I have tried to talk about energy and perpetual motion machines before (and how they can’t work). Surprisingly, people keep coming up with ideas about energy creation that just shouldn’t work.

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/museum/physgal.htm

This site is very comprehensive in covering the different ways people make mistakes about perpetual motion machines. Great examples also.

Tags: energy

I have been thinking about gasoline (I can’t help it). In an effort to show my students different energy sources, I realized the power of gasoline. There is a reason we have an oil-based energy system, its cheap (still cheap comparitively) and it has lots of energy. Yes, we need to move past oil that is clear. Yes, fossil fuels lead to pollution and green house gases. But still, it is important to realize why we are here.
Read More...

Tags: gas, energy

• Moon Landing Theory. This is the theory that in 1969 people ACTUALLY landed on the moon. There are many people that claim this did not actually happen. Both sides of this argument should be discussed. Here is a good place to start - (Bad Astronomy)
• Global Warming Theory. Some claim that the Earth is in a warming trend and that this trend is caused by human activity. Of course, this is just a theory. Another theory is that global warming is directly correlated with the number of pirates in the world. Here is an article on the relationship between temperature and pirates (see - its a real theory)
• Flying Spaghetti Monster Theory. Really, this one isn’t as much a theory as it is a FACT. This is the notion that there is a flying spaghetti monster that does stuff. It is not really considered a theory becuase it is in wikipedia, the source of all truthiness.
• Oblate Spheriod Earth Theory. Many textbooks descirbe the Earth as a sphere, or better as an oblate spheriod. This really neglects the whole other side of the debate about the shape of the Earth. For information about the Flat Earth Theory - see the online stuff.
• Light Wave-Particle Duality Theory. ALL textbooks in physics talk about light being both a wave and a particle. Why? Well, it seems that Einstien sort of suggested this as an explanation to the photoelectric effect. It turns out that the photoelectric effect can be explained with classical wave theory and a quantum theory of matter.
• Hydrino Theory. This theory claims that hydrogen energy states can lowered past the accepted ground state value hinting at near unlimited energy possibilities. Of course, there is no experimental evidence to support this theory, nonetheless it should still be debated just like the theory of evolution.

I know I left off some great theories that should be debated, but I just can’t think any more. If you are a Louisiana teacher, feel free to contact me if you need materials to debate these theories in your class.

Really, don’t think of the LA Science Act as a limitation but more as an opportunity. Also, with great power, comes a greater responsibility to do good.

Tags: fake

I am currently teaching an introductory astronomy course for non-science majors. I thought this might be an opportunity to turn this into something useful. Why not just put my lectures online? Well, instead of actual lectures, I created presentations with voice overs. Read More...

Tags: astronomy, video

I see alternative ideas about powering cars on the internet all the time (as you probably do also). The latest is a car that runs off of water from Japan. My problem has always been “where does the energy come from?” If you use water as an energy source, you would have to reduce its energy somehow. Not sure how you would do that. Robert Rapier has done a little investigation and found that the car likely uses metal hydrides to release hydrogen from the water.

Read his post, it includes a good explanation.
Read More...

Tags: energy

This is a surprisingly fun question to ask.

Which of the following is the farthest from the Earth?

1. The Moon
2. The Sun
3. Jupiter
4. A star

Read More...

Tags: astronomy, question

On my dive to school today, the Walton and Johnson show was on. I think the topic of complaint was off shore oil rigs. One girl (lady) called in and said something along the lines of:

“Let me give you guys a science lesson. The human eye can only see 17 miles. So, if they put oil rigs more than 17 miles off the coast, no one can see them to complain about them.”

So, why did I think this was interesting?
Read More...

Tags: light

Which wastes more fuel? (and thus produces more carbon dioxide). This is a difficult to question to answer for a variety of reasons. The main reason is that a speed change from 71 mph to 70 mph is different than a reduction from 56 to 55 mph. Read More...

Tags: energy, cars

I try to stress to people that driving faster on shorter trips doesn't really make THAT big of a difference in time. Also, you can save money by driving slower. This was essentially the idea behind my optimal commuting speed calculator. The problem is that this calculator doesn't really work if you don't get paid by the hour. I decided to make a graph anyway that shows the decrease in your efficiency (and thus increase and how much you spend on gas) at the same time showing how much time you save. That way, you can use your own weighting of the importance of time.

