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A love story of Physics, History and Chemistry
NOVA “Einstein’s Big Idea”
* Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), French scientist who discovered law of conservation of mass, working with his wife, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier.
* Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet – Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749).
French mathematician and physicist who studied, among other topics, kinetic energy.
While viewing, take notes . Use additional resources listed at end of this paper. Type answers. 12 point Arial font, double-spaced, 1″ margins. This will probably run 3 pages. Spell and grammar-check your work. Take care not to engage in plagiarism. Late assignments lose 1 points/day.
Lavoisier
1. During what period of time does this segment take place in?
2. In what nation did this scientist’s work take place? Of what nationality was the scientist? (Most people are of the same nationality as the country in which they work, but not always.)
3. What major intellectual and social changes were going on at the time?
4. Who was Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze (Madame Lavoisier) ? What was her background? What was her role in Lavoisier’s research?
4. What hypotheses were Lavoisier testing?
5. What challenges did they receive to their ideas?
6. Describe one of the experiments that Lavoisier performed.
7. Describe the results of this experiment
8. Do these results confirm or refute his hypothesis?
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Émilie du Châtelet
1. During what period of time does this segment take place in?
2. In what nation did this scientist’s work take place? Of what nationality was the scientist?
3. What major intellectual and social changes were going on at the time?
4. How did her education compare to that of the average women in her time and place?
5. Who was Voltaire? What was Emilie’s relationship to him?
6. What hypothesis was she testing in this segment?
7. What challenges did she receive to her ideas?
8. Describe the experiment that Émilie du Châtelet performed.
9. Describe the results of her experiment
10. Do these results confirm or refute her hypothesis?
Resources
Use books and Encyclopedias from the school or town library. If available, see these:
“Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment, Featuring the Scientist Emilie du Chatelet, the Poet Voltaire, Sword Fights, Book Burnings, Assorted Kings” David Bodanis, Crown, 2006
“Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment.”
“Lavoisier In The Year One: The Birth Of A New Science In An Age Of Revolution”
Madison Smartt Bell, W. W. Norton & Company (June 2005)
Websites
America Chemical Society
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/lavoisier.html
World’s Best Paintings
http://www.worldsbestpaintings.net/artistsandpaintings/painting/115/
Lavoisier – Conservation of Mass, from Einstein’s Big Idea – Nature is a closed system : part 1
Lavoisier – Conservation of Mass, part 2
Émilie du Châtelet, from Einstein’s Big Idea
“NOVA: Einstein’s Big Idea” – Program website
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/ Click on “Ancestors of E=mc2″
History of Energy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_energy
Antoine Lavoisier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier
The Chateau de Cirey, about 250 km from Paris, was where Voltaire lived there for 15 years
http://www.visitvoltaire.com/index.html
Rainbow reflections: Rainbows are not Vampires
Physics Forums. January 5, 2016, written by anorlunda
For several years, I have been contemplating this beautiful picture by photographer Brian McPhee. I have a personal interest in the photograph because that boat is my year round home. I also have a scientific interest in the photograph because of what it teaches me about rainbow physics. The simplest explanation of rainbow physics is based on internal reflections in the near-spherical shape of a raindrop….
credit: Brian McPhee
Look carefully at the photo with the boat. You will see that the sky inside the arc is much brighter than the sky outside the arc. Some scientists claim that no such effect exists, but it’s pretty plain in the picture. The explanation is that raindrops inside the arc reflect sunlight toward me, while drops outside the arc reflect sunlight away from me. The colors appear in the transition region where only certain colors are reflected towards my eye.
More challenging physics comes from the image of the rainbow seen on the surface of the water. At first, I assumed that it was a reflection of the rainbow in the sky, just like reflections of blue sky and white clouds one sees on a calm day in a reflecting pool.
But then I came across Can Rainbows Cast Reflections? on the web site of noted astronomer Bob Berman. Paraphrasing Berman. “No, they do not. Rainbows are not 3D objects and they do not cast reflections. In the water you see a different rainbow, not a reflection.”
I spent a lot of time puzzling over that, because I didn’t understand Berman’s explanation. I also doubted its truth because I’m sure that I have seen rainbows in the rear view mirror as I drive. It sounds like the Hollywood version of vampires that don’t make reflections in mirrors.
