Interesting facts experiments in physics. The most interesting facts about physicists. Height of the Eiffel Tower

There are many legends about outstanding scientists and inventors, emphasizing their eccentricity, the unusualness of their discoveries and the unexpected twists and turns of fate. Below in chronological order Here are 10 stories from the lives of outstanding scientists who, thanks to their discoveries and scientific achievements, gained worldwide fame.

The most interesting facts, legends, speculations and gossip

According to information recently “declassified” on the Christian Internet resource “Megaportal”, the British scientist, founder mathematical foundations natural philosophy Isaac Newton(Isaac Newton), being a deeply religious man, devoted most of his life to the rational interpretation of the Bible. In records dating back to 1700, he provided the transcript “ Revelations of John the Theologian", from which it is clear that the start date of the Apocalypse is 2060. Having studied Old Testament, the scientist restored exact dimensions Jerusalem Temple of Solomon.

Around the same years, the German alchemist Hennig Brand(Hennig Brand), like most of his “colleagues,” was searching for philosopher's stone. As source material he used human urine. After numerous chemical experiments and physical influences in the form of evaporation, calcination and grinding, the scientist received White powder, glowing in the dark, which today is explained by its phosphorus content, the concentration of which was significantly increased during chemical transformations. Brand dubbed it “light-bearer” and, deciding that the powder belonged to the primary matter, tried to transform it into gold. After nothing came of this venture, the scientist began to trade in the powder itself, selling the luminous substance at a much higher price than the gold-containing substance. An equally interesting story is connected with phosphorus, which happened to the Soviet chemist, academician Semyon Isaakovich Volfkovich. By creating phosphate mineral fertilizers, a scientist in his laboratory was exposed to phosphorus fumes, which soaked his clothes, cloak and hat. When he returned home on foot, exercising through the dark streets, a glow emanated from his robes, which gave rise to rumors among Muscovites about a “luminous monk” who had appeared.

Russian academician Mikhailo Vasilievich Lomonosov, who came from Pomor fishermen, was distinguished by his fair health and physical strength. Already in adulthood, being in high scientific ranks, he, well drunk, walked along Vasilyevsky Island. He came across three sailors who, seeing a drunk man, decided to rob him. However, this attempt ended tragicomically - the first sailor was beaten until he lost consciousness, the second ran away, and the third learned man himself decided to rob. He took off the sailor’s ports, jacket and camisole, and then, tying all this equipment in a bundle, he took it to his home. After the death of Mikhail Lomonosov, all his lifetime notes, sketches and drawings mysteriously disappeared from the library of the former favorite of Catherine the Great, Grigory Orlov, where they were kept by imperial command.

Few people know that the English traveler, ornithologist and naturalist Charles Darwin(Charles Darwin) considered tasting them as one of the methods for studying birds. Having joined the London gourmet club, Darwin ate dishes prepared from the great marsh bittern, sparrowhawk and other inedible and inedible birds, as a result of which the ornithologist came to the conclusion that starvation was not a terrible thing for Robinson Crusoe. However, after the guests at the club were treated to a roast from an old owl, the scientist vomited for a long time, and he terminated his membership in the gourmet society. But Charles Darwin did not lose his passion for exotic dishes and described in great detail the taste sensations when eating dishes from rare animals that the ship’s cook prepared for him while sailing on the brig Beagle. He not only ate various prepared dishes of agouti, Galapagos tortoise and rhea ostrich, but also dared to taste roasted armadillo and the South American mountain lion - cougar. Summarizing his gourmet experience, Charles Darwin noted that the variety of meat dishes prepared from the most unusual animals and birds awakened his predatory instincts.

The world's first female professor of mathematics Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya dreamed of getting higher education, but the Bestuzhev courses that existed in Russia in those years did not provide such an opportunity, and to study abroad at European universities, the written permission of the father or husband was required. Her father, a lieutenant general of artillery, considered higher education “not a woman’s business” and was categorically against his daughter’s foreign voyage. Sofya Korvin-Krukovskaya was forced to enter into a fictitious marriage with a young geologist, founder of the school of evolutionary paleontology, Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky. My husband graciously gave permission to study. However, the fictitious nature of the marriage did not prevent the emergence and development of tender feelings, and the couple had a daughter, Sophia.

