Tags
animal art astronomy CERN colour computer death density design electricity energy genetics geometry gravity HEP infrared LHC light magnitude map mars mathematics moon natural world nobel nuclear optics photography pressure radioactivity robot rover safety satellite snow solar sound space statistics sun time transport volcano water weather-
Recent Posts
- What do Y, Yb, Tb, Er, Gd, Tm, Sc, Ho, Dy and Lu have in common?
- Why is Quincy, Washington so popular with tech companies?
- Why putting missiles on roofs in London isn’t as dumb as it sounds.
- The classified Space Shuttle missions
- Where is the best place to launch a rocket from?
- Transporting the Shuttle
- Clockwise
- Why kettles boil slowly in the US
- Poverty and the wind
- Why you can’t open aeroplane doors in flight
- What are contrails?
- Three different types of magnetism
- Consanguinity and the coefficient of relationship
- Magnetic coins
- A rectangular galaxy
- Smiths
- Water in Bermuda
- Do bowling balls float?
- The base rate fallacy
- Recent solar flare
- The man who put his head in a particle accelerator
- Does time go faster as you get older?
- Unclaimed Antarctica
- Uptake of triple science
- LHC quilts
- Which university course is most popular?
- Understanding the problem with RSA
- How big are pizzas?
- Shapes of equal width
- Ebb and Flow
- The polarisation of the sky
- Whiteboards
- The cost of coins
- Technetium-99m generators
- Plug wiring colour scheme
- Night vision
- The most radioactive parts of the UK
- Biosphere lungs
- Anscombe’s quartet
- Haversine formula
- Patterns in birthdays
- Curiosity’s nuclear battery
- You’ve already experienced the earliest Easter you’ll ever know
- Logarithmic scales
- The Milky Way is shaped like a CD
- The speed of jet lag
- Types of Desert
- UK electricity import and export
- The Moses Bridge
- Why does metal feel cold?
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
Mr Reid's Favourites
- BadScience.net
- Careers in Science
- Dot Physics
- Evolution of Physics
- FictionScience
- FreeRice
- Gapminder
- Hackers! newspaper
- Hubble Telescope Gallery
- HyperPhysics
- Particle Adventure
- Physics Factbook
- Science: So what?
- Sense about Science
- Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air
- The Worlds of David Darling
- Wikipedia
- Worldmapper
Monthly Archives: December 2011
The most radioactive parts of the UK
The average radioactive background dose in the UK is 2.7 millisieverts. Of this 2.7 mSv, 1.35 mSv comes from radioactive radon gas leaking out of the ground. This radioactive radon (Rn-222) is produced by the decay of uranium-238, after a series of intermediate … Continue reading
Tagged radioactivity, radon
Leave a comment
Biosphere lungs
Some people refer to the rainforests as “Earth’s lungs”. In reality this is quite far from the truth, as rainforests actually contribute little (net) oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere; 70% of oxygen production is done by water-bourne green algae and the … Continue reading
Tagged biosphere, pressure
Leave a comment
Anscombe’s quartet
Anscombe’s quartet is four sets of data that are used to demonstrate the importance of graphing data. Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 x y x y x y x y 10 8.04 10 9.14 10 7.46 8 … Continue reading
Tagged graphs, mathematics
Leave a comment
Haversine formula
The haversine formula is used to calculate the distance between two points on the Earth’s surface specified in longitude and latitude. d is the distance between two points with longitude and latitude (ψ,φ) and r is the radius of the Earth. As … Continue reading
Tagged earth, mathematics
Leave a comment
Patterns in birthdays
If births were evenly distributed throughout the year (i.e. a 1 in 365 chance of being born on any given day) then the graph of number of births against birth month would look like the one below: You’re least likely to be … Continue reading
Tagged birth, sex
Leave a comment
Curiosity’s nuclear battery
The Curiosity rover that is the main part of the Mars Science Laboratory mission is very different from its predecessors Sojourner and the twin rovers Spirit & Opportunity. L-R: Spirit/Opportunity, Sojourner and Curiosity. L-R: The wheels of Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity and … Continue reading
Tagged mars, nuclear, RTG
2 Comments
You’ve already experienced the earliest Easter you’ll ever know
You may have noticed that the date of Easter Sunday changes every year: The date of Easter Sunday is calculated using a calendar that is based both on the Sun and the Moon* and takes place “on the first Sunday after the … Continue reading
Logarithmic scales
Some of the quantities measured in physics cover a very large range of values and this can make displaying measurements of their value difficult or confusing. pH, traditionally thought of as a measurement of acidity, but actually a measurement of the … Continue reading
Tagged logarithmic, pH, scale
Leave a comment
The Milky Way is shaped like a CD
The Earth orbits just one of the 200 – 400 billion stars that make up the Milky Way. This star, the Sun, orbits at a distance of about 27000 light years from the Galactic Centre, travelling at 220 km/s (one mile every seven thousandths … Continue reading
Tagged milkyway, space
Leave a comment