We are getting close to that arbitrary date that we mark as the completion of another lap in our orbital path around the Sun - or as some people call it, New Year.
It seems common to give a quick summary of the year's blog posts. In this past year, I had 133 blog posts (well, 134 counting this one). Of these, which were the most popular? Here are the top 10 (according to traffic).
1. Who's Faster? Flash or Quicksilver? In this post, I only looked at video evidence from the Flash television show and the trailer for X-Men Days of Future Past. What did I find? Flash ran at around 300 m/s and Quicksilver was around 9,000 m/s. Calm down. Calm down. Remember this was just based on evidence from the videos. Maybe the controversy is what made this post so popular.
2. Physics of the Hendo Hoverboard. Yes, finally we have a hoverboard. However, it isn't quite like the one in Back to the Future 2. This one requires a conducting surface to ride on. But how does it work? The basic answer is electromagnetic induction.
3. The Physics of Fake Videos. How can you tell if a video is fake? Here are three of my favorite methods for fake video detection.
4. Why Are Lego Sets Expensive? The answer - they are very precise. If you measure the size of a bunch of Lego blocks, they are all essentially the same size.
5. Dropping Objects in the World's Largest Vacuum Chamber. Really, this blog post was an excuse to post an awesome video showing a bowling ball and a feather dropped in a giant vacuum chamber. Pretty cool.
6. The FLIR One Infrared Camera for the iPhone. This is a review of the first infrared camera for the iPhone. It's a pretty cool camera.
7. Can Skinny Jeans Bend Your iPhone 6 Plus? The answer has two parts. First, yes - it's possible since it has most likely happened. Second, probably not. In most cases, the tension needed to bend the phone would probably rip your jeans.
8. Why Are Songs on the Radio About the Same Length?. This might be one of my favorite posts of the 2014 blogging season. First, are songs around the same length? Yes. They are most likely around the same length because of the record format that was used to share songs with radio stations. Second, are newer songs longer than older songs? Yes, now that radios share songs electronically, there is no longer a restriction on song size. Have I missed something? Probably. I'm just looking at song length data and making guesses.
9. What's the Difference Between Speed and Velocity? Surprisingly, not everyone agrees on the definition of speed. Some people say that speed is the magnitude of the instantaneous velocity and other say it is the magnitude of the average velocity.
10. The Physics of the Railgun. Yes, the US Navy has a railgun. What is a railgun? Basically, it is a weapon that uses the electromagnets to accelerate a projectile. This post explains how it works - and no, it doesn't use magnets.
Honorable Mentions
Here are a few posts that didn't make the top 10, but I liked anyway.
- 5 Reasons You Should Consider a Different Physics Textbook.
- The End of the Throw Away Appliance.
- Could Tauriel Shoot an Orc Arrow Out of the Air?
Well, that's it for this trip around the Sun. Now I'm ready for 2015.
