Category Archives: Physics

Ultraviolet Catastrophe

Posted on February 9, 2020 by remieri

While we discussed in class the importance of blackbody spectra continuous spectra, there is an important historical footnote in understanding where the famous blackbody curve arises from. Physics in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s predicted the wavelength-intensity relationship to be I α 1/λ^4, using a derivation based on classical statistical mechanics. This relationship closelyContinue reading “Ultraviolet Catastrophe” Continue reading →

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What Causes Tides?

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Phillip Yoon

Have you ever been fishing? If you have, you probably know that your success partially depends on whether the ocean experiences a low tide or a high tide. But do you know the science behind what causes tides? Below is a quick and simple explanation why. Tides are caused by differential gravity. We know fromContinue reading “What Causes Tides?” Continue reading →

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How Gravity Affects Light

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Reece Boggs

Gravity exerts a force on photons, even though it has no mass. This can distort the things we see if the light that reaches us is being distorted by gravity, as seen in the picture at the top of this post. The confusing aspect of this is that gravity affects this light even though theContinue reading “How Gravity Affects Light” Continue reading →

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The Basics of Our World

Posted on February 9, 2020 by 2xchampions

The Standard Model consists of 17 elementary particles that fit into a mathematical and theoretical framework that explains matter and forces. Since last century, the model has been able to not only explain, but also to predict existences of undiscovered particles. The particles are categorized into two groups: fermions and bosons. Fermions make up matter.Continue reading “The Basics of Our World” Continue reading →

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Gravity in Space

Posted on January 30, 2020 by John Harrington

An intriguing phenomenon that took millennia for the modern human to explain is gravity. First explained by Sir Isaac M. Newton, gravity as a force as a function of mass is a difficult one for many to wrap their heads around. The reason many non-scientists struggle to understand the basics of gravity is because itContinue reading “Gravity in Space” Continue reading →

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I love physics

Posted on January 14, 2020 by khalilgreene

Hello and welcome to my blog! I hope to fill this website with interesting topics about physics and astronomy. My name is Khalil Greene and I am a student at Vanderbilt University. My major is physics and I plan to minor in astronomy so that I can go to graduate school and become an astrophysicist.Continue reading “I love physics” Continue reading →

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String theory – the other way of interpreting our universe

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Yihao Yan

The string theory is a very interesting idea that propose another totally different way of thinking what made up our universe. Although this theory is very arguable because it can never be tested in our labs so that a lot of physicist do not like this theory, but it indeed gives a very unique prospective … Continue reading String theory – the other way of interpreting our universe → Continue reading →

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Blog 7: Culmination of a Semester in Astronomy

Posted on April 27, 2019 by Katie

Because of this class my view of the solar system has changed. From a young age I knew the order of the planets and even some basic facts about each of them. What I did not know, however, was how much more there was to know not only about our solar system, but about the … Continue reading Blog 7: Culmination of a Semester in Astronomy → Continue reading →

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St. Elmo’s fire is a real thing

Posted on April 27, 2019 by justinrstevens

One really cool thing I learned about this semester is a thing called “St. Elmo’s Fire.”  (I’m pretty sure the textbook mentions it somewhere, and after stumbling across it I was instantly curious.)  So… what is it? For starters, it definitely does not involve Emilio Estevez or a fuzzy red puppet (or is it muppet?)…

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Interstellar Travel

Posted on April 27, 2019 by anna_h

In many science fiction movies, spaceships race through the galaxy at extremely high speeds, seemingly ignoring many of nature’s laws that govern our universe. With what we know about the universe right now, it is impossible for any object to travel faster than the speed of light. Any man made object has not reached speeds … Continue reading Interstellar Travel Continue reading →

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