5 Interesting Topics in Physics.
There are a lot of exciting ideas in physics. Matter exists as a state of energy, while waves of probability spread throughout the universe. Existence itself may exist as only the vibrations on microscopic, trans-dimensional strings. Here are some of the most interesting of these ideas, in physics.
1) Can we see sound?
Sound waves are not always invisible. Sound is simply the ordered vibration of matter. Any time you see a vibration, you see sound. For example, when you hit a bell and watch it shake, that shaking motion of the bell is the sound waves travelling through the bell. Talk to your friend quietly, and you indeed cannot see the sound leaving your mouth and entering her ear. This is not because the sound is invisible, but because the air is invisible. When you talk, you are sending sound waves into the air, and the air itself is what is doing the vibrating. Since air is invisible, to begin with, there’s no way for you to see the air once it starts vibrating.
Also, most sound waves consist of material vibrating too quickly for our eyes to pick out. For instance, take your hand and wave it back and forth very rapidly in front of your face. What do you see? You see a blur because the motion of your hand is faster than the speed at which your eyes can process images. The vibrating motion of most sound waves is far quicker than your waving hand and is therefore just a blur to human eyes. The sound waves travelling down a plucked guitar string are not invisible. They are just moving so fast that the plucked guitar string looks like a blur to our human eyes. A high-speed camera has no problem capturing detailed, non-blurry images of the
2) What is meant by Electroplating?
Electroplating is also known as electrodeposition because the process involves depositing a thin layer of metal onto the surface of a workpiece, which is referred to as the substrate. An electric current is used to cause the desired reaction. Here’s a simplified explanation of how electroplating works:
Let’s suppose that a layer of gold is to be electrodeposited onto metal jewellery to improve its appearance. The plating metal gold is connected to the anode, which is a positively charged electrode of the electrical circuit, while the jewellery piece is placed at the cathode which is negatively charged electrode. Both are immersed in a specially developed electrolytic solution (bath).
At this point, a DC current is supplied to the anode, which oxidizes the metal atoms in the gold and dissolves them into the bath. The dissolved gold ions are reduced at the cathode and deposited (plated) onto the jewellery piece. Factors that impact the final plating result include:
- the chemical composition and temperature of the bath
- the voltage level of the electric current
- the distance between the anode and the cathode
- the electrical current application’s length of time
3) Why are roads sloped and not flat?
In an ideal world, the road would be higher on the outside of the corner than the inside because it is safer, and vehicles can travel around the corner faster without sliding. When a vehicle is turned at speed, a force acts on it to push it towards the outside of the bend. When the road is banked, some of this force is transferred to the suspension rather than the tyres. It’s especially useful when the roads are slippery because it increases a driver’s margin for error. The speed of the road usually dictates the angle of superelevation that’s installed.
4) Why can’t sound travel in space?
Right that there are gases in space, and these gasses can indeed propagate sound waves just like Earth’s air allows sound to travel. The difference is that interstellar gas clouds are much less dense than the Earth’s atmosphere. (They have fewer atoms per cubic foot.) So, if a sound wave was travelling through a big gas cloud in space and we were out there listening, only a few atoms per second would impact our eardrum, and we wouldn’t be able to hear the sound because our ears aren’t sensitive enough. Maybe if we had an amazingly large and sensitive microphone, we could detect these sounds, but to our human ear, it would be silent.
Can also be vibrations in a matter that’s not gaseous: for example, the solid Earth or even the Sun (see the related link below). But although sound can travel through Earth, it can’t travel from Earth to Mars because there’s essentially no matter (gases, liquids, solids) in between the two planets for it to travel through. It’s not strictly true that no sound vibrations can travel through space at all, but, indeed, humans would not be able to hear any sounds in space.
5) Why are rainbows circular shape?
Refraction is why all the colours in the sunlight end up separating when it hits the water drop, and we are then able to see all the colours of the rainbow. When sunlight hits a raindrop some of that light bounces back or is “reflected”. So, when you see a rainbow, you see the light that has hit a raindrop and bounced back onto your eye.
In raindrops, sunlight bounces back, or reflects, most strongly at a certain angle – 42 degrees. If we draw rays of sunlight that reflect at 42 degrees into your eyes, then those rays start to look like they form a circular arc in the sky. So, the reflection gives you the shape of the rainbow, while the refraction gives you the colours of the rainbow.
For more excited and interesting information on such topics, log on to www.winspiremagaine.com
We’ve created this content for informational purposes only, and it reflects the views of its respective authors/entities (freelancers/interns) and not those of Winspire Magazine. Winspire Magazine does not endorse or vouch for the accuracy of the information provided in this content. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify and ensure the information is correct and up-to-date. Winspire Magazine disclaims any liability or responsibility for any damages or losses from using this content. Therefore, readers should take all necessary steps to verify the accuracy and reliability of any information presented in this content.
