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Momentumous

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  1. Momentumous

    String theory

    By Momentumous,

    To be completely honest, I've always been pretty curious as to what string theory is and how it is supposed to work (and not just because of Sheldon Cooper).

    Origionally I was completely off as to what I thought it was all about. My previous notion was that string theory strung together the four fundamental forces of nature (gravity, electromagnetic, strong and weak), showing how they can interact. This actually has very little to do with string theory. String theory is more about the structure of matter as we know it. When considering electrons, most consider them to be microscopic points of matter. String theory, however, suggests that electrons are rather constructed as looped strings, thus giving them the ability to oscillate and move in ways that a point would be incapable of. Theoretically such is completely plausible, and has been effective in many models. However there has been no conclusive scientific data yet to prove that such is truly an accurate way to describe the universe.

    I'm sure of course this is an extremely basic understanding, and considering there's countless PhD's out there still struggling to prove it, I've no doubt the complexity of it truly goes above my head. But to think that our understanding of the basics of the universe could be misplaced... tell me that's not fascinating!

    (Source: http://www.nucleares.unam.mx/~alberto/physics/string.html)
  2. Momentumous

    The Bumble Bee

    By Momentumous,

    I've always just kind of assumed nature optimized the way all things are formed for what they're designed to do. Apparently, however, this is not the case.

    Though it's a myth that bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly with their rather small wings and rather large body, the way in which they do fly is incredibly inefficient. Essentially they move around the air through sheer brute force. Not only are their wings unsynchronized, but the way in which they flap i makes it impossible for air flow to aid the bee in traveling through the air more easily.
    Its huge thorax combined with the high energy necture diet allow for the necessary force to create thrust with such tiny wings for such a heavy body. It's speculated that this brute-force method was developed so that bumble bees can maneuver through the air more easily, sacrificing overall flying efficiency, or as a result of the already wide body of the bee.
    More on this can be found at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507194511.htm
  3. Momentumous
    We've all seen a coffee mug that changes color when you put your warm coffee in it. Most certainly they're pretty cool looking, but I noticed they don't serve the primary job of a coffee mug--to hold your coffee and keep it warm as long as possible.

    At first I thought my coffee might have been going cold so quickly simply because the mug had a larger diameter than my others, making there more exposed surface area for the hot coffee to conduct heat to the cooler surroundings. However, I have a coffee mug that would expose even MORE surface area than my fancy color-changer, and it seems to keep heat even longer.

    So what's really going on here?

    Actually, once it hit me the concept is pretty simple. The only thing that makes the black background turn into vibrant colors on the mug is heat. So clearly that heat is what's being taken to produce the color change. Speculation makes me think it may be like exciting electrons--different excited electrons, when they jump back down to where they're supposed to be, emit different colors. But I have no idea what these mugs are made of and they aren't actually GLOWING, so it could be something entirely different. Whatever the case, it's quite clear that the appearance of the colors are stealing the heat from the coffee too appear. So on top of the normal heat loss to the surrounding atmosphere, the coffee is also losing heat to make the mug look pretty.

    A good bargain? I guess it depends on how fast you drink your coffee.
  4. Momentumous
    Now, don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate the genius of this handsome devil's creation, and honestly I'm not too educated in all the details. However, part of what makes fiction so great is being able to imagine it being feasible ..and that's not so easy when you have even a basic understanding of physics. Honestly, every experience I've had watching a superman movie starts of fantastic, and then gets interrupted by some obnoxious little inconceivable detail that drives me insane and ruins the rest of the movie.

    For one, at least in the movies I've seen, Superman gets his strength because he's from a planet with a much higher gravitational constant. Nice physics-y touch. So this means even as a baby, to be able to move at all he's got some sort of much stronger muscle. With the structure of the human body considered, I really don't see how this is feasible without these muscles being pretty darn heavy. How do his adopted parents just pick him up like it's nothing? Baby or not this kid's gotta be heavy! But then, there's the fantasy factor, I suppose there might be some new biological thing going on there.

