elements
Tag archives for elements
A relic from the primitive Universe… in our own backyard!
Posted by Ethan on December 26, 2012 
“We have been forced to admit for the first time in history not only the possibility of the fact of the growth and decay of the elements of matter. With radium and with uranium we do not see anything but the decay. And yet, somewhere, somehow, it is almost certain that these elements must be…
Why the World Will Run Out of Helium
Posted by Ethan on December 12, 2012 
“I have this one little saying, when things get too heavy just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man.” -Jimi Hendrix Hendrix, as I told you once before, was almost right. We know of helium, conventionally, as the lighter-than-air gas that we fill balloons, blimps and zeppelins with in order to quickly and easily…
Why I am a liar straight from the pit of hell
Posted by Ethan on October 5, 2012 
“It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man!” -George Gamow Earlier today, a video (from last month) was released where one of the members of the US House of Representative — a member who sits…
Behind the Galaxy’s Most Famous Nebula
Posted by Ethan on September 24, 2012 
“The self-same atoms which, chaotically dispersed, made the nebula, now, jammed and temporarily caught in peculiar positions, form our brains; and the ‘evolution’ of brains, if understood, would be simply the account of how the atoms came to be so caught and jammed.” -William James Up in the heavens, there are planets, stars, and galaxies…
Centripetal vs. Centrifugal force, & the Solar System
Posted by Ethan on January 28, 2008 One of the worst teaching tools physicists use (and they almost all do it) is to tell students, There’s no such thing as centrifugal force. What can you do when the top physics education website says, “It is important to note that the centrifugal force does not actually exist. We feel it, because we are…
