Category Archives: physics

Propellers with rolling shutter

Posted on July 22, 2017 by

I really loved Smarter Every Day’s cool video about propellers shot by digital video cameras: I especially like how he stuck with it over several years! I liked the explanation a lot about why the propellers take on such weird … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, math, mathematica, physics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Helium whistling

Posted on May 14, 2017 by

Earlier today my son asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to. So I took to twitter: son asked if inhaling He raises you whistle. I say yes but I'm not sure. Anyone know? — Andy Rundquist (@arundquist) … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, physics, teaching, twitter | 3 Comments

Blooming energy

Posted on April 17, 2017 by

Today I saw that the tree outside my office window had blossomed over the weekend: So I got to wondering how much energy it had used to do that. I asked the question on twitter this tree sprouted over the … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, mathematica, physics, technology | 3 Comments

Lasers bouncing inside stuff

Posted on February 10, 2017 by

I’ve written before about how I sometimes like to imagine what would happen if you shot a laser in a fully mirrored room. Back then I did a bunch of cool stuff with flat walls, mostly by calculating the distance … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, mathematica, physics | 3 Comments

Help us crowd-source our drums!

Posted on July 3, 2016 by

My students have been working hard this summer on a project I’ve talked about before. Here’s the gist: Normal drums aren’t melodic. They have resonant frequencies but they aren’t in a pattern that we think sounds good. That’s why they’re … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematica, physics, research, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Relativistic Lagrangians

Posted on June 28, 2016 by

I’m a part of a cool group of folks interested in infusing computation into undergraduate physics curriculum. One of the projects is called “relativistic dynamics” and it really got me thinking. I thought I’d get my thoughts down here. Lagrangian … Continue reading →

Posted in physics, teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Optimal race path

Posted on March 18, 2016 by

I ride my bike to work so I’m often thinking about the best path to take around corners. I know bike racers and car racers (and bob sledders) are often told to head into a corner wide, then cut the … Continue reading →

Posted in mathematica, physics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments