After re-watching Interstellar for the second time, it occurs to me how weird relativity really is. And even weirder, the Black Hole. Looking at the cinematic and artistic depiction of Garguanta, still, I was unimpressed. Accurate art and actual observation are different, after all. Being as stubborn as I am, the cinematic depictions simply did […]
The Physics Behind Curling
As such a popular sport in Canada, curling doesn’t get the credit that it deserves. On the outside, curling may just seem like two teams throwing rocks at a target. But, its combination of technique, strategy and science has always amazed me. Also, the fact that someone is able to hit a target from 150 […]
Gimbals and How they Work.
Ever wonder how photographers film seamless and smooth videos? How someone can run while filming and the clip isn’t shaky? Often times, this is the work of a gimbal. A gimbal is a mechanism that is able to keep an object/device stable, and allow it to move on a singular axis. It is most common […]
How Much Is -1 kg?
by Felix Zhou Image credit: Quantum Bits ©Argonne National Laboratory, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Well, it depends on what you mean by how much. Obviously, something with a mass of -1kg has that much matter in it. If you mean how much as in how much it’s worth in value, well, any negative mass would be invaluable to modern […]
Look Far Enough… and You’ll See the Past
By Chris Hwang It’s impossible to look at the present. As uncanny as this may seem, it’s quite literally true; when you look at something, you are looking at it the way it was in the past, not as it is in the present. How is this possible? When light bounces of an object and […]
Lending a Leg
by Yang Lu Terry Fox was determined to raise awareness and fundraise for cancer research. His Marathon of Hope saw him run across Canada, all on a prosthetic leg. But what is a prosthetic, and what advancements have been made to close the gap between artificial and real? What is a Prosthetic? A prosthetic is […]
The Horizon Problem and Why It’s Such a Mystery
As it stands, the Big Bang theory is accepted as the theory explaining how everything came to be. Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is one of the main pieces of evidence supporting this theory. Despite the universe constantly expanding, astronomers have found that the CMB in the entire observable universe has a uniform temperature. How […]
The Shocking Accuracy of Star Trek’s Enterprise
Star Trek, specifically The Next Generation, is one of my favourite science fiction shows. It has the right amount of antiquity to induce feelings of nostalgia, without feeling horribly dated for modern times. A large factor behind my bias for this series is the technical manual that my dad owned. The manual does its best […]
The Red Russian Victory Tank
What is the T-34? The year is 1941 and Operation Barbarossa is in full swing. Above all, this was an attempt by Nazi Germany to break their non-aggression pact and seize territory from the Soviet Union. However, the technological strides made over the course of the Second World War played a key role in how […]
HOW DO FORMULA ONE CARS STAY ON THE GROUND?
by Chris Hwang A Boeing 737, a passenger jet with a weight of over 75,000kg, takes off at speeds of 250km/h. A Formula 1 car, weighing just 740kg, races at speeds faster than 320km/h. Ridiculous, right? And so, how exactly does a F1 car stay stuck to the ground? Ironically, its rear wing. What sends […]