Physics - Blog Posts

early high school

"yeah i might be in love with my straight best friend but im taking ap physics so idk about that rn"

When you've been up for 57 hours straight and you still can't go to sleep yet because you have physics hw to do

I've recently been seeing this article making rounds around this website and particularly people misusing this very cool advancement to imply that modern nuclear reactors are "unsafe" or "dangerous", which is partially due to the just blatantly bad journalism on display here.

The accomplishment of this new reactor is definitely exceptionally impressive but I think that news websites (Even ones specializing in science) have been mischaracterizing the reactor as "meltdown-proof" which is just - wrong? and implies that current reactors are just begging to meltdown.

The cool thing about this new reactor is that its passively cooled, but that doesn't mean its INVULNERABLE to nuclear meltdowns, for example the Chernobyl meltdown happened completely independently of whether it was cooled passively or not.

In fact, passive cooling would only pose an advantage in situations where ALL pumps and backup pumps break and the core doesn't get coolant pumped to it. That's happened exactly once: in Fukushima and only after a literal tsunami hit it, and there's no reason to think that the passive Helium coolant in this new reactor wouldn't also just break. Fukushima happened because of corruption in regulation, preventing suitable defenses against this exact thing from getting built, not because of unsafe reactor design.

There's also some articles like this one which talk about the new reactor being "self-regulating" which is true, but misses the point that the vast majority of nuclear reactors in service today are also stable in the exact same way. Negative feedback loops are a HUGE part of reactor design, the most popular reactor design today is the Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) which is incredibly stable - PWRs just truly hate increasing (or decreasing) energy output.

Most nuclear reactors today are already incredibly safe, even if you had complete control over a nuclear reactor it would be effectively impossible to cause a meltdown on purpose - both the physics of the system and the thousands of automated components would beat the ever loving shit out of any hope of trying to do so.

Articles like these just turn this impressive achievements into a kind of fearmongering over the "dangerous" nuclear reactors currently being used. The fact is that nuclear reactors are incredibly safe, PWRs are an incredible feat of engineering genius and its a genuine shame that the general public isn't aware of how much care goes into their design and safety, let alone how useful and essential they are in our electrical systems.

Modern nuclear reactors are clean, they are safe, and they are vital to a healthy energy grid in the post-fossil-fuel future.

A really good read I highly recommend is Colin Tucker's How To Drive A Nuclear Reactor. He's very clear and very frank with the workings and reality of nuclear power today.

"Jupiter was meant to be a star but failed" or jupiter was a very successful planet? stop downgrading my man 🥀🥀

intro <3

so uh my two friends on tumblr have intros on tumblr and i felt left out so im making one now :3

Technically my name is Cara, but like idk, I don't like been called by my name. My pronouns are She / Her, but honestly I don't really care. Gender is complicated. (i'm already ranting and i haven't even started someone stab me) So like here's my surface level stuff (i go more into depth below if your interested ig, my links are down there too)

Likes: K-pop, Grunge Music (Specifically Nirvana), Writing, Reading, Space, Geography and shows I like, but if you're really interested in what I'm into I go in more depth below. Dislikes: School!!!!, Art block / Creative Block, Conservatives, People who think everything is 'embarassing', people that hate fun and whimsy, homophobes, sexists, racists etc, the heat, bugs, tbh i complain about a lot of things even if it's minor, yeah it's a red flag, just tune me out i can say some stupid shit Music: Loona, Nirvana, Green Day, Ive , Dazey and the scouts, MSI, MCR, Twice, Red Velvet, Deftones, new jeans, Mitski, Tv Girl, there's more below

Kpop

Hehehehehehehe, I've liked K-pop for 4 (??) years now, I own a couple of albums and went to the IVE concert in Australia. Best day of my life, comparable to my birth. My ult groups are Loona (Loona is an encompassing term of the re-debuts and everything, who knows what's going on in loona island) and IVE. I love nwjns too, but god all the drama going on with them is too much. Other groups I stan: Red Velvet, Triples, New jeans, Le sserafim, Rescene, illit, gidle and more that I can't remember.

