Monday, December 24, 2007

The physics of flying carpets

This isn't really Harry Potter and Torah oriented, since it's not about Torah, and since flying carpets are illegal in Harry Potter's world, but I thought it might interest everyone anyway...

New Scientist discussed new research by a Harvard mathematician discussing how a carpet could actually fly. Click here to see New Scientist's discussion, or here for information on the research publication.

While I'm at it, I see this article at New Scientist that discussed the physics of levitation, and also makes reference to invisibility cloaks. It also says that if you wanted to levitate a small ball, it would be best to use gold. Golden Snitch, anyone?

The Torah says (e.g., Gen 1:28) that we are commanded to "be fruitful and multiply, fill the land and master it" (in Hebrew, kiv'shu'ha). Some commentaries say that mastering the world includes understanding how the world works. Might this make Physics and Math articles about levitation a fulfillment of a Biblical command?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanks for the link
quite entertaining