Receiving elementary education, deeply religious Albert Einstein(Albert Einstein) became famous among teachers and classmates as a poor student who was not given exact sciences. However, after entering the gymnasium, he rethought his views after reading Euclidean “Elements” and Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”. Unfortunately, this did not help him obtain a certificate of completion of six classes of gymnasium and enter the Zurich Polytechnic School. Since then, Albert has disdained any cramming, believing that knowledge is rethought and consolidated in the brain with the help of some kind of “insight.” Apparently, these factors affected the attitude of the discoverer of the theory of relativity to teaching. As the scientist himself recalls with humor, by the end of his first lecture there were only three people left in the audience.

Professor at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) Thomas Parnell(Thomas Parnell) became widely known for producing the longest-running production in history. physical chemistry experience. After repeated debates about whether bitumen is a liquid or solid, a professor in 1927 sealed a measured dose of coal tar pitch in a funnel. The first drop room temperature fell after 8 years. The experiment continues to the present day - in 2000, the eighth drop formed and fell, after which Parnell’s experiment was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest experiment in the history of physics, and the professor himself was posthumously awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in 2005. Contemporary scientists joked about T. Parnell that, following in the footsteps of Isaac Newton, studying the Bible, he determined the temperature environment in hell, which is + 718°C.

Interesting facts from the life of physicists

Physicists became famous for the most interesting facts, statements and incidents in their lives.

After the discovery by a German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen(Wilhelm Röntgen) “X” rays, later named after the inventor, Germany was filled with rumors about their healing and power. At that time, V. Roentgen was teaching at the University of Vienna, and one day he received an order from the Austrian police prohibiting him “until further notice” from dealing with “X” rays. Later, the scientist received a request to send several rays by mail and instructions on how to enlighten chest. Referring to the cumbersome nature of the equipment, Roentgen came up with a counter-proposal - to send the chest for diagnostics of the lungs.

British physicist Ernest Rezerford(Ernest Rutherford) answered one of his envious people, who reproached the scientist that the latter is always on the crest of a physical wave - “...how could it be otherwise, if I raised this wave.”

Soviet physicist Lev Davidovich Landau was known among his contemporaries not so much for his theoretical calculations in the field quantum physics, as much as the “theory of happiness” he developed with his own hands. He considered marriage a cooperative, very far from true, sublime love, in which everything should be common and accessible to outsiders. True, the physicist extended this accessibility not so much to his wives and lovers, but to himself. The main postulate of this theory was a “non-aggression pact”, which prohibited the jealousy of one of the spouses for the betrayal of the other.

These are 10 from the lives of outstanding scientists who became famous not only for their eccentricities, outrageousness and originality of thinking, but also made a huge contribution to the development of science.

We often take for granted everything that happens to us on earth, but every minute our lives are controlled by many forces. The world has an amazing amount unusual, paradoxical or requiring explanation of physical laws that we encounter every day. In a fun exploration of physics everyone should know, we talk about common occurrences that many people consider a mystery, strange forces we can't understand, and how science fiction can become reality through light manipulation.

10. Cold wind effect

Our perception of temperature is quite subjective. Humidity, individual physiology, and even our mood can change our perception of hot and cold temperatures. The same thing happens with the wind: the temperature we feel is not real. The air that directly surrounds human body, serves as a kind of air cloak. This insulating air cushion keeps you warm. When the wind blows on you, this air cushion blows away and you begin to feel the real temperature, which is much colder. The cool wind effect only affects those objects that produce heat.

9. The faster you go, the stronger the impact.

People tend to think linearly, mostly based on observational principles; if one raindrop weighs 50 milligrams, two raindrops should weigh about 100 milligrams. However, the forces that control the universe often show us a different result due to the distribution of forces. An object moving at 40 kilometers per hour will hit a wall with a certain force. If you double the speed of an object to 80 kilometers per hour, the impact force will increase not two, but four times. This law explains why accidents on highways are much more destructive than accidents in cities.

8. Orbit is just a constant free fall.

Satellites emerge as a notable recent application to stars, but we rarely think about the concept of "orbit." We know in general that objects move around planets or large celestial bodies and never fall. But the reason for the appearance of orbits is surprisingly paradoxical. If you drop an object, it falls to the surface. However, if it is high enough and moving at a fast enough speed, it will swing away from the ground in an arc. The same effect prevents the earth from colliding with the sun.

