A Fish's View of the World

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Though fish live under water, their view is not restricted to seeing underwater. Many fish in fact
need to be able to see insects and other animals above the water as they are sources of food or
potential threats to the fish. Fish see everything above the water, distorted a little, and possibly a
lot if the surface is rippled.. Their field of view is restricted by the angle at which total internal
reflection takes place.

If the refractive index of water is n then the critical angle

is given by

The fish can also see objects under the water, either directly or by reflection from the water
surface.

Acoustics

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The reverberation of sound is particularly noticeable in cathedrals and other large buildings
where multiple reflections can occur rom the walls, roof and floor. In St Paul's Cathedral in
London it can take about 6 seconds for the notes of the organ to die away after the organ has
finished playing.
Excessive reverberation in a concert hall is undesirable as it causes music and speech to sound
confused and indistinct. On the other hand it is not a good idea to have no reverberation at all.
Speakers and singers who have practised in an empty hall are often disconcerted by the seeming
weakness of their voices when they perform in the same hall full of people. The soft clothing of
the audience absorb the sound instead of reflecting it making the music and voices appear
weaker. Some degree of reverberation is desirable as it prevents a hall from being acoustically
dead and improve the sound in all parts of the building.

The most important acoustic property of a building is it's reverberation time, defined as the time
taken for sound of a specified intensity to die away until it just becomes inaudible. The
reverberation time depends on the volume and surface area of the hall, and on the sound
reflecting properties of the material covering the surfaces. A reverberation time of between 1 and
2 seconds is usually found to be optimal

For certain special purposes, it is necessary to have sounds in which surfaces completely absorb
all sound falling on them. The surfaces are lined with glass fibre or plastic fibre covered in
muslin. The management of sound is important in blocks of flats. In modern buildings the space
between floors and ceilings are usually filled with some inelastic material which absorbs the
sound instead of transmitting it.

Air Bags, Seat Belts and Crumple Zones

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Car crashes dont kill people - FORCES KILL PEOPLE. People die in car crashes because impact
is too often instant, and the force of impact too large. If the time of impact can be prolonged,
then the acceleration and the force of impact can be reduced. This is because of Newton's 2 nd
Law of Motion,
(1).

We can use the equation

in (1) to get
If we increase the time of impact, we
can reduce the average force of impact and this will result in injuries that are less severe. There
are three main ways to do this:
Crumple Zones: These are semi rigid structures a the front and back of the vehicle, which are
designed to absorb energy and collapse slowly on impact.

Seat Belts are the secondary line of defence. They are designed to stop passengers becoming
projectiles inside the car by restraining them in their seats. If rear passengers were not restrained
they might kill passengers in the front seat by impacting them from behind, as well as seriously
injuring themselves. If front seat passengers were not restrained they could impact the
dashboard/steering wheel/windscreen, which are all rigid and will cause serious injury.

The final line of defence is air bags. They are designed to inflate if subject to a force above a
certain level. They then absorb as much of the kinetic energy of impact as possible when they are
hit by a person. Gas is very compressible and very well suited to absorbing the energy of impact.

Air Lubrication

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Oil is a lubricant, used to reduce friction in car engines. Water also acts as a lubricant - try
walking down the street in leather soled shoes when it is raining - don't carry anything you don't
want to break should you fall over.
Air too has long been thought of as a possible lubricant. As long ago as 1854 the possibility was
suggested, by a French scientist, Gustav Hirn. When a fine surface is required it is usual to use a
grinding wheel. Not the slightest wobble may be present, else the surface would not be smooth.
Oil lubricated bearings, with very tight clearances had to be used because oil is virtually
incompressible, so it was not possible to compress the oil between any bearings in the machinery
to take up any imperfections in the bearings.
Air though, is much more compressible. Very tight clearances are unnecessary. The air forms an
elastic layer between the lubricated surfaces to even out spindle imperfections and give truer
rotational accuracy. On top of this, a constant outflow of air from the bearings prevents the
inflow of grinding dust. The machines can be used immediately on starting, unlike oil lubricated
machines which must be run until operating temperature is reached. Shorter production runs and
greater precision are possible simultaneously. An air lubricated bearing is shown below.

Modern applications include the hovercraft and trains which run on a cushion of air on inverted
T - rails. In confined spaces, heavy weights are moved around on hover pads, which use a
flexible pleated skirt to take up any unevenness in the ground and retain the air beneath the skirt.
A famous example was provided by an oil storage tank which was moved 320 m using an
aircushion, crossing a road and a railway track on the way.

Alpha, Beta and Gamma Radiation

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The three main types of nuclear radiation are alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Their properties
are summarised in the following table.

Type

Mass in units of
atomic mass units

Charge

Description

Alpha

Consists of 2 protons
particles and 2
neutrons

Beta

-1

A fast moving
electron

Gamma

High energy
electromagnetic
radiation

All nuclear radiation originates from the nucleus. When the nucleus undergoes decay, it may emit
one of these types of radiation which generally result in a more stable nucleus. A nucleus may
undergo several decays before it becomes completely stable.

Properties
Alpha radiation is the least penetrating. In a cloud chamber, it leaves a dense, heavy track. It
may be stopped by a piece of paper of a few cm of air. Because it is charged it will curve in an

electric or magnetic field. It is the most dangerous if ingesting since all the radiation will then be
absorbed by the body.
Beta radiation is more penetrating. Being lighter than an alpha particle, it leaves a less visible,
longer track. It may be stopped by a few cm of aluminium. Because it is charged it will curve in
an electric or magnetic field, and being oppositely charged to an alpha particle, it will curve the
opposite way. It is less energetic and more penetrating than alpha radiation so less dangerous if
ingested since more will escape from the body.
Gamma radiation is very penetrating. It can only be stopped by several cm of lead. It leave a very
wispy track in a cloud chamber, and is not charged, so does not curve in an electric field. Most
will escape from the body if ingested so this is the least dangerous form of radiation.

Uses
Alpha radiation is used in fire alarms. If smoke enters the detector, the amount of radiation
leaving the sensor will fall significantly and the alarm will be triggered.
Beta radiation is used to control the thickness of sheet metal. If the metal is too thick the amount
of radiation reaching the sensor will be reduced and the rollers will make the metal thinner via a
feedback mechanism.
Gamma radiation is used in cancer treatment. It preferentially kills rapidly dividing cancer cells
over healthy cells. Doses over several weeks may reduce the size of tumours significantly in this
way.