We live in a very strange world. We still do not know a lot about it or how it works. However, we do know a little and that is all thanks to physics. The study of physics is actually the study of the cosmos. It is definitely one of the most interesting field of science. Not everything in this universe makes sense. Even if you just go back a century, some of the biggest truths of our life were still unknown. Take a look at your daily life. There are so many weird phenomena that cannot be explained and have still remained a mystery.
In this fascinating search for the most bizarre physics phenomena, we will encounter everyday experiences of our lives that we take for granted, yet-to-be-understood principles and how stuff of science fiction movies may actually become our reality.
Wind Chill
The way we humans perceive temperature is quite subjective. It controls many aspects of our lives, from our clothes to our mood. It is also the same with wind chill factor. Not many people give much thought to the temperature in their daily routine. They go with what they feel. However, the temperature we feel is not actually the true temperature. Human body produces a lot of heat. This body heat acts as an air cloak and keep the air immediately surrounding our body warm. However, when the wind blows, the insulating cushion of air around our body is also blown away and human body is exposed to the accurate temperature, which is much colder.
All Objects Fall at the Same Speed
Concept Of Orbit
Most of us know the general concept of orbit- celestial objects like satellites circle around plants or stars in the outer space and never fall. However, we do really think about the concept of orbit or how it happens. When any object is dropped in space, it falls back. If it is moving fast enough and high enough, the Earth itself curves away from it before any impact.
Hot Water Freezes Faster than Cold Water
Without water, life is not possible on Earth. It is also called the most important liquid as well as the most mysterious compounds in nature. One of the most interesting properties of this liquid is that “hot water freezes faster than cold water”. This phenomenon is called the ‘Mpemba effect’, originally discovered 3000 years ago by Aristotle. While there are theories attributing to why it happens, it still is a mystery.
Air Pressure
At any given time, you are being pressed on by the weight of a car via 1,000 kilograms of air. The earth’s atmosphere is actually very heavy and we humans stand at the bottom of it, carrying an atmospheric pressure of about 14.7 pounds per sq. inch. As we are adapting to withstanding this huge amount of pressure, our bodies are not crushed. However, if you release objects like plastic bottles that are impermeable at altitude, they will get crushed by the time they reach the surface.
Metallic Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the simplest element in our universe. It has only 1 proton and 1 electron as its atomic number is 1. Despite being a quintessential element, it has some peculiar properties. Physics now know that hydrogen behaves just like a metal when it is under extreme pressure. There have been several attempts to manufacture the element on earth, but they were full of challenges. However, there are some scientists who claim that they have produced small samples using diamond crystals through pressure treatments.
Coriolis Effects
Different parts of our planet move at different speeds. Objects like planes travelling around the Earth appears to move at a curve instead of a straight line. This weird phenomenon is called the Coriolis Effect. The main reason for this phenomenon is the oration of the planet. Due to this ocean current drive by the winds turn right in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere.
Doppler Dynamics
While sound is an individual phenomenon, our perception of sound waves is completely affected by speed. It was Christian Doppler, and Austrian physicists who found out that when a moving object produces sound waves like a siren, the waves bunch up in front of the said object and disperse behind it. This prompted wave disturbance, which is called the Doppler effect, causing the sound of a moving object to increase due to shortening of the wavelength.
Sublimation
It may not see dumb to think that a solid changing into a gaseous element will have to go through a liquid state as well before completely transitioning into a gas. However, elects like water can completely transform from a solid into a gas. In simple words, sublimation is the phase of transition of a substance from a solid to a gas, without going through a liquid state. There are glaciers that disappear into thin air as concentration of sunlight directly turns the ice into steam. The same goes for metallic elements like Arsenic.
Cloaking Devices
If you ask 10 children what superpower they want, there will be at least 1 child that will choose invisibility. It is the stuff of science fiction or not. Technology is turning this favorite sci-fi superpower into reality. It is a fact that we see objects only when light bounces off of them. It has been theorized for a long time that objects could become invisible if we disrupt their interaction. If an object can deflect light, it would naturally become invisible to the human eye. This theory has become a reality after scientists created a clear hexagonal prism. It deflected light around the objects that were inside it.