7. Heat causes freezing.

Water is the most important liquid on earth. This is the most mysterious and paradoxical connection in nature. One of the little-known properties of water is, for example, that warm water freezes faster than cold water. It is not yet fully understood how this happens, but this phenomenon, known as the Mpemba paradox, was discovered by Aristotle about 3,000 years ago. But why exactly this happens remains a mystery.

6. Air pressure.

IN this moment you are exposed to air pressure equal to approximately 1000 kilograms, the same as a small car weighs. This is due to the fact that the atmosphere itself is quite heavy, and a person located at the bottom of the ocean experiences a pressure of 2.3 kg per square centimeter. Our body can withstand such pressure, and it cannot crush us. However, sealed objects, such as plastic bottles, thrown from very high altitudes return to the ground in a compressed state.

5. Metallic hydrogen.

Hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table, making it the simplest element in the Universe. Its atomic number 1 means it has 1 proton, 1 electron and no neutrons. Although hydrogen is known as a gas, it can exhibit some properties that are more common to metals than to gases. Hydrogen is located in periodic table just above sodium, a volatile metal that is part of the composition of table salt. Physicists have long understood that hydrogen behaves like a metal under high pressure, like the one found on stars and in the cores of gas giant planets. Trying to make such a compound on earth requires a lot of effort, but some scientists believe they have already created small samples by applying pressure to diamond crystals.

4. Coriolis effect.

Due to the rather large size of the planet, a person does not feel its movement. However, the clockwise motion of the Earth causes objects traveling in the northern hemisphere to move slightly clockwise as well. This phenomenon is known as the Coriolis effect. Since the Earth's surface moves at a certain speed relative to the atmosphere, the difference between the rotation of the Earth and the movement of the atmosphere causes an object moving north to pick up the energy of the Earth's rotation and begin to veer east. The opposite phenomenon is observed in the southern hemisphere. As a result, navigation systems must take into account the Coriolis force to avoid heading off course.

3. Doppler effect.

Sound may be an independent phenomenon, but the perception of sound waves depends on speed. Austrian physicist Christian Doppler discovered that when a moving object, such as a siren, emits sound waves, they accumulate in front of the object and scatter behind it. This phenomenon, known as the Doppler effect, causes the sound of an approaching object to become a pitch higher due to the shortening of the sound wavelengths. After the object passes by, the trailing sound waves lengthen and, accordingly, become tones lower.

2. Evaporation.

It would be logical to assume that chemicals must pass through a liquid state in the process of transitioning from a solid to a gaseous state. However, water can immediately transform from solid into gas under certain circumstances. Sublimation, or evaporation, can cause glaciers to disappear when the sun turns the ice into steam. In the same way, metals, such as arsenic, can turn into a gas when heated, releasing toxic gases. Water can evaporate below its melting point when exposed to a heat source.

1. Disguised devices.

Rapidly evolving technology is transforming stories science fiction V scientific facts. We can see objects when light of different wavelengths is reflected from them. Scientists have theorized that objects can be considered invisible when exposed to certain light. If the light around an object can be scattered, it becomes invisible to the human eye. Recently, this theory became a reality when scientists invented a transparent hexagonal prism that scattered light around an object placed inside. When placed in an aquarium, the prism made the goldfish that swam there invisible, and on land, livestock disappeared from sight. This secrecy effect works on the same principles as aircraft that cannot be detected by radar.

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We all heard a lot about them back in school. Thanks to the brilliant minds of the world's greatest physicists, humanity has a telephone, electric light, and an understanding of the laws of the Universe. We studied their theories and principles, inventions and discoveries, their successes and achievements from dry paragraphs in textbooks. But brilliant physicists are also people, with their own characteristics and quirks.

Newton: alchemy or physics

Not all scientific discoveries Isaac Newton has stood the test of time as well as the law of gravity. For example, he devoted many hours to alchemy. In fact, he was so interested in it that alchemy is now considered his main field, and real science was nothing more than a pastime. Unlike mathematics and physics, Newton does not even try to add new knowledge to alchemy, preferring instead to deal with the theories put forward before him. As an alchemist, he was mainly focused on creating the philosopher's stone, which could turn other metals into gold and grant people immortality. After his death, research showed that he suffered from chronic poisoning from mercury, arsenic and lead, which proves his love of alchemy.

Einstein: the great scientist's difficulty speaking

As a child, Albert Einstein spoke very slowly. Until the age of 5, his speech was unclear; it took the child some time to put all the words into sentences and then speak at once in one breath. Albert's parents were concerned, believing that he might be retarded.

