Invisible wrote:
> I don't recall much actually being mentioned about Mathematica. I do

	Are we discussing the same book? The pages I read were replete with
Mathematica code, with *very* frequent comments about how Mathematica's
language is quite "natural" for investigating these systems.

	And no, from reading the code, it didn't seem natural at all.

-- 
Psychoceramics: The study of crackpots.


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                       >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                   anl

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Mike Raiford wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
> 
>> The planet is rotating.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum
>> Didn't you ever go to a science museum? :-)
> 
> Sadly, the science museum near us doesn't even have one of these.

Make one! :-D

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Mueen Nawaz wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> I don't recall much actually being mentioned about Mathematica. I do
> 
> 	Are we discussing the same book? The pages I read were replete with
> Mathematica code, with *very* frequent comments about how Mathematica's
> language is quite "natural" for investigating these systems.
> 
> 	And no, from reading the code, it didn't seem natural at all.

Apparently not them. The book I have doesn't contain any actual code at all.

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>> Sadly, the science museum near us doesn't even have one of these.
> 
> Make one! :-D

Meh. Maybe.

My statement was more of a commentary of the vapid nature of our local 
"science" museum. All they had was a Tesla coil powered light show (you 
know, a larger version of the plasma ball) as a demonstration of 
"lightning" and a few optical illusions. Oh, yeah, and a playground for 
the kids.

I want a *real* science museum, dammit. Like the one I went to as a kid. 
  Had several electrical things, science demonstrations involving many 
facets of physics. Lots of interaction with sound waves, light, heat and 
electricity. It made science interesting! Oh, yes, and as a centerpiece 
it had the aforementioned pendulum. And plaques that explained what was 
happening.

The one we went to that was nearby was dull and hollow. They were 
setting up some "science of sports" exhibit, but the main exhibits were 
a few things about meteorology (you see, I'm in the southernmost part of 
Tornado Alley) which included a few yawn inducing demonstrations (I 
can't even remember what they were but they didn't really do much, oh, 
yeah one that showed that heat rises, and a few pictures of storm 
damage), and a artificial tornado. The rest of the main room was nothing 
but optical illusions. Then it was some farm exhibit, for the kiddies, 
and a playground. That was IT.

-- 
~Mike

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Mike Raiford wrote:

> My statement was more of a commentary of the vapid nature of our local 
> "science" museum. All they had was a Tesla coil powered light show (you 
> know, a larger version of the plasma ball) as a demonstration of 
> "lightning" and a few optical illusions. Oh, yeah, and a playground for 
> the kids.
> 
> I want a *real* science museum, dammit. Like the one I went to as a kid. 
>  Had several electrical things, science demonstrations involving many 
> facets of physics. Lots of interaction with sound waves, light, heat and 
> electricity. It made science interesting! Oh, yes, and as a centerpiece 
> it had the aforementioned pendulum. And plaques that explained what was 
> happening.
> 
> The one we went to that was nearby was dull and hollow. They were 
> setting up some "science of sports" exhibit, but the main exhibits were 
> a few things about meteorology (you see, I'm in the southernmost part of 
> Tornado Alley) which included a few yawn inducing demonstrations (I 
> can't even remember what they were but they didn't really do much, oh, 
> yeah one that showed that heat rises, and a few pictures of storm 
> damage), and a artificial tornado. The rest of the main room was nothing 
> but optical illusions. Then it was some farm exhibit, for the kiddies, 
> and a playground. That was IT.

Science is seriously interesting stuff. However, making it *look* 
interesting is quite hard.

The easiest way to do this is to splash something complicated and 
technical-looking over it. For example, my sister's A-level physics 
textbook had a large Mandelbrot set on the cover. Unfortunately, that 
has almost *nothing* to do with the contents of the book! This is the 
general problem with this approach.

The London Science Museum has a giant steam winding engine. It has a 
24-foot flywheel that weighs multiple tonnes, and trust me, when this 
whole crazy Victorian contraption starts moving, it looks *very* 
impressive. Doesn't teach you *squat*, but it's pretty amazing to watch!

I used to like watching TV programs like Local Heroes and Rough Science. 
(I say "used to" since these are no longer produced, sadly.) Rough 
Science in particular was great in that it depicted people making all 
sorts of improbable devices out of old junk.

