Physics – Odd STEM

Unreal

“…even when there was nothing but air in between.”

How real is our everyday life? Most people probably have some experience with artificial colors or flavors in food or maybe even hair coloring or colored contact lenses. There are also reports of fake news that didn’t happen and so-called “deep fake” images that look like actual – but nonexistent – photos. Recent advances in generative AI tend to accelerate such fake media trends. But living with what is not real is nothing new.

Witches’ Brew

“But what if there’s more to it than that?”

Like other aspects of culture, witches have stereotypes that are fueled by tradition, fiction, and modern media. A well-known aspect of witch stereotypes is the brewing of potions or witches’ brew, often in a large black cauldron. The purpose of a potion could be to cure illness, obtain immortality, or try to “induce love”, according to Wikipedia.[1] Other historic purposes for witch’s brew can be found on the web as well. The ideas for tradition and fiction are often based on truth. In fact, the mixing of natural ingredients in potions eventually helped bring about modern medicine. Could there be any truth to other supposed uses of witches’ potions, beyond potential use as medicine?

The Top or the Bottom

“We may still need something closer to our scale…”

We humans like to think of ourselves as the dominant lifeform of Earth, having the power to help or hurt any and all life on the planet. Mainstream science depicts us as naturally intelligent beings using technology to help us do things, harnessing nature as we see fit. Do we have it backwards? Is nature harnessing us? What if we are the technology?

The Universe Doesn’t Care What We Think

“Reality is simply not that convenient.”

Some (most?) people may not care what I think, and that’s fine. But I think the physical universe doesn’t care what any of us thinks. In attempting to explain the universe or the part we experience, just about any theory we throw at it, has limitations that make the theory inaccurate under certain conditions. The experimental results and theories from physics can be different enough from our everyday experience, to make it seem presumptuous to expect the universe to behave the way we normally perceive it or to understand why it does what it does. Relativity and quantum physics come to mind.

The Lowly Distance Formula

“…the definition of a light year is a direct application of the formula…”

The classic distance formula of rate×time=distance (or r×t=d) may not look like much. I wasn’t particularly impressed with it in elementary school when the teacher started discussing it. I wanted to learn new math that day, and this was just multiplication (or division if rearranged). Was it a new profound concept? No, just boring, mundane stuff. If you travel at this rate of speed for this amount of time,you end up traveling this distance. Being good in math and a fan of science fiction and science, I was hoping for something more interesting. But there’s more to this simple distance formula than meets the eye.

A Parallel Universe

“…what else would a universe be made of?”

Like many other people, I have occasionally wondered if there is a parallel version of me out there, living on some parallel Earth in some parallel universe. Parallels of us or even a parallel Earth is suggested by dreams and mirror reflections in everyday life. Not surprisingly, there are cultural references to parallel universes, such as the “Mirror, Mirror” episode of the original Star Trek television series.[1] In that episode, main character Captain Kirk and cohorts find themselves in a parallel universe where conquest is favored over peace. Could there be a parallel universe with a parallel Earth and maybe parallel versions of me and people I know? I have my doubts for a couple reasons.

The Physically Unknowable

“The universe is keeping secrets from us….”

People say that no one has all the answers. In fact, no one can have all the answers, even if they have some place to store all that information. Some things are simply unknowable. This isn’t just my opinion – this is according to accepted theory. Strangely, some unknowable information occurs in physics, which is contrary to the idea that we can learn as much as we want about something, as long as we have adequate technology. Continue reading “The Physically Unknowable”

Space Pilgrims

“Nomenclature aside, how much energy is required to get every living human off the Earth and relocated elsewhere?”

When we Americans talk about “the Pilgrims,” we usually are talking about the group of English settlers who came to North America in 1620 in search of religious freedom. They celebrated a good fall harvest the following year, which became the first Thanksgiving.[1] In general, a pilgrim is someone who makes a journey for religious purposes.

What then is a space pilgrim? Suppose the entire population of the Earth needed to evacuate the planet and relocate elsewhere. Continue reading “Space Pilgrims”

The Hidden Circle in a Simple Harmonic Oscillator

“Yes, there is definitely a circle there.”

When I was in college, it didn’t make sense to me that the position of an object on the end of a spring should be described by a function like sine or cosine, as in:

It’s just a simple harmonic oscillator. All the thing does is move back and forth. Why is there a function from trigonometry when I don’t see any circles or angles involved? Continue reading “The Hidden Circle in a Simple Harmonic Oscillator”

Should You Run In the Rain

“The results are telling….”

Suppose it’s raining outside and you need to go some short distance on foot, maybe to a building 50 feet away. Should you run or should you walk, in order to stay drier? Opinions can vary and may include “always run,” “always walk,” “it doesn’t matter,” or “it depends.” Of course the choice of the better approach always depends at least a little on the specific situation, but maybe we can arrive at some kind of general answer for the question.

Continue reading “Should You Run In the Rain”