cool

Infrared image of a koala (from S. Griffiths) New research sheds light why koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) spend so much time hugging trees. As shown in the infrared image above, the trees stay cool on hot days. Since koalas do not sweat, hugging trees is another method to keep their cool in addition to panting and licking their fur. The research also shows that the animals who hug trees lose less water through evaporation that those that do not hug trees. I think I might need to start hugging trees this summer. Source: Briscoe NJ, Handasyde KA, Griffiths SR, Porter WP, Krockenberger A,…
I have a love of innovative clocks and this is no exception. The catena wall clock was designed by Andreas Dober for anthologie quartett. Yours for just $2,338.
First, where does Chad come up with these links? Oh, I am talking about Chad from Uncertain Principles. In his latest links of the day, I found this: Skip Class Calculator What a great idea. Basically, you enter some info about the class - like how often it meets, how many classes you have skipped, when is the next test and stuff. The calculator then tells you if you should go to class or not. Brilliant. Actually, this seems like the academic version of Run Pee. Yes, I said run pee. Run Pee is an app for your iphone that tells you at what point during a movie you can go to the…
This is so awesome - an arduino controlled fan cart. If you are not familiar with the arduino, basically it is just a very simple and cheap programmable chip. I have been meaning to play around with one of these, but really I am afraid. Afraid I will like it just a little too much. In this fan cart (made by Eric Ayars - who was at NC State when I was there), the arduino tells the fan when to turn on and off by sensing magnets on the track. Who cares? I care. This allows you to do some cool demos and activities with non-constant forces. Some other things I can think of: You could make…
And there's parliament. Ok - sorry, I had to make a "Tom (Swans on Tea)" title for this one. Tom, forgive me. Here are two great circular motion videos. First, this one is from Dale Basler. He made himself a fine little floater-type accelerometer. Better than just make it, he made a video of the accelerometer in his car going around a round about. Check it out. Bobber Meets Roundabout from Dale Basler on Vimeo. So, if he is driving at a constant 10 mph, how big is the round about (traffic circle)? Next video - more silly kids First, I saw this one on ZapperZ's Physics and Physicists who…
Yes, green laser pointers are cool. Especially when you use them to make stuff fluoresce. Ok, what about a blue laser pointer? They are getting surprisingly cheap (Amazon has a 10 mW for pretty cheap). Still not cheap enough for me. But, you know what? Some of the physics majors here at Southeastern Louisiana University purchased a couple of these. Physics major Daniel let me borrow his. First, they don't look too bright. This is probably because our eyes are not too sensitive to this wavelength. The blue 10 mW does not look anywhere near as bright as the 5 mW green that I used in…
It is my duty as a blogger to mention lasers in this time of international laser celebration. This May is the 50th anniversary of the first lasers. Everyone knows a laser that they love, right? We all use them. So, instead of talking about lasers, I am going to post some great links to other laser stuff (including some of my stuff). the history of the first lasers (AIP) The above is the American Institute of Physics's presentation of the history of the laser. Really, this does a great job of giving all the details you would want. I highly recommend it. Uncertain Principle's Laser…
This video seems like it is getting popular, but maybe that is because it is so awesome. Maybe it is just me, but I find this video very visually satisfying. I love the way they compare the different runners. Anyway, there is some physics here. Commenter Ben sent me the link to this video (thanks!) with some great questions. Which of the runners has a greater kinetic energy? What about the power? These aren't too difficult to answer, but the first thing is to get the data. There are several options (including just using a stop watch). But no, that is not good enough for me. Instead, I…
If you have been on the internet, you surely have seen this website showing the sizes of different starships. Way cool. Here is a small sample - but it doesn't do the site justice. You really need to go browse around. Of course, I can't let something like this just go. One of the things I always think is interesting is to consider objects of different size. Perhaps the general idea is that you can just scale stuff up or down as you like. But, it doesn't work this way. Let me start with my own spaceship. It is a sphere with a thruster on the back. It just holds one person. Now, what…
In this part of the world, we have oak trees. Technically they are called live oaks - but I don't get it. Of course they are alive. I was at a soccer game and this is the tree I always look at. Look how far those limbs extend horizontally. That branch is about 12 meters long. Why is this amazing? Have you ever tried to hold an 8 foot 2 x 4 board horizontally by holding one end? Pretty tough. How about I calculate the forces needed to hold that branch in place? I will do a simple model and then maybe later I can make it more complicated. Suppose I replace that limb with one straight…
I am surprised at how many people (chemistry faculty included) have never seen this demo. (oh, technically it is called a cartesian diver demo) Basically, you put some floating object that has an air space in a closed bottle of water. When you squeeze it, the diver goes down. For my setup, I used a glass eye-dropper. Put it in a cup to make sure it just barely floats and then put it in a completely full water bottle. If you don't have a eye-dropper, you can use anything that floats with an air space. I have done this with part of a straw before. Fold a small section of a straw in half…
Some time ago I was looking for materials to possibly build a foucault pendulum. Of course the first step is google. There was a site that suggested two old issues of Scientific American, and it happens that we have tons of old Scientific Americans in the store room. I found the two that I needed. I will talk about foucault pendulum in second, but let me show this picture. This is a device to prevent elliptical motion of the pendulum. Part of it has a ring of nickel. Now for the quote: "The nickel ring, perhaps appropriately, should have the dimensions of a U.S. five-cent piece, with a…
I found this video to be very entertaining. Dry Ice is LEEEEEEATHALLY DAAAANGEROUS? - These bloopers are hilarious William Beaty's site has tons of great stuff - http://www.amasci.com/
Dan Meyer made this awesome photo. He posted it so that others could look at it and come up with lesson ideas to use with this. There are some very good suggestions in his comments. I wasn't going to analyze this because I didn't want to rob some students of the opportunity, but I can't resist. Also, I doubt the first step a student would use would be to google for the answer. HA! I just caught you, you googling student. Ok - I will try not to post any data. However, I will post some info on how I analyzed this. The photo is a composite image from a video clip of a person throwing a…
This idea comes from my friend Thomas. His son is like mine in that they both think LEGO are awesome, and they are correct. For some reason, Thomas decided to calculate the price per piece of LEGO in each set. To promote repeatability, I decided to do this also. Looking at the catalog at LEGO.com, I can get both the price of each set and how many pieces it has. Just a note, I looked at almost all of the Star Wars LEGO series and some other select themes. I didn't include any sets that had been marked down in price. I will put the first plot on down below, maybe this would be a good…
A not at all exhaustive collection of cool bizarro aquariums. Modular fish tank Toilet tank. Kind of like fish purgatory. The Fish-Bird Tank-Cage many more below the fold... Sink tank The sophisticated ichthyologist's sitting room A concept piece by a Japanese architectural firm More of the above This robotic fish tank senses which direction the fish is swimming and drives off in that direction. Could prove extremely useful in absolutely no circumstances. In this Korean tank, the pump and aerator are powered via USB. Additionally, temperature is controlled via software on your…
Check out these amazing pieces of 3d Fakery in a swimming pool. I'd personally get a 3d shark pool to keep those damn kids out of my yard. Well... at least I would if I were 80 and had a yard with a pool.