Crude Monte Carlo Simulation of Light-Bulb Physics

Results of the crude Monte Carlo simulation in the text.

Last week, I did a post for Forbes on the surprisingly complicated physics of a light bulb. Incandescent light bulbs produce a spectrum that’s basically blackbody radiation, but if you think about it, that’s kind of amazing given that the atoms making up the filament have quantized states, and can absorb and emit only discrete… Continue reading Crude Monte Carlo Simulation of Light-Bulb Physics

Amazing Blackbody Radiation and LHC Basics

I was proctoring an exam yesterday in two different sections of the same class, so I had a lot of quite time. Which means I wrote not one but two new posts for Forbes… The first continues a loose series of posts about the exotic physics behind everyday objects (something I’m toying with as a… Continue reading Amazing Blackbody Radiation and LHC Basics

Breaking Boards

A falling half-kilogram mass breaking a wooden board. Screen shot from the video in the post.

One of the highlights of teaching introductory mechanics is always the “karate board” lab, which I start off by punching through a wooden board. That gets the class’s attention, and then we have them hang weights on boards and measure the deflection in response to a known force. This confirms that the board behaves like… Continue reading Breaking Boards

Toy Roller Coasters and the Energy Principle

A car going around the loop of our toy roller coaster demo.

One of the points I make repeatedly in teaching introductory mechanics (as I’m doing this term) is that absolutely every problem students encounter can, in principle, be solved using just Newton’s Laws or, in the terminology used by Matter and Interactions, the Momentum Principle. You don’t strictly need any of the other stuff we talk… Continue reading Toy Roller Coasters and the Energy Principle

Miscellaneous Academic Job Market Notes

A few things about the academic job market have caught my eye recently, but don’t really add up to a big coherent argument. I’ll note them here, though, to marginally increase the chance that I’ll be able to find them later. — First, this piece at the Guardian got a lot of play, thanks in… Continue reading Miscellaneous Academic Job Market Notes

SteelyKid and the Makey Makey

SteelyKid at my computer, playing with the MakeyMakey piano.

A couple of weeks ago, after one of my Forbes posts, I got contacted by a publicist working for Makey Makey. They really wanted publicity in Forbes, but that’s above my pay grade; I did, however, say that it sounded like the sort of thing my kids would get a kick out of, and I… Continue reading SteelyKid and the Makey Makey

Hyperactive Dogs and Fancy Motorcycles

I’m still in the late stages of an awful cold, but shook it off a bit to write a new conversation with Emmy, the Queen of Niskayuna over at Forbes: “HEY! YOU POODLES! STAY OFFA MY LAWN!” “Emmy! Stop barking!” I sit up. She’s at the gap between the fences, where she can see into… Continue reading Hyperactive Dogs and Fancy Motorcycles