Physics Blogging Round-Up: Roman Engineering, Water, and Baseball

It’s been a month since the last links dump of posts from Forbes, though, really, I took a couple of weeks off there, so it’s been less than that in terms of active blogging time. But I’ve put up a bunch of stuff in July, so here are some links:

— The Physics Of Ancient Roman Architecture: First of a couple posts inspired by our trip to Rome, this one looking at the basic mechanics of the key structural element of Roman building, the arch.

— What Ancient Roman Buildings Teach Us About Science And Engineering: Second post about Roman construction, in which looking into the question of how they designed their major structures leads to thinking about the artificiality of the distinction between “science” and “engineering.”

— The Microscopic Physics Of Beautiful Fountains: Prompted by taking photos of a bunch of Roman fountains, a look at how microscopic forces create surface tension, which in turn makes most of the cool effects of splashing water.

— Baseball Physics: Real Curves And Dead Balls: A brief sports interlude, prompted by a NIST video about baseball-related research by former director Lyman Briggs.

— How To Stick Atoms And Molecules Together: A follow-on of sorts to the surface-tension-in-fountains post, looking at the origin of some of the microscopic forces that hold liquids together.

— Pools And Beaches: The Fun Physics Of Water Waves: Rounding out the accidental water blogging theme, a look at the physics of water waves prompted by taking SteelyKid and The Pip first to Jones Beach and then to a wave pool at Six Flags Great Escape.

So, anyway, if you’re looking for some uplifting physics content to buoy your spirits during the political conventions, here’s a good reading list to start with.