This is not the only case where future scientists had problems with speech and diction in childhood. This disorder of speech development was later called Einstein syndrome by psychologists.

Edison: a strange invention - a concrete house

Thomas Edison at one time tried to get into the cement business. For this purpose, he planned to solve the housing problem of New York. Edison conceived the idea of ​​building a house by pouring cement into one mold. Molds were also provided various shapes for windows, stairs, baths. But in practice the idea turned out to be unrealizable, and Edison abandoned this idea, although he built one concrete house for myself. He even created a concrete piano and concrete furniture, but people were not attracted to such “know-how”.

Pauli: mysticism and science

Do you know someone who can destroy electrical equipment just by being in the same room as them? Wolfgang Pauli was one of these people. According to stories, when a theoretical physicist entered the room, the laboratory equipment simply was not able to work. His friend Otto Stern actually banned Pauli from entering his laboratory. The scientist himself believed in this peculiarity of his. Pauli believed that mind and matter are interconnected, that human consciousness can influence external world. Thus, the physicist considered himself a psychokineticist.

Galileo: persecution of the Church and recognition after death

The struggle against the Catholic Roman Church forced Galileo Galilei to face trials. The church found him guilty of spreading unethical and false information in society. He was imprisoned and forced to vilify his own research and theories. All of Galileo's works were banned from publication.

Almost four hundred years after his death, the Roman Catholic Church has realized the mistake it made centuries ago. And she even apologized for her. In 2008, it was decided to erect a statue of Galileo in the Vatican.

Tesla: obsessive thoughts

Nikola Tesla submitted more 300 different patents, including designs for radio, engine alternating current and electromagnets. But according to the testimony of his contemporaries, he, like no one else, corresponded to the stereotypical image of a mad scientist. It all started with his interesting quirk of starting work at 3:00 in the morning, often staying up until 11:00. After falling ill at the age of 25, Tesla continued his strict regime for another 38 years, adding to this other oddities. For example, he hated jewelry of all kinds, but especially pearls, and felt a similar disgust at the presence of overweight women.

Pierre Curie: Science and the Supernatural

Pierre Curie, physicist and husband of Marie Sklodowska-Curie, had a very deep interest in mediums. In particular, he was friendly with Eusapia Palladino, an Italian female medium who claimed that she could move tables with her mind and communicate with spirits. Curie attended the seances, and was amazed that he could not find any evidence of deception.

A few days before his death in 1906, Pierre wrote to a friend about his last experience of participating in one of Palladino's sessions: "In my opinion, this is a region of completely new facts and physical states in space, about which we have not the slightest idea."

If Curie had lived a little longer, he would have learned that Palladino had been exposed as a fraud. It is discovered that she secretly used her leg to manipulate objects. The following year, she was caught using a strand of hair to move things undetected.

Bohr: a clever way to avoid difficult questions

Niels Bohr, while teaching physics at the University of Copenhagen, developed a wonderful way to avoid difficult and awkward questions. Whenever one of the students cornered him during a seminar or lecture, he would take matchbox, apparently to light a fire for experiments, and allegedly accidentally dropped it on the floor. The matches scattered, and Bohr spent some time collecting them. The questioner either lost the thread of the conversation or realized that the professor did not want to answer his questions.

Hubble: an aristocrat not by birth

The brilliant astronomer Edwin Hubble was a famous scientist who played a huge role in humanity's understanding of the laws of the Universe. However, according to most, he was a somewhat strange person. Even though he grew up in rural America, he decided that he would be an aristocrat. After a stint at Oxford University in England, he began to speak in a fake British accent and began walking around wearing classic capes and using a cane.

A bird sitting on a high-voltage power line does not suffer from the current because its body is a poor conductor. Where the bird's paws touch the wire, a parallel connection is created, and since the wire conducts electricity much better, a very small current flows through the bird itself, which cannot cause harm.

However, as soon as the bird on the wire touches another grounded object, for example, a metal part of a support, it immediately dies, because then the air resistance is too great compared to the resistance of the body, and all the current flows through the bird.

What kind of memory can metal alloys have?

Some metal alloys, such as nitinol (55% nickel and 45% titanium), have a shape memory effect. It lies in the fact that a deformed product made of such material, when heated to a certain temperature, returns to its original shape. This is due to the fact that these alloys have a special internal structure called martensite, which has the property of thermoelasticity.

