NotesAs you can see, even if it was possible to build a deflector shield generator of virtually infinite strength, the overall effectiveness of the system would still be limited by good old-fashioned structural limits. Ultimately, the survivability of a shielded spacecraft against physical impacts could (and would, given sufficient shield strength) conceivably come down to a set of bolts holding a shield generator onto the ship's spaceframe. This example highlights the severe problem with most attempts to rationalize sci-fi technologies, which is that people tend to look for the strongest link in the chain, not the weakest link in the chain.Unfurl
NotesBy the end of August 1945, there had been a total of three plutonium cores created in the entire world. Everyone knows about the first two. The first was put into the Gadget and detonated at Trinity in July 1945. The second was put into the Fat Man and detonated over Nagasaki in August 1945. The third, however, has been largely overlooked. The third core was the one that was destined to be the Third Shot dropped on Japan, had there been a Third Shot. Instead, it has a different story — but it was still not a peaceful one.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesThe 70-micron coating, or carbon nanotube carpet, is about half the thickness of a sheet of paper. It absorbs 99.9 percent of the light that hits it, researchers say.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesPhysicists have replicated the finding that the subatomic particles called neutrinos seem to travel faster than light. It is a remarkable confirmation of a stunning result, yet most in the field remain sceptical that the ultimate cosmic speed limit has truly been broken.FeedUnfurl
Notes"The fact that microwaves are now readily available to most of us in the western world and they are only a few centimetres in length, means that you can measure the speed of light in your very own home.The quickest and tastiest way to perform this little experiment is with marshmallows, but chocolate chips also work. You’ll obviously need a microwave oven as well, and a large, microwaveable dish. You will need a ruler, too."Unfurl
Notes"When spun up to very high speeds, a flywheel becomes a reservoir for a massive amount of kinetic energy, which can be stored or drawn back out at will. It becomes, in effect, an electromechanical battery."Unfurl
Notes"We want people to be assholes, not in real life, but in video games. Asshole Physics has the ability to change the world, allow people to take out their assholish tendencies in a controlled environment, and make going to grocery stores, banks, and dogfigUnfurl
Notes"the important role played by the number 42 has recently persuaded even the deepest skeptics that the subatomic world might hold the key to one of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematics."Unfurl
Notes"It demonstrates that a superconductive gyroscope is capable of generating a powerful gravitomagnetic field, and is therefore the gravitational counterpart of the magnetic coil."Unfurl
NotesAnsible communications, here we come: "Physicists have for the first time entangled two atomic quantum bits, or "qubits", that are separated by long distances."Unfurl
Notes"In a series of unsent letters to her mother, a theoretical physicist meditates on her life, examining how her work and her personal life both mesh with and obstruct each other. Taking a highly original approach to science writing, Levin reveals herself aUnfurl
Notes"Consequently physics per se cannot causally determine the outcome of human creativity; rather it creates the 'possibility space' to allow human intelligence to function autonomously."Unfurl
Notes"We must learn from Physics that models are imperfect and only an approximation of something that is much larger, and more complex that we can imagine." Excellent.Unfurl
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