    So what about flying. Is this magic, or just an extension of his strength? I can't really argue against magic, and I honestly don't know what the intention there is, but there's no way it's an extension of super-human strength. I can see immense leaps that are so huge that perhaps they mimic flying, but he wouldn't be able to bend his path and what-not simply by will of mind.
    What's more, how does the guy leave the ground without a mark half the time? I mean, the force to leap as high in the air as fast as he does would be pretty darn significant! Sure, he slams in the ground for dramatic effect all the time, but I think his take off would have a little more bravado as well. I mean, think about it. One second he's on the ground and couple seconds later he's hundreds of feet in the air? I'd say that'd put a crack in any concrete...

    And what about catching the tumbling damsel in distress! This is the man of steel we're talking about here; and a super macho man at that! So a macho-man without superhuman strength tends to have pretty dense muscles... meaning the harder you hit him the more it hurts you as well. Superman is indestructable to an extent, so I'm certainly not going to argue that catching someone would do him any damage, but what about the person he's catching?! Someone falling stories and stories down (in many cases easily hitting terminal velocity), and he just swoops in and catches them feet from their imminent death. If you ask me, they should have just met death again in a new manner. For one, that's not NEARLY enough time for a sufficient impulse to be even close to feasibly safe. You'd take all of the person's momentum and jerk them in a completely new direction almost instantaneously... that's a death by broken everything I'd say. Furthermore, if the change in direction didn't kill you, you were caught by two steely arms. At that kind of speed, that'd break quite a few bones by my judgment... so death by broken everything x 2!

    I could go on, really, but the more I write the more annoying they get. I suppose it's time to let the classic rest. Maybe the new superman movies won't be so flawed!
  5. Momentumous

    The last...

    By Momentumous,

    It's rather crazy to be writing my last ever physics C blog post... I feel as though this day has always seemed so far away.

    Now that I'm all reminiscent and whatnot, what better to blog about than a reflection on the course?

    First and foremost, it was hard. At least for me. I felt as though all year I was struggling to grasp everything that everyone seemed to get so easily and had to fight ten times harder to get to the same point. The course frustrated me countless times, and I've never done so poorly on so many exams before in my life.
    With that in mind, I have absolutely no regrets. Despite poor exams, I learned so much in this class. From how to deal with frustration, to how to develop better studying habits and techniques. I have a far better understanding of what does and doesn't work for me to do well, and taking Physics C has made me feel more ready for college than any other class I've taken, hands down.

    What's more, that class constantly has me thinking about physics. ALL the time. In all honesty, everything can be related to physics, it's just a matter of whether or not you take the time to notice it.

    I wish I had tried just a little bit harder sometimes, and done better on my tests, but I'm happy with all that I've learned both about physics and myself. Shout out to the fantastic teacher, Mr. Fullerton. I couldn't have done it without you!
  6. Momentumous
    I've mention in a previous post how poorly magic and physics mix. That being said, there are many variations on how magic works depending on what fiction you're referring to. In most fictions I've seen, practicing magic tends to simply require a lot of mental focus and memorizing a few words. This concept is entirely impossible in the real world if the fundamental laws of physics hold true. Energy can't be created or destroyed, simply changed. Magic tends to make things move with no physical cause, thus making it impossible.
    Some fictions, however, take a more plausible route. I've read a few books where in fact it takes just as much energy to do something with magic as it would to get up and do it yourself--thus making the only major convenience of magic that you can do things faster. In this theory, you could attempt to do something with magic and end up essentially committing suicide because you tried to do something that you simply don't have enough strength to do.
    By far this is the most plausible theory I've ever heard. For one it doesn't mess quite so much with our laws of physics. Energy created by your body is still being used to make something happen, thus energy is still conserved. This means that essentially the magic wielder is using their mind to direct energy in less-than-conventional ways.
    True, it's still pretty far-fetched. Maybe I'm a hopeless romantic, but I'd still like to think it's possible. As it stands, humans on average only use 10% of their brain for sitting and thinking, who knows what'd be possible if we could find a way to have constant access to the other 90%, no matter what the activity!
  7. Momentumous

    The physics of Heels

    By Momentumous,

    So lets say you're feeling crazy and want to wear some heels.

