Category Books

PHYSICS FOR THE COFFEE TABLE -QUIZ # 7

Put your thinking caps on again. The Physics for the Coffee Table (PFTCT) Quiz number Seven will be broadcast on Wednesday 4th December at: 7 am-  New York 4 am – Los Angeles noon – London 1 pm – Paris 8 pm – Singapore 11 pm – Sydney Good luck!

Royal Aeronautical Society

Stop Press – Thursday 28 November The evening was a great success with my son Alexander and I meeting over 120 engineering students and 180 RAeS members. Everyone was especially pleased to met and hear Carolyn and Derwyn Jones, passengers on the QF32 flight who also addressed the audience.   Their daughter Nia Jones joined […]

Bio-Mimicry of Shaking Dogs

See also QF32 Biomimicry Richard Hammond’s Miracles Of Nature Biomimicry You don’t have to be a dog lover to be awe struck by this video of dog shaking themselves dry. These seemingly simply movements generate up to 70 G accelerations that “centrifuge” the hair 70% dry in just a few seconds. Why is the QF32 […]

BioMimicry, Red Kites & 101 Club

BioMimicry BioMimicry is the study by biologists, scientists and engineers of the mechanisms and strategies of the living world, with the aim to apply them to human machines. Predators must be tougher and faster than their prey, so creatures on top of the food chain such as raptors and sharks  show us where we can adapt […]

PFTCT – Quiz # 6 – No Winners This Week!

Question # 6 See also:   Physics for the Coffee Table (PFTCT) Situation A major city (population 5 million) is planning to build a new airport at a new location inside the city.  Two sites are proposed: one beside the ocean and one twenty kilometers  inland from the ocean. Consider the noise levels originating from aircraft […]

Physics for the Coffee Table

About Physics for the Coffee Table Richard wrote a book in the late 1980s called “Physics For the Coffee Table”  (PFTCT). The book (or series of books) consisted of many seemingly basic questions about day to day events that had counter-intuitive answers. The book was inspired by a remarkable physicist by the name of Professor Julius Sumner […]

QF32 ranked in the top 10 Best Selling books in Australia

Today the Sydney Morning Herald released the lists of the best selling (paper) books in Australia for the 2012 calendar year. QF 32 has been available for just 5 months and was rated:  (Sydney Morning Herald 5-6 Jan 2012 p6) 6th Best Selling Non-Fiction book in Australia for 2012, and 7th Australian Best Seller book for […]

QF32 Back Story – Rolls Royce Trent 900 – Request for Questions

I have been researching Rolls-Royce engines for decades.     I have studied the engine’s “workshop manuals”.   I visited the Rolls-Royce production and engineering facilities in Derby, UK just two weeks before my QF32 event. Yesterday I toured the Sin$700 m Rolls-Royce Seletar Campus in Singapore.   This is the first production facility for […]

Slingshot Effect (QF32 p 346)

Editor’s Note I am pleased that this topic has generated much discussion in the pilot community.      Few readers understand if and why the Slingshot Effect exists which makes this topic is even more interesting.      Question QF32 reader John Reid asks: “The QF32’s appendix includes A380 specifications.   There is a statement […]

Welcome to the Big Jets Book discussion

I am writing a book about big jets My definition of the big jets are those bigger than the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.  Large corporate jets (Gulfstream and Cessna) are also included. For aspiring aviators who are pursuing a career flying Big Jets and for commercial aviation pilots, The Big Jets book provides an […]