Not much context to offer on this except that I saw it on Wayne Marshall’s Twitter, it has Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, and it’s beyond delightful.
Posts Tagged ‘physics’
Auto-tune the cosmos
Friday, September 25th, 2009
How musical instruments work
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009There are a lot of different musical instruments out there. Just about all of them share four basic components: a harmonic oscillator, a source of noise, a control surface for modulation, and a resonator.
Wow chicka wah-wah
Saturday, June 27th, 2009Say “oooh” as in “noodle.” Then say “aaah” as in “park.” When you say “oooh” your mouth is more closed, with less resonating space and a smaller opening. This configuration blocks the higher overtones of your voice. When you say “aaah” your jaw and lips open, creating more resonating space and letting more high overtones through. Now glide from one to the other. The resulting “ooohaaaah” is the sound the wah-wah pedal is named for. By selectively filtering an electronic instrument’s overtones, the pedal can make it sound more vocal. It’s only two vowel sounds out of the dozens your mouth is capable of producing, but it’s a start toward making a more human tone.
Human technology is part of nature
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009Humans are animals. Our tools are extensions of our bodies into the environment, like beavers and beaver ponds, coral and coral reefs, plants and oxygen. We’re unusual in the extent of our bodies’ impact on our environment, but plenty of other organism shape their environment to suit their needs. Technology is part of our extended phenotype, as much a part of us as our social groups. We’re part of nature, and so is everything we make and use.
So what is the big deal with this Einstein guy?
Thursday, May 21st, 2009I’m a humanities guy, but I’ve never lost my childhood love of math and science. I’m looking forward to the Large Hadron Collider being fired up next year the way normal male Americans look forward to the NBA playoffs. I like to be an informed fan, and since Einstein is the Michael Jordan of scientists, I wanted to know what it is exactly that he figured out, and why it’s so important. Beyond the physics, I wanted to know what put Einstein into the pop pantheon alongside Bob Marley and John Lennon. You never see dorm room posters of Henry Clerk Maxwell or Neils Bohr. The only other scientist who comes remotely close in pop stature is Darwin, but aside from his dramatic beard, Darwin the person doesn’t register much beyond his theories. Why is Einstein such a rock star? (more…)
How transistors think
Saturday, March 28th, 2009The parts of the computer that do the “thinking” are mostly made of little electronic switches called transistors. If you connect two wires to a transistor, you can use the voltage on one wire to control the voltage on the other. What’s especially handy for engineering purposes is that the presence or absence of a small voltage on one wire can control a wide range of voltages on the other wire. When voltage on the control wire changes, the transistor opens or closes the other wire to the flow of electricity in much the same way that a faucet controls the flow of water in a pipe. (more…)
Tuning the quantum guitar
Friday, March 20th, 2009In high school science class, you probably saw a picture of an atom that looked like this:
The picture shows a stylized lithium atom, a nucleus with three red protons and three blue neutrons, surrounded by three grey electrons. It’s an attractive and iconic image, and it would make a great logo. It’s also misleading, and in some physical contexts, totally wrong. There is an extent to which protons, neutrons and electrons are like little marbles, but it’s a limited extent. Electrons do flit around the nucleus, but they don’t do it in elliptical paths as if they’re little moons orbiting a planet. The true nature of electrons in atoms is way weirder and cooler. It’s also counterintuitive, and difficult to draw. Fortunately, we have electronics to help us visualize. (more…)
The more I learn about electricity, the less I understand it
Thursday, February 19th, 2009There’s an episode of Family Guy where they go to the science museum, and under a banner reading ‘The Miracle Of Electricity’ is an old man turning an ordinary household lamp on and off. When he sees the crowd staring at him, he says, “What? You don’t think this is a miracle? When I saw this at the aught-six World’s Fair, I almost crapped my pants!” I completely agree. Honestly, all I want to know is how the TV works. Or how light bulbs work. Or how the computer I’m typing this on works. Or how the subway train I’m riding works. I feel uncomfortable about the yawning gap between my dependency on electricity and my knowledge of it.
I’ve had opportunities my whole life to learn. I did the thing as a kid where you wire a christmas tree bulb to a nine-volt battery. I went to very good schools, where I learned the Maxwell equations and the basics of quantum electrodynamics. I continue to read books, talk to my friends in the science world, play with interactive web pages, and generally scour the memosphere for information on the subject. After all this effort, I don’t feel like I’m getting any closer. What I’m starting to suspect is that nobody really understands electricity at the gut level. (more…)