Heat is not temperature. Temperature is a measurement. And, it is the way that we describe the warmness or coldness of a substance. The measure of temperature is a scale, generally Celsius (C) or Fahrenheit (F), that has been defined using various reference points, the freezing of water (32 degrees F or 0 degrees C)Continue reading “From the Archives – Heat”
Category Archives: Physics
The Thermometer – Origin of the Scale
From the Archives – An excerpt from a previous column, published in the Ponca City News Midweek in June 2017. Our ability to measure temperature comes from the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics: if object A is in thermal equilibrium with object B and object B is in thermal equilibrium with object C, then A andContinue reading “The Thermometer – Origin of the Scale”
What is Cold?
The Nation is in the grips of a weather event that has been described as frigid, cold, artic, etc. Essentially, most individuals would agree is the weather is cold. But does cold have a scientific meaning? Not, really, cold is a relative term. Similarly, hot is a relative term. People tend to think of hotContinue reading “What is Cold?”
You have a Science Laboratory in the Palm of Your Hand
Our world is changing rapidly. During my college days, computers were a marvel. My first computer was a device that had 65KB of RAM (random access memory, the working memory of the device), and memory was expensive (this fact dates me). Note the unit is kilobytes – 1000 bytes. The Apollo 11 space craft’s guidanceContinue reading “You have a Science Laboratory in the Palm of Your Hand”
From the Archive – A Different View of the World
A more in depth look at the States of Matter This column first appeared in October 2016, in the Ponca City News. When taking any general science class, one of the questions that might be asked is: what are the states of matter? Matter is essentially the stuff that makes up our world. And, mostContinue reading “From the Archive – A Different View of the World”
Is 2020 really over? Or, exactly what day is it?
This posting was made on January 3, 2021, according to my computer. And, if you ask someone what day it is and you are likely to get this same date (if you read the post on that day). This date is the one that based upon the Gregorian Calendar, the one commonly used by theContinue reading “Is 2020 really over? Or, exactly what day is it?”
All About Science 