Tags
animal art astronomy CERN colour computer death density design disease electricity energy 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 sun time transport volcano water weapon weather-
Recent Posts
- 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?
- Star traveller etymology
- Looking at constellations from a different angle
- Dating a common ancestor
- R0
- Spherical ice cubes and surface area to volume ratio
- Does your weight change in a lift?
- Why 80mph is not a good idea
- SkySails
- Lactose tolerance
- Liquid cooling
- Hacking PIN pads using thermal vision
- Centre of mass in extreme sports
- The physics of the Kinect
- Percent, permil and basis points
- Whole aeroplane parachutes
- Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize
- SNIFing out rogue nuclear reactors
- Yearly variations in the storage of CO2 by plants
- 24-hour star trails
- Hacking QR codes
- UK Energy Mix
- Horns
- Snapping off Hubble’s handrail
- Passive Institutional Controls
- How fast? The Doppler effect bumper sticker
Archives
- 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
Tag Archives: electricity
Plug wiring colour scheme
UK plugs use brown insulation for the live wire, blue insulation for the neutral wire and green with yellow stripes insulation for the earth wire. But why this particular combination of colours? The answer is deceptively simple: there is no type … Continue reading
Tagged colour, electricity, plug, safety
Leave a comment
UK electricity import and export
The UK doesn’t have enough electricity. The amount of electricity that the UK produces (from various sources) is not enough to meet demand, and the UK relies heavily* on imports from France and the Netherlands in order to meet its … Continue reading
Tagged electricity, energy
Leave a comment
UK Energy Mix
A lot of people get confused between the electricity they use and the energy they use. It’s easy to forget that the majority of people use natural gas for heating (e.g. a gas-fired central heating system) and cooking and petrol for … Continue reading
Tagged climate, electricity, energy
2 Comments
Electricity consumption in the production of aluminium
Aluminium is a very useful metal; it is the most widely used non-ferrous* metal in the world. It has a very low electrical resistance and a very good strength-to-weight ratio and has therefore found many applications: from packaging in drinks … Continue reading
Tagged aluminium, electricity, energy
Leave a comment
Fuel Mix and CO2
Since 2005 UK electricity suppliers have been legally obliged by Ofgem to provide information about the fuel mix they use to generate electricity and the carbon dioxide they produce in the process. The UK average fuel mix; heavy on gas and coal. … Continue reading
Tagged electricity, energy, nuclear
Leave a comment
This is why you always put a 1kΩ resistor in series with an LED
It’s always a good idea to wire a 1kΩ resistor in series with any LEDs you use in order to limit the current, and this is why: Usually the resistor just burns out, but this LED was entirely different — it split right … Continue reading
Tagged electricity, LED, resistor
Leave a comment
Pylon of the Month
This month’s Pylon of the Month is a beauty, even if it is only an artist’s impression. Designed by Hugh Dutton Associates for a competition run by the Italian electricity transmission company Terna, the new pylons would cost three times … Continue reading
Tagged electricity, pylon
Leave a comment
Not following instructions
Okay, so I did ask them to measure the current and potential difference at each point in the circuit. But this really isn’t what I meant: Props to AA and JB for the “work”.
Tagged circuit, electricity
Leave a comment