Category Archives: Physics

Planet Earth in the Splash Zone

Posted on March 11, 2014 by jblubin

We often take for granted our Earthly paradise; with its warm temperatures and comforting blue skies, it’s easy to overlook the uniqueness that is Earth. This is even especially true when we consider the vast amount of liquid water on our planet. Water itself is not all that special, it can be found all over … Continue reading Planet Earth in the Splash Zone → Continue reading →

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The Physics of Star Systems: Kerbal Space Program

Posted on February 17, 2014 by forestcsharp

This video, via Scott Manley, shows an interesting spaceflight simulator/game known as Kerbal Space Program, which is shown in the above photo from gameSkinny.com. I’ve found this game to be incredibly useful to understanding escape velocities, gravitational encounters, and Kepler’s three … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Conservation Laws

Posted on February 17, 2014 by joshkip

If you were to summarize the most important lesson taught throughout Chapters 3-6, the most overarching theme to take note of would have to be the conservation laws that exist throughout our universe. The conservation of momentum, angular momentum and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 17, 2014 by karapetros

This video is a cool, informative, easy understand animation of how the gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon affect tides. It clearly and concisely describes how tidal forces cause high tides twice per day even though the moon is only overhead once per day and why the gravity is weaker at a greater … Continue reading Tides → Continue reading →

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Zero Gravity

Posted on February 17, 2014 by colepospisil

Planets are like ogres, they have layers. As you approach the center of the planet, mass is skimmed off until the effective mass of the planet is zero at the center. At this point, the planet’s gravity affects you in equal and opposite directions, so there is essentially no gravitational force. Everywhere other than the […] Continue reading →

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E=mc² is Incomplete

Posted on February 17, 2014 by gradytlynch

This brief and to the point video breaks down the nature of Einstein’s famous equation E = mc^2. Using the simple analogy of a right triangle, it shows how an object with mass can never achieve light speed. In everyday life, the “pc” component of Einstein’s equation doesn’t matter, as objects can rarely travel significantly […] Continue reading →

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A Universe From Nothing

Posted on February 16, 2014 by bsturge93

Lawrence Krauss is a cosmologist and theoretical physicist famous for being one of the first scientists to posit that most of the energy of the universe resides in empty space. The video above  is called “A Universe from Nothing” and I would like to comment on a few parts of the video that will hopefully encourage you … Continue reading A Universe From Nothing → Continue reading →

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Travel Inside a Black Hole

Posted on February 16, 2014 by gradytlynch

Although we usually think of black holes as extremely massive objects, anything in the universe with mass can theoretically become a black hole. As this video discusses, it is mathematically possible for a black hole to form with the mass of the earth, or even Mount Everest. However, the object’s Schwarzschild radius, the size it […] Continue reading →

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Why is gravity so weak?

Posted on February 16, 2014 by bsturge93

Gravity is a fundamental force that holds together our solar system, our galaxy, and every person to Earth. It must be pretty strong to hold something as massive as Jupiter in orbit right? Actually, compared to the three other fundamental forces, gravity is unimaginably weak. To demonstrate this, use a common refrigerator magnet to pick … Continue reading Why is gravity so weak? → Continue reading →

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Gravitation and the theory of everything

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

Over the last several class periods, we have talked a lot about the force of gravitation. Incidentally, gravitation is considered one of the four fundamental forces of nature, along with weak force, strong force, and electromagnetic force. Interestingly, though, gravitation is the only one of these that is explained by a separate theory—the general theory… Continue reading →

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