In deformed parts of the structure, internal stresses, which strive to return the structure to its original state. Shape memory materials found wide application in production - for example, for connecting bushings, which compress at very low temperatures and straighten at room temperature, forming a connection much more reliable than welding.

How did the Pauli effect prevent Pauli's hoax?

Scientists call the Pauli effect the failure of instruments and the unplanned course of experiments when famous theoretical physicists appear - for example, Nobel laureate Wolfgang Pauli.

One day they decided to play a prank on him by connecting Wall Clock in the hall where he was to give a lecture, with front door using a relay so that when the door is opened, the clock stops. However, this did not happen - when Pauli entered, the relay suddenly failed.

What colored noises exist, besides white noise?

The concept of “white noise” is widely known - this is what they say about a signal with uniform spectral density at all frequencies and dispersion equal to infinity. An example of white noise is the sound of a waterfall. However, in addition to white, they distinguish big number other colored noises.

Pink noise is a signal whose density is inversely proportional to the frequency, and red noise has a density inversely proportional to the square of the frequency - they are perceived by ear as “warmer” than white noise. There are also concepts of blue, violet, gray noise and many others.

Which elementary particles are named after the sounds of ducks?

Murray Gell-Mann, who hypothesized that hadrons were made of even smaller particles, decided to call these particles the sound that ducks make. James Joyce’s novel “Finnegans Wake” helped him formulate this sound into a suitable word, namely the line: “Three quarks for Muster Mark!”

Hence the particles received the name quarks, although it is not at all clear what meaning this previously non-existent word had for Joyce.

Why is the sky blue during the day and red during sunset?

Short-wave components of the solar spectrum are scattered in the air more strongly than long-wave components. This is why we see the sky as blue - because blue is at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum. For a similar reason, during sunset or dawn, the sky on the horizon turns red.

At this time, the light travels tangentially to the earth's surface, and its path through the atmosphere is much longer, as a result of which a significant part of the blue and green color leaves direct sunlight due to scattering.

What is the difference between the mechanism of lapping water in cats and dogs?

During the process of lapping, cats do not plunge their tongue into the water, but, lightly touching the surface with the curved tip, immediately pull it back up. In this case, a column of liquid is formed due to the subtle balance of gravity, which pulls the water down, and the force of inertia, which forces the water to continue moving upward.

Dogs use a similar lapping mechanism - although it may seem to an observer that the dog is scooping up liquid with its tongue folded into a paddle, x-ray analysis has shown that this “spatula” unfolds inside the mouth, and the column of water created by the dog is similar to that of a cat.

Who holds both the Nobel and Ig Nobel Prizes?

Dutch physicist of Russian origin Andre Geim received the Nobel Prize in 2010 for experiments that helped study the properties of graphene. And 10 years earlier, he received an ironic Ig Nobel Prize for an experiment on diamagnetic levitation of frogs.

Thus, Game became the first person in the world to hold both the Nobel and Ig Nobel Prizes.

Why are ordinary city streets dangerous for racing cars?

When a racing car is driven on a track, very low pressure can be created between the bottom of the car and the road, enough to lift the lid sewer hatch. This happened, for example, in Montreal in 1990 at a sports prototype race - a lid raised by one of the cars hit the car behind it, which started a fire and the race was stopped.

Therefore, now in all races of cars on city streets, the covers are welded to the rim of the hatch.

Why did Newton throw a foreign object into his eye?

Isaac Newton was interested in many aspects of physics and other sciences and was not afraid to perform some experiments on himself.

He tested his guess that we see the world around us due to the pressure of light on the retina of the eye as follows: he cut out Ivory a thin curved probe, inserted it into his eye and pressed it on the back of the eyeball. The resulting colored flashes and circles confirmed his hypothesis.

Why is the unit of measurement for both temperature and strength of alcoholic drinks called the same - degree?

In the XVII-XVIII centuries there was physical theory about caloric - weightless matter found in bodies and causing thermal phenomena. According to this theory, more heated bodies contain more caloric than less heated ones, therefore temperature was defined as the strength of the mixture of body matter and caloric.

That is why the unit of measurement for both temperature and strength of alcoholic drinks is called the same - degree.

Why were two German-American satellites named Tom and Jerry?

In 2002, Germany, together with the United States, launched a system of two space satellites to measure Earth's gravity called GRACE. They fly in the same orbit at an altitude of about 450 kilometers, one after another, with an interval of 220 kilometers.

