I don’t know if this is a good idea, but I’m giving you (yes, you!) the opportunity to suggest physics topics for me to blog about. It could be something you heard in the news (eg. quantum teleportation) that you don’t understand, and want explained better (hopefully). It could also just be a physics topic of general interest that you think the world — or at least the subset of it who reads my blog – would like to know about.
So… comment away!
Jasper,
Would you like to do a huge service for the American Physical Society? I’m the chair-elect for the APS Committee on Careers and
Professional Development and we’re constructing a blog page to set up a Q/A/Comment forum concerning jobs and careers in physics.
I enjoy reading your page and I like it’s look and feel. Would you be interested in helping us set up our site? I don’t think we could compensate you for your efforts in anyway other than giving you the
satisfaction.
Thanks
Eric Bittner
I am tremendously grateful for your blog, as I am an artist and a total layman (layperson?) in the field of physics.Your explanations are very understandable and I am wonderfully drawn in to this world. I would love to hear more about what is happening with string theory and superstring theory- and what has happened since?
However, I am happy with any topic that you come up with- as it all seems wonderful.
Many thanks,
Helga
Here’s the thing I don’t ‘get’ about the typical illustration showing curved space & gravity. They always show the sun or a planetary object, sitting on what would otherwise be a two dimensional plane, except that the sheet as it is nearer & nearer the object, bends much as a bowling ball would act sitting on a rubber sheet. And this it is explained shows how space is curved.
I get that as far as it goes but it doesn’t near go far enough to dewcribe three-dimensional space in my opinion. The sheet without the object’s influence is essentially two-dimensional, not three. Showing the effect of the object on the sheet only describes what happends to one infinitely think two-dimensional slice of or plane in space. It does not come close to describing three-dimensional space.
To show space you’d have to show 100 planes, or a thousand. Or better, an infinite number. And even that would be inadequate to perfectly describe space. The 100 or 1000 sheets would presumably curve around the object by compressing layers as it got closest, but what would the compression indicate? Denser space?
Does any of what I’m asking make sense? I find the slice of space illustration, used all the time in documentaries on physics, Einstein, astronomy, to be very unsatisfactory & yet no one bothers to address it.
Thanks.
If you’re going to blog about this, would you mind shooting me an email? Thanks much.
Actually, curving space was my first blog post. I also complained a bit about that bedsheet visualization… It’s meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. It’s really more of an artistic rendition of space curving to get the general idea across. The analogy is not meant to be expanded upon. Additionally, any mathematical visualization of space curving would probably depend on the observer’s location… so the curved spacetime coordinates around the earth would “look” different depending on the location of the cosmic artist.
Well, wellcafeinated, at least I feel somewhat validated on the bedsheet visualization. Thanks.
Any reading suggestions for a law & econ trained wanna-be amateur physics hobbyist? (if such a thing exists)
forgive me. maybe I should start with your website.
I was wondering if you would be able to explain exactly what is going on here in a little more detail. I flipping through Science Daily and then title caught my attention. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090414160801.htm
If not, no problem – I’m just curious. Thanks!
I want to be able to measure electromagnetic energy. If I were to build my own little contraption, how would I go about it? What would I need?
I’m basically asking if it’s possible to do this as a little science project… you know, a DIY project.
empressmoon
@empressmoon
Hi, thanks for the question. The easy answer would be to measure current through a wire and multiply by its voltage to get power… and that would be the electric energy transported per second… but that’s lame.
Let me think about this a bit more and try to come up with a more interesting way.