Good ol’ trig: that bastion of angles and triangles is essential to calculating velocity, momentum, and much more. https://media.wired.com/photos/5c1aee11d583c6192e66cc41/master/pass/triangles-1050117030.jpg
Tag: physics
Physics can explain the fastball’s unexpected twist, new study finds
Enlarge / Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers the pitch during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. (credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) The fastball is, as its name implies, the fastest pitch in major league baseball, reaching speeds in excess of […]
How to Deconstruct a Football Tackle With Physics
Using video of a football collision, you can figure out the velocity and momentum of the players involved. https://media.wired.com/photos/5bf2ddd9d088207a83028565/master/pass/Football-1063164938.jpg
The Insane Physics of Airbags
In a collision, a car’s airbag has a tiny fraction of a second in which to inflate—which is why airbags use explosives. https://media.wired.com/photos/5bb687d2a8af29311755612c/master/pass/airbag_top-875342536.jpg
Rare Nobel Prize win by a woman a ‘stark reminder’ of sexism in physics
A woman won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the first time in 55 years. The announcement came just a day after a physicist was suspended by CERN for controversial remarks about women. The two events highlight the sexism that endures in physics, but also some positive changes underway.
There’s Some Dodgy Physics in Solo: A Star Wars Story
Chewbacca is falling out of a moving train! Han rushes to save him! Turns out, ordinary physics would have saved him, too. https://media.wired.com/photos/5bb3fffc2b915f2dff96d696/master/pass/chewbacca-971316060.jpg
Physics ‘invented by men’? Scientist faces backlash after ‘highly offensive’ talk on gender bias
A senior scientist at Pisa University has sparked anger following a talk he gave on the role of women in physics at Cern, the European nuclear research centre, in which he said that physics was “invented and built by men”. Responding to the backlash, Cern released a statement which said the talk given by Prof […]
The Physics of a Star Wars Bomber Dropping Bombs in Space
The Empire Strikes Back brought us the TIE bomber—and new physics questions to try to solve. https://media.wired.com/photos/5ba171ba0a8e1d59b69ba24b/master/pass/tiepilot-624506128.jpg
Whose name should be on the laws of physics for an expanding universe?
Enlarge / A monument in Belgium to Georges Lemaitre that shows his idea of an expanding universe. (credit: Wikimedia/EmDee, CC BY-SA) Astronomers are engaged in a lively debate over plans to rename one of the laws of physics. It emerged overnight at the 30th Meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in Vienna, where members […]
The Physics of Falling Into a Black Hole
This week, newspapers reported that a man had fallen into an art installation consisting of an 8-foot-deep circular hole painted black. It’s kinda not his fault. https://media.wired.com/photos/5b807e380ff4383e72d8ba31/master/pass/kapoor_18234546505468.jpg
