Wellington's sock
I've just got back from taking my dog for his morning walk up the hill behind my house. The ground was wet so I wore my rubber boots (Wellingtons to Brits). As anyone who wears these boots regularly (or...
Springbox
I have been doing about thermal physics with my first year classes. I always like to start with showing how thermal energy is connected to energy in mechanics. Push a block along the ground at a constant...
Light on light off
Here is a photo of two of my SL students doing some very serious scientific research. The technique is actually quite difficult. They are trying to measure the seperation of spectral lines of a Helium...
Why cepheids pulsate
Last week I was doing about cepheid variables with my SL class and we were talking about why they have a changing brightness. The simple explanation is that they are expanding and contracting, if the...
Measuring Albedo
How do you measure Albedo? Albedo is the ratio of reflected light/ incident light so to measure it one would have to measure these quantities. One way would be to use a light sensor or a light meter but...
Plum pudding
It's almost Christmas, well the lights have started to go up and Ikea is selling decorations so it can't be far off. In our household this means it's time for the Christmas pudding ritual to begin. By...
Chemistry wins the flint argument
When I go camping I like to start fires with my "survival professional" flint. Actually what I do is light the gas fire with the flint then light the wood fire with the gas fire so a bit of a cheat really....
Wakey wakey
It's often difficult to keep students awake in class at this time of the year but the wake I'm referring to in the title is the wake behind a boat. I seem to travel on the boat between Bergen and home...
Retro fridges
Earlier this year we bought a new fridge, one of those retro ones. Ever since we had it we have been a bit disappointed because it simply doesn't make the contents cold enough. The other problem is that...
Dad's Techno
Last night I went to see Jean Michel Jarre in concert. He is a Frenchman (which explains the name) who was very big on the electronic music scene in the 70's. My children call it Dad's techno. He once...