For this graph, I used an efficiency of 25 miles per gallon when driving 70 mph. The trip distance is 20 miles and the cost of gas is $4 per gallon.

You can see going 90 mph instead of 50 mph save you 10 minutes, but cost more than $2.50 dollars MORE than going 50 mph.

Tags: energy, cars

Read More...

Tags: energy, cars

Everyone is concerned about power and carbon dioxide, right? Well, maybe we should look at some alternative energy sources. I previously proposed using the rotation energy of the Earth, but that didn't go over too well with the internet community. How about people power?

Can people be used to produce power? Obviously. Do people produce carbon dioxide? Sure, its called breathing. Would we do better to use people? I don't know, but I will try to make some simple calculations. Read More...

Tags: energy, cars

Here is a nice little (well not too short) quiz on the basics of high school level physics (with no math). Basically it is a true or false type quiz. Take it for fun:
Physics Savvy Quiz
I missed a couple of the questions (well, technically I missed three).

One question was about negative acceleration. I really don't like this because I think of acceleration as a vector:

In which case "negative" acceleration does not really make sense. If you are talking about components of acceleration, then you can have a negative component. It is possible to have a negative component of acceleration in the same direction as the component of velocity, so that would make the speed increase. I guess I am just sensitive about vectors. (really I am just making an excuse for why I missed that one).

The other one I missed was comparing milliliters and cubic centimeters. I never see milliliters and accidentally read it as millimeters. You can't compare millimeters and cm³, so I chose false. That is wrong.

The last one I missed is completely my fault. It was asking about the mass of a cloud. Really, just a lack of knowledge on my part.

Anyway, check out the quiz. Lots of fun. Really, I am just stalling because I have not finished my next project and I don't want to leave my site unupdated (I know thats not really a word).

Tags: kinematics

Why does this question keep coming up? Why do people even use this question? Read More...

Tags: electrodymanics

Last night, I saw the ISS and the space shuttle fly overhead. Quite cool. Here is a great site that allows you to look up the fly over times for your location.
http://www.heavens-above.com/

Tags: astronomy, space

• Question: Can you light a light bulb with just 1 battery and 1 wire?

In this case, it is a bare copper wire, a plane light bulb and a D-cell battery Read More...

Tags: electric current, question

Question: When is the Sun directly overhead? (assume you are in the United States of America).

Common Answers:

• Everyday at noon
• On the summer solstice (June 21)

Read More...

Tags: astronomy, question

Suppose you shine a light on a mirror in a dark room, what would you see? Well, it depends on what angle you are looking at the mirror. One very common response is that the mirror will be shiny and bright since you are shining a light on it. I built a box to explore this question. Read More...

Tags: light

Or...Why does the moon look different sometimes?

This is actually a pretty good question to ask random people. Many, many of them will get it incorrect. Here are some common responses you might encounter:

• The Earth's shadow cast on the moon is what causes it to appear different.
• "Clouds" is another response that comes up once in a while.

What about the correct answer?
Bonus Question: Can you see the moon during the day? (really, ask people this one)
Read More...

Tags: astronomy, question

I do not like the show "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader". The main reason for my dissatisfaction is that they probably use real questions from real schools. And here lies the problem. Read More...

Tags: electric current, question

Surprisingly, I STILL get comments and questions from students and teachers about Pluto. Questions such as:

• "Why do scientists hate Pluto?"
• "How did they discover that Pluto was not a planet"
• "What will happen to our planet songs without Pluto?"
• "Why does Goofey wear clothes, but Pluto doesn't even though they are BOTH dogs?"

Here is the explanation I like to give:
Read More...

Tags: astronomy

This is the first of a series (hopefully weekly) science questions. These questions are meant to be of the type that are:

• Interesting
• Ones that most people will have an answer for
• Ones that reveal some type of common misunderstanding

The first question is: What causes the seasons? Or better - why is it warmer in the summer than in the winter? (for the Northern hemisphere)
Read More...

Tags: astronomy, question