科普物理
Almost two centuries ago Adolphe Quetelet came up with an index to characterize man which is frequently used today to make predictions about health status. We show that this so called body mass index is directly related to the ratio between…
There exists many different versions of astrology that are different from each other and sometimes even in conflict with each other. But the basis of every astrological system is the assumption of a connection between the motion of…
Adiabatic Quantum Computing (AQC) is a relatively new subject in the world of quantum computing, let alone Physics. Inspiration for this project has come from recent controversy around D-Wave Systems in British Columbia, Canada, who claim…
An introduction (in Russian) to quantum computers, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation for students who have no previous knowledge of these subjects, but know quantum mechanics. Several simple examples are considered in detail…
While humanity has not yet observed any extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), contact with ETI remains possible. Contact could occur through a broad range of scenarios that have varying consequences for humanity. However, many discussions of…
The paper discusses the tale that we can find in "The Architecture" by Vitruvius, on a method used by Archimedes to determine the percentage of gold and silver in a crown. The method is based on the immersion of bodies, allowing the…
``No one has ever touched Zeno without refuting him''. We will not refute Zeno in this paper. Instead we review some unexpected encounters of Zeno with modern science. The paper begins with a brief biography of Zeno of Elea followed by his…
Second part of a didactic sequence of activities on some topics of Astronomy, related mainly with the real shape of the Earth, the gravitational interactions between our planet and other celestial bodies, and the resulting movement of the…
First part of a didactic sequence of activities on some topics of Astronomy, related mainly with the day and night cycle and the seasons, including the construction of a simplified solar system model and its use as a resource to discuss…
Kha was an architect at Deir El-Medina, Egypt, supervisor of some projects completed during the reigns of three kings of the 18th Dynasty (approximately 1440-1350 BC). Buried with his wife Merit, the items of their tomb are exposed at the…
We focus on the question: "Is space fundamentally discrete or continuous?" in the context of current quantum gravity research. In particular, we paint a scenario based on the idea that 'quantum space' is a sort of peculiar condensed matter…
Two books, the "De Architectura" by Vitruvius and the "Naturalis Historia" by Pliny the Elder, give us a portrait of the Materials Science, that is, the knowledge of materials, in Rome at the beginning of the Empire. Here, I am reporting…
We examine working mechanism of a drinking straw balance. Unlike the usual horizontal level balances which rely on the pivotal rotation, a drinking straw balance shows rolling motion. Because of this rolling and relative position between…
A very low-cost, easy-to-make stopwatch is presented to support various experiments in mechanics. The high-resolution stopwatch is based on two photodetectors connected directly to the microphone input of the sound card. A dedicated free…
The field of extrasolar planets is still, in comparison with other astrophysical topics, in its infancy. There have been about 300 or so extrasolar planets detected and their detection has been accomplished by various different techniques.…
A report of a discussion with Isaac Newton.
The after-dinner talk has by now become a tradition of this Conference series on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum. On this occasion, I have tried to combine a free-style and (hopefully) amusing presentation with deep questions of…
This paper explores the geometry of putting in the limiting case of a planar putting surface. Putts equidistant from the hole originating on an arc spanning \pm30 degrees are shown to share a common target point. Moving around the circle of…
This popular lecture, given in the conference celebrating contributions of Akito Arima to physics on the occasion of his 80th anniversary, outlines the role of nuclear physics in understanding the origin of elements.
In 1894 Fernando Sanford discussed in a paper published by the Physical Review an electric photography technique, which he developed starting from 1891. The images that he published in the paper are clearly showing some fringes about the…