When the first satellite approaches an area of ​​high gravity, such as a large mountain range, it accelerates and moves away from the second satellite. And after some time, the second device flies here, also accelerates and thereby restores the original distance. For such a game of “catch-up,” the companions were given the names Tom and Jerry.

Why can't the American SR-71 Blackbird spy plane be fully refueled on the ground?

The American reconnaissance aircraft SR-71 Blackbird at normal temperatures has gaps in its skin. During flight, the skin heats up due to friction with the air, and the gaps disappear, and the fuel cools the skin. Because of this method, the plane cannot be refueled on the ground, because the fuel will leak out through those very cracks.

Therefore, at first only a small amount of fuel is filled into the plane, and refueling takes place in the air.

Where can water freeze at +20 °C?

Water can freeze in a pipeline at a temperature of +20 °C if methane is present in this water (to be more precise, water and methane form gas hydrate). Methane molecules “push apart” water molecules, as they occupy more volume.

This leads to a decrease internal pressure water and an increase in freezing temperature.

Whose Nobel medals were hidden from the Nazis in dissolved form?

IN Nazi Germany The Nobel Prize was banned after the Peace Prize was awarded to the opponent of National Socialism, Karl von Ossietzky, in 1935. German physicists Max von Laue and James Frank entrusted the custody of their gold medals to Niels Bohr. When the Germans occupied Copenhagen in 1940, the chemist de Hevesy dissolved these medals in aqua regia.

After the end of the war, de Hevesy extracted the gold hidden in the aqua regia and donated it to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. New medals were made there and re-presented to von Laue and Frank.

Which famous physicist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?

Ernest Rutherford's research was primarily in the field of physics and once stated that "all sciences can be divided into two groups - physics and stamp collecting." However, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry, which came as a surprise to both him and other scientists.

Subsequently, he noticed that of all the transformations that he was able to observe, “the most unexpected was his own transformation from a physicist to a chemist.”

Why do insects hit lamps?

Insects orient themselves in flight according to the light. They fix the source - the Sun or the Moon - and maintain a constant angle between it and their course, taking a position in which the rays always illuminate the same side.

However, if the rays from celestial bodies are almost parallel, then from an artificial light source the rays diverge radially. And when an insect chooses a lamp for its course, it moves in a spiral, gradually approaching it.

How to distinguish a boiled egg from a raw one?

If you roll a boiled egg smooth surface, it will quickly spin in the given direction and will rotate for quite a long time, and the raw one will stop much earlier. This happens because a hard-boiled egg rotates as a single whole, while a raw egg has liquid contents, loosely bound to the shell.

Therefore, when rotation begins, the liquid contents, due to the inertia of rest, lag behind the rotation of the shell and slow down the movement. Also, during rotation, you can briefly stop the rotation with your finger. For the same reasons, a boiled egg will stop immediately, but a raw egg will continue to spin after you remove your finger.

Why does a rainbow have an arc shape?

The sun's rays, passing through raindrops in the air, decompose into a spectrum, since different colors spectrum are refracted in drops at different angles.

As a result, a circle is formed - a rainbow, part of which we see from the ground in the form of an arc, and the center of the circle lies on the straight line “The Sun is the eye of the observer.” If the light in the drop is reflected twice, you can see a secondary rainbow.

How is ice able to flow?

Ice is subject to fluidity - the ability to deform under stress determines the movement of ice in huge glaciers.

Some Himalayan glaciers move at a speed of 2-3 meters per day.

Why can Asians and Africans carry weights on their heads?

Residents of Africa and Asia easily carry heavy loads on their heads. This is explained by the laws of physics. When walking, the human body rises and falls, thus expending forces on lifting the load.

At the same time, the head rises and falls with a smaller vertical amplitude than the whole body, and this feature was developed through evolution: the brain was protected from concussion, while the springy spine with a double bend served as a spring.

Why can you increase the rate of freezing of water by pre-heating it?

In 1963, Tanzanian schoolboy Erasto Mpemba discovered that hot water froze in freezer faster than cold. In honor of him, this phenomenon was called the Mpemba effect.

Until now, scientists have not been able to accurately explain the cause of the phenomenon, and the experiment is not always successful: it requires certain conditions.

Why doesn't ice sink in water?

Water is the only freely occurring naturally occurring substance on Earth whose density is liquid state more than in solids. Therefore, ice does not sink in water.

It is thanks to this that reservoirs usually do not freeze to the bottom, although this is possible at extreme air temperatures.

