In December 1998, NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter. Its mission was to report data on the Martian atmosphere and climate...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

Answer: two if you are in the International Space Station (ISS) and don’t know which module the bulb is in!

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

It is estimated that 250,000 different weights and measures were in use across pre-revolutionary France. In 1791, the National...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

Historical accounts report that a mass standard pre-dated the Norman Conquest and was referred to as the pound of the Tower of...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

The following list may be an amusing way in which to introduce and discuss prefix multipliers:

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

Austin Sendek, a physics student at the University of California has started a campaign to establish ‘hella’ as the SI prefix...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

A unit used to provide an everyday measure of radiation dose. A single banana produces an ionising radiation dose of around 0...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

The time-travelling astronaut: Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev holds the record for time spent in orbit around the Earth...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

The Isochronic map: In 1883, Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s cousin, developed an ‘Isochronic Passage Chart for Travellers’...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

The speedy steel plate: One of the fastest moving man-made objects ever detected was a manhole cover. As a result of the...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

Jerks and jounces: In addition to the familiar first and second derivatives of displacement, velocity and acceleration...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16

Scientists have investigated the forces animals can exert. For example, paleobiologist Gregory Erickson and his team measured...

Stories from Physics 11-14 14-16