Category Archives: History of Science

60-Second Hilarious Adventures in Astronomy

A slide picture from 60 seconds in Astronomy, showing English astronomer on holiday. Image: The Open University
12 Short Videos about the Physics of the Cosmos

The Open University has teamed up with “geek chic” comedian David Mitchell to release a series of 12 short animated YouTube videos about the Physics of the Cosmos: “60-Second Adventures in Astronomy”.  A real treat.  And it’s educational!  If you have only 60 seconds, you can now learn everything we know about matter, energy, life, the Universe and everything…

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The Standard Model

... but what is a Higgs Boson?

20th Century World View

The Standard Model of Particle Physics is a theory about the electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear interactions, developed throughout the mid-to-late 20th century, as a worldwide collaborative effort. Upon experimental confirmation of the existence of quarks, the theory is finalised in the mid-1970s.  Ever since that time, further evidence of its validity have been provided by successive discoveries of the other predicted particles, such as the bottom quark (1977), the top quark (1995), the tau neutrino (2000) and even more recently, the Higgs boson (2012) to complete the whole set.

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Fallen from Outer Space…

A photograph of Daredevil Felix Baumgartner, as he boldly prepares to jump off his high altitude capsule for the ultimate record-breaking space dive on 14th October 2012.

Record-Breaking Space Dive

14th October 2012.  During his ultimate high-altitude parachute jump, Felix Baumgartner spends approximately 4 minutes and 22 seconds in freefall, at the maximum speed of 1,342 kilometres per hour. 

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Constant Matters

Pi_Number
Physical Constants (SI Units)







Avogadro Constant

N_{A} = 6.022 \times 10^{23} mol^{-1}

Bohr Radius

a_0 = 5.29 \times 10^{-11} m

Boltzmann Constant

k = 1.381 \times 10^{-23} JK^{-1}

Charge on an Electron

e = - 1.602 \times 10^{-19} C

Gravitational Constant

G = 6.673 \times 10^{-11} Nm^{2} kg^{-2}

Magnitude of Acceleration due to Gravity

g = 9.81 m s^{-2}

Permeability of Free Space 

\mu_{0} = 4 \pi \times 10^{-7} T m A^{-1}

Permittivity of Free Space 

\epsilon_{0} = 8.854 \times 10^{-12} C^{2} N^{-1} m^{-2}

Speed of Light in a vacuum

c = 2.998 \times 10^{8} m s^{-1}

 

World Views

Astronomical Beginnings

Early astronomers already make the distinction between stars and planets, as the former remain relatively fixed for centuries, while the latter wander an appreciable amount in a comparatively short time.  But that’s not all!

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