Science & Beauty

This is just the coolest thing ever.  The Gunslinger

What follows is from: Science Demonstrations. (I need a scientist to translate the "comments"!))

What it shows:
Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and random motion. One might call this kinetic art and the choreography of the dance of the pendulums is stunning! Aliasing and quantum revival can also be shown.

How it works:
The period of one complete cycle of the dance is 60 seconds. The length of the longest pendulum has been adjusted so that it executes 51 oscillations in this 60 second period. The length of each successive shorter pendulum is carefully adjusted so that it executes one additional oscillation in this period. Thus, the 15th pendulum (shortest) undergoes 65 oscillations. When all 15 pendulums are started together, they quickly fall out of sync—their relative phases continuously change because of their different periods of oscillation. However, after 60 seconds they will all have executed an integral number of oscillations and be back in sync again at that instant, ready to repeat the dance.

Setting it up:
The pendulum waves are best viewed from above or down the length of the apparatus. Video projection is a must for a large lecture hall audience. You can play the video below to see the apparatus in action. One instance of interest to note is at 30 seconds (halfway through the cycle), when half of the pendulums are at one amplitude maximum and the other half are at the opposite amplitude maximum.

Comments:
Our apparatus was built from a design published by Richard Berg ¹ at the University of Maryland. He claims their version is copied from one at Moscow State University.  Dr. Jiri Drabek at Palacky University in the Czech Republic has informed us that it was originally designed and constructed by Ernst Mach, professor of mathematics in Praha and Vienna around the year 1867.  The demonstration is used in the Czech Republic under the name "Machuv vinostroj" -- the "Wavemachine of Mach."  The apparatus we have was designed and built by Nils Sorensen.

James Flaten and Kevin Parendo² have mathematically modeled the collective motions of the pendula with a continuous function. The function does not cycle in time and they show that the various patterns arise from aliasing of this function—the patterns are a manifestation of spatial aliasing (as opposed to temporal). Indeed, if you've ever used a digital scope to observe a sinusoidal signal, you have probably seen some of these patterns on the screen when the time scale was not set appropriately.

Here at Harvard, Prof Eric Heller has suggested that the demonstration could be used to simulate quantum revival. So here you have quantum revival versus classical periodicity!

1Am J Phys 59(2), 186-187 (1991).

2Am J Phys 69(7), 778-782 (2001).

Faster than Light??

Anybody else think this is the coolest story out there?

I don't know why it appeals so much. I guess I like the idea of all those pretentious scientists—especially those who pretend that "theories" are proven facts, and laugh when some of us suggest that they're called "theories" for a reason—getting their  precious, snooty certainty knocked out of them.

Don't get me wrong. Until it's proven wrong, I believe in the Theory of Evolution.  I see no conflict between it and the existence of an Intelligent Designer.

On the other hand, until last week, I believed in the Theory of Relativity too.

Things are in flux. And what that will mean for our understanding of the universe is yet unclear...and that makes it pretty damned exciting!

The Gunslinger

No Moral Compass

Andrew Cline makes some fine observations about the Dear Leader in this piece for The American Spectator, Obama's Stem Cell Diktat

"...It is impossible to "make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology" while simultaneously ruling out funding for human cloning because it is "profoundly wrong." But apparently not for Obama.

Clearly, the president did not remove ideology from the discussion. He simply moved the line. Whereas the destruction of potential human life was the line not to be crossed, now it is "the use of cloning for human reproduction." Why is the latter more "profoundly wrong" than the former? Obama offers no reason. He simply believes it is. The deep reflection evident in Bush's speech is entirely missing from Obama's. His is a declaration of personal belief, not an exercise of painstaking statesmanship..."

Obama's is the sort of "reasoning" and conclusions you get when you have no unshakable principles and values. They are arbitrary, shallow, superficial, selfish, and self-referential.

And presented with his typical smug self-satisfaction and clueless self-confidence.

Obama has "fiat intellectualism"...his and others' sense that he's really smart....backed up, like fiat currency, by nothing at all.

The Gunslinger

Whoa, There, Dude....Let's Think This Thing Through

I love technology. Seriously. But in response to this story:

Google and Nasa [sic] back new school for futurists

"Google and Nasa [sic] are throwing their weight behind a new school for futurists in Silicon Valley to prepare scientists for an era when machines become cleverer than people."

...I only have one word: T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-O-R

Okay, I have two more: Unintended Consequences.

The Gunslinger

Transformers Next

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God, I LOVE being an American!

Check THIS out!

The Gunslinger
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Serious Safety Tip

My niece sent this to me. It's short, simple and important. You may already know it. But I've heard so many different versions of how to put out a kitchen fire, it's hard to remember which is right. Watch this and you'll never forget. It came with this copy which explains why the alternatives are dangerous:

At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students. The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where iti instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field, it became a thirty foot high
fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen , the fire ball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite. This is a powerful message----watch the video and don't forget what you see. Tell your whole family about this video. Or better yet, send this to them.

Be safe.

The Gunslinger

Superceding String Theory?

"Surfer Dude" comes up with the next physics brainstorm.

I like the story. No matter how it turns out. But I do trust elegant simplicity over convoluted complexity.

The Gunslinger