In ancient Greece, around 300 BCE, Euclid, a prominent mathematician, proposed that light travels in straight lines and described the laws of reflection, noting that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. Hero of Alexandria, a Greek engineer and mathematician from the first century CE, furthered these ideas by suggesting that light follows … Read more
The journey to understanding the electromagnetic spectrum began with early studies of light. In the 17th century, Isaac Newton made a significant discovery when he passed white light through a glass prism. He observed that the light split into a spectrum of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This demonstrated that white … Read more
The story of electromagnetic waves begins with the brilliant Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. In the mid-19th century, Maxwell was the first to predict the existence of electromagnetic waves. He did this by combining the laws of electricity and magnetism into a set of equations that bear his name—Maxwell’s Equations. These equations suggested that electric … Read more
The story of displacement current begins with a brilliant 19th-century scientist named James Clerk Maxwell. He was a Scottish physicist who made significant contributions to the field of electromagnetism. In 1861, Maxwell was working on understanding how electric and magnetic fields interact. He was studying the behavior of electric fields in capacitors, which are devices … Read more
The concept of capillary action dates back to the Renaissance period. The first recorded observation of this phenomenon was by none other than the polymath Leonardo da Vinci. His curiosity and keen observation skills led him to notice how water could defy gravity and climb up narrow spaces. Fast forward to the 17th century, and … Read more
The concept of the angle of contact is deeply rooted in the study of surface tension and capillarity. It was first introduced by the English polymath Thomas Young in 1805. Young was interested in understanding the forces that govern the contact between different phases—solids, liquids, and gases. Young’s work laid the foundation for the scientific … Read more
The concept of surface tension has fascinated scientists for centuries. The ancient Greeks first observed it, and one of the earliest recorded observations was by Hero of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, and engineer, around 10 AD – 70 AD. He noticed the effects of surface tension in his experiments and inventions, such as the water … Read more
The concept of surface energy has its roots in the observations and experiments of many scientists over the years. It’s a story of curiosity and discovery that spans centuries. Long before the term “surface energy” was coined, people noticed that water behaved strangely at times. For example, water droplets form spheres, and some insects can … Read more
In the 18th century, a Swiss mathematician named Daniel Bernoulli was about to make a discovery that would change our understanding of how fluids behave. He was part of the famous Bernoulli family, a dynasty of mathematicians that had already made significant contributions to the field. In 1738, Daniel Bernoulli published a book called Hydrodynamica, … Read more
The concept of critical velocity has its roots in fluid dynamics and was developed to understand the behavior of fluid flow in pipes. It’s a fundamental concept that helps predict whether the flow will be smooth (laminar) or chaotic (turbulent). The concept of critical velocity is deeply rooted in the study of fluid dynamics, a … Read more