Portal:Physics/2011 Selected pictures

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This is an archive of the entries that have appeared or will appear on the Wikipedia Physics Portal.

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January[edit]

The Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition (2nd edition, 2005)

The Feynman Lectures on Physics is a 1964 physics textbook by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands, based upon the lectures given by Feynman to undergraduate students at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1961–63.

It includes lectures on mathematics, electromagnetism, Newtonian physics, quantum physics, and the relation of physics to other sciences. Six readily accessible chapters were later compiled into a book entitled Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, and six more in Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time.

February[edit]

RGB color model[edit]

A representation of additive color mixing. Projection of primary color lights on a screen shows secondary colors where two overlap; the combination of all three of red, green, and blue in appropriate intensities makes white.

The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue.

The main purpose of the RGB color model is for the sensing, representation, and display of images in electronic systems, such as televisions and computers, though it has also been used in conventional photography. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a solid theory behind it, based in human perception of colors.

A common application[edit]

Cutaway rendering of a color CRT: 1. Electron guns 2. Electron beams 3. Focusing coils 4. Deflection coils 5. Anode connection 6. Mask for separating beams for red, green, and blue part of displayed image 7. Phosphor layer with red, green, and blue zones 8. Close-up of the phosphor-coated inner side of the screen

. One common application of the RGB color model is the display of colors on a cathode-ray tube (CRT), liquid-crystal display (LCD), plasma display, or LED display such as a television, a computer’s monitor, or a large scale screen.

Each pixel on the screen is built by driving three small and very close but still separated RGB light sources. At common viewing distance, the separate sources are indistinguishable, which tricks the eye to see a given solid color. All the pixels together arranged in the rectangular screen surface conforms the color image.

March[edit]

RGB color model[edit]

A representation of additive color mixing. Projection of primary color lights on a screen shows secondary colors where two overlap; the combination of all three of red, green, and blue in appropriate intensities makes white.

The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green, and blue.

The main purpose of the RGB color model is for the sensing, representation, and display of images in electronic systems, such as televisions and computers, though it has also been used in conventional photography. Before the electronic age, the RGB color model already had a solid theory behind it, based in human perception of colors.

A common application[edit]

Cutaway rendering of a color CRT: 1. Electron guns 2. Electron beams 3. Focusing coils 4. Deflection coils 5. Anode connection 6. Mask for separating beams for red, green, and blue part of displayed image 7. Phosphor layer with red, green, and blue zones 8. Close-up of the phosphor-coated inner side of the screen

. One common application of the RGB color model is the display of colors on a cathode-ray tube (CRT), liquid-crystal display (LCD), plasma display, or LED display such as a television, a computer’s monitor, or a large scale screen.

Each pixel on the screen is built by driving three small and very close but still separated RGB light sources. At common viewing distance, the separate sources are indistinguishable, which tricks the eye to see a given solid color. All the pixels together arranged in the rectangular screen surface conforms the color image.

April[edit]

The Archimedes Screw
The Archimedes screw can raise water efficiently.

A large part of Archimedes' work in engineering arose from fulfilling the needs of his home city of Syracuse. The Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis described how King Hieron II of Syracuse commissioned Archimedes to design a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies, and as a naval warship. The Syracusia is said to have been the largest ship built in classical antiquity. Since a ship of this size would leak a considerable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes Screw was purportedly developed in order to remove the bilge water. Archimedes' machine was a device with a revolving screw shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain.

May[edit]

Antihydrogen consists of an antiproton and a positron

Antihydrogen is the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen. Whereas the common hydrogen atom is composed of an electron and proton, the antihydrogen atom is made up of a positron and antiproton.

June[edit]

A laser beam towards the Milky Way centre. European Southern Observatory (ESO) Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory.


(Paranal Observatory) In mid-August 2010 a group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Yepun’s laser beam crosses the majestic southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. More background information can be found at "A Laser Beam Towards the Milky Way's Centre." from the European Southern Observatory web site.

July[edit]

Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe
Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe

August[edit]

In the picture graph below, the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum are compared to familiar entities and objects that are perceived or known. In other words, waves in the electromagnetic spectrum vary in size from very long radio waves that are the size of buildings, to very short gamma rays that are smaller than the size of the nucleus of an atom.

September[edit]

Donor impurities create states near the conduction band while acceptors create states near the valence band. Below is a band diagram of PN junction operation in forward bias mode showing reducing depletion width. Both p and n junctions are doped at a 1e15/cm3 doping level, leading to built-in potential of ~0.59V. Reducing depletion width can be inferred from the shrinking charge profile, as fewer dopants are exposed with increasing forward bias. Image credit: courtesy of nanohub.org

October[edit]

Saul Perlmutter receiving the Shaw Prize for astronomy in 2006.
Brian Schmidt receiving the Shaw Prize for Astronomy 2006.

November[edit]

Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe
Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe

December[edit]

The Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition (2nd edition, 2005)

The Feynman Lectures on Physics is a 1964 physics textbook by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands, based upon the lectures given by Feynman to undergraduate students at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1961–63.

It includes lectures on mathematics, electromagnetism, Newtonian physics, quantum physics, and the relation of physics to other sciences. Six readily accessible chapters were later compiled into a book entitled Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, and six more in Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time.