Showing posts with label Physics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Physics. Show all posts

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Space

       I read a book about how Earth's rotation is slowing, how the moon was formed, the possibility of alien life, and other cool things. The book is titled The Universe At Home in the Cosmos by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, and Robert Irion. I learned a lot of new things. The authors wrote this book because they wanted to connect us to the universe.
       For example, Earth is slowed down by the moon's gravity. Every million years, a day becomes 16 seconds longer. Four hundred million years ago a day was only 22 hours long.
       The moon was created about 4.5 billion years ago. A mars sized asteroid hit the embryonic Earth. The very hot ejecta that came out in the crash started orbiting Earth. This then cooled and was pulled together by gravity to form the moon. Click here to learn more about the creation of the moon.
       Scientists believe that Jupiter's moon Europa could have life. Jupiter heats Europa so that there can be a ocean below the ice. Life could be possible in Europa's ocean because Biologists believe that life on Earth began in the sea.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Physics in superheroes?

I read the book The Physics of Superheros by James Kakalios. The whole point of the book was to explain how superheroes would work in real life. It has many complicated calculations, some of which, I didn't understand. It also showed how many superheroes could still have their incredibly amazing powers in the real world.

I thought the book was good, it may get a little boring at times, like when they're doing math. Each chapter shows a new superheroe and explains how they would work in real life. For example in the first couple chapters they talk about Superman, and how he was able to leap a tall building in one bound. The book showed that in order for him to do this, the gravity on his own planet must be 10 times the gracity here on earth. There also are a lot of complicated topic and theorys in it. Overall I thought the book was a great book, not a book I would read for SSR in english, but still good. You would like this book if you're interested in science or superheores of both.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Delve into the World of Nearly Everything.

Click here to go to the original picture.
Have you ever wanted to know (nearly) everything about (nearly) everything pertaining to sciences of all kinds? If so, then Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything may be the book for you. As you travel through time and space with a witty and knowledgeable narrator, you learn about how the universe came to be, about how hard it was (is) to be a scientist, learn about how different theories and ideas were created, and much, much more. My only qualm with the book is that it is a long -544 pages long- and hard to read book, and it's only for people who enjoy the challenge, and are willing to work through it. I really enjoyed the book, as Bill Bryson writes in a casual but informative way that helps you to better understand, learn and enjoy what the book is teaching you.


Click here to go to the original image.





Here are some specific topics you will encounter in the book:
  • How the universe started, and what it might become.
  • How scientists figured out the size of the Earth without measuring it (which would be crazy).
  • What would happen if a meteor crashed into the Earth?
  • What would happen if a long overdue super volcano were to erupt? (The volcano is called Yellowstone National Park. Yup the whole thing is one huge volcano, and an eruption would be hundreds of times larger than the largest known eruption to date: Krakatau).
  • The hardships that different scientists went through to get their ideas and discoveries out into the world.
Here's a video about the Yellowstone Park volcano:
Here's a link to the YouTube page in case you're having problems with the video.
Here's a PDF of the book, so you can read the first few pages and see what you think.