Last semester, in Waves and Optics, we discussed Rayleigh scattering. I described some simple examples, including the famous blue sky, and orange sunset. Earlier in the semester, I had coincidentally noticed that Squirt soda in a clear glass tends to be a little blue in hue, and not surprisingly, looks orange if held in front [...]
Archive for the ‘experiments’ Category
Squirt Sunset
Posted in experiments, optics, physics, teaching, try this at home on January 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Large Hadron Collider “Actually Worked”
Posted in experiments, physics on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
For such a great moment in physics, I wish the PR had been controlled as well as the beam. Quotes like “Oh, wow, it actually worked!” don’t necessarily encourage government spending on 20-year-long half-billion-dollar research projects. There is enough skepticism working against science, I would have hoped for more confidence from the National Geographic press. [...]
Photoelectric Effect
Posted in experiments, physics, tagged history, optics, photoelectric on December 3, 2007 | 3 Comments »
A discussion at one of our recent group meetings, reminded me of the interesting history behind the observation of the Photoelectric Effect. Some of these classic papers are quite impressive, especially as experimental feats. While the photoelectric effect was first observed by Heinrich Hertz, Phillip von Lenard, and others, it was the experiment of Robert [...]
Final ruling on Juggling riddle (for now)
Posted in experiments, physics on September 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
As referenced earlier, some of us have been going over the physics of an old riddle. There were a few bits of information lacking from the theoretical analysis so far, although basic kinematics covers most of what you need. For the rest, it turns out, we can follow the work of Claude Shannon famous for [...]
Juggling forces
Posted in bad science, experiments, physics, try this at home on September 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
What started as a pretty informal online chat about an old riddle has led to several risky video-experiments and an even shakier theoretical analysis. I find the discussion to be a good example of how physics tends to be more about choosing your simplifying assumptions than about answering real-world questions. It’s also good for a [...]