What influences the direction in which the water swirls?

The Coriolis force, caused by the rotation of the Earth around its own axis, does not in any way affect the torsion of the water funnel in the bathtub. Its effect can be seen in the twisting of air masses (clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern), but this force is too small to spin a small and fast funnel.

The direction in which the water rotates depends on other factors, such as the direction of the threads in the drain hole or the configuration of the pipes.

Who is considered the world's first programmer?

The world's first programmer was an Englishwoman, Ada Lovelace.

In the middle of the 19th century, she drew up a plan of operations for the prototype of a modern computer - Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, with the help of which it was possible to solve Bernoulli's equation, which expresses the law of conservation of energy of a moving fluid.

What particles can take a million years to rise from the Sun's core to its surface?

Light travels slower in a transparent medium than in a vacuum. For example, photons undergoing many collisions on their way from the solar core, which emits energy, can take about a million years to reach the surface of the Sun.

However, moving to outer space, the same photons reach the Earth in just 8.3 minutes.

When was the Earth's gravitational field weakened?

On April 1, 1976, English astronomer Patrick Moore played a prank on BBC radio by announcing that at 9:47 a.m. a rare astronomical effect would occur: Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, enter into gravitational interaction with it, and slightly weaken the Earth’s gravitational field.

If listeners jump at this moment, they should experience a strange feeling. Since 9.47am the BBC has received hundreds of calls reporting strange feelings, with one woman even saying she and her friends left their chairs and flew around the room.

Why are there 7 colors in the rainbow?

Although the multicolor spectrum of the rainbow is continuous, according to tradition, 7 colors are distinguished in it. It is believed that Isaac Newton was the first to choose this number. Moreover, initially he distinguished only five colors - red, yellow, green, blue and violet, which he wrote about in his “Optics”.

But later, trying to create a correspondence between the number of colors in the spectrum and the number of fundamental tones of the musical scale, Newton added two more colors.

Why did Dirac want to refuse the Nobel Prize?

When the English physicist Paul Dirac was awarded Nobel Prize, he wanted to give it up because he hated advertising.

However, Rutherford nevertheless persuaded his colleague to receive the award, since refusal would have become even more advertising.

What did the inventor of radar say when he was speeding?

Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt was once stopped by a policeman for speeding, after which he said: “If I had known what you would do with it, I would never have invented radar!”

What makes snowflakes unique?

Due to the enormous variety of snowflake shapes, it is believed that no two snowflakes have the same crystal structure.

According to some physicists, there are more variants of such shapes than there are atoms in the observable Universe.

How did maritime smugglers hide alcohol from American customs officers during Prohibition?

During Prohibition in the United States, most smuggled alcohol came by sea. Smugglers prepared in advance for sudden customs inspections at sea.

They tied a bag of salt or sugar to each box, and when danger approached, they threw it into the water. Through certain time the contents of the bags dissolved with water, and the loads floated to the surface.

What did the Celsius scale originally look like?

In the original Celsius scale, the freezing point of water was taken to be 100 degrees, and the boiling point of water was 0.

This scale was inverted by Carl Linnaeus, and in this form it is used to this day.

Which discovery of Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize?

The archives of the Nobel Committee preserved about 60 nominations by Einstein in connection with the formulation of the theory of relativity, but the prize was awarded only for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.

If you think physics is a boring and unnecessary subject, then you are deeply mistaken. Our entertaining physics will tell you why a bird sitting on a power line does not die from electric shock, and a person caught in quicksand cannot drown in it. You will find out whether there really are no two identical snowflakes in nature and whether Einstein was a poor student at school.

10 interesting facts from the world of physics

Now we will answer questions that concern many people.

Why does a train driver back up before moving off?

This is all due to the force of static friction, under the influence of which the train cars are standing motionless. If the locomotive simply moves forward, it may not move the train. Therefore, it slightly pushes them back, reducing the static friction force to zero, and then accelerates them, but in a different direction.

Are there identical snowflakes?

Most sources claim that there are no identical snowflakes in nature, since their formation is influenced by several factors: air humidity and temperature, as well as the flight path of the snow. However, interesting physics says: it is possible to create two snowflakes of the same configuration.

This was experimentally confirmed by researcher Karl Libbrecht. Having created absolutely identical conditions in the laboratory, he obtained two externally identical snow crystals. True, it should be noted: their crystal lattice was still different.

Where in the Solar System are the largest reserves of water?

