Prof. Muller is right - he is the original author of the piece, as confirmed to me by mental_floss.
My copy of the book does not have authors' names attached on the individual articles, but his name was in the physics section of the book (which I kind of skipped going into the articles). So a mea culpa is in order: I am sorry to have omitted Prof. Muller's name as the original author - it was unintentional, and had I been more diligent, this wouldn't have happened. The post has been corrected to reflect his authorship.
Actually, I will have to go back and update the original author info for all the book-derived mental_floss articles on Neatorama.
As further credit to Prof. Muller, here's his short contributor bio:
Richard A. Muller is a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley. His research includes astrophysics, geophysics, elementary physics, and climate. He has received a MacArthur Prize and the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award. He currently teaches a course called "Physics for Future Presidents."
And lastly, yes, Neatorama does have permission to reprint the articles.
On a personal note, I actually took a physics course with Prof. Muller when I was in college at UCB. Go Bears!
Jim Riswold actually does more than that - he uses toys and everyday objects to depict historical events. I quite like his paint-by-number Last Supper.
That's really something! Another weird thing about birds is that you can't keep a parakeet and a finch in the same cage. Eventually, the parakeet will get tired of the finch and then kill it!
Or you can soak it in a solution of ice water and salt, if a bucket of liquid nitrogen is not handily available! Of course you'll have to fish it out carefully...
Regarding the car that tried to jump the gap across the bay bridge, that was real. What we can't know was the intent of the driver (whether she did it because she panicked, thought she could jump the gap, or because she didn't see it in the first place).
Regarding #4 - I think the article is (mostly) correct. Momentum is conserved. However, since momentum = mass x velocity, you *can* kick a smaller object of less mass across the room without moving yourself backward by much.
As someone correctly pointed out, in real life, your backward momentum can be negated by friction.
If you have forward momentum and you impart a momentum on a standing person (say, with a kick), then both of you will move forward.
Also, let's not confuse kicking someone and causing them to lose balance and fall with what you see in the movies.
Would you mind letting me know the original link on the web these photos are from? I'll be happy to credit you with it.
My copy of the book does not have authors' names attached on the individual articles, but his name was in the physics section of the book (which I kind of skipped going into the articles). So a mea culpa is in order: I am sorry to have omitted Prof. Muller's name as the original author - it was unintentional, and had I been more diligent, this wouldn't have happened. The post has been corrected to reflect his authorship.
Actually, I will have to go back and update the original author info for all the book-derived mental_floss articles on Neatorama.
As further credit to Prof. Muller, here's his short contributor bio:
Richard A. Muller is a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley. His research includes astrophysics, geophysics, elementary physics, and climate. He has received a MacArthur Prize and the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award. He currently teaches a course called "Physics for Future Presidents."
And lastly, yes, Neatorama does have permission to reprint the articles.
On a personal note, I actually took a physics course with Prof. Muller when I was in college at UCB. Go Bears!
As someone correctly pointed out, in real life, your backward momentum can be negated by friction.
If you have forward momentum and you impart a momentum on a standing person (say, with a kick), then both of you will move forward.
Also, let's not confuse kicking someone and causing them to lose balance and fall with what you see in the movies.
Here's another movie pet peeve: how characters can find parking right in front of a popular restaurant/store.