Rhett Allain
rallain
Posts by this author
June 24, 2010
I was having a discussion with my father about the budgetpocalypse for universities. I don't know how it came up, but he asked: "What college is the department of Math in?" At Southeastern Louisiana University, the Department of Math is in the College of Science and Technology.
Here is a…
June 24, 2010
The Louisiana Board of Regents is promoting a 'performance-based' funding model for the universities in the Louisiana system. In short, the funding each university will receive is based on:
The percent of students that graduate
Graduating more non-traditional students and minorities
Accepting and…
June 21, 2010
Of course I am talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger. After looking at how many bullets he carries in Commando, I remembered this scene (also from Commando) (warning: maybe some not great language and some killing. You have been warned)
If you don't want to watch that clip, here is a shot (sorry…
June 16, 2010
Somewhere on the internet, I came across this Cracked.com article on movie myths about guns. The article wasn't too bad, but I really liked this video they included from Arnold's movie Commando.
The myth for this particular clip was that guns never run out of ammo in the movies. Right away, I…
June 15, 2010
Pre Reqs: electric potential, electric field, work-energy
To start, remember that for a constant electric field the change in electric potential energy would be:
WARNING: that is only for a constant electric field. I know you will be tempted later to use this for a different electric field, but…
June 14, 2010
Suppose there was an imaginary university. (is that statement redundant?) Let me call this TIU (The Imaginary University). Also, suppose TIU offers summer courses. Further, suppose there is an instructor teaching 2 sections of lab during the summer. Here is a communication that instructor might…
June 14, 2010
Pre Reqs: Electric Field, Work-Energy, Potential Energy
If you are already familiar with the topics listed in the pre-reqs above, this will be uber-simple.
Potential energy - short version
The work-energy principle basically says:
In this most basic form, the energy is just kinetic energy (if you…
June 11, 2010
Back to the discussion about hiding an electric motor in a pro racing cycle. Before, I looked at a video of Fabian Cancellara to see how his speed and acceleration compare to other bikers. The claim on the internet is that he pulls away so fast that he must have a motor hidden in his bike.
Just…
June 10, 2010
In the last episode of MythBusters, they wanted to see if a tornado could make some glass cut off a person's head. The first attempt was just to take some glass and through it at a simulated human neck. Clearly, this wasn't quite the same as a tornado.
So, here was their plan. If they want to…
June 9, 2010
Here is another question from Ask a ScienceBlogger. Reader Uday Panta asks:
How does water evaporate in the seas? Doesn't water evaporate at 100 C?
There were some very good responses in the comments where the question was, but I am going to answer it with some more details.
Small Particle Model…
June 8, 2010
Well, maybe that isn't the best title. You see, there is this video going around saying that it is possible that a professional bike racer was cheating by putting a hidden motor in his bike. I am not really going to talk about the cheating aspect (my gut feeling says that it would be too easy to…
June 7, 2010
As part of the Ask a ScienceBlogger series, reader Jim Swanson asks:
When I open the dishwasher after washing and the contents are still hot, why do the glass and ceramic items dry off more quickly than the plastic items?
This is a great question. Great because it is something most everyone can…
June 6, 2010
So, I hear you are starting your second semester of physics. One of the cool things about physics is that the second semester still uses stuff from the first semester. Maybe you forgot some of that stuff, so here are the bare essentials you will need to get by (this is assuming you are in the…
June 4, 2010
I got tired of attacking ESPN Sport Science. Well, tired of attacking might not be the best term. How about, attack in a new way (here are my older Sport Science attacks).
Check out episode 1 of Spoof Science:
A couple of notes:
Watch it youtube if you want the HD version
Making videos takes WAY…
June 4, 2010
Honestly, I was going to add this to my previous post about the jumping car but I didn't because I wanted to finish. So, here it is and more. Actually, I will just make a projectile motion spreadsheet. That way, anytime you want to do a projectile motion problem, you can come here. Maybe this…
June 3, 2010
Reader Colin asked a great question about this popular clip.
