Discoveries in the Physics & Astronomy shop | Science, curiosities, and surprises
Much of our day revolves around the Physics and Astronomy labs in Olin Science Building, which was the finest construction the budget could shoulder in 1954.
Which, after 7 decades, some renovations, and who knows what else, means there are a few minor holes here and there.
Holes which act like a pinhole camera in an otherwise dark lab, casting images of the sun and tree branches on the floor.
April 14th, 1961: NASA publishes a list of satellites and space probes orbiting the Earth, Moon, and Sun, and it all fits on a single, ordinary, typed sheet of letter-sized paper. Twenty-six in all.
Just take a moment to marvel at that.
Now, of course, we (as in humans, not the physics shop) are still sending scads of objects into space, and NASA maintains the ARES Orbital Debris Program to keep track of all the crap up there.
Remember: wishing upon the burning reentry of space debris is just as good as on the remnants of comet dust!
Copper-coated steel BBs, used in several different labs throughout physics and astronomy. Like many of the odds and ends we use for labs and demonstrations, these aren’t used as intended by the manufacturer. In this case, one can only imagine that off-label use is actually safer.
NASA makes an effort to switch over to the metric system. (For some things.) Because when your day-to-day job involves a lot of calculations and unit conversions, decimal-based order takes a lot of irritation out of doing ordinary stuff.
Of course, when you make the changeover from one system to another, it’s a challenge. Sometimes it’s necessary to use a few crutches before the comfort and ease settle in. (Note that this particular sheet predates the press release by the better part of a decade.)
Odd observations:
Classic and simple, this wood and… leather-like chair has probably been in this office since the mid-20th century. Still in good shape! Nice curves, old-style rivets with a hammered finish, and a subdued brown-on-brown color palette. Sits comfortably.
Somehow, despite surviving the decades of use and age, a misaligned decal proclaiming “quality” gives one pause. Was it really that hard?
Space food: it’s an immensely difficult challenge on many fronts, though we understand that – as on Earth – hot sauce makes everything better.
The choice of eyebrows makes a surprising difference in interpretation. Clearly someone was having fun with a red marker.
In cleaning out decades of old papers, attempting to determine what’s worth saving, one occasionally stumbles across the in-betweens: those bits worth remarking upon, but not worth keeping.
For those who’ve kept up on reading Mary Roach’s books, the importance and extreme engineering challenges of making a good space toilet are immense. Suffice to say, the problem was far from solved in 1972.
Around here, we get great mileage out of springs, especially when studying waves and oscillations. And few helical coils grab attention quite like a neon-bright Slinky.
Honestly, if you had the choice between eye-searingly bright colors and boring old steel? We hope you’d go for bonus entertainment value, too.
Simple. Effective. Does what it says on the tin.
Who can argue with that?