The Flying Circus of Physics is a book about curious events and effects of the everyday world. This site is an extension of the book.
Spotlight story for this month: Click on the title down below here
Secondary stories for this month: Click on "News/Updates" in menu at the left
Archived stories and links (hundreds): 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7
Index to this site and the book: A-C, D-K, L-Q, R-S, T-Z
Store (books, tee shirts, mug): click on "Store" in the menu at the left
Videos and photos: myspace and blogger and facebook
Jay Waller stories: Physics for
Citations (over 11,000) and links (over 2000) for items in the book (pdf files):
Chap 1, Chap 2, Chap 3, Chap 4, Chap 5, Chap 6, Chap 7
A random sample from the book appears at lower right each time you come to this site.
---- Jearl Walker
ps. If the biplane at the top of the page doesn't have sound and motion, download the free flash player from Adobe.com.
Flying Circus of Physics Spotlight
Tossing a pizza in order to stretch it to the size of the pizza pan requires not only a certain skill but also a bit of physics. Here is a video of what is called the single-toss technique, in which . . .
Flying Circus of Physics Sample
Cocktail-party effect
In a small party with people standing and talking in pairs, each member of a pair stands at a “socially acceptable” distance from the other and the two can hear each other without any trouble. However, as the density of people in the room increases, why does hearing become more difficult, and what does each member of a pair do in response? Why can a voice still be distinguished? You might notice these same effects in many other environments, such as a noisy restaurant or subway car. MORE
© 2009 Jearl Walker. All Rights Reserved