Applied Physics

Taking Science To The Movies

After Top Gun, the number of fighter pilot recruits exploded. After CSI took over the country, more people went into forensic science. The lesson? Media definitely makes a difference in the level of interest of a topic- An Inconvenient Truth, anyone?- so p ...

Article - Becky Jungbauer - Jan 6 2010 - 3:24am

Quantum-Seismological Relations

After posting the thought on facebook, I have decided to begin a blog on this topic. The blog will track my day-to-day research on the subject. Once finally compiled and completed, further action will proceed. I recommend anyone that reads this to ask ques ...

Blog Post - Joel Taylor - Jan 16 2010 - 2:35pm

King Coal And The Heat Values Of Fuels

King Coal And The Heat Values Of Fuels A Potted History Of The Human Use Of Coal The term 'coal' covers many different materials with a common property: they are materials high in carbon which were formed from plant residues under pressure and o ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 7 2010 - 9:45am

Dirty Coal And Boring Science

Dirty Coal And Boring Science There was a time when, through the proliferation of steam power, coal extraction in vast quantities became economically viable.  Throughout the U.K. coal was burned to make steam for locomotives, factories and ships.  It was ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 7 2010 - 10:03am

How Can Ice Work Like A Horse?

How Can Ice Work Like A Horse? In this short series of articles about coal, engines and energy I am trying to show something of  the history behind our current knowledge of heat, energy and thermodynamics.  As discoveries were made about the nature of hea ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 18 2010 - 9:44pm

Boring Science Produces Awesome Results

Boring Science Produces Awesome results The simple scientific observation that you can't use the same energy twice is absolutely awesome! This is a further article in my occasional series about coal, engines and energy, heat and thermodynamics. What ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 18 2010 - 9:46pm

Pushing The Moon Away With Victorian Machinery

Pushing The Moon Away With Victorian Machinery This is a further article in my occasional series about coal, engines and energy, heat and thermodynamics.  In this article I am going to show you how to push the Moon further away using some very basic machi ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 24 2010 - 12:28pm

More Bang Per Buck In The Steam Age

Getting More Bang Per Buck In The Steam Age Once the physics of steam engines began to be understood, engineers were able to focus their minds on how to get more power for the same fuel, or the same power from less fuel. A simple way to get more useful po ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 21 2010 - 7:13pm

New Hydrophobic Interface Mimics Spider Hairs

Engineers from the University of Florida and Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea have developed what they call a 'nearly perfect hydrophobic interface' by reproducing, on small bits of flat plastic, the shape and patterns of the minute hairs t ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 24 2010 - 12:30pm

Spaceship Earth: Entropy Factor #1

Spaceship Earth: Entropy Factor #1 We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 25 2010 - 7:04am