There is a very odd and powerful phenomenon in physics. It happens all the time, different scenarios are often expressed with very similar equations. It isn't just Gauss' law working for electric fields and magnetism; the equations for force due to gravity and electric force are strikingly similar, just to name another. This is the beauty of our universe, the same patterns and relationships pop up in seemingly disparate fields of study, another indication that there is some unifying revelatio
While procrastinating instead of doing blog posts, I stumbled across a neat article about something we have been studying. Apparently bees may be using the electric charge and fields they build up while in motion to communicate with one another. This is a very cool concept and if accurate may hopefully enable us to communicate with these animals through induced electric fields. Here is the full article link
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/03/bees-buzz-each-other-but-not-the.ht
Winter is here, and so is the snow. Many people fear driving on wet icy roads, and for good reason. The coefficient of kinetic friction between rubber and ice is 0.15, while the kinetic coefficient between rubber and dry asphalt is 0.72. Since the force of friction is directly related to these coefficients, the force of friction helping a car stop is nearly 5 times less when driving on icy roads, and therefore the net force is drastically reduced. All of this means less acceleration, meaning
The final segment of a study of the physics behind these awesome books will discuss theoretical physics and magical dimensions! In the novels, there exist other planes of reality, such as the magical plane of the Nevernever, and several other dimensions such as the one inhabited by Bob, the spirit. There are also things called Outsiders which are said to come from outside of reality. All of these coexisting planes of existence are similar to several theories of theoretical physics such as stri
One more time, lets examine the physics of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Again, tiny, non plot related spoilers ahead. There are ley lines in the novels, which are essentially underground currents of untapped magic. At places where many of these lines intersect are places with some form of magical significance in the series. This demonstrates Kirchhoff's Current Law, or the Junction Rule. All of the magical current flowing into these junctions is conserved and converges into one, much s
Here is another exploration of the science behind Jim Butcher's popular Dresden Files books. Harry Dresden has a magical shield bracelet, which obeys several concepts of physics rather well. Caution, tiny spoilers ahead. At first, Harry's bracelet enables him to block incoming kinetic energy only, which causes him some problems when exposed to heat. He later expands it to also block heat energy, light and sound as well. The fact that each type of energy needs to be addressed separately, combin
The wonderful series of books by Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files, has an awful lot of physics in many of the magical activities that occur. This is the first of several examinations of the science behind the magic, about Harry Dresden's magic rings. These rings store up kinetic energy slowly over time, and he can unleash it all at once on the bad guys. Lets say every time he moves his arm, one ring picks up just 2 joules of energy. Lets also say that he moves his arm 5,000 times in one day. T
The scientists at CERN in Switzerland have apparently seen a rare tau neutrino for only the third time. These subatomic particles have been some of the most elusive to observe for scientists. This finding is critical, as the more we find out about subatomic particles the more we are able to improve our understanding of particle physics and begin to understand our universe. There is a good article summing up the sighting of the tau neutrino here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/tau-
Car crashes happen thousands of time every year, and while they can be horrific they also offer an excellent look at momentum and impulse. Cars are extremely massive, and therefore have very large momentum's even at very low speeds. This is why innovations such as seat belts and air bags are so vital, they increase impulse to help the human body cope as huge amounts of kinetic energy that the vehicles possessed is transferred to them though extreme force. So if you ever think about ignoring t
Hello, internet (on the off chance everyone in the world reads this). I just started Physics C, mostly because I found AP-B to be entertaining and challenging. I'm an English oriented person so this is going to be a tough year, especially electricity and magnetism, which were very tough last year.
I want to take Physics C because I find it to be an interesting science that also offers college credit.
I hope Physics C helps me get ready for college math and science classes, and ma
What is the Earth's angular momentum? Since L = Iw, we need to know the Earth's moment of inertia and angular momentum. For moment of inertia I will assume Earth is a solid sphere with I = (2/5)MR^2 or (2/5)(6x10^24)(6.3x10^6)^2. This comes out to I = roughly 9.53x10^37. w = (2 pi)/T, and the earth's period is 86400 seconds, so the earths angular velocity is 7.27x10^-5. So, L = Iw = (9.53x10^37)(7.27x10^-5) = 6.93x10^33 (kg*m^2)/s
For my final trick, a blog post about blog posts! The assignment of blog posts, 10 a quarter for four quarters, has been a great way to make us think. It seems fitting to reflect on the blog post process itself with this fortieth post. I really think this is a good idea, whenever I sit down to do a post I enjoy the creativity involved, and reflecting on what I've learned makes me appreciate the scope of the class all the more. I definitely recommend that the blog posts remain as an assignmen
Since it seems so popular to do, here is my take on last quarter. It was dominated by independent units for circuits and magnetism, which brought about some interesting revelations. First, read the book! I didn't do that for circuits, and it made understanding the theory behind all of the material very difficult. I actually used the book on the magnetism unit, and it made a huge difference in understanding the origins of Biot Savart's and Ampere's laws. Also, I need to learn to budget my time
1) Right Hand Rules. Know the various forms and applications of these rules, they are vital to figuring out how to approach many problems.
2) Ampere's and Biot Savart's laws: These two laws enable you to attack a variety of problems with a variety of givens and be flexible in your problem solving.
3)Don't forget electricity: From what I've seen, the tough problems like to bring in electric fields and other topics from electricity to change things up and make you think. Stay fresh on electr
1) Use the parallels to linear motion: x and theta, v and omega, a and alpha, mass and moment of inertia, torque and force.
2) The many forms of torque: Torque = r x f, I times alpha, and net torque = rfsintheta
3) Angular momentum! L = r x p = r x mv and Net L = mrv times sintheta. Also the rate of change of L = torque
