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Special Physics Photo of the Week

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Totality! April 8, 2024 - Photo by Donald F. Collins We traveled to Shaker Heights, Ohio (next to Cleveland) to capture the total solar eclipse.  We woke up to some rain and solid clouds as a cold front passed through, but the front passed with beautiful clear skies by noon.  The totality began about 3:13 pm and lasted 3 min:49 sec. The total solar eclipse is characterized by the corona - the halo immediately surrounding the Sun.  The corona consists of ionized gases ejected from the surface of the Sun which glow with the spectra characteristic of the the elements in the Sun.  The shape of the corona is variable from eclipse to eclipse causing every solar eclipse to produce a different display.  The corona is also strongly shaped by the strong magnetic fields surrounding the Sun.  The eclipse also shows several solar prominences - the flame-like ejections of solar mater being "boiled" off into space.  The prominence protruding from the south limb (th...
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Physics Photo of the Week

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  Eclipse 2024 from Northeast Vermont - P hotos  by Olivia Mitchell-Eby The recent total solar eclipse was spectacular for family kin in a corner of Vermont called the "Northeast Kingdom".  Olivia used her cell phone held in her lap to take photos of the on-coming eclipse.  In the distance above the horizon we can see the on-coming ominous shadow of the Moon approaching Olivia and her immediate family amidst new-fallen snow.  The fresh snow is a sign of Vermont spring in early April. Modern cell phones have the a bility to do time-lapse videos, so Olivia supported her cell phone in here lap aimed at the eclipsing su n and recorded the time-lapse video seen below.     This video is amazing.  We can see the Moon's shadow projected on the thin cirrus clouds, when the shadow arrives at the viewing point, the sky becomes dark.  We don't see the Sun as if it were eclipsed however.  Cell phones are "smart" and set the exposures automatically....
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Physics Photo of the Week - Sept. 27, 2024

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  Physics of a splash of water This week's photo shows details of the splash observed when a tennis ball was thrown into a body of water.  The ball was thrown from someone on shore when a slo-mo video was recorded on a smart phone.  This is the first video frame immediately after the ball landed in the water.  The immediate reaction from the water is the ejection of a crown-shaped splash that we see in the photo.     A few frames later we can see the rebound effect sending a long column of water shooting up from the splash area as a rebound effect of the water - seen in the photo at right. Click on either of the images to view a slo-mo video of the ball approaching the water, the immediate crown effect, then the spout of water as a result of the rebound of the water as the water rushed back into the sizable cavity made by the ball when it hit the water from a height of a few meters. Examining the slo-mo video frame-by-frame we can see that the kinetic ener...
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