COOL PHYSICS MOVIES!

The appearance of these fast moving objects was calculated according to the Theory of Special Relativity taking into account Lorentz contraction, finite light speed, and aberration.

Thanks to Daniel Weiskopf and Project D4 for the Visualization of Special and General Relativity.

The movie shows the evolution of a quantum-mechanical wavepacket bouncing on a hard surface under the influence of gravity. This sort of thing might actually be observed in the laboratory someday, by dropping ultracold atoms onto an atomic mirror.

The red dot in the picture shows the corresponding motion for a classical object. The number at the top of the picture is the number of classical bounces. You may notice that the quantum motion is not periodic and that after a while it becomes seemingly random. However, after about twenty classical bounces the wavepacket seems to collect itself and starts to bounce fairly regularly again, only it is a half-cycle out of phase with the classical "ball."

Created by Julio Gea-Banacloche

For more read Julio's paper: A Quantum Bouncing Ball in Am. J. Phys.,67(9), Sept., 1999, pg. 776.

This movie clip shows an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet flying right past you at 700+ miles per hour! An explanation of the condensation and many more images can be found at Mark Cramer's site. 

The image here below shows a still shot of an F-18 jet breaking the sound barrier. Caution: The condensation pattern visible does not necessarily coincide with the sonic shock wave, and its appearance alone does not indicate supersonic flight! See Mark Cramer's site for a detailed explanation.

Here's another great image of an F-4 Phantom breaking the sound barrier. Caution: The condensation pattern visible does not necessarily coincide with the sonic shock wave, and its appearance alone does not indicate supersonic flight! See Mark Cramer's site for a detailed explanation.

 

Thanks to my ex-student, Emily Angle, for sending me the movie, David Newcomb for sending me the F-18 image, and Paul Dambrauskas for sending me the F-4 image.

Try this link for a good explanation of the Doppler Effect and shock waves.

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