Talk Like A Physicist

Obey the laws of physics - everything else you do is optional

Obey the laws of physics - everything else you do is optional - especially when you are driving.

A bumper sticker

Gamma Ray Sky Map

A view of the entire sky captured by the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope shows bright radiation coming mostly from the Milky Way’s galactic plane.

Using the craft’s first 95 hours of active observation, mission scientists produced a map of gamma ray sources as seen from Earth that shows the same level of detail as previous maps that took more than a year to create.

In addition to the full-sky map, the first data from Fermi’s burst monitor include records of “a gamma ray burst about once a day … the highest rate of detection of any satellite,”

The scale of Gamma Ray bursts:

The intense flashes of gamma rays can release within seconds the same amount of energy that the sun will put out over its entire ten-billion-year lifetime.

Tuesday Physics Tattoos: Electronic Circuit tattoos

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Many of these circuit tattoos are of Moog filter - a circuit used in the synthesizer.

There is so much physics in the Moog synthesizer. It allowed a visual way to manipulating the sound waves. In addition it also allowed the user to control the amplitude modulation and frequency modulation.

SCIENCE : If you ain’t pissin’ people off, you ain’t doing’ it right.

Click for a better view.

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This is the age of precision cosmology

This is the age of so-called precision cosmology

In an interesting article in NY Times about the struggle to measure cosmic expansion , the quip that I found the most pithy was about how the precision cosmology has become so important.

I know, it is an old statement; in July 1999, Wendy Freedoman announced that “after all these years, we are finally entering an era of precision cosmology”; and one could argue that the one of the first proof of relativity with perihelion of mercury can also be called “precision cosmology”; but every time I hear the statement, it sounds truer.

You know that the cosmology is gotten very precise, when a top forty band sings a love song, and in passing mentions that the universe is 12 billion yrs old; and she is challenged on it and asked to correct her lyrics to accurately reflect that the universe is really 13.7 billion yrs old!

Katie Melua’s bad science

There is so much physics yet to be explored and extracted from the precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background. The precision power decay and and the spectra measurements of various supernova bursts will tell us so much about the internal structure of these objects. Precision cosmology with weak gravitational lensing has helped us figure out the distribution of dark matter.

Like in any other precision experiments, there are systematic errors that one needs to be mindful of, but in the next decade we will learn so much from the precisely measured cosmic dance moves.

Tuesday Physics Tattoos : Solar System Tattoos

Solar System:

Source. Interestingly, this is an old tattoo where they left out Pluto because clear pictures weren’t available. And by cosmic coincidence, Pluto is no longer a planet!

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From Chris.
THE ORIGINAL SUN AND MOON WAS JUST REDONE WITH THE ADDED PLANETS MORE IS ON THE WAY

Ira Klotzko, a computer programmer in Jersey City, has finally decided to get a tattoo, after waiting until he was 38. Now, here’s the interesting part. Because of his life-long love of astronomy, he’s decided to have the entire solar system tattooed on his stomach. He says he thought of the idea while lying in bed one night, then gave himself a year to decide if he still wanted to do it. He jokes to New York Post that “it’s really accurate because the universe is also expanding.”

Solar System
The Sun/Earth/Moon in the middle, surrounded by the other 8 planets (YES, Pluto is included). An asteroid running down the side of it, with “…And it makes me wonder” a quote from Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.

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Just FYI: American Academy of Dermatology says that about 25% of Americans 18 - 50 have received tattoos.

Quantum Physics Tattoos : Schrödinger equation

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One of the central equations in Quantum Physics is the Schrödinger equation.

The Schrodinger equation plays the role of Newton’s laws and conservation of energy in classical mechanics - i.e., it predicts the future behavior of a dynamic system.

It is a wave equation in terms of the wavefunction which predicts analytically and precisely the probability of events or outcome. The detailed outcome is not strictly determined, but given a large number of events, the Schrodinger equation will predict the distribution of results.

Dark Matter … Its Out there… Poster

2006 Physics Poster competition.

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The quantum physics of Creation

In The Beginning.

Start With One Proton Schrodinger’s equation, one of the most basic and formative equations of quantum physics, shown in the case of Hydrogen, a basic and formative element of the universe.

And Let There Be Light The famous Maxwell equations: the basic laws of light. The dynamics of electromagnetic radiation shown in mathematical terms.

Timespace The principle of Time dilation, a mathematical expression of time and space, as captured in Lorentz’s equation.

FreeWill The fundamental principle of uncertainty that underlies quantum physics: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.

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Tuesday Physics Tattoo : Pi and Phi & Questioning Pi

Anna in Sweden: Pi and Phi.

Johnny Law: Questioning Pi:

If you start questioning Pi, may be physics is not the best place for you.

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Update:

Paul W. sent me his Pi and Phi tattoos on his wrists.

I’m quite amazed at Anna from Sweden - I have Phi and Pi tattoos too! Only mine are on my wrists!

Funnily enough I went for a completely different angle from physics. I first got the Pi tattoo for a couple of reasons. Firstly I wanted something that I considered infinite. I didn’t really want the infinity symbol as I thought it could be mistaken for the number 8. Secondly my first two initials are P I.

After about 18 months I decided I needed something on my left wrist to balance out my tattoos. Around that time I started getting into photography and art theory. It was then that I discovered the divine proportion and so I knew I had to get Phi. I consider the divine proportion to almost be a formula for beauty, although saying that makes it sound vain!! I decided to get an uppercase Phi character purely for aesthetic reasons!

Thank you Paul for sharing.

The Golden ratio is defined as:

The Golden Ratio Phi (which is ~1.618 is considered an “aesthetically pleasing” ratio. Leonardo da Vinci believed that some bodily proportions exhibit the golden ratio and some have argued that his Mona Lisa employs the Golden Ratio in its geometric equivalents.

For the longest time, the books were published with page proportions as the Golden Ratio

Another interesting property of the Golden ratio is that it “conjugates”

1/Phi= Phi +1

The Golden ratio also shows up in a Pentagram Star, in the structure of pyramids, in music and and in Fibonacci sequences and spirals.

Both Pi and Phi are considered Universal Constants.

Finally, Phi can also be written as:

Of course, in Math, a theorem is not considered truely “proven” until somebody wears it as a tattoo.. so here it is:

Tattoo of the Golden ratio in a spiral:

Don’t forget to celebrate the Talk Like a Physicist day : March 14th (3/14) which is also the International Pi day.

How much do you pay Verizon for the wireless data plan?

Last year, there was an issue with how Verizon quoted the price of wireless data plan. They were quoting the price as 0.02 cents per kb but charging 0.02 dollars.

You can read all about it here, if you are so inclined. But in response to this basic math problem, Randall Munroe (XKCD fame) wrote the this check to Verizon.

From now on, I am paying all my bills using complex numbers as the dollar amount!

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True or False? 1 TeV is about the energy of motion of a flying mosquito

True or False?

1 TeV (energy of LHC proton) is about the energy of motion of a flying mosquito.

Answer : True.

And indeed, mosquito do fly at about 1 miles/hour, which is 1.6 km/hr.

So the energy of motion of a mosquito flying at 1 mile/hr is about the same as 1 TeV.

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Is it LHC or a set of the latest SF movie? Stunning LHC pictures

I can’t distinguish between these pictures from LHC and a typical sF movie set! it does seem like some alien technology being deployed.

Can’t wait till September when they fully ramp it up.

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