I walked out to the car to grab some paint yesterday afternoon and tried to kick an empty storage container out of the way. But it didn't move. So I kicked it again. Trepidacious from recent skunk sightings, I considered lifting it, but the box started moving and my bleary-eyed child emerged.
With no thought of possible suffocation, he grabbed his frasada and his mono and curled up under a box in the back yard sun and took a nap. I guffawed uproariously, congratulated him on his creativity, and then warned him never to do anything like that again ... or else....
Almost two decades later, Albert Einstein came of age with a unique explanation for why light is always measured to be the same speed. Distance and time must be different for observers moving at different speeds.
I'm traveling past you in a train at 100,000 mph so you observe my clock to be running slower than yours.
But I observe your clock to be running slower than mine.
Crazy, but which is correct? Both, according to Einstein and modern science. Time is relative.
We've measured it by watching unstable particles near light speed - they live longer if they move faster. But the particle still thinks her watch is ticking normally. It's only the 'slow' observer that measures the time increase.
Distance too is measured to be shorter and objects closer from either viewpoint. Space-Time. They are both relative to the observer and connected to each other. Simultaneous events also become relative to the observer.
Truly relative. Both are true observations from their frames of reference. This has nothing to do with moral relativity or causality. The bullet won't exit the barrel before the gun is fired. And it's still wrong to gas people. Unless...
Thanks to a couple of mechanical engineers freshman year at Grove City, I have seen flying blue and yellow flames. But if we accelerate a proton from that gas to near the speed of light, it acts as if it has more mass (from our perspective) and it smashes harder into targets. It also turns out that you're more massive if you have a fever since temperature is average kinetic energy of molecules.
Only tiny particles have to worry much about this since humans willnever travel fast enoughto experience the effects. Except we already are - with respect to many high speed particles traveling past and through us right now - the particle perspective.
I had some old shoe leather and a collection of rivets (along with some lint)
and my friend had this tiny revolver. He wanted a holster and I wanted a project so we traded his desire for mine.
I remember using one of these hole makers on leather when I was making stuff as a kid. Dad lent it to me. Then I bought my own. A squeeze and a twist and you're on to the next hole.
This the riveter. I don't know if I'm missing pieces or what but all the rivets were the same size. I think maybe they were designed for much thinner material because the leather was way too thick for just one rivet to form the proper curve on the back side. So I set one from one direction and then set another in the opposite direction.
The riveter wasn't designed for leather so I had to be careful not to bend it. The hole maker is much stronger and has a longer input lever arm so we can apply more input torque and more output force.
I thought about sewing, but it's tedious and the rivets look better. I've combined rivets and seams, but I like the all rivet look. After a couple of trials and one discarded piece of scavenged shoe leather, I came up with this design.
The two lower rivets are the stop rivets that keep the revolver from sliding in farther.
The firearm is operable while still in the holster. It's single action only so you pull the hammer back and then operate the vestigial trigger. My customer was satisfied and so was I. I'd bet Rosie the Riveter can't top that.
For both static equilibrium and dynamic equilibrium, these are the equations we use.
I remember using them extensively in my two Mechanics classes during my sophomore year in Mechanical Engineering. They changed my life and understanding of the world. Combined with a knowledge of materials, they informed the way I see the objects in my universe.
I was forced to assign positive and negative signs to everything so my (easy) problems looked like this:
And I used to require that my students do the same. But why must we use negatives?
They get dropped by accident. They require more thought. And they're not necessary in this case. We could just use the bottom half of this picture instead of the top:
I know. It's a tiny change, but the thought process is different. If the up forces balance the down forces, the ups go on one side and the downs on the other - no need for negatives and you get the exact same equation with the exact same answer.
My students are more successful without the negatives. The balancing idea makes sense. And I treat the second condition for equilibrium the same way.
I now use the bottom method - balanced torques. It's a slight tweak, but it works better for student understanding.
I'm not making a lot of little engineers: I'm just trying to get kids to understand their world. But maybe if we make it a tiny bit easier we can inspire one more kid to stay in science.
I mainlined Mountain Dew at a rate of two to four liters a day. That gallon translates into almost 2000 calories of sugar, way too much yellow number 5, and about 500 mg of caffeine. I was Single and Stupid and I pedaled every moment I could.
I didn't recognize it at the time, but I woke up every day feeling like this:
Dazed and confused, I stumbled through the first minutes of my day in a caffeine induced fog. But then I started drinking again and everything was fine. But not really.
I sometimes had horrific headaches. Sensitivity to light, nausea, blinding pain, inability to think, need for sleep - all migraine symptoms. It took me a few years to figure it out but my headaches are caffeine withdrawal. Excedrin is my Methadone.
If I don't take my daily doses of caffeine - morning and afternoon - I can induce migraine symptoms within 12 hours after my last expected dose. I can also make my poo burn 6 to 12 hours after spicing up a Big Box Meal at Taco Bell with Fire Sauce. I've done both experiments a few times. It's science.