Music (In General)

Nirvana is my favourite band of all time, why wasn't I born in the 80's 😔. I mostly follow Grunge, Rock and Punk music as well as other alternative music genres. I don't plan to make a huge paragraph discussing all the genres I like so here is a list of my favourite artists atm: mitski, beabadoobe, laufey, gigi perez, nirvana, alex g, tv girl, green day, weezer, she wants revenge, dazey and the scouts, mindless self-indulgence (i don't support their actions), destroy boys, my chemical romance, radiohead, mommy long legs, deft tones, hole, bikini kill, arctic monkeys, phoebe bridgers, chapell roan etc. There's more but i'm lazy suck it. I ALSO PLAY GUITAR!! I play both electric and acoustic and consider myself pretty cool (ladies, ladies on at a time 😼😼) Yeah i love love love my guitar it is my gf Songs I can play: Come as you are, About a girl, buddy holly, in bloom, apple cider and im still learning more !!

Games

Tbh I don't play a lot of games bcs I'm poor asf 😔 but my favourites are: Mincecraft, Roblox, The Sims, Killer Chat, Undertale and Deltarune!! (spamton hangs on my wall)

Art

I am an avid artist, i mostly either draw using pencils or digital :3 I don't know what else to mention on art but it is a huge part of my life and maybe i'll post some art on here !!

Writing

Yeah I may not seem like but I love writing. I swear every other writers intros are so put together and poetic but I'm here geeking out cries. Yes I may seem silly and idiotic but I have thunk some very deep thunks 😼😼 (don't take me seriously please, i assure you i have the capacity to not act like a child) My current projects are Project Card and Project Tunnels, you may see me post about them occasionally 😽 Uh and my favourite characters I have ever written are Seven, Yuhong and Mingsheng (girl no1 gaf)

Reading

I LOVE READING‼️‼️I have nerdy interests sue me, i love reading either classics or fantasy (though I will not turn up my nose at romantacy) I need some more book recs, I'm currently reading to kill a mockingbird and holy shit scout is so me i want to be her friend so bad aofjaiwefiweyghiyaaoiufhqwyeufgqyegfygqywegfasdclhifqwergfitygOQSDIEYGFIADADIYG (sorry i have habit of going feral from time to time, im not contracting rabis i promise)

Space

I will cry if I fail a physics class, i love space so so so so so much, confession time anytime anyone ever mentions space, esp when it's from a tiktok trend or something ("omg titan is so cool") i will absolutely have very violent thoughts, no get away from space she's mine 😾😾 grgrgrgr i don't know i think it's weird to try gatekeep space of all things, and i'm aware of this, but i still will try.

Geography

WHY AM I HYPERFIXATED ON FLAGS FREE ME FROM THIS PRISON. Anyways i know all the flags of the world and some territories (come fuck w/ me 😼) trust i will geek out anytime geography is even barely mentioned i love the world and countries so much (no not countryballs stay away) anytime one of those 'fictional countries' on tiktok makes a flag i think i die a little inside. NO YOUR FLAG WAS NOT MADE UP OF PASTELS. Anyways actual pretty flags: Seychelles, Libya, UK, Russia, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Canada, Bhutan, South korea, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Confederation flag (is that weird???), Iceland, Norway, Turkey, Tunisia, Micronesia, idk there's more

Philosophy

no comment, i need to stop having weird interests and freaking people out because i randomly have existential crisis. if anyone wants to listen to me rant about anything and everything hmu ig???

TV

okay so idk how to go about this, i usually like shows but like drop them for a new one?? so i'll go through the shows i loved for more then a week. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Doctor Who, Big Bang Theory / Young Sheldon, Squid Game, House MD. I think out of this list my favourites are Squid Game and Doctor Who :3 I got a tardis blanket for Christmas !!

