thisregistrationsucks

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/americas-new-particle-collider-is-one-foot-long The Cern particle collider is 17 miles long, the Chinese have announced work on a 49 mile long particle accelerator. But, using plasma - a foot long particle accelerator has been invented. it's not perfect, but it will be improved upon. Yes, you can now do particle acceleration experiments in the size of a large sandwich.

https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/first-experimental-demonstration-of-a-trapped-rainbow-using-silicon-795ff204385e "Back in 1947, a pair of physicists demonstrated that when a beam of light reflects off a surface, the point of reflection can shift forward when parts of the beam interfere with each other. 60 years later, another group of physicists discovered that this so-called Goos-Hanchen effect could sometimes be negative so the point of reflection would go back toward the source rather than away from it. They even suggested that if the negative effect could be made big enough, it could cancel out the forward movement of the light. In other words, the light would become trapped at a single location. Now, physicists have demonstrated this effect for the first time using light reflected off a sheet of silica. The trick they've employed is to place a silicon diffraction grating in contact with the silica to make the interference effect large enough to counteract the forward motion of the light. And by using several gratings with different spacings, they've trapped an entire rainbow. The light can be easily released by removing the grating. Until now, it has only been possible to trap light efficiently inside Bose Einstein Condensates at temperatures close to absolute zero. The new technique could be used as a cheap optical buffer or memory, making it an enabling technology for purely optical computing."

http://www.businessinsider.com/interstellar-black-hole-physics-discovery-2014-11 In Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie Interstellar, Nolan hired former professor of theoretical physics at California Tech Institute Kip Thorne, as well as his assistants, to aid him in accurately talking about black holes, and thus avoid typical hollywood "bad science." In addition to assisting Nolan, Thorne will be publishing his findings over the course of several academic papers.

http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/revolutionary-new-view-of-baby-planets-forming-around-a-star-141106.htm An article discussing recent findings of being able to watch as a new solar system is formed. Prior to this, much of planetary formation theory had been speculative. And now here we are, watching applications of g = GM / (R+h)^2 get modeled right before our very eyes!

Ha ha. Your childhood was a lie. Comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal which can be found at smbc-comics.com "Not safe for work. Or life. Or peace of mind."

http://what-if.xkcd.com/95/ "What took more energy, the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Apollo Mission? If we could convert the energy to build the Great Pyramid, would it be enough to send a rocket to the Moon and back?" An interesting application for the work energy theorem.

The catapult. Zero displacement (which is arguably an improvement from -8) and 1.96 seconds in the air. http://youtu.be/yT18_rQxn7s

I make science, statistically speaking, a more positive contribution to my GPA with TI.

So I played a lot of Quake 3 over the weekend, which is a fast-paced multiplayer shoot 'em up from id software. I hadn't played it in a long time, and I found an interesting phenomenon in the game physics that, while I had always used and known existed, I had never examined scientifically. The term is bunnyhopping, which refers to the act of jumping everywhere you go in the game. The idea, in the game, works as follows: 1.) The player designating movement in a certain direction increases velocity in that direction. 2.) This is constrained, on the ground, by friction. 3.) While in the air, friction is negligible. 4.) Therefore, designating movement in a direction while in the air gains velocity unrestrained by friction. 5.) Minimizing contact with the ground by jumping at the precise moment of impact with the ground allows a net gain in velocity every time. As speed makes one harder to hit, there is an obvious tactical advantage here, which is why most Quake games degenerate into characters moving so fast as to be unrecognizable. Quake pros, of course, can hit anybody at a hundred yards while moving the speed of an F-16. (I am not a Quake pro) What is interesting about this is I am told by my friends on the cross country team that to maintain velocity in real life differs from inclined planes to flat ones. On flat ones, one should maximize the number of small, quick steps one takes to gain velocity, while when going up or down hills, one should (as one might in Quake) take long bounding strides to avoid contact with the ground to preserve velocity. The difference of course, lies in the fact that the Quake designates movement for the player is arbitrary at heart. In real life, one needs friction to apply a force from the foot to the ground, angling it so that forward movement can be attained, whereas in the Quake engine, a forward velocity is simply given.

I am a senior in high school. I most definitely like some things, other things I am not so fond of. As I have mentioned, I have a great and glorious destiny to fulfill in taking AP-C Physics. In AP-C Physics, I hope to learn and master mechanics calculations mainly. The ability to understand what causes physical objects to move and cease movement with unbounded precision is interesting to me. I hope I can accurately simulate such actions. I am excited to feel confident in my abilities in this area. Although I must confess I am anxious about my ability to keep up with the workload.