Sustainable Balance » physics

Nuclear Energy Part 1: What is Nuclear Energy?

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:00:37 +0000

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 […]

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The Basics of Energy

Thu, 11 Sep 2014 18:47:50 +0000

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 […]

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The Essence of Life: Two Potential Models

Thu, 22 May 2014 14:00:29 +0000

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 […]

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Thorium Energy – A Source of Nuclear Power

Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:23:34 +0000

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. Featured image courtesy of Rui Costa.

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Sunlight Series: Part 6 – Ozone Depletion vs Global Dimming

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:51:27 +0000

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 […]

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Sunlight Series: Part 5 – Solar Irradiance and Earth’s Atmosphere

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 04:29:06 +0000

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 […]

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Sunlight Series: Part 4 – How is Energy Produced in the Sun?

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:39:15 +0000

Featured photo courtesy of Daniel R. Blume. The past two posts in this series introduced and explained the concepts of electromagnetic radiation, and the

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Sunlight Series: Part 3 – The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 05:47:55 +0000

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 […]

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Sunlight Series: Part 2 – Electromagnetic Radiation

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 05:21:57 +0000

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 […]

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