Thursday, December 23, 2010

Machinema Meets Thermodynamics

It's a bit of a slow news week before the holidays (Happy Festivus today by the way) so I will just post the Flanders and Swann song The First and Second Law of Thermodynamics performed by characters from the MMORPG City of Heroes/City of Villains. Enjoy!



Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

5 comments:

kkdither said...

Snowy Sparks?

OrbsCorbs said...

I like the animation.

I learned this stuff from a book in school. I think this method is much more pleasant.

OrbsCorbs said...

Omg, I forgot it was Festivus. Happy Festivus!

Anonymous said...

I was talking to a guy at one time and he was pondering the normal everyday thermos bottle. "I just can't figure it out." he sez. "It keeps cool things cool, and hot things hot......HOW DO IT KNOW?"

hale-bopp said...

One of my favorite puzzles for students is the Leslie Cube. A Leslie cube is simply a cube (duh) made of tin that can be filled with hot or cold water. Each side of the cube is different: one is painted with flat black paint, another glossy black paint, white paint and one side is unpainted.

I then take out one of those non-contact thermometers that measures temperature by detecting the amount of infrared radiation emitted. I fill it with hot water and ask which side(s) will the thermometer read the hottest and which will read the coldest. After they all mess it up, I fill it with cold water and repeat the experiment.

I'll give everyone a while to think about that one and take a guess before posting the answer!