Lunar eclipse

Thanks to Mrs B for alerting me to this. I was up at 7 and freezing in the garden but it was worth it. It's got me thinking about the mechanics of this. To what extent does the Moon move into the Earth's shadow and to what extent does the Earth's shadow move onto the Moon? Whatever, it happens quickly over the space of less than an hour. Calculationa await.

My trip to Oxford

It snowed a lot on my trip to Oxford. So what do physics teachers do? Well, I measured the depth of the snow using my Barrow AFC ruler. Data is everytjing in physics. The final picture shows where the measurement was made outside Keble College chapel, which is opposite the particle physics building.

Ice

We went down to Keswick at the height of the big freeze the other week. If you look at the pictures, you can just see ice forming on Derwent Water. It is amazing that ice floats. It is the only example I can think of where a solid is less dense than the liquid from which it forms. This is because the bonds between the molecules rotate and spread as it solidifies. It is fortunate that this happens. If ice was more dense than water, lakes would freeze from the bottom up, killing all life. Life may never have survived on Earth.

The physics of reindeer

We went to visit the reindeer herd near Aviemore whilst on holiday. They were introduced in the 1950s as someone from Sweden recognised that the habitat was suitable. We have met the wandering herd of females on the Cairngorm plateau before. The males are kept in pasture most of the year so that the breeding programme can be managed to prevent in-breeding. Notice the size of the feet - large area to reduce the pressure on the snow. A bit of physics. Apparently their hairs are hollow - trapping air because trapped air is a marvellous indicator. Think about double glazing!

Black holes in Keswick

If you are down by the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, put some change into the Rotary Club Wishing Well. It is constructed like a Black Hole. Coins spiral round and fall in. Once they are gone, they can't come back. Look at any picture of the field around a black hole on the Internet and you'll see what I mean.

Mrs B does an experiment at home

My wife did an awesome experiment and piece of analysis with the heating system at home last week. She ran the heating system all day - 7.30am to 8pm one day. The next day, she ran it for two short slots - 6.15am to 7.30am and then 4.30pm to 8pm.

Converting data into kWh, the all day use was 174kWh which cost £6.52.
The two shorter slots used 83.8kWh which cost £3.14.

So that suggests using shorter slots because it costs half the price.

But when you work out the cost per hour, running all day was 52p per hour but the two shorter slots were 66p per hour.

We need better insulation if we want the "keep it on all day" approach to reap benefits. The problem is clearly that the house cools down considerably between the two slots and then has to be reheated.

Pigeon Post

I've been reading the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons series again for the first time in 35 years. In this book, they discover an ore in the hills that they think is gold. What I really like about this is that they are prepared to have a go at anything - an nearly get killed twice along the way - so don't try it at home! But they make pigeon post work, devising an automatic bell to alert them.
Then they work out how to make charcoal and build their own blast furnace. They try to test their ore using a mix of acids called aqua regia. I had to look this up! Try Wiki.

But it's their attitude, that if they hear about something they will try it. That's education.