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Optical Illusions on a Desk

Optical illusions are awesome. That cannot be debated. Ever. Some of them are used to be thought provoking, street art that looks one way from one viewpoint and completely different if you move. Some are just to screw with your brain, like many of Escher's famous pieces. This one is used to make you want to buy Ray Bans. No, seriously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhuUhaNIWLQ. So why do these things look 3D to us? Courtesy of our lovely brains, which like to detect patterns where there a

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Higgs Boson Slideshow and Explanation

With the Nobel Peace Prize in Physics for 2013 being given to those who worked on the discovery of the Higgs Boson, it only follows that the physics blog should have something on that. This slideshow does a wonderful wonderful job of making the Higgs field relatable for the layman and explaining why it took so long to say why there is a "possible" discovery. Namely, it's impossible to find a Higgs boson straight out, but rather they have to search for its predicted decay pattern among billion

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Lake that Calcifies Any Animal that Touches It

This isn't going to be a full out physics post, but this is just astounding. Look at this. This used to be a living bird. It accidentally flew into this mirror-like lake with a pH of 9.5-10 and a high soda and salt content that caused it to calcify. Just look. Nature is scary, guys. Image credit goes to Nick Brandt, article here

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Laser Rifles. In Real Life.

That title should say it all. Okay, as per usual, beginning link to article (I get all of my blog post ideas from links my dad sends me) We all know laser cutting is a thing. Or, if you didn't, you know now. Of course, there are many different ways of using laser cutting. You can vaporize things, crack them with thermal stress, "stealth dice" (one of my personal favorites), um..."melt and blow" (that's what it's actually called), and more. Using high energy photons and laserizing many dif

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Why our Universe is in Three Dimensions

As per usual, this will make more sense if you start out by watching a lovely It's fairly simplistic, but introduces the topic. So. Our universe is one with three dimensions of space and one of time. But why? Why doesn't it only have one dimension, or twenty? This is, of course, ignoring string theory/m theory (though I will likely make a post about that later). For a young 3D universe, our temperature is much more uniform than would be expected. There's also that whole pesky question of in

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Discordant Metronomes on a Movable Surface

So at first glance this sounds dumb. What is this post about? Well, since I can't get embed to work still, go watch this video. If you're really too lazy to watch a youtube video, here's what it is: 32 metronomes all set to the same tempo (beat) but started at different times. Sounds simple. If they were on a static surface like a table, they would remain discordant forever. But that's boring. So they put the metronomes on a movable surface, and voila, they synchronized with each other. How

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

Hamster-steered Volvo FMX

First thing you should do is watch this incredible video. I couldn't get it to embed, but it's a man using a hamster chasing a carrot to steer a 15 ton Volvo FMX to demonstrate the new Volvo Dynamic Steering systems. Let's assume a hamster weighs about 4 ounces or about .113kg and that the angle of inclination of the plane of the steering wheel is around 15 degrees. Using fancy shmancy trig, we find the horizontal component of the force of the hamster by multiplying (.113)(9.8)(sin15*) or .28

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

whoop whoop physics c time

Totally undisclosed and unknown Physics C student here ready to inform you all about the most important parts of the year: my opinions. Well, there's no need to worry because you will be getting it whether you like it or not. No, really, it's required that I write this so that I can boost my grade and all. So. Why am I in Physics C? Good question. It all started back when I was five years old...... No, but really, it's because I'm going into biomedical engineering and physics is kind of a goo

Velociraptor42

Velociraptor42

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