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walsh416

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Blog Entries posted by walsh416

  1. walsh416
    There are people who say "Snow tires aren't needed!" They'll tell you "Advances in year round tires have obsoleted them!" They might even pull the "I have all wheel drive!"

    These are the same people who told you heroin and AP Physics C were good life decisions.

    Snow tires are absolutely vital to safe and effective driving during the winter months. All season tires typically are made of hard rubber compounds and have relatively small grooves, or fillets, in them to clear water. This is excellent for summer driving: the hard rubber means they will last for many miles before needing to be replaced and works together with the small fillets to decrease rolling resistance and increase fuel mileage.

    Both of these traits are the absolute last thing a driver needs after it has snowed. The hard composition means the tires are more likely to spin instead of roll, and the small and narrow fillets quickly fill with snow and prove ineffective. Luckily, someone invented snow tires. Snow tires are nearly polar opposites of all season tires; their soft rubber compound and deep, chunky groove greatly improves their grip.

    There are also those who claim that while snow tires are good, studded tires are better. This is a bald faced lie for any surface but sheer ice. Snow tires' ability to mold to the surface increases their contact patch and therefore the amount of force they can transfer from the car to the road. The studs on studded tires vastly decrease their contact patch, forcing the entire car to rely on several small metal spikes.
  2. walsh416
    Since his meteoric rise to fame on the back of "Born to Run" (without a doubt one of the best albums ever released), The Boss has remained a fascinating physics problem.

    Let us look closely at the second track on "Born to Run," "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out." Here, Springsteen tells us that 'the big man joined the band.' One may obviously assume from his use of 'big' that he is referencing the Big Bang. Thusly, he is telling his audience that one night on Tenth Avenue, a human representation of the Big Bang joined the E Street Band. How could this be so? Rather simply, in fact. If one completely ignores all rules and conventions of physics created or discovered past roughly 1500 AD, it becomes clear that on the famed night a second Big Bang occurred (henceforth referred to as the Medium Bang). This Medium Bang created a second universe, filled with burly, afroed men demonstrating godliness on the saxophone.

    However, a single large error with the so-called Medium Bang theory exists. Since was a "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," it can clearly be assumed that Springsteen was referencing a moment where absolute zero came to fruition on Tenth Avenue. Since this is the case, the Medium Bang can't possibly have created a second universe because absolute zero is defined as the point where entropy reaches its minimum value. While inspirational, this second, saxophone playing universe would increase entropy, not lower it to an absolute minimum.

    In all, one is forced to determine that either The Boss lied to us, or he was simply telling a story and not referencing non-existent and often nonsensical physics concepts. The nerve of some people.
  3. walsh416
    Now it's time,
    To start a rhyme.
    A rhyme of physics,
    No, not metaphysics.

    Newton was 'neath an apple tree,
    When an apple cometh falling free.
    "Ow" he shouted,
    As his thoughts unclouded.

    A great invisible force, must be!
    Perhaps we shall call it... gravity!
    Soon publishing the "Principia Mathematica,"
    He gave the academic world a heart attacka.

    Within this massive tome,
    Newton drove just three points home.
    Now numbered one, two, and three,
    Newton finally set physics free.

    Number one, a classic!
    We know your jar of Vlasic
    Shall never move,
    Unless 'tis kicked by a horse's hoove.

    Then on to number two,
    With a constant mass, it's always true!
    F=ma, that's all.
    This is Regents stuff, y'all.

    Finally, we come to the third,
    Always seen and often heard.
    For all actions, each and every,
    The opposite reaction is just as heavy.
  4. walsh416
    Well, Michael Scott would be proud. We have finally considered all our paper and copier needs and determined that lined, microperforated notebook paper is the key.

    Microperforation is the strip of tiny holes punched in notebook paper somewhere between an eighth and half an inch from the spine, selectively weakening the paper to tensile forces parallel to the spine. Essentially, it's designed to let you tear out a piece of notebook paper without ripping it or otherwise destroying it.

    By perforating the paper, there are fewer contact points along the intended direction of tearing. This means that for a given tensile force, each little paper piece (differential of paper length? not sure that's a thing...) feels greater 'pressure.'

    Microperforation is a game of compromises. Perforate the paper too frequently along the intended line of tearing and it will simply rip out when a force is applied. Perforate it not frequently enough and it will be as if it isn't perforated at all. Make the holes too big and now your paper looks stupid. Too small and they are ineffective.

    And all sorts of other thrilling compromises. Woohoo.
  5. walsh416
    Golly gee biking (cycling) is hard. Perhaps the hardest part of all is mastering high speed cornering. You see it all the time in the Tour de France; pros carving graceful arcs as they fly down mountainsides at 100kph. How do they do it? By maintaining an incredible awareness of where their center of mass is relative to their bike at all times, and adjusting it so that they can achieve the right angle of cornering.

    By far the most common mistake any new cyclist will make is to turn their handlebars in the direction they wish to go. At low speeds this works to steer the bicycle, but at anything above a walking pace, all this does is cause one to eat asphalt. Instead, one must "counter steer," especially when beginning a corner. Counter steering is the act of pushing the handlebars in the direction opposite the one you want to go. This causes the bike to lean into the corner, moving your center of gravity lower and towards the inside of the corner.
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