Category: Physics

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update

Miscellaneous stories and links about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Kathy Ceceri, who wrote the story about the book that ran in the Times Union, has posted the full article on the Home Physics blog. The link to the paper itself may very well disappear behind a paywall, but this post should remain… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update

Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

I want to like this book more than I do. As a general matter, this is exactly the sort of science book we need more of. As you can probably guess from the title, Why Does E=mc2? sets out to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity, and does an excellent job of it. It presents a… Continue reading Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Upcoming Appearances: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Live

A couple of things happening in the next week, for those who would like some How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. On the radio side, I am scheduled for an interview at 6:30 this Tuesday, Feb. 9, on KSOO’s Viewpoint University. If you don’t happen to be in the Sioux Falls, SD area, they… Continue reading Upcoming Appearances: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Live

Quantization of Books 5: Decay of Books

It’s been a while since I’ve done a fun with graphs post about the Amazon sales rank of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, but that’s not because I’ve stopped tracking it. It’s getting to be enough data, though, that it’s worthwhile to look on a slightly coarser scale, so here’s the sales rank… Continue reading Quantization of Books 5: Decay of Books

Accelerated Twins: The Answer

Yesterday’s post on a variation of the “Twin Paradox” with both twins accelerating was very successful– 337 people voted in the first poll question, as of a little before 9am, and the comments to the original post are full of lively discussion. That’s awesome. I wish I could take credit for it, but the problem… Continue reading Accelerated Twins: The Answer

Physics Quiz: Accelerated Twins

Just about everybody has heard of the Twin Paradox in relativity: one twin becomes as astronaut and sets off for Alpha Centauri, the other remains on Earth at mission control. Thanks to time dilation, the two age at different rates, and the one who made the trip out and back ends up younger than the… Continue reading Physics Quiz: Accelerated Twins

Wolf Prize for Quantum Pioneers

Congratulations to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for winning the 2010 Wolf Prize in Phyiscs: The 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics will be shared by Prof. John F. Clauser of the US; Prof. Alain Aspect of France’s École Normale Supérieure de Cachan; and Prof. Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna. The jury… Continue reading Wolf Prize for Quantum Pioneers

Laser Smackdown: Amazing Laser Applications

Last week, I asked for nominations of the most amazing laser application, with the idea being that I will collect a list, write up the top vote-getters in a series of blog posts, and then we will have a vote to determine what is THE coolest laser application of ALL TIME! At least, you know,… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: Amazing Laser Applications

Upcoming Appearances: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Live

Two events in the next couple of weeks at which I will be appearing live and in person: 1) This Thursday, Feb. 4, I will be giving a talk at the University of Maryland, College Park at 3:30 pm in the Lecture Hall (room 1110) in the Kim Engineering Building. The title of the talk… Continue reading Upcoming Appearances: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Live