科普物理
Exploring the Universe is one of the great unifying themes of humanity. Part of this endeavour is the search for extraterrestrial life. But how likely is it that we will find life, or that if we do it will be similar to ourselves? And…
Quantum technology is seeing a remarkable explosion in interest due to a wave of successful commercial technology. As a wider array of engineers and scientists are needed, it is time we rethink quantum educational paradigms. Current…
The architecture of a large interstellar spaceship, which is capable of serving as a living environment for a population over many generations, is mainly dictated by the needs of said population in terms of food, water and breathable gases.…
Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered and the search for life outside Earth is at the forefront of astrophysical research. The planets we observe show a mind-blowing diversity that current theories strive to explain as part of the…
Automotive engineers want to reduce the noise generated by the vibrations of rubber wiper on the windshield of an automobile. To understand the vibrations of wiper noise, certain spring-mass models were presented by some specialists, over…
I propose the establishment of a SETI Lottery Bond to provide a continued source of funding for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The SETI Lottery Bond is a fixed rate perpetual bond with a lottery at maturity, where…
The Doomsday Argument (DA) has sparked a variety of opinions. Here I address a key question posed by F. Simpson (2016) that confronts the views of DA proponents and those who, like me, oppose the DA. I agree that typical locations within a…
This paper investigates the use of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Short-wave Infrared (SWIR) spectral imaging to study the deterioration of a Limoges enamel panel. Limoges enamels are formed of glass layers applied on a metal…
The development of both special and general relativity is accomplished in a series of 6 papers using a simple approach. The purpose is to explain the how and why of relativity to a broad public, and to be useful for students of physics by…
This article provides an overview of the history, theoretical basis, and different implementations of quantum computers. In Fall 2018, four MIT faculty -- Isaac Chuang, Dirk Englund, Aram Harrow, and William Oliver -- at the forefront of…
The uniform image of the full moon is well known from the beginning of history. In the last decades, there are photos with a similar configuration of the earth observed from the moon and from space, as well as of all the planets and their…
It has recently been suggested in this journal by Benford (2019) that "Lurkers" in the form of interstellar exploration probes could be present in the solar system. Similarly, extraterrestrial intelligence could send long-lived probes to…
"Beer tapping" is a well known prank where a bottle of carbonised liquid strikes another bottle of carbonised liquid from above, with the usual result that the lower bottle foams over whereas the upper one does not. Though the physics…
We model the settlement of the galaxy by space-faring civilizations in order to address issues related to the Fermi Paradox. We explore the problem in a way that avoids assumptions about the intent and motivation of any exo-civilization…
Light pollution is actively destroying our ability to see the stars. Many Indigenous traditions and knowledge systems around the world are based on the stars, and the peoples' ability to observe and interpret stellar positions and…
If you want to get accurate predictions for the motion of water and air propelled D.I.Y rockets, neglecting air resistance is not an option. But the theoretical analysis including air drag leads to a system of differential equations which…
It is shown that space travel, even in the most distant future, will remain confined to our own planetary system, and a similar conclusion will hold forth for any other civilization, no matter how advanced it might be, unless those…
We accidentally observed that one key can open two padlocks from different brands. Based on this observation, here we derived equations to estimate the number of different padlocks that can be produced. We focus on simple padlocks that are…
The Simulation Argument has gained significant traction in the public arena. It has offered a hypothesis based on probabilistic analysis of its assumptions that we are likely to exist within a computer simulation. This has been derived from…
At some point in the future, if mankind hopes to settle planets outside the Solar System, it will be crucial to determine the range of planetary conditions under which human beings could survive and function. In this article, we apply…