Meta
Archives
Categories
Tag Archives: Physics
Physicists to re-run the experiments that produced faster-than-light neutrinos [Physics]
Results from independent cross-checks of last month's FTL neutrino findings wont start rolling in for at least a few more months. In the meantime, however, physicists at the OPERA lab who made the initial observations will be running their experime… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged CERN, Fb, Neutrinos, Opera, Particle physics, Physics, syndicated, tweet
Comments Off
Physicists to re-run the experiments that produced faster-than-light neutrinos [Physics]
Results from independent cross-checks of last month's FTL neutrino findings wont start rolling in for at least a few more months. In the meantime, however, physicists at the OPERA lab who made the initial observations will be running their experime… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged CERN, Fb, Neutrinos, Opera, Particle physics, Physics, syndicated, tweet
Comments Off
Feast your eyes on a complete quadruple rainbow [Optics]
What does it mean?! You’re looking at a picture of the first fourth-order rainbow ever reported in nature. Just don’t strain yourself looking for the other two bows; you won’t be able to see them in this picture.
And yet something about this photograph… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Double rainbow, Fourth order rainbow, germany, Michael theusner, Optics, Physics, Quadruple rainbow, Rainbows, science, syndicated, Third order rainbow, Top, Triple rainbow
Comments Off
Faster-than-light neutrinos could be proof of extra dimensions [Physics]
The recent announcement that neutrinos had been observed seemingly going faster than the speed of light sent shockwaves through the physics community. But there’s one possible explanation that could keep Einstein’s relativity intact and open up a whole… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Brane, Bulk, CERN, Dimension, Einstein, Fb, Geneva, neutrino, Opera, Particle physics, Physics, science, String theory, syndicated, theoretical physics, tweet
Comments Off
Scientists Question Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos
By John Timmer, Ars Technica
Last night, in response to a worldwide surge in interest, the OPERA experiment released a paper that describes the experiments that appear to show neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. And today, CERN broad… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Ars Technica, CERN, faster-than-light, Neutrinos, OPERA experiment, Physics, syndicated
Comments Off
How big of a dose of radiation do you get when reading Playboy? [Mad Science]
Glossy magazines often contain a substance that has elevated levels of uranium and thorium. This means that reading one for various lengths of time slightly heightens your level of radiation exposure. Find out how much magazines like Playboy are poiso… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged mad science, Magazines, Physics, Radiation, science, syndicated, Thorium, Top, Uranium
Comments Off
The Higgs boson might explain the origins of the universe and dark energy [Mad Science]
We still haven’t found the Higgs boson, the hypothetical particle that explains why other particles possess mass. But that might not be the only cosmic mystery the Higgs can solve. It could also explain how the universe got its shape.
That’s the theor… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged cosmology, dark energy, Dilaton, Expansion, Higgs boson, Inflation, mad science, Physics, science, syndicated, Top, Universe
Comments Off
Physicists Find Way to Stop Coffee Rings
By Christopher Dombrowski, Ars Technica
Ever wonder why a drop of coffee leaves a ring behind when it dries? Physicists did. In 1997, they came up with a theory of how it works. It turned out to be such a universal theory that it shows up in a num… Continue reading
What’s so scandalous about a naked singularity? [Ask A Physicist]
The centers of black holes are among the strangest places in the universe — so strange that current physics can't even describe them. Could these singularities be found out in the open? In this week's "Ask a Physicist" we find out…. Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Ask a physicist, black holes, Naked singularities, Physics, science, space, syndicated, Top
Comments Off
Everything you know about static electricity is wrong [Video]
For generations, we've told children about the amazingly entertaining effects of static electricity. Rubbing two charged objects together causes electrons to flee from one to the other, giving a uniform negative charge to one side, and a uniform p… Continue reading
Mysterious changing neutrinos could explain why we don’t live in an antimatter universe [Physics]
There’s nothing in the laws of physics that actually requires matter to dominate antimatter, and yet all our observations of the universe suggest that that’s the case. But some unexpected behavior by ghostly neutrino particles could solve the antimatte… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Antimatter, Matter, neutrino, Neutrino oscillation, Physics, science, Subatomic particle, syndicated, T2k project, theoretical physics
Comments Off
Hot Bodies Sink Faster
New high-speed videos show that a hot sphere falls through liquid more than twice as fast as a cold sphere, a finding that may someday help ease high-speed submarines through the sea.
