From Physics Research Features

Network Theory: A Key to Unraveling How Nature Works

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

You are looking at a network diagram that shows the interconnectedness of the world economy. To learn more about this network, visit Mapping the World Economy. - To find out how networks are related to "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," visit Network Theory: A Key to Unraveling How Nature Works. - To learn about a physicist who studies networks, see Physics Rules Network Dynamics.

Making a supersonic jet in your kitchen

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EST

What exactly happens when an object makes a splash in water? The disk shown above was pulled into water in a reproducible way to investigate the splash. - The results were surprising... including a supersonic jet of air! - To learn more, see Making a supersonic jet in your kitchen, and don't miss the video of the splash.

The Real Sea Monsters: On the Hunt for Rogue Waves

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 EST

This "rogue wave" broke over the deck of an oil tanker, and was much taller than the other waves on the ocean at the time. See Freak Waves, Rogue Waves for graphs of rogue waves building up in the ocean, and for the measurement of one that struck an oil platform in the North Sea. - To learn more about these waves, see The Real Sea Monsters: On the Hunt for Rogue Waves - Also, check out this Discovery News article to find out about a cruise ship that was recently damaged by a huge wave.

From Soap Bubbles to Technology

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST

The soap film you see here, made in between two metal rings, is called a catenoid, and it uses the minimum area to enclose a given volume. Click on the image to see another example of a "minimal surface" soap film. - Minimizing area can reduce construction costs--see this catenoid-shaped cooling tower, from this Wikipedia page. - To learn more, visit From Soap Bubbles to Technology.

About Dust

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST

This satellite image shows a recent dust storm in China that was so large it spread out to neighboring countries. For more on this storm, see this Time magazine article and also About Dust. - Find out how dust storms might be good for Beijing. - Also, see this photo essay on a dust storm in Sydney, Australia - And for dust storms around the world, visit Earth Snapshot.

Shock Diamonds and Mach Disks

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST

When the speed of the gases in a jet or rocket exhaust exceeds the speed of sound, a dazzling pattern results called "shock diamonds" or "Mach disks," as shown in this photo of the SR-71 Blackbird. The diamonds are created by crisscrossing shock waves in the exhaust. You can see shock diamonds in a static rocket test in this NASA video. For more information, check out Shock Diamonds and Mach Disks.

Stellar Evolution

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST

When the Sun reaches the end of its life, its outer layers will drift into space, an intricate cloud illuminated by its hot, dense core, as in this false-color image of a planetary nebula and white dwarf. For more details, see this page on the death of solar-mass stars. How a star lives and dies depends upon its mass. For an overview of the lifetime of different types of stars, see The Life and Death of Stars. You should also see the Interactive Guide to Stellar Evolution and, for very thorough explanations, the Stellar Evolution pages from the Chandra website.

Perspectives on Plasmas

Sun, 16 May 2010 00:00:00 EST

This eerie orb is a ball of plasma, created by discharging electricity into a solution. See the image source for more on how the image was made. To learn about plasmas and their many applications, check out Perspectives on Plasmas and Plasmas.com.

Properties of Volcanic Ash

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:00:00 EST

Why were so many European airports closed due to the volcano? The image above of one volcanic ash particle begins to tell us why: the extremely small particles, with their many voids, can travel great distances after eruption. Once inside a jet engine, they melt and then re-solidify. Read Properties of Volcanic Ash for more details. You can learn about the specific dangers of flying through volcanic ash here. Airlines try to avoid flying through ash, but it does happen. Read the account of one pilot at What it’s Like to Fly through Volcanic Ash, and see the precautions against ash that Boeing takes here. For more on the hazards of flying through ash, see this Cocktail Party Physics blog post.

NSSDC Photo Gallery Moon

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST

Here the moon is illuminated by Earthshine, but this image was captured by the Clementine satellite, in orbit about the moon. Compare the pattern of the maria and craters in the From Physics Research and Physics in Your World images. Do both of these images show the same side of the Moon? Also, how are the differences in the images consistent with the location of the camera that captured each one?

Inertial Fusion Energy

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST

The image above shows the alignment of a target for an experimental inertial fusion reactor. Click on the image to see the chamber in which 192 laser beams focus on this small target. To learn more about this experiment, visit Inertial Fusion Energy and also the links within.

The Arctic Oscillation

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST

Great Britain is usually exempt from the cold winter weather in other countries of the same latitude. (Warm air from the Gulf Stream keeps temperatures mild; read more here.) However, as the image above shows, Britain’s winter was much colder than usual. One reason for this change is The Arctic Oscillation, the process of alternating pressure regions in the northern hemisphere. For more on Britain’s recent and upcoming weather, check out this article from the Guardian discussing El Nino.

