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About this blog

A photon checks into a hotel. The bellhop asks, "Can I help you with your luggage?" The photon replies, "I don't have any, I'm travelling light!"

Entries in this blog

Update: A Stephen Hawking Perspective on Wormholes

During my pursuit of wormhole knowledge, I came across an article by Stephen Hawking discussing his research and opinions on wormholes and travel. I actually found the article quite interesting (and even humourous!), and felt that his findings should yield a separate blog post. While Hawking definitely believes the data that wormholes exist as a connection between different parts of spacetime, he definitely does not believe in time travel using these wormholes... ever. He states that most w

lindsh23

lindsh23

Interstellar: An Introduction to Wormholes

I finally watched the movie Interstellar! I have been meaning to watch it, since I have a closeted interest in space and quantum physics, and it was well worth the wait. While some of it was far fetched, it was very interesting and thought provoking, and I thought it was really well done! Since I recently watched the movie, I’ve decided to look into Wormholes, a concept the movie actually focused on as a form of space travel. In Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey travelled in space in hop

lindsh23

lindsh23

Quantum Foam: a Virtual Particle Phenomenon

Quantum physics leaves some of the craziest theories floating out there, between relativity, gravitational lensing, and black holes. But... what about virtual particles? Particles that can exist one second, and disappear in the blink of an eye? Well, physicists have discovered it. It's called the quantum foam effect. How can this be? Well, beginning with the big bang, we know that when particles expand, electrons are shot away from each other. This shooting motion does not just include th

lindsh23

lindsh23

Teleportation... but how?

You may have read the title and thought this was some weird Star Trek garbage, but it is true... at least in theory. The ever so slight possibility of teleportation is all due a concept called Quantum Entanglement. To begin, let's look at the definition of quantum physics. While Newtonian physics looks at a method of studying the Earth on a large scale: by this, I mean F=ma, KE=(1/2)mv^2, types of equations that explain the motion of large scale objects, like balls, people, and objects. Qu

lindsh23

lindsh23

Corning Museum of Glass pt. 3

I'm thinking this will be my last post about my museum trip, but this is about my favorite presentation we watched there. The last presentation we saw was one on fiber optics, which are on the cutting edge of optical, digital, and even medical technology. What is a fiber optic cable? Fiber optic cables, or lines, are optically pure strands of glass that are the thickness of approximately a human hair. These lines are used to transmit digital information over long distances, and its main cu

lindsh23

lindsh23

Corning Museum of Glass pt. 2

As you may have previously read, my recent trip to the Corning Museum of Glass has left me pondering the physics of glass. If you have never been there before, the place is really neat! The museum is laid out with tons of interactive exhibits, as well as opportunities to hear presentations about the science of glass from people at the museum. You also have the opportunity to create your own glass creation... which is what I will be discussing in this blog post! When I went, I made a glass

lindsh23

lindsh23

Corning Museum of Glass pt. 1

A few weeks back, I went to the Corning Museum of Glass, somewhere I have been meaning to go. I had never been there before, and although the car ride was rather long, it was well worth the trip! On top of the many exhibits, there were multitude of presentations given by the museum staff on the science of glass. Since I went to a few of these demos, I will write a few different posts on each of these topics. The first one we went to see was on the science of the structure of the glass and how

lindsh23

lindsh23

Fields... Uncharted territory

Throughout my physics carrier, forces caused by a field have been rather prevalent in my calculations. I mean, the force due to gravity appears in most mechanics problems. But what really is a field? I have seemed to feel that a field is a word for a certain force that scientists can't really explain. "hey, why do things fall to the ground on Earth?" "I don't know... why don't we just call it a field!" So, I decided to take a closer look at force fields and their impact on physics! What i

lindsh23

lindsh23

New State of Matter?

Solids, liquids, and gases... all the typical phases of matter we have investigated since we learned about the water cycle in elementary school (evaporation, condensation, precipitation!). Since then, states of matter have been investigated in middle school science class, biology, chemistry, and physics. However, scientists are moving toward the forefront of discovery in trying to establish a new sort of state of matter. This new state of matter is called quark-gluon plasma, and is being ex

lindsh23

lindsh23

Radiation and Stephen Hawking

Many of you are probably familiar with Stephan Hawking, the brilliant physicist confined to a wheelchair (in fact they just made a movie about him, I'm very interested in seeing it). Hawking is known for his theories and discoveries in the realm of relativity and space, especially concerning black holes. One of his discoveries that I would like to discuss is Hawking Radiation. Hawking Radiation is the black body radiation a black hole emits due to quantum effects near the event horizon - or

lindsh23

lindsh23

What really 'matters'

Think of the entire human race: hard to fathom, isn't it? Around 7 billion people of all different races and walks of life spread throughout globe. Okay... this is anthropology, not physics. WRONG! Instead, I am going to look on the atomic level of human life. While the basis of the atomic model was being shaped and formed, scientist Ernest Rutherford conducted a gold foil experiment which proved that the atom is composed mostly of empty space.... Over 99% of the atom. While the nucleus exi

lindsh23

lindsh23

Humans Rule!

I seem to be on the topic of strange theorums, and I am definitely adding to this streak since I will be discussing the Anthropic Principle. What could this principle possibly mean to science? Well, Anthropic means "pertaining to man kind", and this principle follows suit. The principle was first devolved by Australian physicist Brandon Carter. The principle centers around the idea that human life is so phenomenal in science that it cannot be overlooked, and the entire universe is centered ar

lindsh23

lindsh23

Yay Uncertainty!!

