Tag Archives: physics

Galileo Says Size Matters. Elephants and Jell-o Agree.

In 1638 Galileo Galilei, who is called the Father of Science, published the Square-Cube Law. Frankly, it’s not particularly clever as scientific discoveries go. It’s an observation that big things are bigger than small things. However, the particular way in which objects scale does create a few interesting implications. I’m going to explain the concept [...]
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What is Light made of?

Yesterday as I was writing an overview of Electromagnetic waves (which manifest as radio, heat, light, and more depending on the wavelength) but I left myself with the question of what “stuff” makes up these waves. As I discovered, I can give you two different answers that are, apparently, both correct. Now, just a quick [...]
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The Wide World of Electromagnetic Wavelengths

Question: What do the following things have in common? Hearing an ad for “Armor Hot Dogs” played over the radio. Cooking some hot dogs in the microwave oven. Roasting hot dogs over a campfire. Seeing mustard stains on your shirt from that hot dog you ate. Tanning on the beach after going to the hot [...]
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Resonance: A whole lotta shakin’ going on

Hey, it’s been a while since the previous LSNED story. I hope you’ve been learning some interesting facts on your own, but here we meet again to scratch our collective foreheads and raise a glorious chorus of “Huh, neat.” The topic du jour, for no particular reason, is resonant frequency. The classic image of the [...]
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Fluorescent bulb survival tips

Last night I lay awake trying to force myself back into a proper diurnal schedule. It’s 4 AM or so and I find myself laying on my back, throwing a white balloon towards the ceiling and watching it glide back down, gracefully curving in whatever direction the nozzle is pointing. (due to aerodynamics, I suppose) [...]
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The Shape of the Universe (part 2): Infinity and Beyond

Yesterday I was talking about the hypersphere as one of the proposed shapes for the universe, but I ran out of space (trying to keep things snappy) before I got to the more interesting idea. Some theories peg the universe as having no shape at all… it just goes on forever. Have you ever heard [...]
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The Shape of the Universe (part 1): the Hypersphere

I will begin with the only hard fact I have on this topic: Nobody knows the structure or form of the universe. It’s debatable whether or not we will ever be able to know with any certainty. Still, the scientific process marches on. We observe the available evidence, and make intelligent guesses. One fundamental question [...]
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