Posts Tagged ‘ space age ’

How could Ilan Ramon’s Diary Survive the Fall from Space?

Oct 21st, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Blurbs, Physics

A little while ago, the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem opened an exhibit featuring some of the torn, slightly burned pages of Col. Ilan Ramon’s personal diary from the shuttle Columbia. Ramon was the payload specialist onboard STS-107 (the spaceshuttle “Columbia”) that disintegrated during re-entry from space, killing all 7 crewmembers onboard. The diary survived the [...]



Top 10 Ways to Know the Earth is Not Flat

Aug 19th, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Astronomy, Blurbs, Party Trick, Top 10 List

A few months ago I released an experiment video explaining how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth using the shadow of sticks. The method was performed almost two millenia ago, and produced quite accurate results (considering the ‘equipment’ used). But it was far from being the only (or first) method to understand our planet’s [...]



Olympic Controversy: How does the “Space-Age Swimsuit” Work?

Aug 11th, 2008 | By mooeypoo | Category: Blurbs, Physics

The Olympics Games are here (well, in Beijing) and everyone’s watching and trying to guess who will win a medal. But, apparently, even the Olympics is a source of scientific inquiry, and not just for geeks. The “Speedo” controversy raises some interesting points about the effect of a swimsuit on the swimmer, and the effect [...]