Popular Physics
This is an article written in a popular science style, in which I will explain: (1) the famous Heisenberg uncertainty principle, expressing the experimental incompatibility of certain properties of micro-physical entities; (2) the Compton…
Advanced civilizations will likely migrate into rich clusters of galaxies, which host the largest reservoirs of matter bound by gravity against the accelerated cosmic expansion.
In this paper we use a simple discrete model for Slinky to explore some of its static properties. We derive some relations for vertically and U-shaped suspended Slinkies, based on which, some demonstrations are proposed that can be simply…
Pyramids are the greatest architectural achievement of ancient civilization, so people all over the world are curious as to the purpose of such huge constructions. No other structure has been studied as thoroughly, nor have so many books…
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) have a great potential to set standards in timekeeping, positioning and metadata communication.
We investigate a dynamically adapting tuning scheme for microtonal tuning of musical instruments, allowing the performer to play music in just intonation in any key. Unlike other methods, which are based on a procedural analysis of the…
The Fermi paradox is the conflict between an expectation of a high {\em ex ante} probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and the apparently lifeless universe we in fact observe. The expectation that the universe should be…
We currently harness technologies that could shed new light on old philosophical questions, such as whether our mind entails anything beyond our body or whether our moral values reflect universal truth.
An extremely simple model captures the essence of the interaction of a banjo tone ring with the wood rim. The large scale, low frequency resonances of the assembled system are related to the weights and resonant frequencies of the tone ring…
Skyscraper is a Hollywood action film directed and written by Rawson M. Thurber scheduled to be released on July 13, 2018. We present an exhaustive analysis of the feat shown in the recently released teaser poster and trailer of the film.…
Contemporary astronomy is undergoing a revolution, perhaps even more important than that which took place with the advent of radioastronomy in the 1960s, and then the opening of the sky to observations in the other electromagnetic…
Does the collision of black hole singularities imprint an observable quantum signature on the resulting gravitational wave signal?
Super-Earths are one of the most common types of extrasolar planets currently known. Hundreds of these planets have been discovered by the $Kepler$ spacecraft and other surveys, with masses up to 10 $M_\oplus$ and consequently higher…
Radiation pressure afforded by natural broadband sunlight upon a transmissive diffractive sail is theoretically and numerically investigated. A grating period of one micrometer is found to convert 83% of the solar black body spectrum into…
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is found to be 42 -- but the meaning of this is left open to interpretation. We take it to mean that there…
Springs are used in simple demonstrations for the students of Physics classes to illustrate the Hooke's Law and harmonic oscillations. The spring is usually considered as a light object that does not possess a mass. What happens if the…
We tackle the question of whether there is a relationship between Stephen Hawking's disability and his ideas on the physics of black holes. The issue is relevant as it underscores the importance of diversity perspective in science.
We show that it is possible to extract useful information from the straightforward perturbation theory in classical mechanics. Although the secular terms make the perturbation series useless for large time, these expansions yield the…
Can we increase chances for a scientific breakthrough by get trained in discovery-oriented thinking?
Since the 1960s a growing number of composers have engaged with scientific research and have tried to incorporate their understanding of various models and theories into their musical works. Among them, H\`ector Parra (b. 1976) has been…