mad physics

The story of Einstein’s refrigerator

We tend to think of Albert Einstein has a highfalutin theoretical physics guru, but the physicist also worked on much more everyday tasks…like developing an energy-efficient refrigerator. Allow Jennifer Ouellette from Cocktail Party Physics to explain. Ah, innovation! What would we do without this driver of new technology and new consumer markets? Science is the…

io9 Jennifer Ouellette -- Cocktail Party Physics Dec 5

New discovery could be best hint yet of the elusive Higgs boson

The Higgs boson is the missing particle that would complete the standard model of particle physics, but so far we’ve found little to even suggest it actually exists. But a new finding might just have come from a decaying Higgs. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is one of several individual detectors that comprise the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 14

Gravity finally starts cooperating with quantum mechanics…maybe

Gravity is usually the arch-nemesis of quantum mechanics, stubbornly refusing to play nice with the forces governing the interactions of subatomic particles. Now we’ve discovered a rare instance where gravity actually assists quantum interactions, which just might help unify physics. There are four fundamental forces: gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 5

Dark matters could be hiding in the Sun and affecting neutrinos

We’re pretty much certain that dark matter exists, but we’re still working to nail down precisely what dark matter is. One leading candidate, known as the WIMP, might be trapped inside the Sun, sucking heat away and altering fusion reactions. If WIMPs – weakly interacting massive particles – really are the missing dark matter particles,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 12

Universal “constant” actually varies with time and space (which could help create a unified theory of physics)

The strength of the electromagnetic interaction, one of physics’s most fundamental constants, is actually very slowly changing, and has different values in different parts of the universe. This amazing find could help us find a grand unified theory of physics. Known as the fine-structure constant and generally represented with the Greek symbol α, this constant…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 6

How gun silencers really work

When it comes to undesired noises, silencing guns is the same thing as silencing incessant yammerers. It all comes down to dealing with hot gas. When a cork pops out of a champagne bottle, a lid pops off an over-heated jar, or a bullet shoots from a gun; they all result in a sound. High…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 28

Why golf balls have dimples

You’d think a totally smooth surface would be better at flying through the air with the least amount of wind resistance. So why do golf balls have all those little indentations? So they can use the air against itself. Ah, golf, the thing you watch when nothing else is on and you’re not energetic enough…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 9

How to create a sonic boom at home

Find out what a sonic boom is, and how you can create it in the privacy of your own household. The one-line explanation for a sonic boom is this: A sonic boom is the shock wave that is produced when an object breaks the sound barrier. This makes it sound like the sound barrier itself…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 8

String theory and black holes show a possible path to practical superconductors

A leading candidate for room temperature superconductors is the copper compound cuprate, but no one knew how cuprates facilitated superconductivity…until some brave souls looked inside a black hole and broke out the string theory to explain how they work. Superconductors that can transmit massive amounts of electricity with zero resistance at room temperature are pretty…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 6

There was no Big Bang at the start of the universe, says physicist

A new theory explains the accelerating universe without invoking mysterious, unseen dark energy to account for the expansion. But it also gets rid of singularities, an unchanging speed of light…and the most famous astrophysical phenomenon of all, the Big Bang. Image by commons/Shutterstock The observation of certain supernovas in the late 1990s led astronomers to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 3

White holes might be too unstable to exist in our universe

White holes are basically black holes in reverse: They eject all the matter sucked into a black hole. We’ve never observed one, and most astrophysicists suspect they don’t exist – all because they’re not the exact opposite of black holes. White holes are, on a theoretical level, simply a recognition of the fact that, if…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 3

Quantum computers could overturn Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

The uncertainty principle is at the foundation of quantum mechanics: You can measure a particle’s position or its velocity, but not both. Now it seems that quantum computer memory could let us violate this rule. The theoretical underpinnings of the uncertainty principle are, like most things to do with quantum mechanics, extremely difficult to follow…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 3

Was our universe born inside a black hole in another universe?

The current explanation of the universe’s origins relies on clumsy assumptions and can’t explain most subatomic particles. A small tweak to general relativity solves these problems – and seemingly proves the universe must have come from a black hole elsewhere. As it stands right now, the explanation for the universe’s beginnings is built around a…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Jul 13

A Sunday morning primer on the joys of surface tension

A working knowledge of surface tension allows you to shove a skewer through a balloon without popping it and a pencil through a plastic bag full of water without spilling. Make your nieces and nephews think you’re cool. Surface tension occurs when a group of molecules are more attached to each other than they are…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 11

How do scientists use light to move matter?

Scientists can now use optical tweezers, optical traps, and optical levitation to conduct delicate experiments. Optical. The problem with modern biological science is that it deals with things that are unreasonably small. Gone are the days when being a biologist meant having a brush to cross-pollinate peas with, or a sketchbook to doodle pictures of…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 4

How do we measure gravitational waves?

“Gravitational telescopes” let scientists observe fluctuations in spacetime itself. They are, in a word, crazystupidamazing. Telescopes have been observing waves for a long time. The ones set up by brilliant past astronomers (or by modern people looking to bore their kids) are designed to call attention to visible light waves. Over time, people came to…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jul 3

Of whirlpools and Charybdis — let’s talk about vortex physics

Charybdis was a maiden-turned-giant whirlpool in “The Odyssey” who sucked ships down to their deaths. Sounds tragically unscientific, but this ancient Greek epic got one thing right – how vortex physics work. Originally Charybdis was a beautiful naiad, the daughter of Poseidon, who was punished for angering the gods. It’s tough to feel sympathy for…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 27

Flutter: The prissiest-sounding thing to ever knock down a bridge

Fluttering is usually reserved for fans, flags, and Nicolas Cage’s coats during action movies. Under the right conditions, though, it’s good for more than just window-dressing. Find out how flutter can be a force of nature…. In life, we can make a few things flutter, namely eyelashes and hearts. Physics flutter pretty much flutters itself.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 26

How do fish hide in clear waters?

Hey dead-eye, having trouble spearfishing? Find out why you’ll almost never catch a fish by aiming directly for it. The universal speed limit is the speed of light. Although the speed of light is treated as a constant, the practical speed of light is changed by the medium through which it travels. That is —…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 20

Why is the sky black at night?

Yesterday we discussed why the sky was blue during the day. Today we’ll cover Olbers’ Paradox, and why the sky turns black in the wee hours. During the day, sunlight is bright enough to drown out the light from most of the stars. In most cities, streetlights, neon lights, and those obnoxious little light-up sneakers…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Jun 19

mad physics

The story of Einstein’s refrigerator

New discovery could be best hint yet of the elusive Higgs boson

Gravity finally starts cooperating with quantum mechanics…maybe

Dark matters could be hiding in the Sun and affecting neutrinos

Universal “constant” actually varies with time and space (which could help create a unified theory of physics)

How gun silencers really work

Why golf balls have dimples

How to create a sonic boom at home

String theory and black holes show a possible path to practical superconductors

There was no Big Bang at the start of the universe, says physicist

White holes might be too unstable to exist in our universe

Quantum computers could overturn Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

Was our universe born inside a black hole in another universe?

A Sunday morning primer on the joys of surface tension

How do scientists use light to move matter?

How do we measure gravitational waves?

Of whirlpools and Charybdis — let’s talk about vortex physics

Flutter: The prissiest-sounding thing to ever knock down a bridge

How do fish hide in clear waters?

Why is the sky black at night?

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