TIM HAWKEY

Tim is of course this year's NPBHS Space School student. You can check on his progress at his Facebook page

Tim's the tall dude in the middle...

TACOMA BRIDGE COLLAPSE

This is the best colour footage I have seen so far of the 1940 bridge collapse at Tacoma Narrows in Washington State.

NEUTRINOS

If you missed Stephen Parke on the National Programme on Saturday, you can listen to his interview here

PHYSICS CLASSROOM

The old link on the right-hand side wasn't working: the Physics Classroom is now being hosted by Glenbrook South Physics website.

Check it out, it's brilliant!

THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE (PART ONE)

An entertaining and accessible documentary about string theory (amongst other things).



This is intended just as a "trailer": you can see the entire programme at the PBS website

TARANAKI TECH AT OTAGO

On a recent visit to Otago University's Physics Department I was pleased to see one of Ecoinnovations' generators being used in the energy research laboratory.
Mike Lawley makes these generators in Taranaki from Fisher & Paykel "Smart-Drive" washing-machine motors.

ROTATIONAL INERTIA FORMULAE

This diagram shows the formulae for calculating the rotational inertias of common shaped objects.

HOLIDAY ROCK COLLECTION - ROCK GUIDE

Here's an online rock guide you can start using to classify your rocks.

LIGHT + LIGHT = SHADOW

One of the most puzzling physics demonstrations can be one of the most illuminating!
How can a bright flame have a shadow?
It's an example of how electrons can increase their energy state by absorbing photons of light energy and then, when they "fall" back down to their lower energy state, emit a photon of light.
This is a good way to understand quantum theory. The electron can only exist in certain, defined energy states and so the photons absorbed or emitted as they move between any two states will always have the same energy.
Photon energy = Planck's constant (6.63x10^-34 Js) x frequency of light E=hf

And because the frequency of light determines the wavelength (λ=c/f where 'c' is the speed of light), and wavelength determines "colour", these photons will all have the same colour, for any given energy transition.

Which is why, when salt (sodium chloride) is burnt when illuminated by a sodium lamp, the sodium atoms will emit yellow light in the flame, but also absorb the yellow light produced by the sodium atoms in the lamp.

The result is that the flame produces a shadow on a screen.

NEW ZEALAND FROM THE SPACE SHUTTLE

Enjoy this photograph, which the space shuttle commander took for NPBHS student Charley Miles. Space shuttle on the left (tail fin pointing towards Earth) New Zealand on the right!

This makes a superb desktop image.

Click on the photo for the full version.