This week's episode of Cosmos,"Hiding In The Light," is all about light and the spectrum, and how an assortment of scientists came to understand something about how light works. This episode seemed somehow shorter and jumpier than others in the series, though I'm not sure I can put a finger on why -- maybe it's just that there's no single moment in this week's outing that prompted an "Oh, WOW" as in some of the earlier outings. Even so, it's still Neil deGrasse Tyson doing history of science, so that makes up for a lot.
To be fair, I struggle with that goddamned bow tie every time I have to wear it. (Where&#039;s Bill Nye when you <i>really</i> need him?)
No quantum levels, no energy levels. No energy levels, no spectral lines. No reason to beat the viewers over the head with it, though . . . they don&#039;t really care how it works, just that it does work.
Fun experiment - take a CD-ROM or DVD, and hold the shiny side under a CFL lamp. The &quot;rainbow&quot; you see at a high angle will actually consist of bright lines emitted by the various elements in the bulb&#039;s white internal coating. Shine the light through a narrow slot cut in a piece of cardboard, and you&#039;ve got yourself a poor man&#039;s specroscope - you&#039;ll see the actual lines in the spectrum. <a href="http:\/\/bielzebubba.tumblr.com\/image\/82003539859" target="_blank">you&#039;ll see the actual lines in the spectrum.</a>
Different bulbs (&quot;cool&quot;, &quot;warm&quot;, &quot;reading&quot;) give different lines.
One that I&#039;ve done a couple times for kids involves slightly melting a chocolate bar in a microwave (remove the turntable) to show that it sets up a standing wave in the box.
You can estimate the speed of light using the chocolate bar and the frequency of the microwave&#039;s cyclotron, which is tuned to water&#039;s absorption band.
Quantum mechanics is something that our human prejudices left us completely unprepared to comprehend. It really is amazing that we were able to puzzle it out, and in such a relatively short period of time.
Light My Fire.
But can you test it?
Isaac Newton came <i>this close</i> to doing that very experiment! Too bad he had someone else made his lunch.
To be fair, I struggle with that goddamned bow tie every time I have to wear it. (Where&#039;s Bill Nye when you <i>really</i> need him?)
ynot? <a href="http://www.cosmosontv.com" target="_blank"> <a href="http://www.cosmosontv.com</a>" target="_blank">www.cosmosontv.com</a></a>
I did. I love that joke.
One of the <i>other</i> Gods. After all, <i>ELOHIM</i> is plural, sheeple! Also, too, I blame Obama.
Get your nukes outta her uterus!!
So, Dok, you found this Bohring?
I&#039;ll see myself out.
No quantum levels, no energy levels. No energy levels, no spectral lines. No reason to beat the viewers over the head with it, though . . . they don&#039;t really care how it works, just that it does work.
Fun experiment - take a CD-ROM or DVD, and hold the shiny side under a CFL lamp. The &quot;rainbow&quot; you see at a high angle will actually consist of bright lines emitted by the various elements in the bulb&#039;s white internal coating. Shine the light through a narrow slot cut in a piece of cardboard, and you&#039;ve got yourself a poor man&#039;s specroscope - you&#039;ll see the actual lines in the spectrum. <a href="http:\/\/bielzebubba.tumblr.com\/image\/82003539859" target="_blank">you&#039;ll see the actual lines in the spectrum.</a>
Different bulbs (&quot;cool&quot;, &quot;warm&quot;, &quot;reading&quot;) give different lines.
One that I&#039;ve done a couple times for kids involves slightly melting a chocolate bar in a microwave (remove the turntable) to show that it sets up a standing wave in the box.
You can estimate the speed of light using the chocolate bar and the frequency of the microwave&#039;s cyclotron, which is tuned to water&#039;s absorption band.
I liked the adjective that Tyson used: alien.
Quantum mechanics is something that our human prejudices left us completely unprepared to comprehend. It really is amazing that we were able to puzzle it out, and in such a relatively short period of time.