Hijacked by science
SCIENTISTS HAVE A WAY of taking everyday words and redefining them for their own purposes. And then they expect the rest of us to fall meekly into line. But we were using these words long before the scientists hijacked them. Sodium Sodium is a soft, buttery grey material that explodes when you put it in […]
What’s a colour?
A CHILD RECENTLY asked me what my favourite colour was. I replied “black”. She rolled her eyes, and gave me that look children reserve for particularly stupid adults. “Black isn’t a colour,” she declared. So what is it, then? If I go to Homebase and ask for a tin of paint, and the operator asks […]
The speed of light
IT’S FAST. REALLY FAST. But you know that already: it’s 186,000 miles a second. But don’t take my word for it; you can work it out for yourself. All you need is a microwave oven and a plate of grated cheese. Spread the cheese evenly on the plate, and take the turntable out of the […]
Over the moon
WHY DO WE ALWAYS see the same face of the moon? It’s unusual in that its rotational speed is identical to its orbital speed, which it always presents the same side towards us. It both turns around its axis and around the Earth once every 27.32166 days. Here are the phases of the moon, with […]
The eyes have it
ONE AREA WHERE CREATIONISTS think they can beat evolution hands down is when it comes to eyes. Look, they say, at this miracle of design. It’s impossible for an organ as complex as an eye to suddenly spring into being out of nowhere. And, of course, they’re right. Because that’s not how it happened. Richard […]
Chilly up north
WHY ARE COUNTRIES in the northern hemisphere colder than those nearer the equator? It can’t be because they’re further from the sun, as they aren’t that much further away. It’s all due to the amount of atmosphere between the sun’s rays and us. Near the equator, the sun is at right angles to the Earth’s […]
What makes a scientist?
SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE BEEN AROUND, in one form or another, since mankind first ventured out of their caves. But the word scientist is a relatively recent invention, dating back to the 19th century. To 1834, to be precise. The word was coined to describe Mary Somerville, who worked in many fields – including mathematics, physics […]
The circumference of the Earth
THE PHILOSOPHER Eratosthenes worked at the Library of Alexandria. It was common knowledge that there was a well in the town of Syene, some distance away, where on midsummer’s day you could see the reflection of the sun at the bottom. Eratosthenes sent a rider on a camel to Syene, timing how long it took […]