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Sarah Lauser sent me an article that she thought I’d love. And, of course, I did.

13 Things That Do Not Make Sense

One of the most beautiful things about science is that there are still mysteries.

Johannes Kepler discovered his eponymous laws by studying the outlying data points on his Mars orbit calculation. Mars has the most eccentric orbit of the planets Kepler studied, and it was only by analyzing the mystery of Mars’ motion was Kepler able to make the breakthrough he did.

We learn the most in science from the exceptions to our concept of the universe. When we can’t generate an explanation with one of our models, physics gets really phun. It’s very possible that the “errors” in our models that allow for these unexplained phenomena will lead to more insight into the physical laws that cause them. That means new physics, whether to bring an existing model into alignment with the new data, or to scrap a model entirely and start again.

It’s also possible that these unexplained phenomena are due to some collective oversight or poor assumption. That’s still science. Only time and research will lead to the root of the situation.

That’s how science goes. We don’t want the newest, sexiest physics we can come up with — we want the truth about nature. How beautiful is that?

Most. Adorable. Thing. Ever.

The Particle Zoo: Subatomic Particle Plush Toys

Plush toys for each of the fundamental particles of nature! Each of the six quarks and six leptons are represented, as well as the gauge bosons (force carrying particles). Even better, the plush particles are weighted to be light, moderate, or heavy depending on the original particle’s mass. For example, the top quark toy is filled with polished gravel. How cool is that?

The antiparticles are represented too. Smartly, they’re kept on their own part of the site, to prevent high-energy annihilations. The antimatter particles look just like the matter particles, except horizontally flipped.

Despite their tiny mass, these subatomic particles aren’t cheap — the quark six-pack costs $55.50 plus shipping. But they’d make a great gift for budding particle physicists or nerdsthose of us who take pride in our love of science.

I’m starting to feel guilty that I’m leaving some students in the proverbial lurch.

In order to attempt to fill in the gap I’m leaving behind (namely, a second-year physics course), I’m creating a list of resources for interested students to continue their study of the king of sciences.

I’m looking for all kinds of references — books, podcasts, other media — that would be worth the time of a smart and willing high school student.

Here’s my list so far.

Books

• In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality by John Gribbin
• The God Particle by Dick Teresi and Leon Lederman
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman (not strictly a physics book per se, but plenty of physics-related history and amusing anecdotes by a self-admitted “curious character”)
• Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman

Podcasts

• Astronomy Cast

Weblogs

• Bad Astronomy Blog

Other Media

• MIT Open CourseWare, in particular, Physics I (1999) with Prof. Walter Lewin

So, dear readers, what do you recommend to keep the flame of physics alive in the hearts of high school students?

While starting a blog with the word “physics” in the title may seem like instant blog suicide, I’m going to chance it for now. It only seems fitting, in my first post, to give a brief history as to why I chose to study physics.

I fell in love with physics in the eleventh grade. My teacher, Mrs. Emmetts, was in her mid-fifties. She had red hair and a wry smile. On the first day of class, written on the board in large cursive letters, was the phrase that succinctly described her attitude towards physics, and that which she intended to give to her students:

I learned from Mrs. Emmetts that most physics teachers are at least partially insane. I wondered about the cause and effect — whether the insanity comes from studying the king of sciences or whether one must be nutso in the first place to even think about staring down the reasons behind the universe’s creation. I didn’t know much about physics other than that it was an especially difficult science that was heavily math-oriented.

How, then, could physics be PHUN?

Physics was going to be hard. Maybe physics was phun in the same way that getting punched in the arm sixty-seven times in a row gets to be phun (that is, you’re in such misery that you just have to start laughing about it).

To this day, because of Mrs. Emmetts, “Physics is phun” is the slogan I use with my students to get them to think about the joy of studying physics. This is not the same kind of joy one gets when their favorite NFL team wins the Super Bowl. This is the joy that one gets completing a difficult crossword puzzle or sudoku, completing a craft or handiwork, or learning a new skill.

The joy of studying physics is a sense of accomplishment. Being able to discover even the smallest insight into the universe’s inner workings feels as if Mother Nature is entrusting you with one of her most closely-guarded secrets. I became a physics teacher because I wanted to help students find these insights on their own.

Through this blog, I intend to share with you my love of physics and my personal calling to help physics students in their studies. My goal is to write articles for physics teachers, physics students, and anyone else who thinks they might be interested in the subject. I don’t intend on writing this blog above a high school level; in fact, you shouldn’t feel as if you even need to have taken a physics course in order to participate. Future articles will include insights for physics students, test-taking hints, practice problems for test-taking, problems of interest, commentary on news in physics and mathematics, and random bits of interest. Join me — let’s discover nature’s secrets together.