Questions

Guys I have a few questions for all of you.

1) How often do you guys come and look at the blog?
2) What was your motivation to come read the course blog?
3) How often do you comment on posts?
4) What motivated you to comment on the blog?
5) Has reading the blog and commenting on it helped your intrest in the course?
6) If yes, how?
7) Has the blog made you feel more confident in physics?
8) If yes, how?
9) What was your favorite blog article?
10) Do you feel that knowing Jared and myself helped you to comment on the blog more often?

"Humans vs. Zombies" - the math

I hope someone is taking down data of this "Humans vs. Zombies" game to see if it matches the mathematical model.

3D Films "How do they work?"

Although most of us have experienced a 3D film at least once in their lives, many do not understand the science of how the cinema industry manages to project a 3D image from a 2D screen.

When viewing an object in real life, the left eye sees a bit more of the left side of the object while the right eye sees a bit more of the right side. Your brain then combines the two images, allowing you to see the full 3 dimensional effect.

To simulate this theatres use polarized light, or light waves that vibrate on only one plane. Although most forms of light that we see is unpolarized, they can be converted into polarized form using a polarizing filter. These filters have tiny lines etched into them that allow only light vibrating on the same plane as the lines through.

Duringthe filming process, the film is recorded useing two cameras set side by side to simulate the left and right eyes. Then, the cinema will project the two slightly different images onto the big screen, but they will use to different polarizing filters on the cameras. The two seperate, now polarized, images will then reflect off of the screen back onto the audience who will be wearing polarizing glasses. These glasses will only allow the left image to pass through to the left eye and the right image to pass to the right eye, fooling the audiences brains into "seeing" an image as if they were actually there.

The FULL slinky drop story!

Enjoy! http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1110/1110.4368v1.pdf

Proof Techniques

Unfortunately, in order for something to be generally accepted as fact it must be proven, meaning that it must be shown to be true for all cases. However, the most commonly used ways for proving things are usually inadequate, being that they rely on the truth instead of more convenient techniques. For the sake of simplicity, here are a couple of more practical methods to prove things.

Proof by Blatent Assertion:

Use words and phrases like "clearely", "obviously" and "as any fool can plainly see..."

Proof by Intimidation:

This can be useful for physical as well as abstract assertions. For example, "you better believe this if you know what's good for you" is a good argument if you are in a position to use your suppior strength to subdue your opponent, like a younger sibling or small animal...

Proof by Interuption:

Just keep interrupting until your opponenet gives up.

Proof by Misconception:

An example of this is "2 equals 3 for very large values of 2". Once introduced, any conclusion is reachable.

Proof by Confusion:

Your argument should be arranged into ciruclar patterns of reasoning. If your feeling creative, try to arrange it in more complex patterns, such as figure 8's.

If used correctly, you should find it incredibly easy to raise and defend any statement you wish. Can you think of any different types of proofs that I might not have stated? Also, can you add to or revise any of the proofs listed?

http://www.jyi.org/resources/humor/proofs.html

Flying Deer

An occurrence which seems to be happening at many runways across the United States both commercial and private. No, it is not reindeer taking off and landing but deer being stuck by airplanes. This seems to be an issue happening around the country and I would like to know why?


In 2009 at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport a U.S. Airways flight was landing and shortly after touching down there was a jolt in the plane. Passengers described it as hitting a giant pothole in the middle of the runway. After the fact the pilot came over the intercom and told the passengers that they had hit a small deer. In this situation it did not do any damage to the plane itself but what would happen to a smaller plane.


As one of our own JU Dolphins found out last fall it does a considerable amount of damage to small Cirrus. On his first night flight ever during his flight lessons Sean Carney was landing his Cirrus at Cecil Field. As he landed his was not just a small jolt. Describing the situation Sean said "Typically when you are landing you feel two bumps, the back wheels touching, the front wheels touching and that is it. But on this one I felt three bumps." The third bump was the propeller of the airplane hitting the deer. This plane did not get out as scotch free as the large jet.

This shows the side of the plane after the impact and how much of an effect the deer left. Later that night the National Guard at the airport had to go out and shoot two more deer because they would not leave.

Now as I stated at the beginning, I would like to know why these deer all seem to congregate around airports and a lot of the time the inevitable happens?

"Quantum Locking"

On October 16 some researchers at Tel Aviv University in Isreal uploaded a video of them demonstrating what is known as "Quantum Locking", or in non-scientific terms, making things hover in mid-air.

Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/Ws6AAhTw7RA

Even though to most of us this seems like something strait out of a sci-fi film, it is apperently not as complex as it would appear.

To begin, the researchers started with a crystal sapphire waffer and wrapped it with a thin ceramic layer of yttrium barium copper oxide. While this ceramic layer ordinarily has no particularly distinguishing features, when cooled below -185 degrees celcius it becomes a superconductor. The final result is a frozen disc.

When placed over a magnet, the superconductor and magnet would normally repel each other. However, because the ceramic layer is so thin, some of the magnetic force is allowed through the disc at certain weak points in the ceramic layer. Now, these paths of magnetic force through the disc are called flux tubes and are the secret to the researcher's little levetation trick.

Because there are several flux tubes throughout the disc, the flux tubes will try to remain as stationary as possible. This creates a 3D locking effect, which is what the researchers demonstrate.

Here is a link to the researcher's explanation of their demonstration. http://www.quantumlevitation.com/levitation/The_physics.html