Author: Michael Kemp
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What’s the Big Deal With Newton and an Apple?
Did Isaac Newton get conked on the head by an apple? Well, that’s not the way he told the story! I was taught in elementary school that Isaac Newton had solved the riddle of gravity, of how and why stuff falls down. And yes, Newton really did get inspired by watching an apple fall to…
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What’s So Special About the Scientific Method?
Why should you trust the scientific method? What makes it any better than a great idea from someone you respect? I’ll share some excerpts from my book (Why Stuff Falls Down), and you can see what you think! The essential foundations of modern science are rational thinking, critical thinking, and empiricism. “Rational thinking” means that…
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What’s a Fact?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a fact, what’s a wild guess, and what qualifies as a valid scientific theory. Folks often use the word “fact” to mean something that they really believe in — not necessarily something that can be shown to be objectively true. And “theory?” I see that used all the time…
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Force That Takes No Energy
There are forces that we see every day that take no energy. How can you have a force that takes no energy? It all began with me musing as to how a magnet sticks to my refrigerator. A conversation with some physics folks on Discord helped me sort out my thoughts. I realized that most…
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Which Way Down?
OK. This is going to sound crazy, but the direction of down where you are is not the same as the direction of down where I am. Why? Because everything on Earth gets pulled towards the center of the Earth. And yes Martha, the Earth is round. If where you stand on Earth is different…
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Dropping Hammers, Feathers, and Balls – Oh My!
How does gravity actually act? Back in ancient Greece, Aristotle said that the speed of a falling object depends on how heavy it is. Twice as heavy? It’s going to fall twice as fast. Well, that’s just common sense. A hammer falls faster than a feather. Aristotle also said that when you drop an object…