You'll never guess! The most voluminous storage water resources of our system is the Sun. The water there is in the form of steam. Its highest concentration is found in places we call “sunspots.” Scientists even calculated: in these areas the temperature is one and a half thousand degrees lower than in other areas of our hot star.

What invention of Pythagoras was created to combat alcoholism?

According to legend, Pythagoras, in order to limit the consumption of wine, made a mug that could be filled with an intoxicating drink only to a certain level. As soon as you exceeded the norm by even a drop, the entire contents of the mug flowed out. This invention is based on the law of communicating vessels. The curved channel in the center of the mug does not allow it to be filled to the brim, “riding” the container of all contents when the liquid level is above the bend of the channel.

Is it possible to turn water from a conductor into a dielectric?

Interesting physics says: it’s possible. Current conductors are not the water molecules themselves, but the salts contained in it, or rather their ions. If they are removed, the liquid will lose its ability to conduct electricity and become an insulator. In other words, distilled water is a dielectric.

How to survive a falling elevator?

Many people think that you need to jump when the cabin hits the ground. However, this opinion is incorrect, since it is impossible to predict when the landing will occur. Therefore, entertaining physics gives another advice: lie with your back on the floor of the elevator, trying to maximize the area of ​​​​contact with it. In this case, the force of the impact will not be directed to one area of ​​the body, but will be evenly distributed over the entire surface - this will significantly increase your chances of survival.

Why doesn't a bird sitting on a high voltage wire die from electric shock?

Birds' bodies do not conduct electricity well. By touching the wire with its paws, the bird creates a parallel connection, but since it is not the most the best guide, charged particles do not move through it, but along the cable conductors. But if the bird comes into contact with a grounded object, it will die.

The mountains are closer to the heat source than the plains, but at their peaks it is much colder. Why?

This phenomenon has a very simple explanation. The transparent atmosphere lets you through without hindrance Sun rays without absorbing their energy. But the soil absorbs heat well. It is from this that the air then warms up. Moreover, the higher its density, the better it retains what it receives from the ground. thermal energy. But high in the mountains the atmosphere becomes rarefied, and therefore less heat is retained in it.

Can quicksand suck you in?

There are often scenes in films where people “drown” in quicksand. IN real life- entertaining physics claims - this is impossible. You won’t be able to get out of a sandy swamp on your own, because to pull out just one leg, you’ll have to put in as much effort as it takes to lift a medium-weight passenger car. But you won’t be able to drown either, since you’re dealing with a non-Newtonian fluid.

Rescuers advise in such cases not to make sudden movements, lie down with your back down, spread your arms to the sides and wait for help.

Does nothing exist in nature, watch the video:

Amazing incidents from the lives of famous physicists

Outstanding scientists are mostly fanatics of their field, capable of anything for the sake of science. For example, Isaac Newton, trying to explain the mechanism of perception of light by the human eye, was not afraid to experiment on himself. He inserted a thin ivory probe into the eye while pressing on the back of the eyeball. As a result, the scientist saw rainbow circles in front of him and thus proved: the world we see is nothing more than the result of light pressure on the retina.

Russian physicist Vasily Petrov, who lived in the early 19th century and studied electricity, cut off the top layer of skin on his fingers to increase their sensitivity. At that time, there were no ammeters and voltmeters that made it possible to measure the strength and power of current, and the scientist had to do it by touch.

The reporter asked A. Einstein whether he writes down his great thoughts, and if he writes them down, where - in a notebook, a notebook or a special card index. Einstein looked at the reporter’s voluminous notebook and said: “My dear! Real thoughts come to mind so rarely that it is not difficult to remember them.”

But the Frenchman Jean-Antoine Nollet preferred to experiment on others, conducting an experiment in the mid-18th century to calculate the transmission speed electric current, he connected 200 monks with metal wires and passed voltage through them. All participants in the experiment twitched almost simultaneously, and Nolle concluded: the current runs through the wires very, very quickly.

The story that great Einstein I was a poor student in my childhood, as almost every schoolchild knows. However, in fact, Albert studied very well, and his knowledge of mathematics was much deeper than what the school curriculum required.

When the young talent tried to enter the Higher Polytechnic School, he scored the highest score in the core subjects - mathematics and physics, but in other disciplines he had a slight deficiency. On this basis he was refused admission. The next year Albert showed brilliant results in all subjects, and at the age of 17 became a student.

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