A new video by Clifford V. Johnson:
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Some new additions to the physics blogroll:
1) Not all that new, but I keep forgetting to post a link: Clifford Johnson has spun off Asymptotia from Cosmic Variance, to house his own brand of bike-riding, concert-going, vegetable-buying physics blogging. If you read Clifford's stuff at Cosmic…
Clifford Johnson of the Asymptotia blog is working on some cool movies explaining science! Here is the trailer
And this is the first clip - Shine A Light:
Ever been to a CON? Like, ComiCON, or CONvergence? One of the best parts of a CON is the science, often involving panels with interesting science experts, or perhaps even a film or two.
Well, Twin Cities denizen Ryan Johnson founded and organized a new thing, which is set up as a film festival,…
Okay, so...The Daily Show was pretty easy. Lewis Black's "Root of All Evil"? A bit tougher.
I went on the show with Sean Carroll, Jennifer Ouellette, Clifford Johnson, Michael Shermer, and a number of other "scientists" for a schtick called "Last Scientist Standing"--a parody of American Idol. And…
I thought that this was really well done. I think with only a dozen players, much of what's going on is lost. But I guess with many more players it would be too confusing.
The video is pretty cool and technically correct. My only comment is that they say in the beginning of the video that laser light is more focused than other light.
I have always been told that laser light is directionally coherent,with very low divergence. And that in order to focus a laser, or any light, a lens is needed. Due to the directional coherence it is easier to focus a laser, but that a laser is not "focused" until directed by a lens.
My pet peeve is someone saying they will "focus like laser" on a task. Which is a meaningless statement that shows no understanding of what a laser is.
Can one of the optics scientists correct me if I am wrong about my understanding?