At first, I thought that Berman meant that the image in the water was sunlight hitting the surface and creating a rainbow effect as it was refracted back to my eye. But no, that won’t work because water in the lake is not in the form of spherical droplets.
After much thinking, I think I’ve got it. No vampire magic is required. The colored light you see from a rainbow is not omnidirectional, it is a unidirectional beam aimed at your eye.
By analogy, imagine a man at the far end of a hall of mirrors holding a laser pointer pointed at your eye (assume a laser suitably attenuated for safety). The mirrors on the walls, ceiling and floor of this hall will show many images of the man, but they will not show the red dot of the laser because the laser beam doesn’t hit those mirrors.
However, if you turn your back, step to the side, and hold up a rear view mirror, you’ll see both the man and the red dot. That is because the rear view mirror is inside the cone of light from the laser pointer.
So, to say that the red dot (or the rainbow) does reflect, and that it does not reflect are both true statements depending on which mirror it refers to. Yet, the image of the man appears in all the mirrors. The man is a 3D object, but the red dot is not….
Read the rest of the article here: Rainbow reflections: rainbows are not vampires
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A related article with a good (and short) explanation:
Reflected Rainbows: Atmospheric Optics
And the original post which inspired this:
Can rainbows cast reflections? By SkyManBob
…Bob Berman
{regarding a reflection of a rainbow seen in a mirror} How can we tell if it’s the same rainbow?
First: Every rainbow is a set of refractions and reflections precisely beamed in one direction — the eye of the observer. The person next to you is at the apex of a different set of light rays emanating from different droplets, making it a separate rainbow on two counts.
Second, the rainbow seen in a mirror is coming from a different part of the sky where the raindrops may be smaller or bigger or incomplete, changing the appearance (larger drops makes the rainbow more vivid, while robbing it of blue.)
Third, try it with a nearby rainbow like from a lawn sprinkler a few feet away. Now have someone hold a mirror. You’ll see the spray but no rainbow at all in this reflection….
…A traffic light sends photons in all directions. But a rainbow sends its light only to your retina, and nowhere else.
A person next to you is receiving the photons from an entirely separate rainbow (meaning a different set of raindrops, which may have different properties from the ones you are seeing.)
Gorgeous CG Reproductions of Classic Scientific Instruments
A new project is creating digital reproductions of the instruments used in key chemistry experiments, in hopes of fostering appreciation for the craftsmanship involved in a new generation of science acolytes.
The photograph above is part of the Beautiful Chemistry outreach project, a collaboration between the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and Tsinghua University Press. It is inspired in part by the 19th century German biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose most famous book, Art Forms in Nature, featured stunning illustrations of marine and microscopic life forms.
When the site first launched in 2014, it showcased a series of eye-popping animated videos of chemical reactions, minus such distracting elements as beakers and test tubes. Now it’s back with a new design and a photographic gallery — plus short video teaser, with more to come — of 15 CG reproductions of the apparatus used in some of the most important chemistry breakthroughs from 1660 to 1860.
“In these 200 years, chemistry transformed from practical art and mysterious alchemy to a physical science with great precision,” project leader Yan Liang told Gizmodo via email. “We hope people could look at this period of history from a new angle: the evolution of chemical instruments.” He partnered with CG artists from IHDT.tv to create the reproductions. “We worked very hard to make sure that the instruments we recreated are scientifically accurate,” he said, while still giving the artists sufficient creative freedom…
Feast Your Eyes on These Gorgeous CG Reproductions of Classic Scientific Instruments
Elon Musk’s SpaceX returns to flight and pulls off dramatic, historic landing
Elon Musk’s SpaceX returns to flight and pulls off dramatic, historic landing
The Washington Post, By Christian Davenport, December 21 at 8:46 PM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at its landing pad here Monday evening in its first flight since its rocket exploded six months ago.
The historic landing, the first time a rocket launched a payload into orbit and then returned safely to Earth, was cheered as a sign that SpaceX, the darling of the commercial space industry, has its momentum back.
“The Falcon has landed,” a SpaceX commentator said on the live webcast, as workers at its headquarters went wild, chanting “USA! USA!”
