XX – Life’s Roller Coaster

Roller coasters either feel like a hangover or an adrenaline shot, and are without a doubt, one of the more thrilling rides in the world. It has everything needed to be on the New York Times best-seller list: an intro packed with tension; a climax that always smacks you in the face (quite literally, in

XIX – Nuclear Fizzion

Previously, I discussed the nuclear fusion which occurs within the Sun’s core. Now, we’ll be looking at nuclear fission, and how we humans use it to create low-carbon electrical energy. Nuclear fission is the opposite of what happens during fusion: in the Sun, hydrogen atoms squish together under immense pressure and become a helium atom;

XVIII – Winded

I was watching second first Mission Impossible the other day and got to the part where there was a high-speed helicopter chase in a wind farm. There was also a lot of sheep for some reason (no sheep were harmed during the making of the film). It got me thinking how much our development in

XVII – B(re)aking Bread

I’m writing this post just as I’m setting some banana bread in the oven – who doesn’t love banana bread, after all? Even though National Bread Day is February 23rd, I think we can still appreciate how great bread is a few months after. We see some of the best examples of energy transfer within

XVI – Bicycle Race

Bikes have revolutionized transportation, and biking has even become an Olympic sport. Every morning, I get outside and bike, enjoying the freedom of escaping the mundane drawl that has come with this quarantine (for anyone seeing this in the future: Google COVID-19). Biking also leaves you exhausted. Now, while not all physical exertion can be

XV – Spilling the Tea

Tea is a universal drink, which I think everyone loves. You have dozens of different varieties: green tea; black tea; earl grey; chai tea (my favourite); oolong. Tea originated in China in 2737 BC, and slowly spread to the Western world, where it is now a standard part of breakfast for ~2 billion people. I

XIV – The Heartbeat of Music

Yes, this blog post will be looking at the metronome. In case you haven’t seen one or heard one this is how they function: the metronome keeps a steady beat by producing a loud ‘tick’ at regular intervals. Every piece of music has a certain tempo it needs to be played at – how fast

XIII – 01134

I was evaluating a definite integral when my calculator display suddenly went blank. I walked to my window and as soon as it received some light, it was back again. This got me thinking: what goes on inside that tiny (but very powerful) little brain? It’s quite, incredible, really, how a machine which is the

XII – Fire and the Flames

Fire is the source of some of the most vital energy transformations seen in history. It is used for providing warmth, cooking food, smelting, forging, and even agriculture. In this blog post, we’ll be looking at domesticated fire, and seeing what exactly causes this flame and what it tells us about energy transformations. I was

XI – Transformations in Tennis

Tennis has been around since the 19th century, and it is incredible how much the game has progressed. It is also one of the most popular sports, with over 1 billion fans in over 100 different countries. As a tennis player myself, I’ve always been interested in the mechanics that go into getting the ball