An example problem from today’s lecture: A sleep-deprived parent is warming a bottle for a midnight feeding. He places a bottle containing 250 ml of infant formula at 275K into 300 ml of water at 320 K. When the two liquids reach equilibrium, what is the temperature of the formula?
Author: Chad Orzel
Banking in the Future
I’m currently the president of the local chapter of Sigma Xi (an honor society, not a fraternity, thankyouverymuch), and as such have been collecting RSVP’s and dues for this year’s new inductees. As part of this process, I’ve been struck by how many students don’t have checks– I’ve had a couple of students give me… Continue reading Banking in the Future
links for 2009-05-13
Spirit Stuck – The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society "The Spirit rover on Mars is currently stuck in a patch of loose material. After a few attempts to get free, the team has wisely decided to do further experiments on Earth instead of on Mars. They will now recreate the conditions in our… Continue reading links for 2009-05-13
Two-Word Lyrics Quiz, #3
As you can guess from the title, I’ve done this twice before when I had stuff to do that precluded quality blogging. Kate’s in Rochester for a court appearance, leaving me home with SteelyKid, so this seems like a perfect occasion for a third go-round. The pairs of words in the following list are consecutive… Continue reading Two-Word Lyrics Quiz, #3
links for 2009-05-12
18 and Under – The Marks of Childhood or the Marks of Abuse? – NYTimes.com "This year, the study of child abuse is coming of age as a medical specialty. In November, the first medical board exam will be offered in a new official specialty, child abuse pediatrics. Knowledge and research that have accumulated over… Continue reading links for 2009-05-12
Uranium in Drinking Water?
A former student asks about water contamination: My mother went and had our water tested and discovered that we have high uranium and radon levels. Radon is not a big deal, its a gas, and as I have read you would need to take a shower for somewhere around 4 hours to suffer damage from… Continue reading Uranium in Drinking Water?
Twitter and Time Scale Management
Over at the Inverse Square blog, Tom Levenson announces that he’s started Twittering in a post that contains, via Carl Zimmer, the best argument for why Twitter matters: Carl laughs me out of my seat. He points out that he tweeted his visit to my class, and received in return a couple of requests to… Continue reading Twitter and Time Scale Management
That Time of Year
It’s that time of year again in academia. The time when academics at other institutions write posts directed at graduates, reminding me that summer is starting for everybody else, while we have another four %$^*$ing weeks to go before the end of the term. Grumble, mutter, grump. Stupid calendar.
Mysteries of Back Pain
Everybody I know who has back problems swears up and down that sleeping on a really firm mattress is key. My father used to have a big plywood board under his side of the mattress, so that his side of the bed would be less soft (I think they have since bought a new mattress… Continue reading Mysteries of Back Pain
links for 2009-05-11
Disco Hayes: It’s all Greek to me "And then the joke hits me. It’s witty, it’s relevant … ah, it’s perfect. It happens so fast, before I know it my lips are making a coy, dry grin to indicate I’m about to be a smart alec. I figure the Doctor has a hundred physicals to… Continue reading links for 2009-05-11