Category Archives: Physics

Gravitational Lensing

Posted on February 10, 2013 by fathomingthestars

Isaac Newton may be well known for his Law of Universal Gravitation, but the law has a fundamental flaw—it states that only things with mass can be affected by gravity.  Photons, the quanta of light, have no mass, but we know that they are affected by gravity.  One of the ways we can see how […] Continue reading →

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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 6, 2013 by wherrysg

Image Source Isaac Newton was very prominent and highly respected for his work in physics and mathematics. He was born the 4th of January 1643 and died the 31st of March 1727, and is important to Astronomy for several reasons: of those reasons, arguably the most relevant is his contributions to the science through his […] Continue reading →

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To Stretch or Not To Stretch

Posted on February 1, 2013 by ibrahim2016

Physics has the distinction of hosting the one of the weirdest concept hierarchies  Don’t get me wrong: physics is beautiful in its intricate connections. But sometimes, especially in the case of modern physics, one feels something like: So, most of us know about special relativity. A quick summary for the unfortunate: Special relativity establishes the speed […] Continue reading →

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Feeling a Bit Slow?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by ndtidol

Look in any physics textbook and the speed of light will be listed: approximately 300,000,000 meters per second. That’s a big number, but what exactly does it mean? Well, to […] Continue reading →

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Near Speed of Light Travel in the Atmosphere

Posted on January 25, 2013 by fathomingthestars

When physics classes learn about relativity, typical problems involve calculating relative velocities, masses, or distances for objects moving near the speed of light, 3 * 10^8 m/s.  These objects might be objects like spaceships, travelling in outer space, but they are often more common objects like cars and trains, or even baseballs.  The two different […] Continue reading →

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