As I discussed in my last post, the Observer Effect remains a frequently pondered and strange phenomenon of quantum mechanics. However, people have often mixed up the observer effect with the Uncertainty Principle, a different but related quantum physics concept. The Uncertainty Principle, developed by Werner Heisenberg, states that the more precisely the position of a particle is known, the less precisely its momentum is known (and vice versa). This happens because when the wavefunction of

lindsh23

lindsh23

The Observer Effect

In Physics last year, we watched a video regarding quantum physics, since the topic was so new to any of us. In this bizarre video, I remember being perplexed by a phenomenon known as the observer effect. As I listened to the video explain how observation of a system affects the system itself, I began imagining living particles watching for human observation in order to change their behavior... It really blew me away. The Observer Effect, in its basic form, is when changes in observation of

lindsh23

lindsh23

What If...

Tonight, I began to ponder a strange thought... what if the strength of the gravitational field was as strong as the electrical field, and vice versa? I mean, the difference is quite drastic. The Earth's acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 ms^-2, while Coloumb's Constant is 8.99e9 Nm^2C^-2... which, as you can imagine, leads to quite the drastic change in strength. A person of 60kg experiences a gravitational force of 588.6 N... around 132lbs. But what if we were to replace g (the accelera

lindsh23

lindsh23

Thin Film Interference... What even is that?

As I pondered what to write about for this blog post, I began to consider a topic that we touched upon in Physics B: thin film interference. I really never understood thin film intereference last year... as a matter of fact, there was a thin film intereference free response question on the AP last year and I just stared at it in a very confused manner. So, I figured I would take a second look at it this year. Thin film inteference happens when the upper and lower boundaries of a thin film,

lindsh23

lindsh23

How about that nuclear fission and fusion?

I am really good about managing my time and blogging, as you can see... But I figured I would talk about the physics behind... BOMBS!!! I mean, nuclear warfare (at least in theory) has become every-so-popular after the Manhattan Project in the United States for World War II. I figured it is only fair to address it for all the physics glory it deserves. Now, nuclear bombs can be split into two categories: bombs based on nuclear fission, and bombs based on nuclear fusion. However, both inv

lindsh23

lindsh23

The Function of the Artificial Heart

As a wannabe cardiothoracic surgeon, I find fluid mechanics of the cardiovascular system to be fascinating. I believe one of the greatest accomplishments in medicine is the ability to implant an artificial heart into a patient, since the heart is such a complex organ and one of the most vital to the function of the body. The intricate physics necessary for an artificial heart to function properly must be precise, and its applications are lifesaving. The human heart consists of four cha

lindsh23

lindsh23

Slow Mo: POPCORN EXPLOSION!!

So as this quarter comes to an end, of course I am scrambling to finish everything and feeling the stressed. So what better to relieve said stress? Popcorn, of course! After watching popcorn pop endless times throughout my life (especially the exciting Jiffy Pop!) I suddenly thought of the physics behind a kernel of popcorn popping tonight, so I decided to look further into it. The purpose of microwaving popcorn or placing it over heat is to heat up the water inside of the popcorn kernel.

lindsh23

lindsh23

Fun with Matter-Wave Duality

Today in AP Chem, we began to discuss the behavior of electrons, most specifically, in regards to light and light energy. Most of what we looked over was old news from Physics last year, as far as the relationships between speed of light, frequency, and wavelength. However, this equation brought back some ideas that we looked at last year: We often times looked at this equation in Physics-B to analyze matter-wave duality, since light behaves both as a wave and as a particle, known as a

lindsh23

lindsh23

#tbt

On this Tuesday, I figured I would offer a nice throwback for everyone... Bill Nye! But not Bill Nye the Science Guy that we typically see... I found a physics video with a serious Bill Nye (I know, strange right?) The video is rather long, about 45 minutes, but I focused on about 5 minutes of it (about 1:30-5:54 if you are tuning in from the link above). Nye talks about an older theory of Aristotle's, which stated that objects of different masses fall at different velocities due to t

lindsh23

lindsh23

Fizzix in Our Bodies pt. 2

Hello friends! As I discussed in my last blog post, I have decided to take a look at the physics that goes on inside our very own bodies! This post will focus on the physics behind the movement of our bodies, mainly involving the muscular system. The muscular system works in close conjunction with the nervous system, which I looked at last time. Neurons transmit their impulses to the muscular system in order for the body to move in the way the brain intended it to. Muscles are made up of m

lindsh23

lindsh23

Fizzix in Our Bodies pt. 1

Since I spend so much time at New Visions and my future studies will most likely focus on the medical aspect of science, I have decided to see if I can create some blog posts focusing on the physics that goes on... in our very own bodies! Please excuse my nerdy anatomy obsession This post will focus on the physics behind our nervous system! Our nervous systems, both central and peripheral, focus on the idea of neurotransmission. Our nervous system relays messages from our body to our brai

lindsh23

lindsh23

Invisibility Fun

As I was watching Harry Potter, the cloak of invisibility reminded me of something someone in my New Vision's class brought up about the University of Rochester's own cloaking device. I decided to look further into the physics behind it. A cloaking device works by transmitting light rays around an object so that it appears as if nothing is there. The transmitted light waves, in theory, should look as if there is no background interruption. John Howell, physics professor at the U of R, an

lindsh23

lindsh23

What a success!

Remember that time our catapult for AP Physics C worked really well... yeah, me neither. So, the original design was beautiful, modelled to be a trebuchet. The idea is that once a counter weight is dropped at one end of the trebuchet, it causes the launching arm to move in circular motion and launch the projectile out of a sling, of which one end is released by the circular motion of the arm. While we did an excellent job building a frame for the trebuchet (mostly Justin, since I am abso

lindsh23

lindsh23

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