Category: physics

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Magnetars: A Magnet so Strong, They Could Tear Your Body Apart

This is kinda crazy…

Some magnets are so weak they can barely keep a photo on the refrigerator. Meanwhile, there are magnetars: the strongest known magnets in the universe. Sadly, you can’t buy these at your local grocery store.

A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an unbelievably powerful magnetic field. Though they have the strongest magnetic pull of any known object in the universe, they are surprisingly small. They’re also very mysterious.

So, where do magnetars come from? Curiosity explains: When a star dies, it explodes into a supernova, collapsing in on itself in a giant extravagant display of light before fading away. If the star was large enough, it will then create a neutron star in its place. A neutron star is so small that it’s often just the size of a small city (for a star, that’s tiny!). However, it’s also incredibly dense. Just one teaspoon weighs at least one billion tons. All this matter spins around hundreds of times per second, creating a magnetic field that is a trillion times stronger than the Earth’s own.

And then there are magnetars. Magnetars are an especially magnetic type of neutron star. Nobody really knows why they’re so magnetic, but they are. They’re roughly 1000 trillion times more magnetic than Earth.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

This magnetic field is so strong that just coming within 600 miles of it would destroy your nervous system and even change your molecular structure. If you came closer, the gravitational force would destroy you at the atomic level. These stars can also wreak havoc on planets like the Earth.

Thankfully, the closest magnetar to us is much too far to do such damage, and they’re also incredibly rare. Scientists have been on the lookout for magnetars since 1979, but while they’ve found over 2000 neutron stars, fewer than 25 have been confirmed as magnetars.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Still, it’s fascinating to know that they’re out there somewhere!

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Do Toilets Flush in Other Directions in Opposite Hemispheres?

A lot of people believe that toilets swirl in the opposite direction in opposite hemispheres. But is it actually true?

The story holds that, in the Northern Hemisphere, toilets spin counterclockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere, they spin clockwise. This is supposedly due to something called the Coriolis effect, an acceleration caused by the rotation of the Earth of the axis.

But if you’ve ever actually used a toilet on the opposite side of the planet, you’d know that these “facts” aren’t actually true at all. Toilets flush in the same direction regardless of where they are located. The only factor that affects the direction of the water’s flow is the way that the toilet is manufactured (i.e., the shape of the bowl, and whether the flush jets point to the left or the right).

Photo Credit: Pixabay

However, that doesn’t mean that the Coriolis effect isn’t real. It does exist, and it affects the spin direction of every body of water, including the water in the toilet. But it’s only observable on very large scales. The amount of water in the toilet is so small that the impact of the Coriolis effect isn’t major enough to be visible.

Hurricanes, on the other hand? Their diameters are a hundred miles wide, and the Coriolis effect makes a noticeable impact on them. Hurricanes absolutely do spin in opposite directions on opposite sides of the Earth. They spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Toilets, on the other hand? That’s just a myth.

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This Is Why Airplane Engines Are Never Painted on the Front Edges

Look closely at the engines on the planes at the gates next time you’re at the airport. All of them will have an unpainted band near the front edge. As sleek as this kind of paint job may look, the reasons behind the styling goes beyond just looking trendy.

Photo Credit: Needpix

YouTuber Mentour Pilot, who runs a channel about everything to do with being an airline pilot, created a video explaining why the front edge of the engine is never painted when the rest of the aircraft is.

It’s something I’d never have thought about in a million years, but someone clearly did.

The first explanation is because of the heat the engines generate. Ice can form quickly on engines and wings when flying through clouds, creating a real safety hazard. Planes use the heat already coming from their engines to keep dangerous ice from accumulating.

Small holes in the unpainted ring of the engine, as well as on the wings, help the ice melt. If this part of the engine is left naked, then the metal heats best for minimized ice formation. Paint would only protect the ice from heat by creating an intermediate layer.

Not safe.

Another reason is that eventually the paint on the intake would begin to degrade, and chips of paint could get sucked into the engine. As this happened, the uneven coats of paint would affect how air flows into the engine, creating mini vortices and disrupting overall efficiency.

Photo Credit: YouTube

He also touches on why most planes are painted white or predominantly white. This one’s a little easier to guess: white paint reflects heat. If a plane is painted white, the air-conditioning system doesn’t have to work as hard to keep the interior cooled – thus better engine efficiency.

Painting an aircraft white is also faster and cheaper, and airlines can place and replace branding as needed without repainting.

If this is interesting, deifnitely check out more of Mentour Pilot’s channel – aside from his cool airplane knowledge, he wears his uniform, has a great accent and an adorable apricot poodle-ish dog, and generally makes you feel good about who is at the controls of these high flying tubes.

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At the subatomic level…

At the subatomic level, space is never truly empty. It is filled with a writhing, active population of “Virtual Particles” that pop in and out of existence. Physicists call this “quantum foam”. Physicists theorize fluctuations from this field of energy may have given rise to the Universe.

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A Mexican Physicist Solved a 2,000-Year-Old Lens Problem with One Wild Equation

Even Isaac Newton couldn’t crack this case — but Rafael G. González-Acuña did.

A physicist in Mexico just solved a problem that has plagued scientists for over 2,000 years.

For centuries, lenses have faced a problem: the corners and edges are always a little soft and out of focus. It’s called “spherical aberration,” and it’s caused by differences in light refraction across the lens, along with imperfections in its shape and materials.

Photo Credit: iStock

Spherical aberration was presumed to be an unsolvable issue. Lens designers have developed workarounds to counteract and correct the effect, resulting in a uniformly clear image. However, these adaptive techniques can get incredibly pricey — which is part of why high-quality photography gear costs so much money.

Enter Rafael.

Rafael is a doctoral student at Mexico’s Tecnológico de Monterrey. After months of work, he came up with an equation to design a lens that eliminates spherical aberration completely. This equation works for a lens of any size, material or purpose.

This development is not only exciting on a scientific level, but it will also provide practical benefits to many different types of people. Cameras of all kinds, including smartphone cameras, will be easier and cheaper to design. Photographers will no longer have to deal with focus issues with their high-end equipment. Sharper lenses will also be able to be used for other optical devices, like telescopes and microscopes.

All in all, Rafael’s breakthrough is evidence that no problem is too old to solve.

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Timeless physics is the controversial….

Timeless physics is the controversial view that time, as we perceive it, does not exist as anything other than an illusion. Arguably we have no evidence of the past other than our memory of it, and no evidence of the future other than our belief in it.

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Physics Professor Wrecks Flat Earthers Using Simple Math

I am constantly amazed by the whole flat earther movement. Even though there’s a truly staggering (like multiple centuries’ worth) amount of scientific data proving without a doubt that the Earth is round, they still keep insisting that it’s flat. What century is this?

A physics professor at the University of Porto in Portugal named Pedro Teles was obviously fed up with this nonsense so he took to Imgur to put these flat earthers in their place.

This is how Professor Teles began.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Now pay attention and try to keep up…

Photo Credit: Imgur

That’s right! Clockwise! Now on to the North Pole!

Photo Credit: Imgur

You have to reproduce the same experiment, flat earther…and pay attention to that pendulum.

Photo Credit: Imgur

You’re not done yet!

Photo Credit: Imgur

And here’s the proof, friends.

Photo Credit: Imgur

Nice work, professor! Now, I understand if you need to go back and read this again.

But remember the most important part of this experiment…forward this to everyone in your life who believes the earth is flat!

Thank you in advance.

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One evening in 1954, in a student…

One evening in 1954, in a student hall at Princeton University, grad student Everett was drinking sherry with his friends when he came up with the idea that quantum effects cause the universe to constantly split. 00