Links

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/31wyfkzcto4d5ejgl5vrcabkhrge?si=da8cceace9c94007

Pin - https://pin.it/40BWRGv9t

Spacehey - https://spacehey.com/theangelshavethephonebox

Fun Facts

I tried to learn both Organ and Saxophone b4 finding my one true love (guitar)

Ive been a girl kisser since i was 9 years old

My longest writing project is currently 31k words !!

l'm literally a purebred Australian, my dads side have literally been here since colonisation, i mourn having culture every day

HUGE THRIFTER, more then half my clothes are second hand, thrifted or from my lovely mother :3

Massive fan of Graffiti but i'm a tad bit of a pussy, i'm like that for most things, finding out and knowing how to do things or by passing rules but never doing it because i'm too scared

anyways thats it, yeah that's it i got tired, i may add to this, anyways byeee 😽😽

Nature is designed in a smart way so as to not destroy itself right? This means there are certain limitations to what we can do, for example

Assuming we live in a world where time travel is possible:

The Grandfather paradox (or something alike) will be created no matter how careful we are if we were to be able to time travel. But since physics is a well functioning logical model, there must be a system or mechanism to ensure otherwise.

For example, like in Avengers Endgame it’s stated that you can’t change the present or future by changing the past because the past becomes the present you’s future. This means that the grandfather paradox is not possible (basically the entire last season of the umbrella academy 😌).

So it must mean that every time we travel into the past, and change something, a new timeline or new universe with a slightly different detail is created, which must be the reason the series “Loki” had so many time-lines?

I have one of these

e t e r n a l b l i s s

I love having to explain the concept of up and down to a grown ass adult 🙄

A demonstration of the physics of inertia. (Source)

𓍯𓂃𓏧♡

I have a physics test tomorrow morning and I don't know shit.

𓍯𓂃𓏧♡

guys. danny phantom is not possessing his own body. if he was, whenever he was "going ghost" his body would drop to the ground. the electricity killed and jump started his heart while his cells mixed with the ectoplasm powering the portal at the same time.

he's half dead, he can switch between human and ghost because of the change in his molecular structure.

the accident messed with his atoms and gives him more control over his body, he's just using wave function to quantum tunnel and stuff like that.

at least, that's how i see it.

Follow-up to my post about Vector Despicable Me:

I do NOT like Physics anymore :']]

A test made me sad today so now it will pay lol. I'm no longer abiding by the laws of physics and neither should you :P

Oh yeah btw I beat Jevil Deltarune over the weekend and I'm playing through Chapter 2 now lol. Pretty epic experience B]

They use fucking ai for the physics national olympiad logo. It's souless and incomplete, and I hate it!!

Look at the on from last year, it's just so much better!! I mean, still souless, but at least you can see the work of a human being there!!!!

peter higgs died???? damn rest in peace my guy

physics girlboss moment of the day scheduled an interview at the country's largest accelerator nothing can stop me now

Saw my first reactor core. I am a changed woman

The math cafe is my favourite place to work because it has the best views and biggest blackboards

Scary puppy

The Close-Up Face of a Spider.

I recently graduated with a BS in physics. I was one of three women who graduated that year out of 20 students.

The Conversation

Female physicists aren't represented in the media – and this lack of representation hurts the physics field

The trailer for ‘Oppenheimer’ fails to include female physicists, which is indicative of a broader media trend that, if reversed, could lead

Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated movie “Oppenheimer,” set for release July 21, 2023, depicts J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. But while the Manhattan Project wouldn’t have been possible without the work of many accomplished female scientists, the only women seen in the movie’s trailer are either hanging laundry, crying or cheering the men on.The only women featured in the official trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ are crying, hanging laundry or supporting the men.

As a physics professor who studies ways to support women in STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – fields and a film studies professor who worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, we believe the trailer’s depiction of women reinforces stereotypes about who can succeed in science. It also represents a larger trend of women’s contributions in science going unrecognized in modern media.

Lise Meitner: A pioneering role model in physics

The Manhattan Project would not have been possible without the work of physicist Lise Meitner, who discovered nuclear fission. Meitner used Einstein’s E=MC² to calculate how much energy would be released by splitting uranium atoms, and it was that development that would prompt Einstein to sign a letter urging President Franklin Roosevelt to begin the United States’ atomic research program.

Einstein called Meitner the “Madame Curie of Germany” and was one of a pantheon of physicists, from Max Planck to Niels Bohr, who nominated Meitner for a Nobel Prize 48 times during her lifetime.

Meitner never won. Instead, the prize for fission went to Otto Hahn, her male lab partner of 30 years in Berlin. Hahn received the news of his nomination under house arrest in England, where he and other German scientists were being held to determine how far the Third Reich had advanced with its atomic program.