    Now you're about 135 pounds, the average weight of a female. That's approximately 61.2 kg. Multiply that by the constant of our friend gravity, and your body exerts a force of about 600N. Granted, this is split up between two feet unless you've had a tragic incident lately, so your foot feels about 300N of force just from standing.

    So lets look at it in terms of pressure, psi, pounds per square inch...or rather kg per square inch.
    Pressure is equivalent to F/A. If you're shoe size is a women's 8-9, your foot is probably around 10x3 inches. We'll shave off a handful of inches with the assumption that your foot is not perfectly rectangular, so lets say the area feeling the force of your weight is 25 inches.
    This means on a normal day with good arch support and nice, flat shoes, each foot feels a pressure of 12 kg/in^2. That's about 23 psi.

    So now you think, hey, let's wear some six inch heels!
    These heels are tall enough to essentially mean you're constantly standing on your toes. We'll attribute a square inch and a half for your arch "support" and heel, just for kicks, and what's left holding the majority of the force is the front pad of your foot and toes. That's about 8 square inches by my measurements. But the force exerted on your now 9.5 in^2 surface area hasn't changed. The force exerted on this surface area is still 300 N, and this area is less than half of the original surface area. 300/(9.5) is 31 kg/in^2 or 68 psi. That's almost triple the pressure your foot normally feels. That's like a full grown grizzly bear stepping on your toe.


    6 inch heels tonight? No thanks, I'll take my nike's.
  8. Momentumous
    Hurricane Sandy has projected wind speeds that heighten at about 90 mph.


    So lets say some poor fool decides to go to the beach with this wind but not much rain, and stands observing 1 meter away from where the sand begins. It's pretty plausible that 90 mph winds could get a grain of sand moving, but how dangerous is that grain of sand?

    Well, lets say it takes the whole meter for the sand to get up to speed, and its final velocity is 90 mph just before it hits you. This is a velocity of 40.0 m/s. Using the equation (v)^2=(vo)^2=2ax, you find an accelleration of 808.02 m/(s)^2. If the grain of sand has a mass of .00000067 kg (.67 mg), then the net force felt by the grain of sand is .00054 N.
    The average muzzle velocity of a gun is 120 mph, only 30 mph (13 meters/s) faster. However, not only would a bullet's force be spread over a larger surface area, resulting in a lower pressure, but the force wouldn't be constant, since it would be slowed if only slightly by resistance. Whats more, a bullet lodges itself within a human, and "dangerous" is a standard that's reached WELL before deadly.

    So is a grain of sand dangerous? The grain of sand would generate a pressure of around .0119 psi. Considering the human body can withstand up to 50 psi on sudden impact, I'd say the sand isn't going to do anything traumatic. It might sting, especially if it gets in your eyes or throat, but it's certainly no bullet.
  9. Momentumous

    Time Travel

    By Momentumous,

    I know, first I talk about teleportation, and now I'm talking about time travel. Alright, I'll admit it, I'm a Whovian. Huge Doctor Who dweeb, so yes, that's where a lot of my inspiration is coming from.

    Regardless of my inspiration, it's not really so strange to think about time travel--what would you do if you could travel in time, when would you go? Ancient history? Your history? Eons in the future?
    Furthermore, I'd think you a raging liar if you tried to tell me you've never wondered if (or secretly wished that) time travel is possible ever.

    This depends entirely on how time works. Really, time is a concept we humans made up to organize our lives. It's an extremely simple label we put on something far more complicated than most of us simpletons can ever hope to truly understands. Even now, I think it'd be a fair assumption to say that no one out there has a 100% clear understanding of how time works.

    However, if some theories prove right, then time travel might not be quite as implausible as you think. Theoretically, according to some scientists, a wormhole could be created to allow us to travel into the future or into the history. I found an article which explains this better than I could. Most interesting, I find, is that this article was written in 2008. That's 5 years ago now. With science progressing as exponentially as it is, I find myself wondering how far we could be with the concept of time travel now...

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-big-question-is-time-travel-possible-and-is-there-any-chance-that-it-will-ever-take-place-779761.html
  10. Momentumous
    Please note, these are simply my top ten from a limited-extensive research, so don't judge. Also they're not necessarily in order.