It was also quite amusing that the physist always wanted coils of wire:

"A heater? OK, we'll need a coil of wire..."
"A radio? OK, we'll need a coil of wire..."
"A speaker? OK, we'll need a coil of wire..."
"A thermometer? OK, we'll need two coils of wire..."
"A generator? OK, we'll need a coil of wire..."
"A washing machine? OK, we'll need a coil of wire..."

OK, most of those are pretty self-explanatory. But a thermometer? Who'd 
have thought of making *that* out of a coil of wire?

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Invisible wrote:

> I used to like watching TV programs like Local Heroes and Rough Science. 
> (I say "used to" since these are no longer produced, sadly.) Rough 
> Science in particular was great in that it depicted people making all 
> sorts of improbable devices out of old junk.

Heh, I have fond memories of Mr Wizard as a child.

> OK, most of those are pretty self-explanatory. But a thermometer? Who'd 
> have thought of making *that* out of a coil of wire?

Yeah, hmm. Some dial types use a bimetallic spring. Which I suppose is 
essentially a coil of wire. :) sort of ... That's a stretch, though.

Actually, an amazingly simple piece of technology exists in your car: 
the thermostat that controls the flow of water to the radiator. Purely 
mechanical, no electronics, but works to maintain the temp of the 
coolant in the engine within a certain range. Just a couple metal parts 
and a chunk of wax.



-- 
~Mike

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>> OK, most of those are pretty self-explanatory. But a thermometer? 
>> Who'd have thought of making *that* out of a coil of wire?
> 
> Yeah, hmm. Some dial types use a bimetallic spring. Which I suppose is 
> essentially a coil of wire. :) sort of ... That's a stretch, though.

Ah, now, you see... the electrical resistence of a wire is proportional 
to its temperature. So by having a long *coil* of wire, you have enough 
wire for the resistence to be large enough to be measurable, and because 
it's a coil, it's all in "the same place" and should have uniform 
temperature. Compare the resistence of the test coil to the reference 
coil (constructed the same way and held at a known temperature) and 
you've got yourself an electronic thermometer. QED.

> Actually, an amazingly simple piece of technology exists in your car: 
> the thermostat that controls the flow of water to the radiator.

D. Attenborough pointed out that a large Oak tree sucks multiple tonnes 
of water out of the ground and lifts it 40 or 50 feet into the air each 
day - with no moving parts.

A fire engine does the same thing - but using a rawring diesel engine 
running on purified hydrocarbon energy. And not terribly efficient either.

The way the Oak does it is quite ingenius: IT USES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS. 
Specifically, as water evapourates out of th leaves, that sucks more 
water out of the branches - which sucks water out of the thunk, whic 
sucks water out of the ground. So it's a completely passive system, and 
it always delivers exactly the right amount of water without needing any 
control systems.

Mankind, you have been PWN3D.

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Invisible wrote:
> Science is seriously interesting stuff. However, making it *look* 
> interesting is quite hard.

I can heartily recommend to anyone who comes to the New York City that 
you visit the American Museum of Natural History. The lobby, for 
example, has a herd of 13 full-grown elephants (stuffed, of course). 
It's looks kind of lost and lonely in the middle of the lobby. The cafe 
has a full-size model of a blue whale hanging from the ceiling. If you 
actually see all of it, it takes several days. There's a subway stop in 
the basement, and it's free-ish. (Donation requested, basically.)

> OK, most of those are pretty self-explanatory. But a thermometer? Who'd 
> have thought of making *that* out of a coil of wire?

It's called a bimetalic strip. ;-) Hence the need for two coils.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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>> Science is seriously interesting stuff. However, making it *look* 
>> interesting is quite hard.
> 
> I can heartily recommend to anyone who comes to the New York City that 
> you visit the American Museum of Natural History. The lobby, for 
> example, has a herd of 13 full-grown elephants (stuffed, of course). 
> It's looks kind of lost and lonely in the middle of the lobby. The cafe 
> has a full-size model of a blue whale hanging from the ceiling. If you 
> actually see all of it, it takes several days. There's a subway stop in 
> the basement, and it's free-ish. (Donation requested, basically.)

The London Natural History Museum also has a full-size blue whale model. 
And the lobby features a Diplodicus skeleton. Actually, the main hall 
mostly features dinosur remains of some kind. And *lots* of children! o_O


-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Actually, the main hall 
> mostly features dinosur remains of some kind. And *lots* of children! o_O

  That could be understood funnily.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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