I’m not going to pretend that I understand physics. Quite the opposite! I selected these links and videos from the perspective of someone who has a rather dim comprehension of the subject, but can still apprciate a laugh (that's me). Whether that approach is successful or not is still up in the air, but you know what they say about things being up in the air- that breaks the laws of physics! In layman’s terms, what goes up must come down. And thus thought Sir Isaac Newton when that apple fell on his head. What he said was, in a word, “Ouch!”



The Double Slit Experiment

Don’t Try This at Home: Totally Dangerous Experiments.

Ten strange facts about Sir Isaac Newton.

The Three Longest-Running Experiments in Science (that we know of).

Laminar Flow. Your brain will tell you this is faked, but its not.

Neil deGrasse Tyson will Blow your Mind
Jon Stewart: “Why is it, when you talk about science, I get horny?”

Physics Court.

Bathsheba Grossman creates art from math and science, including recreations of molecules, proteins, crystals, and geometric shapes which you can see and purchase at Bathsheba Sculpture. (via Dump Trumpet)

Einstein in stained glass.

Online crystal lattice toy. I don’t understand it, but it’s fun to play with. (via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories)

 

You Might Be a Physicist if...

 *the water in your kettle is boiling at 373 Kelvin.    

*you know that the speed of light is 299,792.5 km/sec.    

*you know the direction the water swirls when you flush.    

*you've already calculated how much you earn per second.

*you are sure that differential equations are a very useful tool.

*you are at an air show and know how fast the skydivers are falling.    

*you know the size of the elctron, but don't know your own shirt size.    

*when you break a vase you blame the second law of thermodynamics.    

*you try to explain entropy to strangers at your table during casual dinner conversation.    

*you avoid stirring your coffee because you don't want to increase the entropy of the universe.    

*your three year old son asks why the sky is blue and you try to explain atmospheric absorption theory.    

*you're at a wine tasting event and find yourself paying more attention to the cork screws than the Chardonnay.    

*you carry on a one-hour debate over the expected results of an experiment that actually takes five minutes to run.

PHYSICS EXAM

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."

One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately. He appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.

To resolve the problem, it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics. For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H =0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."

"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."

"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi square root (l / g)."

"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

He then received credit for the class.

Thought for today: Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it. --Richard Feynman

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