, but as we sit we are moving at an astronomical speed… literally. You and I are little blobs of stuff (and no, I’m not calling you fat) stuck like bubble gum to the side of earth. It feels [...]
FACT: if you fail to fail you might earn an E grade
In popular internet culture, declaring a “FAIL” is the best thing since bacon. But today we’re looking at the almost-fail. In North American schools you’re most often given a letter grade: A, B, C, D, or F. But hey now… what happened to E? Some grading systems do include an E grade, like the European [...]
FACT: the size of earth was first discovered using shadows
The time is 250 BC, about 1500 years before what we call “modern science” took it’s first baby steps. The Egyptian city of Alexandria, on the northern coast of Egypt, was home to the greatest library that ever existed, filled with the wisest people of the day, and the birthplace of many fundamentals of mathematics, [...]
FACT: a “jiffy” is an actual measurement of time
Should somebody ever say to you “I’ll be back in a jiffy”, prepare to be disappointed. They are woefully exaggerating their ability to travel. A jiffy can actually be describing one of many short measurements of time. In electronics, a jiffy is the time between cycles of alternating current, or about 1/60th of a second. [...]
What is the UV index? The science behind the number.