    1) A particle "here" can effect one on the other side of the universe

    2) All the matter that makes up the human race could fit in a sugar cube (think about how much empty space is in an atom and you'll be marginally less shocked)

    3) If the sun were made out of bananas, it would be just as hot (High pressure what-nots)

    4)The effect of relativity made an astronaut a fraction of a second younger when he returned to earth after 747 days in space

    5) The first ten feet of the ocean hold as much heat as the Earth's entire atmosphere.

    6) The highest temperature ever reached on earth was 4 trillion degrees Celsius. This was in quark-gluon plasma at Brookhaven RHIC

    7) Sound travels at a speed of around 767 miles per hour

    8) Water can work against gravity, moving up narrow tubes in a process called capillary action.

    9) Light can bend matter

    10) Other solar systems are so far away, some would see the Earth (due to the speed of light) as it was when dinosaurs roamed. By extension, we could theoretically look far enough in the universe to see the beginning of time

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6546462/The-10-weirdest-physics-facts-from-relativity-to-quantum-physics.html
    http://www.sciensational.com/physics.html
    http://physics-lovers.blogspot.com/2010/02/interesting-facts-of-physics.html
    http://www.livescience.com/12910-twisted-physics-top-findings.html
    http://web.mit.edu/uwip/facts.html

    (these links either explain a fact posted further or list more interesting facts)
  11. Momentumous

    Transition lenses

    By Momentumous,

    We've all seen transition lenses before, but how do they work?

    This is purely theoretical on my part, I have no idea how they actually work. But my knowledge of physics leads me to some pretty plausible conclusions.

    We all know how excited electrons work, and a lot of things can happen as a result of the expended energy when these electrons return back to their normal place. Light particles can exude quite a bit of energy. If that energy can be harnessed to produce electricity, its pretty easy to see that it could be used to change the color of a lens. Clearly the transition bit has to do with the material the lenses are made out of. Perhaps this material has electrons that react in such a way that they turn black when excited, the brighter the light, the more electrons excited the darker they get. Or perhaps it's not the electrons and is simply the particles themselves within the material.

    If anyone could enlighten me as to how these REALLY work, I'd love to know!
  12. Momentumous

    Well.

    By Momentumous,

    Well I've re-written a beautiful blog post about bullets and arrows 3 times now due to page expirations. The frustrating part is whenever I press back I see all the writing flash before my eyes and then dissapear before I can do anything about it. HELP!

    On the subject of stress, let's talk about physics.

    Have you been feeling stressed lately? Or at all? Just in general in your wonderous physics class?

    You're not alone.

    http://education.yahoo.net/articles/most_demanding_majors.htm;jsessionid=E295D68A231CD1D45F25CD18BAD6DEC6?kid=1LCND

    As seen in this article, engineering is widely seen as THE most demanding major out there--and as we all know, engineering is HEAVILY based on physics. And the second most demanding? A physics major. So you're not just studying THE most demanding concepts to gather, you're studying first AND second place. Don't get too stressed--there's countless majors out there with you!
  13. Momentumous
    Lets think about common conceptions of dragons: They breathe fire, they can fly, they're massively gigantic, and they have impenitrable scales, fearsome claws and teeth, and are just pretty beastly.

    So lets say a dragon is the size of about 3 elephants high, 4 elephants long, and 2 elephants wide. Considering the fables make them anywhere from lizards to the size of mountains, I think this is fair. So this is about 13 elephants worth, shaving off a couple for the long neck and tail that are narrow. An average elephant weighs about 5,000 kg. So this dragon weighs around 65,000 kg. Lets shave off a bit since its a dragon so prooooobably its lighter than it looks. We'll just call it 60,000 kg. Certainly this would provide plenty of room on its interior to cook a fiery inferno to spew forth from its mouth. But even if a dragon secreted flammable gas from its mouth to shoot flames in inferno-proof mouth, this beast weighs a LOT. Certainly enough to crush buildings and people with its feet and jaws, that I don't doubt.

    But could this beast fly?