Of Jewish descent, Meitner had been forced to flee the Nazis in 1938 and refused to use this scientific discovery to develop a bomb. Rather, she spent the rest of her life working to promote nuclear disarmament and advocating for the responsible use of nuclear energy.

Meitner was not the only woman who made a significant contribution during this time. But the lack of physics role models like Meitner in popular media leads to real-life consequences. Meitner doesn’t appear as a character in the film, as she was not part of the Manhattan Project, but we hope the script alludes to her groundbreaking work.

A lack of representation

Only around 20% of the undergraduate majors and Ph.D. students in physics are women. The societal stereotypes and biases, expectation of brilliance, lack of role models and chilly culture of physics discourage many talented students from historically marginalized backgrounds, like women, from pursuing physics and related disciplines.

Societal stereotypes and biases influence students even before they enter the classroom. One common stereotype is the idea that genius and brilliance are important factors to succeed in physics. However, genius is often associated with boys, and girls from a young age tend to shy away from fields associated with innate brilliance.

Studies have found that by the age of 6, girls are less likely than boys to believe they are “really, really smart.” As these students get older, often the norms in science classes and curricula tend not to represent the interests and values of girls. All of these stereotypes and factors can influence women’s perception of their ability to do physics.

Research shows that at the end of a yearlong college physics course sequence, women with an “A” have the same physics self-efficacy as men with a “C”. A person’s physics self-efficacy is their belief about how good they are at solving physics problems – and one’s self-efficacy can shape their career trajectory.

Women drop out of college science and engineering majors with significantly higher grade-point averages than men who drop out. In some cases, women who drop out have the same GPA as men who complete those majors. Compared to men, women in physics courses feel significantly less recognized for their accomplishments. Recognition from others as a person who can excel in physics is the strongest predictor of a student’s physics identity, or whether they see themselves as someone who can excel in physics.

More frequent media recognition of female scientists, such as Meitner, could vicariously influence young women, who may see them as role models. This recognition alone can boost young women’s physics self-efficacy and identity.

When Meitner started her career at the beginning of the 20th century, male physicists made excuses about why women had no place in a lab – their long hair might catch fire on Bunsen burners, for instance. We like to believe we have made progress in the past century, but the underrepresentation of women in physics is still concerning.

Diversity as an asset to science

If diverse groups of scientists are involved in brainstorming challenging problems, not only can they devise better, future-oriented solutions, but those solutions will also benefit a wider range of people.

Individuals’ lived experiences affect their perspectives – for example, over two centuries ago, mathematician Ada Lovelace imagined applications far beyond what the original inventors of the computer intended. Similarly, women today are more likely to focus on applications of quantum computers that will benefit their communities. Additionally, physicists from Global South countries are more likely to develop improved stoves, solar cells, water purification systems or solar-powered lamps. The perspectives that diverse groups bring to science problems can lead to new innovations.

Our intention is not to disparage the “Oppenheimer” movie, but to point out that by not centering media attention on diverse voices – including those of women in physics like Meitner – filmmakers perpetuate the status quo and stereotypes about who belongs in physics. Additionally, young women continue to be deprived of exposure to role models who could inspire their academic and professional journeys'

physicist nitpick: tonnes is a measure of mass so it needs to be multiplied by gravitational acceleration divided by area to convert to pressure.

so 1000 metric tonnes of mass, on earth, in the area of a cat’s paw, roughly works out to 24.5 megapascals (or 240 atmospheres (or the water pressure about halfway through the midnight zone of the ocean))

anyway, funny post that i had the one nitpick with :)

My family knows what I want

have you seen the JWST images of the pillars of creation? i could cry just looking at them. they’re so beautiful.

looking at them i get so emotional. i can’t believe i am lucky enough to be alive in this time of beginning to understand the cosmos.

(second half has been rotated to match orientation of the first)

once i am well enough i will be going to college for astrophysics. i cannot wait to be who i know i can be.

Ah yes, the two half’s of tumblr, hilarious shitpost, and beautiful art

Enriched uranium sword with a lead sheathe that is rumored to slowly kill its owner in exchange for god killing power.