List of Physics Posts:
- Is Consciousness Fundamental? July 2, 2015
Introduction
About a year ago, I wrote an article called The Essence of Life: Two Potential Models. In that article, I explained that all the matter around us, which includes the bodies and brains of living beings, are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. These fundamental particles “swap out” all the time, and yet we ... - Nuclear Energy Part 3: Fusion – The Holy Grail of Energy February 11, 2015
The Nuclear Energy Series continues! The last post discussed climate change, and who is to blame for it (hint: us). This series has been intended to be an unbiased look at nuclear energy to power our high-energy lifestyles, especially for an eventual transition to a post-carbon society that doesn’t significantly affect the climate. First, I wrote up an introduction to nuclear power, which ... - Nuclear Energy Part 2: Fuels for Fission October 23, 2014
Furthering our exploration of different energy sources that are alternatives to fossil fuels, let’s take a closer look at the energy source that was introduced in the last post, nuclear energy. In that post, I introduced where nuclear energy comes from (the nucleus of the atom), and that there are two types of reactions: fusion, ... - Nuclear Energy Part 1: What is Nuclear Energy? October 9, 2014
With regards to energy, so far I have talked about why energy is awesome, gone over the basics of energy, and explored how the consumption of energy affects quality of life. With all that out of the way, I want to start taking a look at energy sources that are alternatives to fossil fuels (fossil ... - The Basics of Energy September 11, 2014
I was intending to get into a series of posts on human energy needs, but figured it would be a better start to post on the basics of what energy is, what forms it takes, how it is measured, and a few other physical parameters involved. This will hopefully be a light, fun read, and ... - The Essence of Life: Two Potential Models May 22, 2014
Introduction – The Fabric of Life:
Everything on Earth, and every other planet, is made up of the same matter. The fabric of life is the particles making up all matter in the universe, including the physical forms of living beings. These particles (simplified) are protons, neutrons, and electrons, with the energy coursing through these particles being massless ... - Sleep Series – Part 3: Serotonin, Melatonin, and your Circadian Rhythm May 13, 2014
Introduction – Your Circadian Rhythm:
My previous post explained what sleep scientists have measured during sleep using EEG, and scientists’
current state of interpretations. Included in that post was my definition of objective sleep quality: going through the proper sequence of sleep cycles during the night with sufficient amounts of both stage 3 sleep (slow-wave sleep) and ... - Thorium Energy – A Source of Nuclear Power March 29, 2014
Kirk Sorensen is an advocate of a much safer and more abundant form of nuclear power that uses thorium energy as fuel. I found this documentary riveting and eye opening. Anyone who has any feelings towards nuclear power should give this a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4
Featured image courtesy of Rui Costa.
Share this:FacebookEmailLinkedInRedditTwitterPrintGooglePinterestTumblr - Sunlight Series: Part 6 – Ozone Depletion vs Global Dimming March 26, 2014
Featured photo courtesy of Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre.
Introduction:
Earlier in the Sunlight Series I wrote about electromagnetic energy being radiated by the sun, and how it’s mostly infrared, visible light,and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
From my last post, we know that the atmosphere absorbs electromagnetic radiation before it hits Earth’s surface. This radiation absorption differs depending on the ... - Sunlight Series: Part 5 – Solar Irradiance and Earth’s Atmosphere March 26, 2014
Featured image courtesy of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Introduction:
I began this series by opining that using sunscreen is a misguided approach to protecting yourself from the sun’s radiation (unless under extreme circumstances), and that we should, in fact, be exposing our bare skin to unfiltered sunlight regularly. By the end of this series (still another few ... - Sunlight Series: Part 4 – How is Energy Produced in the Sun? March 26, 2014
Featured photo courtesy of Daniel R. Blume.
The past two posts in this series introduced and explained the concepts of electromagnetic radiation, and the - Sunlight Series: Part 3 – The Electromagnetic Spectrum January 27, 2014
Featured image courtesy of Miriam.
My last post discussed the nature of light, and that our current understanding is that light can be thought of as an electromagnetic wave carrying varying amounts of energy expressed by different wavelengths, or frequencies.
The differences in the wavelengths/frequencies creates the electromagnetic spectrum.
The electromagnetic spectrum takes us all the way from ... - Sunlight Series: Part 2 – Electromagnetic Radiation January 27, 2014
Featured photo courtesy of Tamara.
Before a detailed discussion on the effects of sunlight on the body can begin, I believe the reader should be oriented with the concept of ‘light’ itself, which is the intention of this post. I’m not going to explain optics,
but focus upon the question of the nature of light, and explain ...
Featured photo courtesy of Hash Milhan.