icon

windweather

SoundSound

Sound and the Weather

Weather conditions can also make sound travel farther or shorter distances—but not for the reason you think. A strong wind won’t carry a sound wave along faster or push it backward like it would a material object. After all, the … Read more

dimeglobe

NumbersNumbers

How Big is Nano?

Placing “nano” before a measurement indicates “billionths” — that is there are billion per unit. For example, a nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A nanosecond is a billionth of a second. The prefix “nano” comes from the Latin nanus (“dwarf”). … Read more

hourglass1

TimeTime

Duration

[Table of Duration excerpted from Spectrums, by David Blatner.] 5.4 x 10–44 s Planck time (shortest possible time) 6 ys Light travels diameter of atomic proton (1 chronon) 1 as (1 million ys) light travels length of 3 hydrogen atoms … Read more

hs-2004-07-m-web

QuotesQuotes

Malraux’s Prison

“The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.” –Andre Malraux

magUniv1

SizeSize

Magnifying the Universe

How much larger is a mountain than an atom? How much smaller is Earth than the Milky Way? All these answers and more in one of the most mind-boggling interactive animations we’ve ever seen: Copyright 2012. Magnifying the Universe by … Read more