The Galactic Center at Different Wavelengths

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST

You are looking at a radio image of the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Many astronomers believe the bright object in the center is a black hole. For more on the image, see Sagittarius A. To find out what different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum reveal about the galactic center, see The Galactic Center at Different Wavelengths. To see orbits of stars around the galactic center, check out this Physics to Go feature: UCLA Galactic Center Group.

20G Centrifuge

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

This is the NASA 20-G centrifuge, a large-scale version of the centrifuges you may have seen in biology class used to separate suspended material. In the NASA centrifuge, the human subject rides in a small compartment on the end of the arm and experiences the "fictitious" centrifugal force pushing outward at up to 20 times the force of gravity. To learn more about the NASA centrifuge, see 20G Centrifuge. For more on the centrifugal force, check out this Hyperphysics page. (This feature was updated on June 21, 2010)

Plate Tectonics, the Cause of Earthquakes

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

You can see the fault responsible for the earthquake in Haiti as a short diagonal line in the upper left part of this radar topography image. The city of Port-au-Prince is located just below and to the left of this line. See this feature from JPL for a more detailed explanation. Large faults such as this are the points of contact between two massive plates of the Earth’s crust. When the plates move, the result is often an earthquake. See Plate Tectonics, the Cause of Earthquakes to learn more.

Ferrofluids

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

Ferrofluids are made of tiny magnetic particles suspended in a liquid. In this image, the ferrofluid pushes above a surface layer of oil and forms spikes along the magnetic field lines of a magnet underneath. Read Ferrofluids for more information. For more images of ferrofluids, check out this picture and the archived Physics to Go feature, “Ferrofluid Fun.”

Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

You don’t want to stand in front of the HERCULES laser beam at the University of Michigan. In February of 2008, U-M physicists produced the most intense beam of light ever observed. Read more at Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity.

Hubble's Deepest View of the Universe Unveils Bewildering Galaxies across Billions of Years

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Thousands of galaxies of all shapes, sizes, and time periods can be seen in the famous Hubble Deep Field, a fitting image for the end of the International Year of Astronomy. - Watch this video from HubbleSite for an overview of the image and how it was made. - Read the original press release for this image here. - See a picture of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, taken almost ten years after the Hubble Deep Field image. - Learn about the James Webb Space Telescope, the telescope that will succeed Hubble in 2014.

Robotic Fly

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST

Think before swatting the next fly you see, because it might be a robot. Researchers from the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory have developed a robotic fly that can actually take flight. Read about the journey to develop the fly at Robotic Fly, and be sure to see the video of the fly in flight. For more information on how real flies fly, check out Flight Insights from Flies.

PhysicsCentral: Fiddle Physics

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

These patterns, known as Chladni patterns, show modes of vibration on a guitar faceplate (left) and a metal plate (right). The motion of the plates shakes sand into lines where the surface is still--these lines are called nodes. Read more about Chladni patterns here, and see the larger image for more Chladni patterns on a guitar. Check out PhysicsCentral: Fiddle Physics to see how a fiddle works and how Chladni patterns form on a violin faceplate. You can watch Chladni patterns form in this YouTube video, Chladni Patterns on a Square Plate. This feature was updated March 9, 2010.

Nuclear Power

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Nuclear reactors create heat through nuclear fission instead of burning fossil fuels. Learn about fission and how nuclear reactors work at Nuclear Power. Why does the water in a nuclear reactor glow blue? When particles enter water moving faster than the speed of light in water, blue light is produced, like in the picture above. Read more about the mechanism here.

APOD: X-Ray Moon

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

What you see above is two images of the moon in x-ray light as it moves in front of an x-ray binary star system. The binary is visible as a yellow dot in the first image before being obscured by the moon in the second. Learn more about this image here. To see another image of the moon in x-ray light, see APOD: X-Ray Moon.

Through a lens, darkly

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

This image shows a prediction of how a "metamaterial" prism bends light. The prism is the white wedge in the middle, and the white light shines on the prism from below. To learn about metamaterials, see Through a lens, darkly and this Discover Magazine article. Compare the position of the red light in this spectrum to what you see in Physics in Your World.

Granular Materials

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Is this the maze from Labryinth or the back of a kid’s cereal box? It’s actually fingers of air winding through a fluid and grain mixture as it drains. You can see more pictures here. Find out about granular materials and research going on in the field from this University of California, Santa Barbara research page.

Research Helps Protect Against Lightning Damage

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST

Researchers at Georgia Tech hurl artificial lightning at electrical equipment as part of their work to better protect utilities against lightning strikes. Read more about their research here.