Rhett Allain Profile picture
https://t.co/6NnvyopzvQ Physics faculty. Physics blogger. @WIRED @MacGyverCBS and @MythBusters. Physics, Science, Geek. Coffee is my superpower.
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Jun 6, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
New #DIY #Science video - building a very simple (but working) ribbon microphone.

For one version I use #LEGO, aluminum foil, and hard drive magnets.



Not directly from #MacGyver - but related. BTW - this website is great for recording and analyzing simple sounds

listeningtowaves.com/sound-explorat…
Nov 3, 2019 13 tweets 8 min read
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?
Aug 12, 2019 16 tweets 6 min read
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…
Jul 19, 2019 23 tweets 14 min read
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…
Jun 21, 2019 4 tweets 2 min read
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.
Mar 14, 2019 20 tweets 10 min read
MEGA THREAD. Happy #PiDay to everyone.

Let's start with the simplest calculation of Pi - the ratio of circumference to diameter for round objects. wired.com/2014/03/calcul… 2/ If you want to do this calculation of Pi, just find a bunch of circular objects of different size. Use a string to wrap around and measure the circumference and then measure the diameter. Plot C vs. d - the slope is PI.
Dec 26, 2018 15 tweets 8 min read
THREAD. Need some #physics ideas to go along with your holiday presents? I have you covered.

Here is my list of some cool physics experiments I have done with toys and stuff. 2/ How fast are #Nerf darts? Video analysis included.
wired.com/2011/06/how-fa…
Aug 14, 2018 70 tweets 26 min read
THREAD - How about a bunch of blog posts on #Space and #Astronomy? Yes, I have more than you can imagine - especially since these are really just #physics topics. Hold on - because this is going to be a bit large. 2/ Here is an answer to my fav astronomy question EVER - "What would the phases of the moon look like if the moon was a cube?" wired.com/2015/09/moon-c…
Aug 6, 2018 22 tweets 7 min read
14/ Follow up - if your science class isn't confusing, then something isn't right wired.com/2016/04/scienc… 15/ Now for some advice geared more towards faculty. I will start with the big one - we should be moving past the traditional lecture. There is more that we can do wired.com/2017/05/the-me…
Aug 6, 2018 14 tweets 5 min read
THREAD. For many it is the near the start of the fall semester. Here I will share my teaching and learning posts. Some of these are for faculty and some are for students. 2/ I'll start with posts that just deal with students. My first recommendation - ditch that scientific calculator. It's overpriced and not nearly as good as python wired.com/story/ditch-th…
May 19, 2018 13 tweets 5 min read
THREAD. Here are some of my favorite #MacGyver hacks - most of them you can easily do yourself. These could also make great projects for kids. 2. For each hack, I will give two scores. Difficulty (D) from 0-10. A 0 difficulty means you already did it and a 10 means you will probably mess up a couple of times.

The other score: Equipment (E) from 0-10. 0 means no equipment 10 is specialized stuff.