It’s been a while since I’ve done a post over-analyzing some everyday situation, because I’ve been too busy to do any silly experiments. We’re on break this week, though, so I took a little time Monday to bring excessive technology to bear on the critically important scientific question: how good is my insulated Starbucks cup?… Continue reading How Good Is My Starbucks Cup?
Category: Everyday
Science Kids, Fictitious Forces, and Frictionless Surfaces
SteelyKid has started to demand Sid the Science Kid videos, which of course we are implacably opposed to around here. One of the recent episodes available online was “Slide to the Side,” talking about friction. While this partakes a bit of the Feynman “Energy makes it go” problem, it was generally pretty good, and prompted… Continue reading Science Kids, Fictitious Forces, and Frictionless Surfaces
Physics Is About Rules, Not Facts
While in the library looking for something else, I noticed a book called The Trouble with Science by Robin Dunbar, whose description made it sound very much on point for my current project: In The Trouble with Science, Robin Dunbar asks whether science really is unique to Western culture, even to humankind. He suggests that… Continue reading Physics Is About Rules, Not Facts
The Psychology and Improbability of Shuffle Play
Kate and I went down to New York City (sans kids, as my parents were good enough to take SteelyKid and The Pip for the weekend) this weekend, because Kate had a case to argue this morning, and I needed a getaway before the start of classes today. We hit the Rubin Museum of Art,… Continue reading The Psychology and Improbability of Shuffle Play
Hobbits and Prime Ministers: The Physics of Doors
Over at Tor.com, Kate has begun a chapter-by-chapter re-read of The Hobbit, and has some thoughts on Chapter 1. It’s full of interesting commentary about characters and literary technique, but let’s get right to the important bit: Physics! Kate mentions in passing in the post that the Hobbit style round door with a knob in… Continue reading Hobbits and Prime Ministers: The Physics of Doors
Gender and Balance in Aviation
In which we use math and physics to show that the pilots of my flight from Toronto to Albany this past weekend were full of crap. ———— As previously noted, I was in Waterloo, Ontario this past weekend for the Open House at the University of Waterloo’s new Quantum Nano Center. My talk went very… Continue reading Gender and Balance in Aviation
More Physics of Sprinting
Yesterday’s post on applying intro physics concepts to the question of how fast and how long football players might accelerate generated a bunch of comments, several of them claiming that the model I used didn’t match real data in the form of race clips and the like. One comment in particular linked to a PDF… Continue reading More Physics of Sprinting
The Physics of Sprints and Kickoff Safety
Over at Grantland, Bill Barnwell offers some unorthodox suggestions for replacing the kickoff in NFL games, which has apparently been floated as a way to improve player safety. Appropriately enough, the suggestion apparently came from Giants owner John Mara, which makes perfect sense giving that the Giants haven’t had a decent kick returner since Dave… Continue reading The Physics of Sprints and Kickoff Safety
Scientific Commuting: Some Answers to “How Much Faster?”
So, the previous post poses a physics question based on some previous fooling around with modeling my commute: A car starts from rest at the beginning of a straight 1km course, accelerates up to some speed, cruises at constant speed for a while, then decelerates to a stop at the end of the course. A… Continue reading Scientific Commuting: Some Answers to “How Much Faster?”
Scientific Commuting: How Much Faster?
Back in the summer, I did a post mathematically comparing two routes to campus, one with a small number of traffic lights, the other with a larger number of stop signs, and looked at which would be faster. Later on, I did the experiment, too.) Having spent a bunch of time on this, I was… Continue reading Scientific Commuting: How Much Faster?