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I'm starting to put together my presentation for Star Wars physics lecture. It's difficult to pick just a subset of all of my stuff - but I think this is going to be good.
2/ Here is my tentative list. Check me. Are any of these dumb? Am I missing something great?
3/ Speed of a blaster bolt. I tend to include this one in most of my Star Wars talks because I love it.

Also, this data was used in the @mythbusters Star Wars episode.

wired.com/2012/05/star-w…
@MythBusters 4/ Another big study - a look at most of the Jedi force jumps in ALL the Star Wars movies.

wired.com/story/a-physic…

Pretty sure I have to include this since there's lots of good stuff about projectile motion and video analysis
@MythBusters 5/ The Death Star (II) in ROTJ orbiting Endor. Yes, I assume it's orbiting. This is a great example to use to talk about geostationary orbits.

medium.com/p/everything-y…
@MythBusters 6/ Acceleration of the Millennium Falcon in a turn. There are a couple of examples here. Looks at acceleration of an object moving in a circle.

wired.com/2014/12/many-g…

Plus - Leia standing up during a 25 g turn.
@MythBusters 7/ Luke's (@HamillHimself) one handed hand stand and the negative mass of Yoda.

wired.com/2015/08/used-p…

Plus, I get to use pictures of my daughters doing 1-handed hand stands.
@MythBusters @HamillHimself 8/ How long would it take for an AT-AT to fall over? I like this one because you pretty much have to use a numerical calculation to solve it.

wired.com/wiredscience/2…
@MythBusters @HamillHimself 9/ Is it possible Han shot second? Here is a look at the reaction time needed for Han to react to Greedo's shot. #hanshotfirst

wired.com/wiredscience/2…
@MythBusters @HamillHimself 10/ This one MUST be in the talk. In A New Hope, they filmed the escape pod by dropping a bucket of chicken.

wired.com/story/was-a-st…
@MythBusters @HamillHimself 11/ Physics of bombs dropped from a TIE bomber. I like this one.

wired.com/story/the-phys…
12/ Let me know if you have any special request for other topics to be included. Here is my giant list of #StarWars posts.

rhettallain.com/2017/03/19/sci…
13/ Oh, the talk is on November 13 at 6:00 PM in Pursley Hall room 211 (at @oursoutheastern ).

Everyone is welcome if you are in town (or not)
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Rhett Allain
@rjallain
Oh, everyone is going crazy over this Simone Biles tumbling pass. You need some #physics physics to go with it? I got you covered.
1/ Here is the physics of a flip with a twist, it's about angular momentum.

wired.com/2016/08/physic…
2/ Once Simone is in the air, there is no external torque on her so her angular momentum vector must be constant. However, angular momentum and angular velocity DO NOT have to be in the same direction. I know, that's crazy.
Read 16 tweets
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Rhett Allain
@rjallain
THREAD. In honor of the #Apollo50th anniversary of the moon landing, here is a thread of #physics posts related to space travel. @nasa @esaoperations @ESA_History
1/ I will start with my #physics #estimation - what would be like to ride a bike to the moon? How long would it take? How many sandwiches would you need to eat? More homework included.

wired.com/story/how-long…
2/ Video analysis of the lunar lander launching off the surface of the moon.

wired.com/story/the-phys…
Read 23 tweets
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Rhett Allain
@rjallain
Yesterday in #physics class, I had to have the discussion about learning vs. telling the answer. I got to use my favorite Karate Kid analogy - "wax on, wax off" to emphasize that sometimes you have to do tedious things to learn.

wired.com/2013/10/tellin…
2/ What happens when you just tell students answers? They have trouble learning complicated concepts. Personally, I love this (older) video showing students trying to explain the phases of the moon and the cause of seasons. It's great.
3/ Another point I mention to students.

If #physics was as easy as me just telling you the answer, I promise you I would do that. I'm not trying to make physics hard just for no reason. Physics is difficult on its own accord (and honestly, that's what makes it awesome).
Read 4 tweets

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Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
Here we go. Last #PMQs of this Parliament. Possibly the last for either Johnson and Corbyn. The start of #GE19.
Starts off with series of back handed compliments from PM to Speaker. Hails him as a “player in your own right” and an “uncontrollable tennis machine”
Corbyn: “I hope Mr Speaker you will indulge me a moment to say a word about you...I’m sure you will.” #pmqs
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DawsonSField
@DawsonSField
Well the @GenFlynn Motion to Compel exculpatory material was worth the wait.
We do have to separate what @SidneyPowell1 is alleging & the new evidence. Not everything a lawyer alleges in an argument is proven, it includes their theory of what it means.
scribd.com/document/43194…
Unfortunately, many of the key documents are still sealed, so we can't discern what is ironclad & what is inference based upon those documents.
Clearly spelled out is the strategy, not to have General Flynn withdraw is guilty plea as the judge has repeatedly asked him to do. But to use the guilty plea to get this information into the public light & force the judge to dismiss the charges!
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Secret Gamer Girl
@SecretGamerGrrl
Ooh! I know this one! See before the target audience for that tweet was born, those big evil meanies from The Left told everyone it's OK for white women to marry black and brown men, and we shouldn't murder those men. So now nothing can stop that and since white+Other=Other OH NO
Over a long enough period, ALL the white women will marry OUTSIDERS (because they're all so hot!) and there won't be any left to have white men's white babies and there won't be anyone left who thinks they should be in charge of everything because they look like they're sick and
get really bad sunburns! See, the fact that they can't really spend any time outside without a ton of sunblock proves they're meant to be in charge, behind a desk somewhere, out of harm's way!

That was fun, let's see which unreasonable far right beliefs the rest are code for!
Read 64 tweets
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Dr. Phil Metzger
@DrPhiltill
Here's a perspective on satellite mega-constellations that nobody has mentioned. (We are ALL tired of this, but I think this is interesting).

The real reason SpaceX is putting up a mega-constellation at this time is because of the laws of nature. It was inevitable.../1
2/ Many metrics of information growth show exponential growth. Examples: Moore's law, computer speeds, agents on the internet of things, sensors. See review here: ourworldindata.org/technological-…
3/ Even before humans existed, we see evidence of exponential growth in information. Consider the sizes of genomes. This plot has a slope of 1 on a log-lot chart, so this is exponential growth in DNA complexity. phys.org/news/2013-04-l…
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Robert Hewitt Wolfe
@writergeekrhw
How to Kill a Character. A Writing Spew in Many Parts. (Inspired by various recent pop culture events.) /BeginSpew 1
Okay, you’re a writer. You’ve got a mess of characters. You want to move your audience. So it’s time to take out the old writer’s ax and chop chop chop! But how do you do it with maximum impact without your audience turning against you forever? 2
Pull up a chair and Uncle Robert will explain it to you! #TVWriting #Novels 3
Read 68 tweets
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Maggie Stiefvater
@mstiefvater
Every year the same pair of finches returns to the bush outside my office window, and every year they have the same debate about whether or not to build their nest in exactly the same place. It is like an Avian Love It or List It.
Like clockwork, they show up at 1:30 each afternoon, each with a single twig each. I presume that either a) they are a sloppy couple who sleeps in until noon each day or 2) they have spent all morning sourcing these twigs.
For thirty minutes, they hop around the top of the bush with the twigs, fretting about location.

COME ON GUYS YOU KNOW YOU'RE JUST GOING TO BUILD IT WHERE YOU ALWAYS DO
Read 84 tweets

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