Applied Physics

Falling Faster Than Freefall- No, Rotating Faster Than A Free Fall

I am taking part in discussions with Sascha Vongehr about the MIT video- here on this site- Falling Faster Than Freefall: A Lesson In Didactics And Critical Thinking. I have played with the problem in a toy simulator  (see PHUN (download), scroll a bit dow ...

Article - Ladislav Kocbach - Jan 21 2011 - 5:50am

A More Accurate Kilogram Thanks To A More Accurate Avogadro Constant

A milestone in the international Avogadro project coordinated by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) has been reached- with the aid of a single crystal of highly enriched 28 Si, the Avogadro constant has now been measured more precisely than ev ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 21 2011 - 8:43pm

Voynich Manuscript- Book No One Can Read Gets Dated To The 15th Century

It won't make it readable, but University of Arizona researchers have cracked at least one of the puzzles surrounding the Voynich manuscript, a book filled with drawings and writings nobody can make any sense of. Using radiocarbon dating, a team led b ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 10 2011 - 4:31pm

Large Increase in Chartered Engineer Registrations

In 2010 there was an impressive increase in the number of Chartered Engineer registrations with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, my own Institution, leading the way. The number of Chartered Engineers registered last year was 26% more than in 2009 ...

Blog Post - Richard King - Feb 14 2011 - 6:44pm

Air Surfing And The Magic Of Science

A short while ago, SciFest 2010, the International Science Festival, was held in St. Louis.   Making the trip was a group from Jersey Shore, PA and they were invited because a teacher, Slater Harrison, is really good at 'air surfing'. If you have ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 15 2011 - 6:12pm

Built: The World's First Anti-Laser

After 50 years, laser technology is still advancing.   Scientists at Yale University have announced  the world's first anti-laser, in which incoming beams of light interfere with one another in such a way as to perfectly cancel each other out, a break ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 17 2011 - 5:19pm

Ultrasound Wireless Power Technology Even Works Through Steel Walls

While wireless Internet has been wonderful, true wireless devices- with no need for batteries- are the real revolution needed in technology to make a more positive environmental scenario for the future.    We're getting closer.  A doctoral student at ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 7 2011 - 2:58pm

In Time For March Madness, The Physics Of The Basketball Bank Shot

If you have a chance to win a basketball game but need to make a shot from 10 feet away on the right side of the court, do you try a direct shot or use the backboard to bank home the winning basket? New research by engineers at North Carolina State Univers ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2011 - 4:32pm

Japan's Nuclear Tragedy- Is A Solution Close At Hand?

South Korea has agreed to send some 50 tons of boron from its reserves to Japan to help fight the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima reactor plant. The scientists at TEPCO have been sent samples for analysis and a decision should be made pretty quickly. [Re ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 16 2011 - 11:02am

Wave Blaster: Putting Out Fires Using Electricity

Future firefighters may use electricity instead of water to control flames,  according to results of a discovery that could underpin a new genre of fire-fighting devices, including 'sprinkler' systems that suppress fires not with water, but with ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 28 2011 - 1:18pm