1 day agoMember-onlyHow Can a Collision Conserve Momentum, But Not Kinetic Energy?When two objects interact in a collision, momentum is conserved where momentum (p) is defined as the product of mass (m) and velocity (v). However, if the kinetic energy also depends on mass and velocity (1/2 mv²) then shouldn’t it also be conserved? Nope. Let’s work through the whole thing. Simple Collision Between Two Point Particles …Physics7 min readPhysics7 min read
May 25Member-onlyBuilding a 3D Rock Paper Scissors Battle Simulation in PythonIt’s a classic game of rock-paper-scissors that everyone loves (I assume). But what about a giant R-P-S battle between a bunch of automated bots? That’s exactly what we see here in this very entertaining simulation. Basically you have some 2D space with a bunch of random rocks, papers, and…Physics10 min readPhysics10 min read
May 23Member-onlyThe Physics of Blaine’s Car Stunt from HBO’s Silicon ValleyI can’t help myself. When I see someone using physics in a show, I feel compelled to analyze it. In this case, it’s from HBO’s Silicon Valley season 2. Let me get you up to speed. Gilfoyle and Dinesh are working to set up a live stream of a car…Physics9 min readPhysics9 min read
May 19Member-onlyIs a 50 mph-50 mph Collision the Same as a 100–0 mph Collision?A long time ago there was a MythBusters episode that looked at head to head crashing cars. Suppose you have two equal mass cars both traveling with a speed of 50 mph and they crash (don’t worry, no one is in the cars). Would this cause the same amount of…Physics9 min readPhysics9 min read
May 15Member-onlyTwo Ways to Find the Moment of Inertia for a SphereWhat is the moment of inertia and why would you wan to find it for a sphere? Will this even be fun? The answer to the last question — YES. Trust me, I’m going to make it fun. What is the moment of inertia? This is just a quick review. I mean, if you have read…Physics10 min readPhysics10 min read
May 3Member-onlyThe Physics of Coupled OscillatorsI know you’ve looked at a mass on a spring, but have you looked at 2 masses with THREE springs? It looks like this:Physics19 min readPhysics19 min read
Apr 21Member-onlyThe Force Power of Ashoka Using PhysicsI’m really quite excited about the upcoming Ashoka series on Disney Plus. Oh, you haven’t seen the trailer? Well, here it is. Since I can’t yet watch the show, I am left with one reasonable alternative — physics calculations. Yes, I’m going to use the trailer to estimate Ashoka’s…Physics7 min readPhysics7 min read
Apr 12Member-onlyMaxwell’s Equations and the Wave EquationThere’s a bunch of math here, but it’s kind of a big deal. In short, it shows something really important — that light is an electromagnetic wave. Well, let’s just get to it. Maxwell’s Equations I’m going to give my very brief review of Maxwell’s equations. Really, you spend one whole semester…Physics11 min readPhysics11 min read
Mar 31Member-onlySki Incident Physics. An Analysis of an Expert’s Physics Analysis.I’m not really a big fan of legal trials — it’s not something I’m going to follow all of the details. This is especially true for something like the case of Sanderson vs. Paltrow. The case is basically a civil suit over injuries sustained between this one guy and Gwyneth…Physics6 min readPhysics6 min read
Mar 29Member-onlyPrincipal Axes of Inertia. Sometimes Things Rotate in Weird Ways.If you take a block and toss it in the air, it might do something weird — it could tumble such that the angular velocity vector is not constant. Here’s an example.Physics13 min readPhysics13 min read