The spheres can move fast… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated, video
Tagged high-speed video, Physics, syndicated, Thermodynamics
Comments Off
Quantum entanglement helps computers defy the laws of thermodynamics [Mad Science]
The longer you use a computer, the hotter it will get. That seems like just an everyday fact of life, but it might actually be its own law of physics. And, like all phyiscal laws, quantum mechanics apparently violates it.
The original idea was first pr… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Entanglement, entropy, mad science, Physics, Quantum entanglement, Quantum Mechanics, science, Second law of thermodynamics, syndicated, theoretical physics, Thermodynamics
Comments Off
The mystery behind history’s most important isotope is solved at last [Physics]
Most radioactive isotopes of the lighter elements decay in minutes or less. But one particular isotope of carbon takes 6000 years to decay, and that fact has revolutionized archaeology. But why it does that has long been a complete mystery.
This isn’t … Continue reading
Posted in history, syndicated
Tagged Archaeology, Carbon, Carbon 14, Chemistry, Dating, decay, Fb, Isotope, Physics, Radioactive isotope, science, syndicated
Comments Off
Mirrors can actually create light through the magic of quantum weirdness [Mad Science]
If you take two flat mirrors and place them very close together, the virtual particles that pop into existence between the mirrors will actually force them together. But that’s nothing compared to when mirrors approach the speed of light.
We’ve talked … Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Casimir effect, mad science, Particle physics, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, science, syndicated, theoretical physics, Top, Virtual particles
Comments Off
What do electrons look like? Now we know. [Physics]
If you’ve ever looked at a model of the atom, you’d probably guess that electrons are spherical. But these elementary particles are actually slightly egg-shaped…and proving that could mean trouble for one particular model of subatomic physics.
Now, m… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged electron, Particle physics, Physics, science, Sparticles, Subatomic particles, supersymmetry, syndicated, theoretical physics
Comments Off
The science behind a snake’s poison bite, and why it’s related to ketchup [Mad Science]
We assume that snakes kill with venom shot through their fangs, injection style. In fact, most snakes leak poison very slowly. Oddly this technique works quite well, and you can figure out why by considering the physics of ketchup in a bottle.
When a… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged biology, mad science, Physics, Poison, science, Snakes, Surface tension, syndicated, Top
Comments Off
The next atomic clocks could keep accurate time for the entire life of the universe [Physics]
The atomic clocks we’ve already got are marvels of precision timekeeping, but their successors could be something else altogether, losing less than a second every 80 billion years. That could allow us to probe some of physics’s most fundamental questio… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Aluminum, atomic clock, Fb, Ion, photon, Physics, science, syndicated, Universe
Comments Off
What’s really going on with the latest Higgs boson rumor? [Skepticism]
Rumors are again swirling that the Higgs boson, the missing subatomic particle of the Standard Model, has been found at last. But where did these reports come from, and should we believe them? Let’s take a look at the evidence.
Reports like this circul… Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged CERN, Higgs boson, large hadron collider, Particle physics, Physics, science, skepticism, standard model, Subatomic particle, syndicated, tweet
Comments Off
Did the early universe have only one dimension? [Mad Science]
Some scientists believe that, as the universe gets older and larger, it adds more dimensions. Cute theory. But how does this help solve pressing questions of of physics? And how can it be tested?
One of the crazier theories of physics is the idea of … Continue reading
Posted in syndicated
Tagged Astronomy, Big Bang, mad science, Physics, syndicated, This is awesome, Top
Comments Off