If I'm off my drug for more than four days, I wake up all happy:
But I'm not willing to give it up. So I stay on the caffeine. It's no longer 4 liters a day and it's not Mt Dew, but it's consistent. I still wake up like my confused BabyGirl but at least I don't get the headaches.
Learning is another addiction I have. And bicycles. And collecting shiny slivers of metal. But by the grace of God I have only one chemical addition. I'm OK with that.
and you're waiting for a PAT bus at the corner of Fifth. I'm in a bus traveling past you at 50 mph and I throw my amazing fastball toward the front of the bus. What speed do you measure for the ball?
It has to be greater than 50 mph since the bus is already moving so you just add the speeds and get 150 mph forward.
Now I'm at the front of the bus, distracting the driver, and I see a misbehaving student in the back seat. I take my fastball and send it in her direction. What speed does she measure? 100 mph. What speed do you measure as you record the whole thing with your iPhone to forward to the authorities and the media?
50 mph backward.
It turns out that the same principle works with sound waves in my enclosed bus. You would just add or subtract the velocities, depending on the situation.
Later, in another bus, with different bus driver and a laser gun, we perform the same experiment and you're still waiting for the bus.
Proper Gangsta Grip for Accuracy
I always measure that light to travel at 186,000 mph.
The new bus is moving 100,000 mph. What speed do I measure for the light beam? 186,000 mph. What speed do you measure as I pass on the corner at 100,000 mph?
Nope. You measure 186,000 mph. It is NOT the sum of the speeds this time.
Now let's do it again but in a different direction. I still measure 186,000 mph. What speed do you measure? (And how many style points do I get?)
Crap. Still 186,000 mph! What's going on?
Light does not act like the baseball and we cannot just add or subtract velocities. Wave-Particle Duality is far more complicated than we thought. Light can act as a wave while traveling or as a particle when smashing, but it's never really like a baseball or a sound wave.
And that was Freaky Fzx Friday. Stay tuned for the conclusion.
As the final activity of our electricity unit, the students bring in broken, old, and disused electric machines. I remind them to scavenge the neighbors' garbage for perfectly good appliances and drop that old disc-man in the backpack for the ride to school.
I bring tools from my personal collection
and they get together and take stuff apart. I award bonus points for bringing something in to disassemble since there's nothing like extra credit points or gold stars to motivate a high school student.
Some devices have a bunch of gears that they almost understand.
With others we can override the safety switches and practice making ground meat.
Some students seem quite happy with the project
while others demonstrate teen 'tudes.
This is the first oscilloscope brought in for this occasion - it was a $5 yard sale purchase.
Some not only disassemble, but show their love for the earth by re-tasking items for Halloween. I hope to see this mask at my door at the end of October.
All in all, a fabulous day - never a complaint - and sometimes the reassembly results in a functioning device.
I broke my left foot and spent three months on crutches. As soon as the crutches went back in the closet to await my next accident, I promptly threw out my back and dragged myself around like a twisted assistant to a mad scientist.
But that was nothing compared to Plantar Fasciitis. My first experience was in that same foot less than a year later. I finished that 5K in debilitating pain but I couldn't walk so I pulled out those crutches again. Two days later I was walking with a pain that was to persist for months.
Nothing worked. I changed my shoes, stretched, performed strengthening exercises, slept with a boot, never walked in bare feet, and put insoles in every shoe I wore. Unlike my broken foot, there wasn't a foreseeable end to the discomfort. I taught all day but sat as much as I could. Prior to standing up, I would stretch my calf, hamstring, and foot to avoid the shooting pain of those first steps.
I got a cortisone shot that had no effect. I wore a boot during the day. I didn't walk much. Or run. Or stand. I'd return home from teaching all day and just lie on the couch with my foot elevated. I endured pain with every step.
Then one day the pain just disappeared. I walked around gingerly for a few days, knocking on wood, avoiding black cats, and rubbing my lucky rabbits foot but it stayed away.
Until it came back - in both feet. Then it disappeared in the right foot but persisted in the left. And last year I developed achilles tendinitis in that same left foot.
I noticed that I had more pain when I didn't drink much water. When I was well hydrated, the severity of my pain decreased. That may just be my imagination by I drink much more water now.
Then I acted upon the athletic tape idea I had read about. One big strip of duct tape across the arch of my foot actually worked pretty well but the adhesive ripped up the foot and the edges rolled off during the day. Then I bought some athletic tape and experimented with various taping techiniques until I came up with this:
It works. I don't even know if I have plantar fasciitis any more but I tape it just about every day. I've gone without tape for a few days and sometimes I feel some pain so I just go back to it. I've noticed that when I walk good distances consistently, my foot seems to do better - I can actualy walk with the tape but the three kids and the house painting and the basement repair and life keep me from making that a priority.
The compression socks seem to demonstrate that the achilles tendinitis and the plantar fasciitis are affected by poor blood flow from the extremities. I have worn compression socks to bed and I awaken with no achilles discomfort.
So I tape my foot and wear old man socks for support and blood flow. I drink plenty of water. I wear good shoes with homemade arch supports that fit my feet. No stretching, no shots, no exercises, no surgery. I should walk more but I don't.