    The golden eagle is the biggest predatory bird I can think of. They can weigh up to about 7 kg and have a 2 meter wingspan. So a smaller golden eagle at 6 kg we'll round up to say has the same wingspan. At these proportions, our dragon would have wingspan of 20,000 meters. So our 12 meter tall 14-18 meter long dragon has a wingspan that covers about 200 foot ball fields. Certainly not any of the proportions I've ever seen on a dragon...

    So either our dragons can't REALLY knock down buildings because they're entirely hollow, they just plain can't fly, or we have EVERYTHING all wrong. I'll leave the fire breathing up to you.
  14. Momentumous
    In summary, essentially the sky appears dark to us because the universe is expanding. When the stars we look at are farther away, they're moving away from us faster. The faster the star moves away, the more red they appear. After they reach a certain distance away from us, the stars become infrared. Essentially the sun is the only star close enough to us to emit on the visible spectrum and diffuse through the atmosphere.

    I thought this was very interesting. With a background in physics, a lot of questions tend to pop up that someone without such a background would take for granted. The sky being dark at night, with soooo many stars as bright or brighter than the sun out there, was always of mild interest to me. Hope you enjoy!
  15. Momentumous
    For some of us, taking the lovely AP-C Physics course was simply to have that shiny passing grade to rub in the face of colleges and use to squeeze out some money from them--a "hey look I'm s-m-r-t!" badge if you will. Nearly everyone in the class thought about it economically when considering taking it; taking it in highschool is FAR cheaper than in college, and allows more focus on new materials, maybe it'll draw some scholarships, help get a job ect. But physics goes beyond that. Here's a list of some majors requiring a noteworthy amount of physics:

    Acoustics
    Aeronautical Engineer
    Agricultural Engineer
    Air Traffic Controller
    Airline Pilot
    Archaeologist
    Architect
    Astronomer
    Audio Engineer
    Broadcasting
    Cartographer
    Chartered Surveyor
    Civil Engineer
    Climatologist
    Clinical Scientist
    Computing
    Designer
    Doctor
    Electrical Engineer
    Energy
    Engineering
    Environment
    Environmental Scientist
    Forensic Scientist
    Gas Engineer
    Geologist
    Health Services
    Journalist
    Laboratory Technician
    Marine Engineering
    Mathematician
    Mechanical Engineer
    Medical Physicist
    Meteorologist
    Naval Architect
    Naval Career
    Nuclear Scientist
    Oceanographer
    Operational Research
    Patent Agent
    Patent Examiner
    Pharmacist
    Radiation Protection
    Radiographer
    Scientific Officer (Government)
    Space and Remote Sensing
    Teacher
    Transport
    Water Management

    And here's a list of some of the best paying careers:

    1. Doctors/surgeons
    2. Orthodontists/dentists
    3. Cheif executive officer
    4. Petroleum engineer
    5. Lawyer
    6. Architectural and engineer manigers
    7. Natural science manager
    8. Marketing manager
    9. Computer info. systems manager
    10. Industrial-organizational psychologist
    11. Financial manager
    12. Airline pilots, co-pilots and flight engineers
    13. Sales manager
    14. Air traffic controller
    15. Pharmacist

    Note the frequent overlaps? That's because physics is essential in a world of technological dependency and progression. So not only will physics save you money now, but it could very potentially make you plenty in the future!
  16. Momentumous

    Wind turbines

    By Momentumous,

    Essentially wind turbines work to take the rotational energy of the turbine blades, and use a spinning shaft to convert that energy into electricity.

    The blades are curved unevenly to make a change in air pressure, which causes them to spin when wind hits them, just like an airplane wing. These blades are connected to a spinning shaft, which is connected to a series of gears that amp up the rpm's. This is connected to a generator, which translates the rotation into electrical energy.

    A generator works through electromagnetic induction. When a conductor is moving through a magnetic field, a voltage in induced through the conductor. The shaft and gears from the turbine are what move the conductors in the generator, which induce voltage and therefore generate electricity.

    The turbine seems complicated, but by concept, it's pretty easy. We all know that by hand making our tiny "engine" from wire coil magnets is pretty difficult. The generator is a larger scale concept, with the shaft spinning what would be the coil and, combined with the magnetic field, producing electricity. Not too bad.



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