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Category archives for real or fake
Sport Science: Pulling and Power
Posted by Rhett Allain on February 7, 2010 I would like to continue my attack on the show Sport Science – ESPN. In this short episode, they are comparing the power of NFL player Marshawn Lynch with that of a truck. You can watch it here if you would like. There are two things that are not quite right with this episode, first,…
R2 flying at a constant speed
Posted by Rhett Allain on January 22, 2010 Since my previous post on R2-D2 flying was so popular, I thought I would follow it up. I was going to add these two points in the comments, but a separate post seems to make more sense. Point 1 – R2 flies at a constant speed Well, he obviously doesn’t always have to fly at…
Flying R2-D2, you are doing it wrong
Posted by Rhett Allain on January 21, 2010 You know I can’t help but like Star Wars. Even with the new stuff, I watch it. Recently, I was watching the Clone Wars cartoon and noticed something odd about the way R2-D2 flies. I know what you are saying….”the odd thing is that he flies at all. Why didn’t he fly in episodes 4-6?”…
Acceleration of Google’s Newton’s Apple
Posted by Rhett Allain on January 4, 2010 This is great. Many people have already reported google’s apple-dropping homepage in honor Newton’s birthday. In case it disappears, here is a screen shot. So, I got this awesome note from Dale Basler. He said that his class had analyzed this falling apple animation. What a very Dot Physics-y idea (check out his analysis). He…
Fake Videos Presentation
Posted by Rhett Allain on October 12, 2009 I put together this short presentation on fake videos for a class. What the heck, I will also put it online so that maybe some other people can use it. So, here it is. I have it in many forms. First, a video of me going through the talk. Then I have the keynote and…
Hydrino and good PR
Posted by Rhett Allain on August 17, 2009 This is amazing. I can’t believe that power companies are paying Blacklight Power money, but they are. I guess Blacklight Power must have great advertising. Ok, so what is this whole Blacklight-hyrdino thing? Honestly, I am not fully familiar with it, but basically this guy says that you can get energy by getting the electron…
The vomit comet bus
Posted by Rhett Allain on August 4, 2009 Check this out (saw it on the interwebs): It’s this video inside a bus of a girl hitting the roof. My first thought was: well, she just jumped. But something was odd. She was in the air too long. Well, of course this calls for a video analysis (using Tracker Video Analysis). Actually, it is…
Elephants can’t jump. Really.
Posted by Rhett Allain on July 27, 2009 Sciencegeekgirl is blogging from the AAPT. She talks about showing something interesting to get students thinking, and here is her example: This reminds me of Dan Meyer’s What Can You Do With This stuff. Anyway, I can’t help it. I must analyze this video. Plus, Fran essentially threw down the gauntlet and called me out…
Mythbusters and WANTED – curved bullet
Posted by Rhett Allain on June 19, 2009 I have been wanting to look at this whole curved bullet thing, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it. In case you are familiar with the myth, this is from the movie WANTED (which I did not see). Apparently, some people learn how to make bullets curve by moving their gun. Here is a…
Physics and the movie UP – floating a house
Posted by Rhett Allain on June 3, 2009 I haven’t seen the Pixar Movie “Up” yet, so don’t spoil it for me. I have, however, seen the trailer. In my usual fashion, I have to find something to complain about. There is this scene where the old man releases balloons out of the house. What is wrong with this scene? Also, would that…