By Tushna Commissariat
The results of a successful scientific experiment can make scientists very happy. Indeed, in the clip above, taken from the BBC TV series Human Universe, one scientist exclaims “holy mackarel!” when he sees the outcome he was hoping for. In the video, everybody’s favourite physicist Brian Cox carries out an experiment similar to Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment, where he tested that no matter the mass of objects, they fall at the same rate under gravity. In the video above, Cox drops a bunch of feathers and a bowling ball in the world’s biggest vacuum chamber – the Space Simulation Vacuum Chamber at NASA’s Space Power Facility in Ohio, US. In the slow-motion video, you can see with exquisite clarity just how accurate Galileo’s prediction was, as the feathers and ball land at precisely the same time. We came across this video on the Dot Physics blog on the Wired Science network, written by physicist Rhett Allain, where he has worked out some of the maths and pointed out some of the nuances of the above experiment, so make sure you take a look.
Our regular readers will have seen that yesterday I pointed you to a live webcast of “Quantum Mechanics and Spacetime in the 21st Century” – a lecture by physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed as part of the Perimeter Institute’s Public Lecture Series. You can now watch the lecture on YouTube. Also, take a look at physicist Peter Woit’s blog Not Even Wrong, where he has a slightly more critical take on the lecture and Arkani-Hamed’s views on supersymmetry. Don’t forget to tell us in the comments below which camp you fall into!
Also, to commemorate what would have been much-loved physicist and science communicator Carl Sagan’s 80th birthday, the Perimeter Institute has put together a very fun list titled “19 awesome things about Carl Sagan other than Cosmos“. Do take a look to find out how long a Sagan Unit is and what a mysterious “Mr X” wrote about in an essay in 1971.
The Internet is abuzz with talk about the latest physics-related blockbuster film Interstellar, which is out today. As I am reviewing the film for Physics World, I have been careful to not read any reviews about the film just yet! But I have it on good authority from colleagues that this blog by physicist John Preskill titled “When I met with Steven Spielberg to talk about Interstellar” and this interview in Science magazine with Kip Thorne, titled “Physicist who inspired Interstellar spills the backstory – and the scene that makes him cringe” make for some excellent reading. Next week, I will also be attending a première of the film Theory of Everything, which encapsulates the early life of celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking. I am quite looking forward to the “red carpet, Leicester Square” event, and I will be writing about the film soon after, so keep an eye out for it on the blog next week.
And finally, see if you could land a vehicle on a comet, as the Rosetta craft will do next week, thanks to this interactive game on the BBC website and take a look at some pictures from the life of a PhD student on the Guardian website…my favourite is “Space Desk”.