Monday’s flight, initially delayed because of technical concerns, was the second time in a month that a billionaire-backed venture launched a rocket into space and recovered it. And it represents yet another significant step forward in the quest to open up the cosmos to the masses.
Typically, rocket boosters are used once, burning up or crashing into the ocean after liftoff. But Musk, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and Tesla, and Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com who has his own space company, have been working on creating reusable rockets that land vertically by using their engine thrust. If they are able to recover rockets and fly them again and again, it would dramatically lower the cost of space flight.
Reusing the first stage, which houses the engine and is the most expensive part of the rocket, was thought impossible by many just a few years ago. But last month Bezos’ Blue Origin flew a rocket to the edge of space, and landed it in a remote swath of West Texas. (Bezos owns the Washington Post.)
On Monday, SpaceX’s first flight since its Falcon 9 rocket blew up in June, Musk topped his fellow tech billionaire and space rival, by landing a larger, more powerful rocket designed to send payloads to orbit, and not just past the boundary of what’s considered space. It was a much more complicated feat that was celebrated as another leap forward for Musk and his merry band of rocketeers.
SpaceX’s unmanned—and recently upgraded— Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 8:29 p.m. on a mission to deliver 11 commercial satellites into space for Orbcomm, a communications company. A few minutes later, the second stage separated and headed further on while the towering booster performed an aerial U-turn, and headed back to Earth, hurtling back through gusty winds and using its engine thrust to slow down.
Guided by fins on the side of the rocket, it steered toward the landing pad SpaceX has built on the Cape—Landing Zone 1—and touched down vertically in a dramatic, pinpoint landing.
Art by Jon Ross.
The Future of Space Launch is Near
Previously, SpaceX had attempted to land the first stage on a floating platform Musk calls an “autonomous spaceport drone ship.” Twice the rockets hit the barge, but they came down too hard or at a slight angle, and exploded.
Monday’s landing is yet another breakthrough for SpaceX, which was the first commercial company hired by NASA to ferry supplies to the International Space Station. And it won another contract, along with Boeing, to fly astronauts to the station, as soon as 2017.
But as SpaceX, based outside of L.A., has evolved from spunky start-up to a mainstream space company, it remains focused on its main mission: one day flying to Mars, which Musk hopes humans will eventually colonize. While it has raised revenue by flying for NASA and commercial satellite companies, SpaceX has continued to push toward developing the technologies that eventually would make humans a “multi-planet species,” as Musk says.
Cool car built from a battery and two magnets
Cool car built from a battery and two magnets How to make the simplest electric car toy from 1 battery and 2 magnets:
Put round magnets on either end of a AA battery and set it down on a sheet of tinfoil and watch it spin! It’s a homopolar motor, a simple electric motor that relies on the Lorentz effect to set it in motion.
If you take two circular magnets and slap them on the ends of a AA battery, the resulting axel will drive on a road of aluminum foil. This is called a homopolar motor and it’s one of the simplest machines you can build.
…the homopolar motor works because the combination of the flow of the electric current (from the battery) and the flow of the magnetic current produces a torque via the Lorenz force.
This short video explanation should give you a good idea of the principles involved.
Pulleys
WHAT DOES A PULLEY DO?
A pulley changes the direction of the force, making it easier to lift things.
Interactive lecture demonstrations
from Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:
Created by Dorothy Merritts, Robert Walter (Franklin & Marshall College), Bob MacKay (Clark College). Enhanced by Mark Maier with assistance from Rochelle Ruffer, Sue Stockly and Ronald Thornton
What is an Interactive Lecture Demonstration?
Interactive Lecture Demonstrations introduce a carefully scripted activity, creating a “time for telling” in a traditional lecture format. Because the activity causes students to confront their prior understanding of a core concept, students are ready to learn in a follow-up lecture. Interactive Lecture Demonstrations use three steps in which students:
- Predict the outcome of the demonstration. Individually, and then with a partner, students explain to each other which of a set of possible outcomes is most likely to occur.
- Experience the demonstration. Working in small groups, students conduct an experiment, take a survey, or work with data to determine whether their initial beliefs were confirmed (or not).
- Reflect on the outcome. Students think about why they held their initial belief and in what ways the demonstration confirmed or contradicted this belief. After comparing these thoughts with other students, students individually prepare a written product on what was learned.
