last physics post

The future solution to generate electricity may lie in nuclear fusion. Right now nuclear plants use fission where large atoms are broken down into smaller elements and a mass defect. It occurs in a chain reaction where a neutron collides with the nucleus of an atom causing it to separate. The mass defect is translated into energy by the equation E=mc^2.
Fusion, on the other hand, is the combination of small elements into larger elements. Rather than using a rare uranium element, fusion requires isotopes of hydrogen. Since hydrogen is much more common, fusion can almost be considered a renewable energy source.

Fish

I was looking at fish in the water swimming by my feet when I tried to grab one out of the water. I thought that I was on path to grab the fish when in reality the light was refracting and my hand missed the fish. The index of refraction of the water is much greater than the index of air. Therefore light travels slower in water than in air. The frequency of the light is constant in both mediums.

The angles can be calculated using the formula nsin(x)=nsin(x)where n=the index of refraction.

Music

Music is nothing but physics and waves. A pluck of the string creates a wave of a specific length that produces a sound of a certain frequency. Air can also create a wave frequency like that of a flute, trumpet, or harmonica. The distinct sound of each instrument is caused by the unique combination of different wave lengths that make up the sound. When plotted on a graph, the sound can be as simple as a sine wave or complex like a heartbeat monitor.
Different harmonics can be created by using the same instrument. In this illustration, the tubing shows how different wave lengths can occur from the same tube.

mirror

I was looking at myself in the mirror when I noticed that I could see my whole body in a mirror that was no more than three feet tall. Why could this occur? I could see my feet because the light rays from my feet reflect off of the mirror at the halfway point between my feet and my eyes. The light from the top of my head reflects off of the mirror where it is halfway between the top of my head and my eyes. By increasing the distance to the mirror, a smaller angle of reflection is required and therefore the mirror can be shorter in length.

CD wave diffraction

So I was driving in my car listening to my CD when I realized that I had been taking waves for granted. Sound waves were being amplified by the speakers and reaching my ears. When I would change the balance and tilt of the car, different speakers changed their amplification in order to make the sound loudest at a specific point in the car. I also realized that a CD works by means of light diffraction. A laser is shown beneath the CD and reflected off of the CD back into a laser reader. The bottom of the CD contains grooves that cause the laser to be deflected back at different lengths. The constructive and destructive interferences allow the CD reader to process the light waves into sound waves.

Spoons

I was eating a cup of yogurt when I was staring into the spoon. I appeared upside down in the image. The spoon acted like a concave mirror and produced a real inverted image.The distance of the image appears at the distance x in the equation (1/distance of focus)-(1/Distance of object)=(1/x). The magnification of the object is equal to (height of the image)/(height of the object). The negative value shows that the image is inverted. The magnification is also equal to -(distance of image)/(distance of object).

Renewable energy & global warming

Jeff Mikulina presented ideas for the future of Hawaii's renewable energy crisis. The results of burning fossil fuels have released a lot of carbon dioxide into the air. There is a correlation between the increase of CO2 and the recent increase in global temperature. By using other ways to generate electricity, global warming can be stalled and maybe even stopped.
Mikulina presented the most effective methods of generating electricity in Hawaii. Solar electricity will take advantage of Hawaii's abundance of sunlight. Wind turbines are also very practical. The method that was new to me was the conversion of waves into electricity. Although it is a work in progress, buoys take advantage of what surrounds our islands.
We must all do our part to eleminate our carbon footprint.