Measuring the SHC of water

 I inserted a 12V heater through polystyrene into a beaker of water. I pushed a thermometer through as well.

I put bubble wrap round.

You'll be able to tell from the photo that I had first found the mass of the water. 

I took the temperature every minute for 12 minutes and plotted a graph of temperature against time. At first, the temperature stays constant and then goes up steadily. I drew a straight line through the section of steady heating. The water must be stirred whilst being heated. The equation is Delta E = m.c.Delta(theta). Delta E, the energy added = current x voltage x time in seconds. Delta(theta) is the temperature rise. Putting the two equations together, we get Delta(theta)/time = current x voltage /mc. But Delta(theta)/time = gradient of straight bit of the graph. So in the end, specific heat capacity              c = (current x voltage) / (mass x gradient).

Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

 

Thanks to Jack for lending me the book. The relational interpretation of quantum mechanics was new to me. What I picked up from the book was that the view of distinct separate objects is out, along with the privileged position of an observer. This is because the Schrodinger's Cat story links merely me and the cat, but I must be observed too and so on in an infinite web of relations. Rovelli's idea is to get away from the split into Copenhagen versus many-worlds. I was interested to learn much more about Ernst Mach's philosophy and also to find out about Aleksandr Bogdanov. Not a book to read when you're feeling tired, though!

Crepuscular rays and a bank of cloud

After a cloudy afternoon, a huge slab of cloud moved west out over the Irish Sea towards sunset. It was amazing to be high up and see it like a live weather map. Not sure if this constituted a front - they don't generally move east-west.

Behind it came crepuscular rays. Apparently the rays are really parallel but seem to converge due to perspective. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam
 

Foam in the sterlising solution

 

I poured hot water on the sterilising powder and got a lovely foam. I've never stopped to consider foam. I realised that the fizzing sound was the popping of many tiny bubbles and that the foam is when a lot of very tiny bubbles form together as the carbon dioxide gas is released from the chemical reaction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foam has been a good starting point for thinking about what goes on. Work is clearly done blowing a bubble. I will have to start by thinking about the process of forming an individual bubble.

No 1 Power Station Greenside Lead Mine

 

We crossed an electric power cable in the middle of the track up to Red Tarn.      

                                                 

It came from the ruins of a concrete building that is at the bottom of what is marked on the map as a pipeline.

Further up the path, the map shows a leat. I realised that this could be seen as a horizontal line across the fellside and ended exactly at the top of the pipeline. We had found the remains of the first hydroelectric power station for Greenside Lead Mine. The scale of the leat is extraordinary. It starts in Kepple Cove and crosses a good mile of fellside. The whole thing is now a historic monument. 

According to Wikipedia, it started out as a DC generator but it was twenty years before they installed a modern AC generator that would allow transformers to be used. This may be because the only motors available at the start of electrical engineering were DC.

Sorted stone stripes on Catstycam

 I found this amazing picture on the Internet a while ago and have finally been to investigate. Here is a view looking down the slope. When I was there it was clear that I was looking down lines of stones.

I first read about solifluction a couple of years ago. It is when water in the ground freezes and expands, thus pushing stones upwards. This tends to push stones out of the way. The grit that is left can accommodate more water so this amplifies the frost-heave effect there and pushes more stones. The areas where the stones accumulate have less water to freeze so the stones stay put. I have seen pictures of it producing hexagons on flat surfaces but stripes on slopes. It has been suggested that melt water flowing down the grooves between the stone stripes extenuates the effect.  This picture shows solifluction producing hexagon-like shapes on the flat surface but them breaking down to become stripes on the slopes. 

The classic prism experiment

 Here's the classic prism demonstration.

You can see a reflected ray as well for the first incidence.

Red is bent least by the prism because it goes fastest in glass.