Monthly Archives: October 2014

Q: Why radians?

Physicist: Because calculus. When you first start doing trigonometry the choice between radians, degrees, turns, or hexacontades is a matter of personal preference.  Most people use degrees because most other people use degrees (and other people seem pretty on the … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Conventions, Geometry, Math | 18 Comments

Q: If the Sun pulls things directly toward it, then why does everything move in circles around it?

Physicist: Newton’s laws of motion say: Where MP and AP are the mass and acceleration of a planet, MS is the mass of the Sun, R is the distance between them, and G is a universal constant.  What this rather … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Astronomy, Evolution, Physics | 24 Comments

Q: Why is the area of a circle equal to πR2?

Physicist: To demonstrate this you typically have to use either calculus or oranges.  They both use more or less the same ideas, they’re just applied in different ways. Oranges: Imagine taking an orange wedge and opening it so that the … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Geometry, Math | 17 Comments