Intro This article is going to be math heavy. Be warned. According to Google, an oscillator is a mechanical or electronic device that works on the principles of oscillation: a periodic fluctuation between two things based on changes in energy. If you take a system in equilibrium and give it a little kick, it will vibrate. We can model this with a cosine function: $$x = A \cos (\omega_0 t + \phi)$$ ...
Note to reader: if you have not read part one, do so here. So, what was wrong with Galilean relativity? It help up perfectly well, until a Scottish mathematician by the names of James Clerk Maxwell created his four namesake laws of electricity and magnetism. As a consequence of his laws, he was able to derive the speed of light in a vacuum, which was given the variable $c$. Now, according to Galilean relativity, the speed of light seen by a moving observer should be the speed of light minus the moving observer: ...
Note to reader: This is the first in a series. Relativity, we’ve heard so much about it. Created by Einstein, it’s lived in the minds of both physicists and the cultural zeitgeist. It’s the idea behind black holes, time travel, and has single-handedly spawned off so many Hollywood movies. To truly understand the beauty of special relativity, we must go back in time. Relativity is not a new concept that Einstein created; it’s been around since the time of Galileo and Newton. So what was this “original” relativity? Well, let’s understand what relativity even means. ...
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana The present can seem like a very unstable and turbulent time. It seems as if the world is splitting itself apart, becoming more polarized and opinionated. However, to understand the direction the world is headed, we need to look back in the past for answers. Now, Hegel is notorious for being incredibly difficult to read. His works are often long-winded and use poor english to convey his thoughts. However, his ideas are incredibly important to understand. However, one of his ideas is incredibly important to understand: the dialectic. When broken down, the dialectic is not a very complicated idea. ...
Since the dawn of human civilization, the night sky has captivated us in a way that no other object has. From the silvery moon rising in the sky to the tiny pinpricks of light we now know as stars and planets, humans have spent countless hours observing and documenting the night sky. The process began as far back as the Babylonians and their written record of the night sky, to the Mesoamerican civilizations who based a large majority of their calendar on the moon, and then the Indian and Arabic civilizations with their massive technological advancements to help observe the night sky. ...
On February 24, 1803, the first and most influential supreme court case of America occurred. This case lives in obscurity to most citizens, but without it, the Supreme Court would not have the power it has today. The issue of the case arose from a seemingly simple dispute. It all began during the Election of 1800. When incumbent president John Adams was voted out of office, he created a scheme to keep his party, the Federalists, in control of one of the branches of the government. Adams promoted many Federalists to become circuit judges and justices of peace. This way, the Federalist party could control the Judicial Branch of the government. However, one man that was promised a commission, William Marbury, never received one before Jefferson came into office. Jefferson declared the commission void and told his Secretary of State, James Madison, to not deliver the commission. Marbury sued Madison, and the court case began. The Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison changed America for the better because it established the principle of judicial review, increased the power of the Supreme Court, and protected the rights of citizens. ...
This article is about a project I did with my Ev3 robot in which I made my Ev3 robot follow a toy car. This is similar to some features that many modern cars have today known as adaptive cruise control.. Let’s break this project down into three aspects: the thought process, the hardware, and the software. The thought process is quite simple. I was inspired by my parents’ car, the Lexus RX 350. It has a feature that follows the car in front of it by keeping a constant distance from the other car. It can also speed up and down based on the speed of the other car. I thought that this would be quite easy to model with the Ev3 using principles from the PID line following algorithm. PID is an algorithm that “proportionally” follows a line. (I made a PID line follower on Github, which you can check out here) The algorithm uses how far away the robot is from the line to judge how much the robot should turn. Using the idea of proportionally following a target, I thought instead of following a line, I could make the robot follow a car. ...
Well, it’s time for my first tech review! Today, I’m gonna be talking about my new microphone, the Blue Snowball! You may have heard of its older brother, the Blue Yeti, which is a professional-grade large microphone, but Blue, a Logitech brand, made another microphone, called the Blue Snowball. The Blue Snowball is half the price of the Yeti at 49.99, and is half the size. It sports a unique design, with a three-legged stand and a ball-shaped microphone. ...
Hi. It’s been a while. Sorry for not writing at all! I’ve been pretty busy, but I didn’t write because I was very lazy. So anyways, I’m back! Let’s get into today’s topic! China. You can’t read the news without hearing about China. China is predicted to take over the US as the number one global superpower by 2032, and some estimate that to be even earlier. But how did this happen? As always, when you look at a topic, start with the basics. How did China begin, and how did their beginning differ from the US? Let’s dive into the birth of China. ...
It’s on every high school classroom. But only a few people truly understand the secrets that the table holds. Today, let’s dive in to the true nature of the periodic table. At a first glance, the periodic table looks like a childish table with all sorts of colors and silly letters. Most people know that those letters stand for elements. What are elements really? Elements are atoms. Atoms are comprised of three main parts: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The number of protons, electrons, and neutrons determine which element it is. It also determines the properties of each element. ...