Announcing the first round games of the Orbit Region of the 2007 Science Showdown: These games match central physics concepts against one another, in a bid to determine the greatest physics idea, which will eventually face and humiliate ideas from other fields of science.
I’ll be announcing the winners on Friday, but ehre’s your chance to contribute: The eight first-round match-ups are shown in the graphic above: Which do you think should win? Leave your votes in the comments, and help determine the outcomes.
The games:
1) Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation vs. 16) Newton’s Second Law of Motion Which contribution of everybody’s favorite white-haired virgin reigns supreme?
8) High Speed Particle Physics vs. 9) High Speed Internet CERN has given us exciting particlwe results, and also the World Wide Web. Which is more important?
5) Quaternions vs. 12) Euler Angles Pick a mathematical construct, any mathematical construct.
4) Particle vs. 13) Wave What’s your favorite way of looking at light?
6) General Relativity vs. 11) Special Relaitivity Einstein’s two great theories meet in a clash that’s sure to make your hair stand on end.
3) Descriptive Statistics vs. 14) Inferential Statistics Having defeated “Lies” and “Damned Lies” to earn tournament bids, two mathematical titans collide.
7) Bosons vs. 10) Fermions Speaking of statistics… What’s your favorite quantum statistical category?
2) Dark Matter vs. 15) Ordinary Matter Sure, most of the universe is dark, but don’t count ordinary matter out yet!
It’s like eight Dorky Polls in one! Vote for your favorites below, and look for the results on Friday.
(Rules and Restrictions: One vote per game per commenter (this means you, Jonathan Vos Post). Final decisions will be made by your humble correspondant, and cannot be appealed. Future rounds will be hosted elsewhere, and you can keep track of all the results via the press room at the World’s Fair.)