Physical Science

Why Objects Float? The reason an object floats is due to the object’s density in relation to the density of the liquid or gaseous material it is emerged. An example of an object floating is a hot air balloon. The…
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A Faraday cage is generally used to block electromagnetic interference (EMI) from sensitive electronic equipment. It is an enclosure formed by a solid or fine meshed conductor. Michael Faraday in 1836 discovered an electrical charge resided on the outside of…
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The Plain Folks’ Guide to Plasma Power Perhaps you’ve heard the words “fusion” and “plasma” intertwined with “limitless energy” and “harnessing the power of the sun”. Maybe you wonder if it’s true, or just some impossible dream being chased by…
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Regardless of NASA cutting back on its space program, space projects will still be a prominent part of scientific endeavor in the first half of the 21st Century. The New Space Powers  New economic giants such as China will be…
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Science in general advances in a helical way. Namely each discovery made poses new questions that need to be answered. This is true for natural sciences and in particular physics. Physics is defined as the science of nature. It has…
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Astronomers study the light from objects in space to determine their size, location, and composition.  They can do this most effectively when the only light entering their telescopic instruments comes from those targeted bodies.  Increasingly, this is becoming more difficult…
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A neutron star is formed following the violence of a supernova, with the caveat that the original star’s mass was between eight and 30 times the mass of Sol (Earth’s star).  The supernova, in which a massive star blows off…
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It is theorized that neutron stars are the collapsed cores of massive suns. If you imagine a collapsed version of the Earth’s sun, this sun would punch itself down into a ball that could cover the city of Chicago. This video by FabioTheItalianOne is a…
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From January until April each year the night sky lacks any significant meteor activity. A strong meteor shower can be a spectacular sight in which numerous shooting stars appear to fall to Earth. The Lyrid meteor shower is an erratic…
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There seems to be a perception in the community that the Earth would somehow be better off being struck by an icy comet rather than by a similar sized rocky or metal object. This is, generally, not the case. Let’s…
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