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Physics, Politics, Pop Culture
"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.
You've read the blog, now try the book: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog will be published December 22nd by Scribner.
"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)
Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.
Category: Physics
Being a physicist it occurs to me that the different milk capacities of different cereals might be explained by the different volume packing factors for the different shapes. Raisin Bran is mostly flat flakes, which Cheerios are little toroids. Those two shapes will fill space very differently.
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:16 AM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Physics
I'm halfway through Graham Farmelo's Dirac biography at the moment, and enjoying it quite a bit. Farmelo cites Dirac as one of the first physicists to evaluate theories on their mathematical beauty, rather than waiting for experiments. This is in...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:10 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academia
Prompted by a discussion in another channel, a question for you all: What is your preferred type of calculator? That is, when you're doing some sort of problem involving math, and reach for a calculator, what do you reach for?...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 1:30 PM • 74 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Physics
How fast must God have been moving for the six days of creation to last 13.7 billion years?
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:43 AM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
Dan Meyer, like most people, has long wondered whether there was a good way to predict which check-out line at the grocery store will be the fastest. Unlike most people, he used science to find an answer: "I spent ninety...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 8:48 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Math
Aaron Santos, a postdoc at Michigan, has put together a delightful collection of Fermi problems as a guide to the art and science of order-of-magnitude estimates.
Posted by Chad Orzel at 2:22 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Social-Science
Some thoughts on beauty and economics, because Eric Weinstein asked.
Posted by Chad Orzel at 5:08 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Polls
What's your favorite of Maxwell's Equations?
Posted by Chad Orzel at 10:04 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Math
The average guess in Friday's estimation contest was really quite bad, but we have a winner who got within $1.06 of the correct value.
Posted by Chad Orzel at 11:48 AM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Education
Firday's quick and sarcastic post came about because I thought the Dean Dad and his commenters had some interesting points in regard to high school math requirements, but we were spending the afternoon driving to Whitney Point so I could...
Posted by Chad Orzel at 9:49 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
