Category Archives: Physics

This rescue was considered challenging but feasible.

Ars Technica: The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia. The untold story of the rescue mission that could have been NASA’s finest hour. By Lee Hutchinson.

“At 10:39 Eastern Standard Time on January 16, 2003, space shuttle Columbia lifted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A mere 81.7 seconds later, a chunk of insulating foam tore free from the orange external tank and smashed into the leading edge of the orbiter’s left wing at a relative velocity of at least 400 miles per hour (640 kph), but Columbia continued to climb toward orbit. […]
Sixteen days later, as Columbia re-entered the atmosphere, superheated plasma entered the orbiter’s structure through the hole in the wing and the shuttle began to disintegrate. […]
That’s the way events actually unfolded. But imagine an alternate timeline for the Columbia mission in which NASA quickly realized just how devastating the foam strike had been. Could the Columbia astronauts have been safely retrieved from orbit?”

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So sind sie, die Lehrer

Veranlasst durch das heutige Posting von meinem Kollegen Herrn Rau habe ich heute mal eine Runde durch deutschsprachige Lehrerweblogs gedreht, die ich sonst wenig lese.

Das Halbtagsblog von Jan-Martin Klinge kenne ich schon länger (spätestens seit Mathematik ist wie dieses Bild), aber heute habe ich den RSS-Feed abonniert, nachdem ich unter anderem diesen Eintrag hier gelesen habe: “Name drauf!” Den Trick werde ich bei nächster Gelegenheit anwenden! Meine Schülerinnen und Schüler wissen ohnehin schon von mir, dass ich mindestens zu 50% deshalb Lehrer geworden bin, weil es mir Spaß macht, Jugendliche zu quälen. ;-)

Und diese beiden Schaubilder zum Physikunterricht aus seiner Reihe Schule im Schaubild muss ich bei Gelegenheit mal in meinem Physik-LK anbringen: Unsinn, wichtiges Schulfach.

The Fantastic Mr Feynman

BBC Scotland: The Fantastic Mr Feynman ias an hour-long documentary about Richard Feynman, his work and his personal life. Includes interviews with his sister Joan, his children Carl and Michelle, and friends and colleagues like Ralph Leighton and Freeman Dyson. Worth watching!

Two Feynman quotes from the film:

“I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there.”

“There is pleasure in recognising old things from a new viewpoint.”