We did a lab yesterday that asked students to measure the speed of a ball leaving a spring-loaded launcher in a few different ways. this is a great way to talk about the difference between systematic and random errors and how those are dealt with. As a way of starting that discussion, I asked the… Continue reading Academic Poll: Appropriate Language
Month: January 2011
Links for 2011-01-19
The slow-photography movement asks what is the point of taking pictures? – By Tim Wu – Slate Magazine “[T]he real victim of fast photography is not the quality of the photos themselves. The victim is us. We lose something else: the experiential side, the joy of photography as an activity. And trying to fight this… Continue reading Links for 2011-01-19
Photons and Atoms Approaching Equilibrium
The latest snowstorm is wreaking some havoc on my plans for the day, which means I’m going to lift another question and answer from the Physics Stack Exchange, with some modification. This one is a question about thermal radiation: What are the quantum mechanisms behind the emission and absorption of thermal radiation at and below… Continue reading Photons and Atoms Approaching Equilibrium
Links for 2011-01-18
xkcd: 3D “You should’ve gone to the screening at CERN.” (tags: comics xkcd silly physics particles science theory) Smarter Than the Average Bear? « Easily Distracted “If I have seen a pattern, among my students and my parental peers alike, it’s that parents who try to be someone that they’re not, pursuing a parenting style… Continue reading Links for 2011-01-18
What Counts As Successful Outreach?
Part of this past weekend’s meeting of the Committee on Informing the Public was to evaluate 100+ proposals for “mini-grants” of up to $10,000 for new outreach activities. It wouldn’t be appropriate to go into detail about any of the proposals or what we decided (the PI’s of the proposals we decided to fund will… Continue reading What Counts As Successful Outreach?
Links for 2011-01-17
Drug experiment – The Boston Globe “[N]early a decade later, there’s evidence that Portugal’s great drug experiment not only didn’t blow up in its face; it may have actually worked. More addicts are in treatment. Drug use among youths has declined in recent years. Life in Casal Ventoso, Lisbon’s troubled neighborhood, has improved. And new… Continue reading Links for 2011-01-17
Physics Announcements: New Forum, Undergraduate Research Session
I was at a meeting of the Committee on Informing the Public of the American Physical Society at the tail end of last week, so it seems appropriate to post a couple of APS-related announcements here on my return: 1) The APS has just created a Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public. You may… Continue reading Physics Announcements: New Forum, Undergraduate Research Session
The Internet Makes Everything Better
For one obvious example, I’m typing this on a plane– Southwest has started doing wi-fi on some flights, and it is totally worth $5 to be able to web-surf in flight.It would be even better if the flight wren’t packed, so I could type more comfortably, but I’m ok with just reading (once I post… Continue reading The Internet Makes Everything Better
Links for 2011-01-15
YouTube – Fox in Socks-Like NEVER before Just a tiny bit faster than I can manage… (tags: youtube books kid-stuff video) Veiled Criticism – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – 01/13/11 – Video Clip | Comedy Central “It’s not a show!!!” (tags: politics us television comedy video)
Massive by Ian Sample
The physics book generating the most bloggy buzz in the latter part of 2010 would have to be Ian Sample’s Massive: The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science, about the as yet undetected particle known as the Higgs boson. Detecting the Hiigs is the most immediate goal of the Large Hadron Collider,… Continue reading Massive by Ian Sample