Posted inDIY Projects
Posted inStrength of Materials
Gravity and the Mass of the Sun
As a young school boy I found it hard to believe that scientists were able…
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How Big is the Sun?
Last time we calculated the sun’s force of gravity acting upon Earth. It was the final…
Posted inStrength of Materials
What is Earth’s Mass?
Last time we learned how Henry Cavendish used Christiaan Huygens’ work with pendulums to determine…
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The Scale of the Solar System
Kepler's laws agree with all observed planetary motions, and by the table in the previous…
Posted inStrength of Materials
Transit of Venus
Fig. 1 The 2004 Venus transit observed from 3 locations by the GONG collaboration Kepler's third law allows one…
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Calculating the Distance to the Sun
We’ve been paying a lot of attention to Venus and its orbital patterns, as did…
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Earth’s Orbital Velocity
As Already Discussed Newton’s equation to calculate the sun’s gravitational force acting upon Earth, and…
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Using Parallax to Measure Distance
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of…
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Optically Measuring Cosmic Distances
Last topic we learned that the bigger an optical rangefinder, the better its accuracy in…
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Optical Rangefinders, Why Bigger is Better
Last time we discussed the fact that ultra fine gradations must be applied to a rangefinder’s indicator…