Thursday August 04, 2005
h = Qx(12+3s/8) keeps you upright - apparently
In the endless battle to tell you the kind of information you didn't know you need to know, scientists have explained the formula that wearers of high-heeled shoes can use to work out how high they can go – provided they are good in computing while they shop around.
Physicists at the Institute of Physics have devised a formula that, based on your shoe size, tells you the maximum height of heel you can wear without toppling over or suffering agonies. And it is:
h = Qx(12+3S/8)
h is the maximum height of the heel (in cm)
S is the shoe size (UK ladies sizes). This factor makes sure that the base of support is just good enough for an experienced, and sober, high-heel wearer not to fall over
Q is a sociological factor.
It equals px(y+9)xL divided by (t+1)x(A+1)x(y+10)x(L+£20)M
pis the probability that wearing the shoes will help you "pull" (in a range from zero to one, where one is a certainty and zero is stick to carpet slippers). If the shoes are a turn-off, there's no point wearing them...
y is the number of years experience you have in wearing high heels. As you become more adept, you can wear a higher heel. Beginners should take it easy...
L is the cost of the shoes, in pounds. Clearly, if the shoe is particularly expensive, you can put up with a higher heel
t is the time since the shoe was the height of fashion, in months (0 = it's the "in thing" right now). One has to suffer for one's art, and if the shoes are terribly fashionable, you should be prepared to put up with a little pain...
A is units of alcohol consumed. If you're planning on drinking, be careful to give yourself a little leeway for reduced co-ordination.
"Although at first glance our formula looks scary," said Dr Paul Stevenson, of the University of Surrey, who carried out the research. "It's actually pretty simple as it's based on the science you learned at school and which you never thought you would use in real life, in this case Pythagoras' theorem. Applying this to shoes can tell us just how high the heel of the foot can be lifted above the ground."
So now you know…
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(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)Thursday March 24, 2005
Planets Outside Our Solar System Viewed For The First Time
Astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope have viewed extra-solar planets for the first time. Previous efforts to discover these alien wanderers have relied upon unexplained variations in the orbital paths of other bodies.
Now astronomers can use infrared photography to view these planets directly. From NASA's press release:
"Spitzer has provided us with a powerful new tool for learning about the temperatures, atmospheres and orbits of planets hundreds of light-years from Earth," said Dr. Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., lead author of a new study on one of the planets.
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Wednesday March 23, 2005
The World Saved By...Rock Dust?!
Rock dust yields extra-big vegetables (and might save us from global warming) - according to the Independent newspaper.
This by-product of quarrying could revive barren soil, based on a theory that the soil is naturally mineralised by glaciers during ice ages. As we're many thousands of years away from the next ice age, rock dust is intended to emulate this process.
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Friday March 18, 2005
13 things that do not make sense
New Scientist has a brilliant article about 13 things that do not make sense -- phenomena that are in defiance of conventional wisdom in the fields of physics, chemistry and biology.
Of the thirteen, perhaps the most intriguing is the tale of the NASA space probes that are accelerating due to some unknown force:
"The resulting acceleration is tiny, less than a nanometre per second. That's equivalent to just one ten-billionth of the gravity at Earth's surface, but it is enough to have shifted Pioneer 10 some 400,000 kilometres off track...So what is causing it?"
Friday March 18, 2005
Sci-Fi surveillance technology comes one step closer to reality
In the 1990 action movie Total Recall, passengers on an underground rail system are shown passing through a system that can detect hidden threats such as weapons.
British defence firm Qinetiq have developed millimetre-wave radar that can see through clothing and detect non-metallic weapons such as ceramic knives, as well as drugs and other contraband that airport metal detectors can't spot.
This technology has already been tested at airports and is being evaluated by Eurotunnel -- operators of the undersea tunnel connecting England and France -- as a way of detecting illegal immigrants hidden in vehicles.
Researchers at the firm are also working on a way of sensing human pheromones in sweat, based on the idea that a potential terrorist would literally exude the smell of fear.