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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.
May 29, 2009
Category: physics
My brother found this, but he is too afraid of the internet to post something in the comments on my previous post about acceleration and the iphone. It turns out that this too awesome to just be in a comment.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 6:20 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: physics
Could an iphone tell if your parachute didn't open with its accelerometer?
Posted by Rhett Allain at 12:55 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 25, 2009
Category: physics
Moment of inertia is different than mass, but I like to call it the "rotational mass". What does mass do? Things with larger mass are more difficult to change their motion (translational motion). A similar thing is true for the "rotational mass". Things with larger rotational mass are more difficult to change rotational motion.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 11:54 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: physics
I was wondering around the blogosphere and read some stuff about introductory physics labs. In particular, I was looking at ZapperZ's Revamping Introductory Physics and Dr. Pion's Objectives for a Lab. Both of these are good posts. Here I thought...
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:45 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 21, 2009
Category: physics
I made a gamble and my gamble failed. It really wasn't my fault. In the preview, they showed this huge barrel thing dropping on a see saw. It looked something like this: (I could search for 30 minutes for a picture of this online, or just draw it
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:28 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 19, 2009
Category: physics
Physics essentially deals with the fundamental stuff. You know, Maxwell's equations, the four forces, the particles, quantum mechanics. Chemistry is the study of substances and their interactions. First, let me attack chemistry.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:42 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 18, 2009
Category: physics
Questions to be answered: How much energy would the bike need to go 50 miles? How much power (average) could you expect to get from the solar panels? And...how long would it take to charge this sucker. I am sure you can store enough energy in a battery to go 50 miles and even a tiny solar cell could charge this - but would it be practical?
Posted by Rhett Allain at 6:27 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 14, 2009
Category: physics
I think the Mythbusters have a wonderful opportunity for educational outreach. Take this week's episode. One myth was to see if arrows fired from a moving horse penetrated more than arrows fired from a standing position. They first did this with real horses, but they said the data was not convincing.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 12:57 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: physics
Last night was Wednesday, so of course I watched Mythbusters. You never know when a good blogging opportunity will come up. I could talk about the kinetic energy of arrows, but instead let me talk about their episode for next week
Posted by Rhett Allain at 9:57 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 12, 2009
Category: physics
Maybe you have seen this trick. Basically, you hold by supporting it with two fingers from the bottom. You then move your hand around to keep it balanced while the stick is vertical. It is really not as hard as it looks. Also, there are two things that can make your job easier. Use a longer stick, or add an extra mass at the end of the stick.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 1:59 PM • 11 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
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