Category Archives: physics

Who is looking for high-stakes, cutting-edge cosmology?

Posted on November 15, 2015 by tkflor

“At eleven sharp, Susan Brophy introduced Mathias Kramer and stepped aside to let him say all the appropriate things. As soon as the lights were dimmed, the audience saw a pair of huge, flaming jets move on the screen. The … Continue reading →

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Gravity – humor, history, and some facts

Posted on October 7, 2015 by tkflor

Hungarian stamp commemorating 100 years of general relativity. Image from philatelicdatabase.com …: “Gravity, where did it come from?” when a four-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold and a Landau–Lifshitz stress-energy tensor love each other very much, they produce a geodesic in curved spacetime. … Continue reading →

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Brighter than candles

Posted on September 21, 2015 by tkflor

“You have the glittering beauty of gold and silver, and the still higher lustre of jewels, like the ruby and diamond; but none of these rival the brilliancy and beauty of flame. What diamond can shine like flame?” The man … Continue reading →

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Faster than lightning

Posted on September 17, 2015 by tkflor

Can a charged particle moving through the atmosphere have a speed greater than the speed of light in the air? I saw this question posted on Writers’ Cafe. After I ran a limited survey that got both “Yes” and “No” … Continue reading →

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Initial Conditions in the library

Posted on September 5, 2015 by tkflor

Initial Conditions finds a place on the library shelf. Thanks to Princeton Public Library!

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Firebird – a thriller with high stakes and realistic physics

Posted on August 29, 2015 by tkflor

One of my intents was to write a story in which the science was essential; another was for it to be entertaining. Tony Rothman, (From the Author). Firebird is a mythological bird from the Slavic folklore. Sometimes it is large, … Continue reading →

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The Perfect Theory – Physicists’ Battles for Muggles

Posted on June 28, 2015 by tkflor

After the ceremony, as the audience and speakers milled around, ready to escape into the London evening, a Polish physicist named Ludwik Silberstein ambled over to Eddington. Silberstein had already written a book about Einstein’s more restricted “special theory of … Continue reading →

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Forty-two

Posted on June 20, 2015 by tkflor

“Tell us!” “All right,” said Deep Thought. “The Answer to the Great Question…” “Yes..!” “Of Life, the Universe and Everything…” said Deep Thought. “Yes…!” “Is…” said Deep Thought, and paused. “Yes…!” “Is…” “Yes…!!!…?” “Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty … Continue reading →

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Raisin cake and the expanding universe

Posted on June 12, 2015 by tkflor

“Put a raisin cake in the oven, and it’s very small. Then you let it go, and the distance between the raisins is like the distance between the galaxies – it gets larger and larger with time.” Neta Bahacall, in … Continue reading →

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CP Violation: what is it and when does it matter?

Posted on May 17, 2015 by tkflor

“Suppose the TV-news suddenly reported one evening that visitors from outer space were planning to land on Earth; that the space travellers have radioed a demand for immediate information about the composition of the Earth. Does it consist of Matter … Continue reading →

Posted in cosmology, physics, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments