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Velociraptor42

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Blog Entries posted by Velociraptor42

  1. Velociraptor42
    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 aren't any. Some awesome drawings with shading intact, stretching the perspective so that it would match the camera angles, and boom, things look like they pop off the table. Eyes may not be that easy to trick, but the brain interpreting the images is. After all, if we're used to things sitting on tables, why wouldn't the baseball be just another object on a table?

    Advertising tells us sunglasses are the only thing that is real. Get ready for the paper apocalypse, everyone.
  2. Velociraptor42
    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 billions of collisions. As for the nickname "God Particle", that was a joke among physicists because it was so important to the standard model yet so elusive and near impossible to find.

    Basically, as much as I could go on explaining the history of the search and exactly what the Higgs Field does, the slideshow does a much better job with pretty animations too. So look at it. The velociraptor says so.
  3. Velociraptor42
    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
  4. Velociraptor42
    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 different materials (yes laserizing is now a word) leads to a whole world of burning things!

    Back to the article. Basically, this company TWI has now made a portable, handheld laser rifle. It's supposed to be used for decommissioning things in places where larger robotically (I swear that actually is a word) controlled lasers can't reach.

    But really. This just means that the Terminator is going to happen. We already named one of the satellite networks Skynet. Why not make laser rifles. What could ever go wrong.
  5. Velociraptor42
    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 inflation and how the heck it works.

    A new theory has come out saying that our universe may in fact be the backside of a four dimensional black hole that exists in the larger 4D universe. Confused? Here's a "dumbed down" version of the theory. If that makes sense, you should read this article which goes a little more in depth.

    To put it most simply, our black holes have 2D event horizons, so by extrapolation we can assume a four dimensional black hole would have a three dimensional event horizon. If our universe was in fact a "brane" inside a larger and older 4D universe, that would give an interesting explanation for why our temperatures are so uniform even when looking into the past.

    Long story short? Olivia likes theoretical physics and black holes. When they come together how can I not blog about it?

    If you're still interested, you can read the original physics paper here
  6. Velociraptor42
    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 does this work? Well, by reading up about it, I have gained total knowledge of this situation. If by total knowledge you mean I have no idea. It seems like the motion of one metronome transmits magical energy waves through the movable surface to each other via some thermal conductivity and sound wave shtick. I don't understand it too much, but the idea is cool. The sound waves and oscillation of these each affects all of the others until they all become the same.

    Sounds like mainstream society to me (ba dum tss)
  7. Velociraptor42
    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 .287N, whic, when multiplied by the moment arm of the wheel which we can assume to be .25m, giving a torque of about .0717Nxm.

    So, to reiterate this, this 15 ton truck is being steered up a winding path with sheer cliff sides and a pit at the bottom with the .0717Nxm of torque provided by a hamster named Charlie.

    Physics.
  8. Velociraptor42
    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 good thing for an engineer to know. Also, my friend Ender had Mr. Fullerton a few years ago and he told me that even though he was in regents (I think) Mr. Fullerton was an awesome teacher. No, I am not sucking up. Plus, look at this guy. He has a sword. How cool is that? And there's Zoro I mean come on.
    All things aside, I like learning how the world actually functions according to SCIENCE, and feeling smart when I can pull out random facts I remember from class.
    STAND BACK EVERYONE, I'M GOING TO TRY SCIENCE

    Which reminds me. For a webcomic that deals with physics and computers and sarcasm and math and wonderous geeky stuff a lot, go to http://xkcd.com/. Especially check out the what-if section for super science-y stuff because it's all what would happen in random scenarios due to the laws of physics. Woot.

    I believe I am done rambling now. Til next time that I forget I have a post due until an hour before

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