Now I sometimes get up to pee at 3 am just to celebrate the lack of pain on those first steps. Anybody want to be part of my medical study? Once I figure out a waiver I'll get you enrolled.
That's what I say any time a student asks "Are we gonna learn about ...?" because anything they want to learn just ain't part of the curriculum. I'm glad I teach Nuclear Science because we have the opportunity to study things that hardly anybody understands. But there are only 10 students in the class.
All the good physics we see on TV is modern physics. All the physics we see in school is ancient physics. And that goes for college too. In my pursuit of a physics degree, we touched on a couple of "modern" topics sophomore year but Quantum and Special Relativity and Nuclear weren't until junior year.
So I have to say that the physics we study in class, although eminently practical, is just a tiny bit b#*ring compared to all the amazing modern physics out there. Here's a video on the topic from minutephysics:
So what do we do? Some have suggested that we change the curriculum but I say we just spice it up. Let's spend 10 or 15 minutes once a week with a quick video and discussion on some mind-blowing physics topic we won't ever study in class. Let's be honest - we all waste at least that much time every week so let's get more efficient and fill these minds of mush with the amazing world of modern physics.
"Funky Fzx Fridays" was a student suggestion so we'll go with that for now.
Hopping curbs, riding sidewalks, running lights, and heading the wrong way on one way streets - totally illegal but great on a bicycle. They let you go faster, see more, and sometimes be safer. That's how I usually ride fast in a city but I didn't need to do that on Saturday in Detroit. The city is so empty and the streets so wide that a bicycle can often just take up a lane without interfering with traffic.
Some downtown scenes before we hit the waterfront:
"The arena is empty except for one man still driving and striving..."
Windsor, Canada - just across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit:
General Motors:
The Waterfront:
Belle Isle is the green space in the distance
Views from Belle Isle:
The bridge to Belle Isle. A tree.
That which once was
Wedding:
I used the bike as a ladder to get my box back from the locked dumpster enclosure. Disassembly was far easier than assembly and I leaped aboard the bus at 5 for the return trip. I actually wanted a coffee before I boxed the bike so I rode in circles for blocks and never did find a Starbucks - strange because they're every two blocks in NY.
My friend picked me up at 10 pm at the Convention Center in Pittsburgh after less than 24 hours away from home. The maps were a great idea but I need a smaller bike with smaller wheels that'll fit into a bag I can carry with me. It's not so convenient if you have to travel by Megabus and leave the box somewhere.
I want to pedal more cities. Detroit was wonderful.
I honestly considered not including part 3 since the waterfront and Belle Isle are so fabulous. The next time you're in Detroit to see the Red Wings and the Penguins, ride the waterfront and Belle Isle but don't forget to head out Gratiot to 8 Mile. It'll open your heart as it opens your eyes. It'll also begin yet another addiction - Netflix Detroit.
Eleven dollars one week in advance. That's all it cost for the Megabus to Detroit on the middle day of a good three day forecast. I kissed the kid and the wife goodbye, tossed the bike box in my friend's car, and got dropped at the Megastop downtown for the redeye to Detroit.
The Rosa Parks Transit Station is an interesting place on Saturday at 6 am. About 30 locals populated the benches even before the buses start running. There was this smelly homeless guy who talked to me as I worked, wiping away his drool with an old T-shirt every few seconds. I still have no idea what he was saying so I just carried on a conversation with his gestures and glances.
It took me way too long to assemble the bike but I got a standing ovation when I started pedaling. Riding away, box in hand, one gentleman stood up and applauded. "You came in with a box and rode off on a bicycle." I tossed the box inside a locked dumpster enclosure, hoping it would be there when I returned.
Here's the bus station from later in the day - Morning darkness does not do it justice and I just wanted to get moving. Speed is safety...
Here's the first picture I snapped on the way to Gratiot Ave. "Low Winter Sun" is essentially a tour of modern Detroit on Netflix and this building is center stage.
And here are some building details from later in the day with good sun. Click on any image for the big version.
Then I headed northeast on Gratiot Ave.
Trinity Lutheran Church
Gratiot is a wide, five lane street with lots of empty space and zero Saturday morning traffic.
The sunrise over the empty Detroit plain was interesting.
These two houses make a perfect image of Detroit. The new and the abandoned, house by house, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. I found one four block area that had one occupied home on each street. Every other house was abandoned. Some streets have lines of houses that have all burned. Arson is rampant. Sometimes the city comes in and razes an entire block while the next block is well-occupied.
More from Gratiot Ave.
Elmer's tags were everywhere and I wanted to borrow one of these bikes.
I stopped for breakfast at McDonald's and took lots of little side trips.
"Section 8 OK"
Bulletproof Burger King
I rode along 8 Mile and thought of Eminem and his Momma in the trailer park. Supposedly it gets better north of the border. South of 8 mile it's often pretty rough.
Heading back toward downtown on Woodward was Wayne State University. Highland Park, Hamtramck, and this university were like separate countries that seemed unaffected by Detroit decay except at the edges.
Along a highway a couple blocks west I found art
a new housing complex, and an important public service announcement.
