Physics education research, electronic materials, and the musings of Christopher Moore, Ph.D.
Jul 31st, 2011
I’m at Creighton University in Omaha, NE for the 2011 AAPT Summer Meeting. There tends to be a lot of down time during these things, so I’ll probably kill time blogging about the things I find interesting. I decide that I would stay in the dorms this time around, so that I could save my [...]
Jul 3rd, 2011
It took an entire bag of Sweet Sixteens and a full day of stirring, filtering, and baking. However, it appears that we have been successful in our first attempt at extracting TiO2 nanoparticles from powdered sugar doughnuts.
Apr 22nd, 2011
That is, if you are male. Here is a great study from UC-Davis documenting the significant effect professor gender has on female students’ performance in physics:
Feb 11th, 2011
So it turns out there is an asteroid coming our way in 2029. No worries, though. There is practically zero chance that the asteroid will actually hit Earth. That should be comforting. The problem is, these things eventually come back around, and in 2036 …
Jan 4th, 2011
If I told you that there are giant metal towers in the middle of the desert manipulating the weather to produce rain, then you would ask what science fiction novel was I currently reading. Or, you would wonder whether I had gotten sucked into one of those weird History Channel shows about alien technology. Nope. [...]
Pundits on television have been throwing around the number 97% recently. Specifically, they are claiming that 97% of active climate scientists agree that the earth has warmed since the beginning of the industrial period and that human action is chiefly responsible. Where in the world does this number come from?
Jan 1st, 2011
Powdered doughnuts are good for you! At least, if you’re interested in solar power. Yes, even you can build your own solar cell using powdered doughnuts and tea leaves.
Dec 28th, 2010
Global warming alarmists have spent years blathering on about so-called models and data showing world temperatures rising and the catastrophic consequences. They are obviously full of crap for two reasons: (1) Have you looked outside? It’s snowing. In Myrtle Beach, SC. Blizzards up north. It’s cold. (2) Weren’t they talking about the coming Ice Age [...]
Dec 26th, 2010
I will be at the AAPT Winter Meeting in January where I will give a talk about the conceptual physics course we have been developing (more here and here.) The main point of the talk is to look at the data and answer the question posed in the title. The answer to that question is [...]