Worth A Look Features

Ice over the Poles

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

Visit this NASA Earth Observatory feature for an interesting article on ice at the Poles—both sea ice at the North Pole, and land ice on Antarctica. Be sure to see the explanation of how melting of ice sheets or glaciers can provide “positive feedback” and increase the rate of warming.

Sol Station: Sol

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

To understand the source of the sun’s energy, visit The Sun’s Structure and Nuclear Fusion. For much more detail, see Sol Station: Sol.

Flow Visualization

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST

Check out the galleries of fluid flow images on this University of Colorado site.

Aurora over Antarctica

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 EST

For a view from the ground of an aurora over Antarctica, check out this Astronomy Picture of the Day. And to see an aurora video captured from the International Space Station over the Indian Ocean, click here.

Planetary and Satellite Motion

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 EST

Check out this video to learn about satellite orbits. For further reading, see Planetary and Satellite Motion.

The Art of Liquid Crystals

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EST

Enjoy the images in The Art of Liquid Crystals.

Exploratorium Magazine Online: Exploring Origami

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:00:00 EST

Check out Exploratorium Magazine Online: Exploring Origami to learn about recent advances in the art of origami. Don't miss the video of folding interlocking rings out of one sheet of paper. Also, you'll find out how the paper crane became a symbol of peace in Japan.

Mars--NASA Explores the Red Planet: Program Overview

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:00:00 EST

Click on Mars--NASA Explores the Red Planet: Program Overview to see the first close-up image of Mars, captured by the Mariner spacecraft in 1965, and to learn about NASA's strategy for investigating the red planet. If you click on "Science Overview," and then on "Goal 4," you can find out how NASA plans, over the next decade, to study the challenges of human spaceflight.

Surface Properties of the Moon

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EST

Check out Surface Properties of the Moon for more on the moon's craters and surface material.

Ionizing Radiation and Humans – The Basics

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EST

Radioactivity is all around us--in soil, rocks, and even food--but small doses of it are not harmful. Visit Ionizing Radiation and Humans – The Basics to learn how exposure to radiation is part of our daily lives. For more, check out this Fact Sheet from the Health Physics Society. Also see, from a previous Physics at Home, Calculate Your Radiation Dose.

Music Acoustics: How does a guitar work?

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EST

To learn more about the physics of the guitar, including acoustic guitars, visit Music Acoustics: How does a guitar work?.

Torque

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 EST

Visit Torque for photographs that show a horizontal beam fastened to a support at one end, with a weight hung on the beam at different distances from the support. You'll see how the distance of the weight from the support affects how much the beam bends--the further the distance, the greater the torque.

Hyperphysics: X-ray tube

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EST

X-ray tubes work by firing electrons at a metal plate in a vacuum. When an electron passes near the nucleus of one of the atoms in the plate, it is accelerated and emits x-rays, as shown in the drawing on this Hyperphysics page. To learn more, visit Hyperphysics: X-ray tube.

Molecular Chirality

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EST

Both amino acid molecules (the building blocks of proteins) and sugars can be right- or left-handed, and the way they react chemically depends on their handedness. To find out how handedness is important in our diet, and in drugs, visit Molecular Chirality.

Space Topics: Extrasolar Planets--Searching Methods

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

There are five ways to detect an extrasolar planet: --observing periodic changes in the frequency of the spectra lines at the star emits --observing the periodic dimming of the star when the planet passes in front of the star --observing periodic changes in the position of the star the planet orbits --observing an enhanced image of the planet with gravitational lensing --making a "direct" image of the extrasolar planet Visit Space Topics: Extrasolar Planets--Searching Methods to learn about each of these methods. Also, astronomers now believe our galaxy has more planets than stars--see this BBC Report.

How Airplanes Fly: A Physical Description of Lift

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Visit the Florida International University site How Airplanes Fly: A Physical Description of Lift to understand how the wing of an airplane produces lift. You'll see that the frequently-given explanation based on the Bernoulli principle is not correct.

Morpho Towers, Two Standing Spirals

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

This YouTube video, "Morpho Towers, Two Standing Spirals," by Sachiko Kodama, shows a ferrofluid work of art. You can see the video at Morpho Towers, Two Standing Spirals, and learn more about it by visiting this webpage.

Particles break light-speed limit

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

You may have heard the shocking news that a careful experiment at an Italian laboratory found the speed of a neutrino beam to be slightly greater than the speed of light. This directly violates special relativity, which predicts that no particle can move faster than the speed of light (please note that the "speed of light" referred to here is the speed of light in a vacuum). To learn more about this experimental result, see Particles break light-speed limit. And for a theoretical argument why faster-than-light neutrinos are impossible, visit this Scientific American Blog.

Aircraft Contrails

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EST

Visit Aircraft Contrails from NASA for more information on how contrails can cause global warming. For more from NASA, see Clouds Caused by Aircraft Exhaust May Warm the US Climate.

Einstein's Relativity and Everyday Life

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST

If you rely on a GPS to navigate, then you need Einstein's theories of relativity—special relativity because the GPS satellites are moving fast relative to you, and general relativity because the GPS satellites are in a different gravitational field than you are. Without correction for relativistic effects, errors in GPS positions would increase by 10 km for every day the system operates! To learn more visit Einstein's Relativity and Everyday Life, and also this Ohio State astronomy page.

Sprott's Fractal Gallery

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST

Fractals are an emerging form of art. Using mathematics, artists can create colorful and otherworldly visuals. To learn more, visit Wikipedia's Fractal Art, and check out “Fractal of the Day” at Sprott's Fractal Gallery.

What would it look like to fall into a black hole?

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST

How about free fall into a black hole? Check out What would it look like to fall into a black hole? from NewScientist magazine. For related videos, visit Andrew Hamilton's Falling into a Black Hole.

Chaos and Fractals

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EST

Serious study of chaos began with Edward Lorenz's simplified three-equation model of the atmosphere. Visit Chaos and Fractals for a brief overview of chaos theory, including how Lorenz discovered "sensitive dependence on initial conditions", also known as "the butterfly effect." When he discovered this, he knew that long-range weather forecasting would never succeed. To learn more about Lorenz and also about the chaos of population dynamics, see Chaos Rules, from the American Physical Society outreach website Physics Central.

MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Education Hub

Thu, 12 May 2011 00:00:00 EST

For information and background on the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima power plant, check out MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Education Hub. It offers news reports, nuclear science background, and special features such as A Chernobyl Primer. For related art, see this New Yorker cover by Christopher Niemann.

Floating Flame Balls

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST

In low gravity, fire behaves differently from our expectations, like in the image above. Read about the discovery of flame balls at Floating Flame Balls and more about the ongoing research in this Discover Magazine article.