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What happens when you take some basic, introductory physics and apply them to cool things you see? Dot Physics happens. This blog looks at movies, experiments, demos and other topics typically aimed at the introductory physics level.
Rhett Allain is an Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. He
enjoys teaching and talking about physics. Sometimes he takes things apart and can't
put them back together.
November 25, 2008
Category: physics
This is often described as "the acceleration due to gravity". Is this really the best thing to call this? No. A better name would be "the local gravitational field" and list it in units of:
Posted by Rhett Allain at 11:34 AM • 4 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
November 24, 2008
Category: physics
This is an old video, but still interesting. In this video clip, Kobe Bryant jumps over a pool of snakes. You are probably thinking what I thought when I see that - this doesn't look real. Really, it must be fake. Why would Kobe jump over a pool of snakes? Isn't that dangerous (even if there were no snakes in there he could hurt himself). Video analysis is needed. Is this fake or is it real?
Posted by Rhett Allain at 7:21 PM • 2 Comments • 2 TrackBacks
November 23, 2008
Category: physics
The BOLers were talking about the astronaut that dropped a tool bag in space. Rafe said: *"everything in orbit is moving at the same speed"*. The idea behind his statement is mostly correct - but not completely. Let me take this opportunity to talk about orbital motion (from a very basic standpoint).
Posted by Rhett Allain at 6:49 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 22, 2008
Category: science
One of things I like to think about in science is "how do we know that?" It is interesting how one thing builds on another. This is a story of how the Greeks estimated the distance from the Earth to the Sun (an important idea in the development of the model of the solar system). I like this story because it is not too complicated. In fact, one could easily reproduce these measurements themselves. So, here is what I will talk about:
Posted by Rhett Allain at 12:45 PM • 4 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
November 20, 2008
Category: physics
Georgia Tech is playing Miami (not the real Miami, the other one Miami Florida). Right after a commercial, the camera shows this sign from a student (or just person) at the game:
Posted by Rhett Allain at 11:01 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 19, 2008
Category: physics
know Stephen Colbert is a big fan of Dot Physics, and so this is a message to him. Stevie, good job. Here is what he said during his show on the "The Word" segment. Just to give you the context, he was making some point about how if you say anything while talking like a hippie, you make what you said untrue:
Posted by Rhett Allain at 9:30 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 18, 2008
Category: physics
They say its a real demonstration, but it has seemed odd to me. (they also say this is a professional driver on a closed course and don't try this at home - damn! I was SO going to do that this weekend). Here is my analysis:
Posted by Rhett Allain at 11:02 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This must have been mentioned in a previous post, but I am too lazy to search. Anyway, I think have enough stuff here (at blog.dotphys.net) to finish moving stuff from my previous version of the blog. What does this mean...
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:30 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 17, 2008
Category: physics
Also known as "two masses on a pulley". Surprisingly, this simple device comes up a lot in intro physics texts. It also brings up some interesting issues. I will go over the basic way to solve a problem like this (as an example) and then talk about the other interesting issues it brings up
Posted by Rhett Allain at 2:19 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 14, 2008
Category: physics
Here is a video of a guy jumping 35 feet into a pool of water only 1 foot deep.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 5:10 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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