Why Use Interactive Lecture Demonstrations
Research shows that students acquire significantly greater understanding of course material when traditional lectures are combined with interactive demonstrations. Each step in Interactive Demonstrations – Predict, Experience, Reflect – contributes to student learning.
Prediction links new learning to prior understanding. The experience engages the student with compelling evidence. Reflection helps students identify and consolidate that they have learned.
More on why use interactive demonstrations
How to Use Interactive Lecture Demonstrations in Class
Effective interactive lecture demonstrations require that instructors:
- Identify a core concept that students will learn.
- Chose a demonstration that will illustrate the core concept, ideally with an outcome different from student expectations.
- Prepare written materials so that students can easily follow the prediction, experience and reflection steps.
More on how to use Interactive Demonstrations in class
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Using PhET interactive labs with interactive lecture demonstrations
Using PhET as an (Interactive) Lecture Demonstration
How to solve any physics problem
Baffled as to where to begin with a physics problem?
There is a logical process to solving any physics problem.
How to solve any physics problem
How to draw free body diagrams
How to solve kinematic equation problems
Half Atwood machine: cart on a frictionless track
When we do use conservation of momentum to solve a problem? When do we use Newton’s laws of motions?
Ferris wheel physics
Fun, imaginative physics discussion questions!
Mytbusters final season
from Polygon.com: “The Mythbusters always had an amazing secret weapon: They can’t stand each other” – The best working relationship in television is almost over.
By Ben Kuchera on Oct 22, 2015 at 12:30p
Mythbusters is a long-running show, with 14 seasons and 267 episodes under its belt. It was recently announced that the show was coming to an end, and stars Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman seem equal parts saddened and relieved by the news. 12 years is a very long time to work on a single show, and the shooting schedule for Mythbusters was often punishing.
There’s much to say about the show, but one of the most interesting aspects of Mythbusters is the fact that the working relationship between Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman is built on respect and mutual appreciation for what they do, which is a very adult way to create a show for 14 seasons … especially when the two don’t like each other.
WAIT, WHAT?
This may be news to casual fans, but it’s been openly discussed for years. The two stars don’t get along, and have no relationship outside of the show.
“We like to point out we’ve known each other for 25 years and never once sat down to have dinner alone together,” Hyneman told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview. “We sort of managed to tolerate each other. I think it’s probably safe to say that continuing our onscreen relationship in front of the camera is probably not happening. I expect Adam may well pursue things in front of the camera, but I’m most likely not. It’s not who I am. This has been a very rewarding and interesting decade, but its not really what I’m cut out for.”
Savage also addressed the situation in this video:
http://www.discovery.com/embed?page=68824
“We’re not afraid to say something that will hurt the others’ feelings, because we don’t care,” Savage says, which is a quote that sounds brutal on paper but works within the wider context of what he’s saying. “We consider it a point of pride that the right idea always wins — it doesn’t matter whose it is.”
There are arguments to be made over the rigor of the experiments on Mythbusters, but the amount of work that goes into each episode, including the fabrication and design done by the team, is staggering. The fact that the two of them have been able to work together for this long while not being able to stand each other’s company, more or less, is something rare in pop culture: It’s a working relationship based purely on respect and mutual gain.
Article: The Mythbusters always had an amazing secret weapon
The Physics of Hollywood Movies
Don’t Try This At Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies is a fresh look at the basics of physics through the filmmaker’s lens. It will deconstruct, demystify, and debunk popular Hollywood films through the scientific explanations of the action genre’s most dynamic and unforgettable scenes. Sample movie sequence and related physics concepts: In “Speed,” a city bus going over 50 mph jumps over a 50-foot chasm–successfully. An examination of force, acceleration, Newton’s Laws, impulse, momentum, and projectile motion follows.
Adam Weiner has been a teacher of physics and AP physics at the Bishop’s School, a highly academic college preparatory school in La Jolla, CA for the last 11 years. Prior to that he worked as a physics instructor at Green River Community College in Auburn, WA in a department very active in physics education research
To order the book at Amazon Don’t Try This At Home!: The Physics of Hollywood Movies
The author’s website Hollywood Movie Physics
His blog on Popular Science Pop Sci – Adam Weiner
KaiserScience 