The previous collection of things everyone should know about quantum physics is a little meta– it’s mostly talking up the importance and relevance of the theory, and not so much about the specifics of the theory. Here’s a list of essential elements of quantum physics that everyone ought to know, at least in broad outlines:… Continue reading Seven Essential Elements of Quantum Physics
Category: Physics
Four Things Everybody Should Know About Quantum Physics
Derek Lowe has a post talking about things biologists should know about medicinal chemistry. It’s a good idea for a post topic, so I’m going to steal it. Not to talk about medicinal chemistry, or biologists, of course, but to talk about my own field, and what everyone– not just scientists– should know about quantum… Continue reading Four Things Everybody Should Know About Quantum Physics
How to Make Slow Atoms and Molecules 2
Consider the air around you, which is hopefully at something like “room temperature”– 290-300 K (60-80 F). That temeprature is a measure of the kinetic energy of the moving atoms and molecules making up the gas. At room temperature, the atoms and molecules in the air around you are moving at something close to the… Continue reading How to Make Slow Atoms and Molecules 2
How to Make Slow Atoms and Molecules 1
Consider the air around you, which is hopefully at something like “room temperature”– 290-300 K (60-80 F). That temeprature is a measure of the kinetic energy of the moving atoms and molecules making up the gas. At room temperature, the atoms and molecules in the air around you are moving at something close to the… Continue reading How to Make Slow Atoms and Molecules 1
Academic Language Poll: Weekly Wossname
A comment on the earlier poll asked about regular series of departmental talks, which the author called a department seminar. We have such a series of talks, bringing in roughly one outside speaker per week, but we call it a colloquium. This calls for a poll to settle the question: An academic department has a… Continue reading Academic Language Poll: Weekly Wossname
Eucatastrophe in Physics
Before leaving Austin on Friday, I had lunch with a former student who is currently a graduate student at the University of Texas, working in an experimental AMO physics lab. I got the tour before lunch– I’m a sucker for lab tours– and things were pretty quiet, as they had recently suffered a catastrophic failure… Continue reading Eucatastrophe in Physics
Radio DogPhysics: Cincinnati Edition
Of special interest to Ohio-type readers: I’m scheduled to do an interview tomorrow, Monday the 18th with Jim Scott of WLW AM in Cincinnati. I’m scheduled to call in at 9:50 am, which looks like it’s after the regular show hours, and thus probably a taped interview. It says LIVE in the schedule I was… Continue reading Radio DogPhysics: Cincinnati Edition
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update (US Version)
The Barnes and Noble store finder finally indicated the presence of copies in the local stores yesterday, so we made a trip down to the Colonie Center, where they had a half-dozen face out in the Physics section, and probably 15-20 on the new releases table. Woo-hoo! (Now I can shift to fretting that they’ve… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update (US Version)
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Big in the Commonwealth
A couple of nifty bits of news from the British Commonwealth: The BBC’s Magazine Monitor blog noted my Seed article. Better yet, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog makes Smriti Daniel’s list of “the best books to emerge in 2009” in the Sunday Times of Sri Lanka. The other books on the list: The… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Big in the Commonwealth
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Even when I’m on the road, I continue to be obsessed… A nice review at Lean Left that really gets Emmy’s role in the book: The dog asks clear questions and Orzel uses those interjections well. They very often serve as a way to clarify, or to bring up questions that the readers probably has,… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update