What’s the application? Optical tweezers use focused light beams to trap small particles in the focus of the beam, and drag them around by moving the beam. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How do we move these tiny little things around without touching them?” 2) “How do we measure the forces exerted… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 4: Optical Tweezers!
Entanglement Happens
There have been a bunch of stories recently talking about quantum effects at room temperature– one, about coherent transport in photosynthesis , even escaped the science blogosphere. They’ve mostly said similar things, but Thursday’s ArxivBlog entry had a particular description of a paper about entanglement effects that is worth unpacking: Entanglement is a strange and… Continue reading Entanglement Happens
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Miscellaneous stories and links about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: — There’s a nice review by Margaret Fisk (who has been reading it for a while, and mentioning it on her blog, which kept turning up in the vanity search): Orzel does a wonderful job of finding physical parallels to explain quantum concepts… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Links for 2010-02-12
The Mid-Majority : Last Man “For the past 20 years or so, I’ve played my own game every year at this time. It’s called The Last Man In America To Know Who Won The Super Bowl, or just “Last Man.” It’s a game heavily reliant on tactics, organizational skill, and evasive procedures. The object is… Continue reading Links for 2010-02-12
Thursday Baby Chef Blogging 021110
SteelyKid has had a bit of a sore throat the last few days, which has led to a bit of screaming and crying. Those have been interspersed with her usual cute-toddler behavior, and we managed to squeeze in the traditional Baby Blogging photo: “Why is she waving around a Triscuit box?” you ask. Because she… Continue reading Thursday Baby Chef Blogging 021110
Why I Hate Windows Update, Aleph-nought in a Series
Relevant to yesterday’s discussion, I let Windows install its critical updates on my work computer last night. So far this morning, I have: 1) Spent five minutes looking at the blue Vista start-up screen, as the computer was hung up– not a screen with a “Configuring updates” message, mind– an otherwise blank blue screen with… Continue reading Why I Hate Windows Update, Aleph-nought in a Series
Amazing Laser Application 3: Lunar Laser Ranging!
What’s the application? Measuring the distance from the Earth to the Moon by bouncing a laser off one of the retro-reflector arrays left there by the Apollo missions. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How does the distance from the Earth to the Moon vary over time due to things like tidal drag?”… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 3: Lunar Laser Ranging!
Links for 2010-02-11
Cocktail Party Physics: a few choice words from the red pen brigade “The hardest thing about teaching anybody anything is finding the right level of communication, and the right way to express the concepts. It would seem logical that you don’t go all jargony on a rank beginner, anymore than you have to spend time… Continue reading Links for 2010-02-11
It’s Not Just the Length, It’s the Content
The never-ending discussion of whether the Web can or should replace books has shifted into the corners of blogdom that I follow again, with Kevin Drum arguing for more books, Henry Farrell arguing for shorter books, and Jim Henley agreeing with Henry, and expanding it to fiction. They’re all at least partly right– more shorter… Continue reading It’s Not Just the Length, It’s the Content
Amazing Laser Application 2: Laser Cooling!
What’s the application? Using lasers to reduce the speed of a sample of atoms, thereby reducing their temperature to a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How can I make this sample of atoms move slowly enough to measure their properties very accurately?” 2) “How… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 2: Laser Cooling!