Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Physics and Math: Vectors, Direct X11 and Tessellation

It take million of calculation to make a modern video game look good. In some cases the GPU (graphics processing unit) preformance puts the CPU (central processing unit) to shame.

 Check out the stats of a Mid range graphics card.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti

So what does all that graphics power get you? Try running these in full screen mode.

 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Physics: Nonnewtonian Fluids

An Explanation of Non-Newtonian fluids.

And this one because I think it's fun!

Physics & Chemistry: Supercooled Water

How do you get water to freeze in a matter of seconds? Here an explanations:

Here are some other demonstrations.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Physics - Crash Test Dummies

From 120 mph to zero in 0.068 seconds. Imagine the force on a human body during the crash.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Environmental Science: World Population!

Listen to the following story.

NPR: Visualizing how a population Grows to 7 Billion
How does it make you feel? Scared? Concerned? Hopeful?

Here is another way of looking at the world's population.

Why study S.T.E.M. in college?

STEM stand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Yes, I could beat my head against the wall trying to tell you why it's good for you, but let just show you some number.

First from Forbes: 15 Most Valuable College Majors

Notice anything about the types of majors?

How about Kiplinger: 10 Best College Majors for a Lucrative Career

See it yet?

Compare the previous two links with this: Worst College Majors for Your Career

Still don't get it? Do some self exploring with this site from the Wall Street Journal.
From College Major to Career



Aside: Moving is always good when you are young. Don't get stuck in the same small town where you grew up. 12 Best Cities for High Paying Jobs

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Physics and Astronomy: Curiosity Mars Landing

Here is a Link to the Curiosity Footage. The lander goes from 13,000 MPH to 0.67 meters per sec (1.5 mph less then walking speed), in these "seven minutes of terror". The Clip lasts 50 seconds. You may also check out the Fox news site where a similar video has the mission control voice over from NASA. Watch Mars rover Curiosity landing in glorious, high definition