Popular science
Physics for entertainment
Everything we do obey some physical law; everything. But when we speak of our daily activities, we tend to think that the law of gravity is the responsible for every movement of every body.
For example, the pleasant colors of red and orange hues of the sky at sunset --or sunrise-- are mainly caused by scattering of sunlight by particles in the atmosphere, or air molecules. But this effect is very far from the gravity pull.
Like this, there are hundreds of phenomena that show strange and unexpected behavior. But nothing escapes explanation.
Physics for Entertainment, by Yakov Perelman, is a book that explains almost a hundred of those common phanomena. Click here to learn more about this free EBook.
Self-powered devices
Perpetual motion
Shown at right is a cute device that should pump upward the same amount of water that is falling down. Attached to the axis of the paddled wheel is a belt that drives a pump that that is encased in the top triangular housing. The pump should pull the water from below and send it to the water faucet at the front. This action is supposed to continue without disruption and without consuming more energy than the energy it is generating.
Yes, in paper it works, in paper. It works in the mind of the inventor, but not in reality. Why not? Perpetual Motion, a book by Percy Verance ---now free--- is full of devices and artifacts like this one with explanations for each one. Click here to learn more about this free EBook.
Transformations
The Golden EBook of Graphs of Mathematical Functions
Can you recognize the figure at right? Will you bet that it is Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa? Why is it so distorted?
Well, believe it or not, you are seeing the Mona Lisa as if it were painted on the surface of a helicoid.
Transformations is a special subject in mathematics. Transformations are commonly used in the engineering fields of physics, heat-conduction, air-flow, etc. But transformations are also used in art where objects are seen from another standpoint of view. You can download a free EBook full of transformations. Click here to learn more about this free EBook.
The Vril-ya
The Coming race
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (later known as Alice in Wonderland) is story of characters living in the under ground. Niels Klim's Journey Under the Ground is also another story about an encounter with people living down deep our land and fields. Now, the next story is about a super-developed civilization that strived under the ground when they escaped the big Flood (the Deluge).
The Coming Race, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, is --like the others-- a fascinating story about how some ancient tribes escaped from the Big Deluge, lived in fully illuminated caves, developed a highly sophisticated form of government, and discovered a new form of energy that they called The Vril. Click here to learn more about this free EBook.
Spinning tops / gyroscopes
The spinning tops are scientific toys
Some toys can be used to teach science and mathematics. Unfortunately, modern school laboratories use high tech materials and apparatus, forgetting that children also learn by playing.
But the scientific toys can also be used at home. In fact, being non-violent, using those inoffensive toys, the learning is two-fold.
Among the good toys for teaching and learning science is the familiar spinning top in its many variations. Spinning Tops by Prof. John Perry is a free EBook to learn many tricks; written in simple terms without using obtuse mathematics. Click to learn more about this free EBook.
Fourth dimension
The coordinates of the fourth dimension
In the figure of the four-legged table shown here, which one is the first leg? Which one is the fourth leg of the table?. The answer is simply: none.
The same thing happens with the coordinate-dimensions of our universe: we cannot say that a specific dimension is the first, and no specific dimension is the fourth dimension.
But in a 4D-space, the concept of dimension-ordering is even more ambiguous because the fourth dimension can sometimes be another physical coordinate, and sometimes can be the time-dimension. Read the full article here.
Hollow Earth
What do you know about the hollow Earth and the Hollow Moon?
If you think that somebody just came up with the crazy idea that the Earth is hollow in its interior, you are totally wrong. This idea has been floating in the mind of the humanity for millennia. In addition to the time is the cultural diversity that supports it.
What is more strange is that this idea has been used to explain other scientific concepts and physical anomalies. That is, far from being an idyllic place where alien people live, that hollow Earth concept was used to try to explain magnetic field anomalies, polar warm and cold winds, northern lights, etc. Read the full article here.
Fear
What do you know about the fear of comets?
The fear of comets can be a natural reaction to a sudden unexplainable phenomena. Yes, the arrival of a comet can be a frightening event, but this happens no more. Almost every cosmic activity like comets that threatens us can be predicted with the aid of the telescope.
However, when the fear for those celestial bodies is induced from outside us, the experience can be traumatic, specially if it is preached based on biblical faith. this is exactly what David Brandt Berg did for his followers. He tried to convince the people and kids of his cult that the incoming comet "COULD BE THE TOTAL DOWNFALL OF AMERICA, the collapse of the currency and/or economic system". Read the full article here.
Infinite
Three unexpected behaviors of the infinite
Infinity is not a number, however, it can be split, sorted, randomized, mapped, diagonalized, separated, or counted. In the Tarot cards deck, the magician (Le Bateleur) represents the unlimited and infinite power. But outside of this esoteric deck of cards, in the real world, there are other magicians that play and reshuffle the infinite as if it were an infinite deck of playing cards. People like the ancient Greek mathematicians and philosophers, people like the contemporary George Cantor, and Jorge Luis Borges.
Infinity is an elusive and hard to comprehend concept, however, there are some curious ideas, stories, and explanations that sometimes leave us with the sense that the infinite ─more than an unreachable frontier─ is an unexplainable and unending vertigo. Read the full article here.
