Nice article debunking the 'Helical Drive' - an idea for spacecraft propulsion without propellant that has been propelled a bit more than it deserves to be on social media.
Near-infinite specific thrust from drive that ignores physics
Just to flag two non-pony things I am doing this month:
Besides being a writer I am also like to teach Physics.
Two bits of news:
I will be joining a panel on "Physical Laws of a Novel Dimension" organised by Needling Haystacks at HarmonyCon today. (Just by video link.) If anyone is in Dallas, come along at 11am.
The first particle physics themed story I have commissioned will be published soon. Stay tuned.
I am going to attempt to find out how the laws of physics apply to Equestrian magic (as the title implies). This is my analysis based on a purely scientific standpoint and what is specifically shown in MLP (or rather, the images I found).
Eighteen years ago, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss wrote, The Physics of Star Trek, an explanation, of sorts, of the speculative science behind warp drives, inertial dampers and matter transfer beams; as often as not explaining why such things just wouldn't work. The book was an unexpected best-seller, which surprised the world of popular science writing. No one expected such a nerdy title to have such wide appeal. But turned out plenty of readers wanted to know about the workings
My day job at the moment involves running computer models of electrical pulses through the readout of a CERN particle detector, testing whether all the megabits produced every second in the layers of silicon will be successfully routed to the data servers without bouncing off circuit board connections, or getting lost along over-etched copper tracks.
Read the title you hecks
Last week we saw the first pics from the James Webb Space Telescope. The stunning images of early galaxies were amazing, although as an instrument nerd I find myself paying more attention to the camera specs. It’s an impressive bit of kit: 6.5m mirror and IR camera operating under 50K, requiring a five-layer sun shield, which had to unfold in space after being launched, with no chance of fixing things if it went wrong. Got to respect the team doing the QA/QC.
Previously, I have discussed one particular way of merging the idea of a "rational" universe, with Equestria's magic being present. There, I proposed the existence of a construct I have named the Source of Magic - an abstract construct big and powerful enough to be capable of performing feats considered "magical" while doing them only by the means available to everyone through the general laws of
From my perspective, Cart Before the Ponies gets the highest mark of any episode for grabbing the viewer’s attention during the opening.
...because today we're going to learn about physics!
Here is an interesting perspective by physics PhD Francesca Day: Writing Fan Fiction for the Universe.
Pinkie Pie glared at her reflection in the looking glass. Her reflection returned the gesture.
“There something very funny about this mirror Twilight!”
Twilight looked over at her friend and cast a quick spell on the glass to check for any magical properties.
“It’s just an ordinary mirror Pinkie. It’s not a magical portal or anything. There’s nothing strange about it.”
Was suppose to be out after I got back from Whinnycity instead the day I'm packing for Crystal Fair here it is, I finally got the physics video done. Check it out if you got a second; in the mean time I'll keep working on Dead Tree edits and have you a chapter 19 hopefully by Monday or who knows I might publish while I'm at Crystal Fair.
It's less than two days until we get to see the New Generation. But there is something else exciting before that. Tomorrow I am hosting a livestream: COLLIDE! Why particle physics at Oxford matters. Here's a video invitation:
And the livestream link:
I just added a short appendix to The Art of Rainbow Engineering giving a bit more detail on the science. I did intend to do this when I first wrote the story, but never finished it, as doing diagrams is rather tedious.
Now if anyone in the university asks why I spend so much time on fimfiction, I can say it's a public education project.
That time of year again. When ponies dress up in Spooktacular costumes for their Nightmare Night fun, and particle physicists thrill everyone with tales of ghost particles and the dark side of the universe.
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