How fast was the car moving?
First, a quick assumption. I will assume that the frame rate on the video is correct (meaning not slowed down). Colin already looked up the length of the Chevy Impala on Wikipedia for me. It has a length of…
June 2, 2010
This idea comes up every once in a while. The idea that an institution should remove its physics degree program because it doesn't produce enough majors. Right now, it is up again due to budget problems in our state.
I think the idea of removing low-completer programs is dangerous. It comes from…
June 1, 2010
Sue from Math Mama Writes... sent me an email about wrapping a rope around a pole. In that post, Sue thinks about rope looped around a post. When you wrap a rope around a post, the friction between the rope and the post can help you hold something (like a horse) that is much stronger than you.…
May 31, 2010
We went to the aquarium, the kids like it. In the Amazon river section, they have an electric eel. Here is the sign next to the Eel.
Sorry for the poor image quality. I took the picture with my crappy phone and didn't even realize it was bad until later. I used some magic on it to make parts…
May 31, 2010
So suppose you saw something that looked like this:
This is a ball shot out of a shooter device. Well, it is a vypthon animation of a ball. What would you do if you came to see this video? If I had not made it, I would say it is an unrealistic video. It does not agree with my basic model of how…
May 27, 2010
You should check this out - its free. This is a very creative take on some of the ideas of physics. Think of it as physics meets Dr. Seuss, but with more detailed art work. Created by James Dunbar, it is quite fun to read. Of course, there are some things that are always exactly correct - but…
May 27, 2010
Sometimes (ok - just once) I get asked for recommendations about reading material on the ideas of teaching physics. I used to recommend Arnold Arons book on teaching introductory physics. Still, that is a classic and a great resource. However, there is a better one.
Teaching Physics with the…
May 27, 2010
Even though I have taught courses like this before (in a sense, my last physical science course was like this), I really don't like these courses. I will classify a "tell and repeat" course as one where the instructor tells the students stuff and then the students repeat this on the test. Look…
May 27, 2010
I don't know why they call it a tail drop. Here is a video:
The link I clicked that brought me to this video said the equivalent of "OMG!" That is not what I thought, really I am not sure what is so impressive (except that he didn't fall off the skateboard). If the original poster was impressed…
May 26, 2010
I am still thinking about the Red Bull Stratos Jump. Sorry, but there is just tons of great physics here. Next question - how big of a balloon would you need to get up to 120,000 feet?
I am not going into the buoyancy details of Archimedes Principle - I think that was covered fairly thoroughly…
May 25, 2010
I was at the zoo this weekend, it was fun but hot. Somewhere near the middle, there was a sun dial.
The cool thing (well, I think sun dials are cool anyway) was that the shadow was pointing about to the "12". I looked at my watch and it said 1:05 PM. What is up with that? The answer: Daylight…
May 25, 2010
A note about the end of the semester (I really should have posted this a few weeks ago): sometimes I get students that come in and say they are not happy with their grade. It is not unusual for them to come in right before the test, but it seems more common to come after all the grades are…
May 24, 2010
While I am still fresh on the Space Jump topic, let me take it to the extreme. Star Trek extreme.
SPOILER ALERT
But really, is this a spoiler alert if it is from the trailer of a movie that has been out forever? Of course, I talking about the latest Star Trek movie where three guys jump out of a…
May 24, 2010
Crazy, but I was on CNN Saturday night. They contacted me at the last minute to talk about the Red Bull Stratos Jump. Here is a screen shot to show that I am not making this up (or that I have awesome photoshop skillz).
Looking back, maybe I looked like an idiot. Really though, it wasn't my…
May 20, 2010
I am going to try to answer another Ask a ScienceBlogger question. This one is from George P. Burdell. He asks:
"If the universe is expanding from the big bang, has anyone tried to reverse plot the galaxies to figure out the exact point where the big bang occurred?"
Actually, he asked two…