Apple Seismology

Here is a cool 'Quick Study' about "apple seismology".

Quoting the article's lead: Just as an earthquake’s seismic waves reveal properties of Earth’s interior, elastic surface waves on an apple can tell us about what’s going on inside the fruit.

This research may be a contender for an Ig Nobel prize.

Update: Apple seismology was discussed originally in a 1973 mathematical modeling paper by J.R. Cooke and Richard Rand. (This paper is cited in the Physics Today article above.)

The Art of Music

I'm talking about Chladni patterns, of course.

Traveling Waves, the Royal Thai Navy, and "The Final Countdown"

The video below shows members of the Royal Thai Navy demonstrating traveling waves (and other wave phenomena) to the glorious sounds of "The Final Countdown" being played by a band!

I think my head just exploded.

amazing parademuhteşem bir geçit töreni

Posted by Mavi Kocaeli on Monday, April 6, 2015

(Tip of the cap to Improbable Research.)

Pendulum Wave: Bowling Ball Edition

Go ahead: Take a look for yourself. It's pretty damn awesome! (I like demos.)

(Tip of the cap to Damien Storey.)

Two-Dimensional Rubens' "Tube"

Here is a two-dimensional version of a Rubens' Tube, which is a flame-based apparatus for demonstrating standing waves. Very cool!

Chocolate Oscillations and the Square-Plate Approximation

At dinner, I was estimating the wavenumber of the chocolate oscillations on my dessert plate.

The next step is to estimate the amount of chocolate as a function of wavenumber and to figure out the accuracy of the square-plate approximation.

50 Years of Anderson Localization!

Do you know why I'm excited today? (Actually, this is very recent news, as I only found out about this a few minutes ago.)

Here's why: The August 2009 issue of Physics Today includes a 50 year retrospective on Anderson localization. I won't read it until my hard copy arrives, but I am very much looking forward to reading these articles.

As described in the wikipedia entry, Anderson localization is "the absence of diffusion of waves in a random medium". (Imagine a crystal with defects that do their damnedest to curtail wave transmission. Admittedly, I'm not trying to score major points for accuracy with this description.)