I was starting to type up the next Laser Smackdown entry, when it occurred to me that this was a good point to talk about a neat little thing from optics. It further occurred to me that this would be a good poll/quiz topic, to see what people think before I give you the real… Continue reading Optics Quiz: What Do You Get With Half a Lens?
Category: Physics
Amazing Laser Application 7: Telecommunications!
What’s the application? Telecommunications, namely, the sending of messages over very long distances by encoding them in light pulses which are sent over optical fibers. What problem(s) is it the solution to? “How can we send large numbers of messages from one place to another more efficiently than with electrical pulses sent down copper wires?”… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 7: Telecommunications!
Dorky Poll: TV Technology
I won’t attempt to explain the chain of reasoning that led to this topic this morning. The poll itself doesn’t need much explanation, though: As any geek knows, the tv show(s) CSI: Descriptive Subtitle rely heavily on fake technologies. which of these would you most like to be real? Which imaginary technology from CSI would… Continue reading Dorky Poll: TV Technology
Poll: What Do Students Need to Learn About Technical Writing?
I am currently on a committee looking to set some standards for technical writing in the introductory engineering sequence (which means the first two terms of physics, as they constitute 50-67% of the classes common to all first-year engineers). One of our jobs is to come up with a list of skills that we want… Continue reading Poll: What Do Students Need to Learn About Technical Writing?
Measuring the Angular Momentum of Light
I’m teaching a junior/senior level elective this term on quantum mechanics. We’re using Townsend’s A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, which starts with spin-1/2 and develops the whole theory in terms of state vectors and matrices. This is kind of an uneasy fit for me, as I’m very much a swashbuckling experimentalist, and not as… Continue reading Measuring the Angular Momentum of Light
Amazing Laser Application 6: LIGO!
What’s the application? LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Graviitational Wave Observatory, because (astro)physicists feel free to drop inconvenient words when making up cute acronyms. This is an experiment to look for disturbances in space-time caused by massive objects, which would manifest as a slight stretching and compression of space itself. What problem(s) is it the… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 6: LIGO!
Return of the Laser Smackdown
Several weeks ago, I announced a contest to determine the Most Amazing Laser Application. Personal issues interrupted this, but I want to finish it out in honor of LaserFest Here’s the list of finalists, with links to those already written up: Cat toy/ dog toy/ laser light show Laser cooling/ BEC Lunar laser ranging Optical… Continue reading Return of the Laser Smackdown
There’s More to Science Than Evolution
The National Science Board made a deeply regrettable decision to omit questions on evolution and the Big Bang from the Science and Engineering Indicators report for 2010. As you might expect, this has stirred up some controversy. I wasn’t surprised to learn this, as I had already noticed the omission a couple of months ago,… Continue reading There’s More to Science Than Evolution
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update
There’s no rest for the wicked, as last weekend’s hectic running around is followed by another busy weekend, with some on-campus stuff on Sunday as part of our annual Accepted Students Days. More importantly, though, I will be on a panel at the Empire State book Festival on Saturday from 12:45-1:30 pm: BLOOK: Going from… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update
So You’d Like to Learn Some Physics…
Via Twitter, Michael Barton is looking for some good books about physics. I was Twitter-less for a few days around the period of his request, and this is a more-than-140-characters topic if ever there was one, so I’m turning it into a blog post. The reason for the request is that he’s going to be… Continue reading So You’d Like to Learn Some Physics…