Published: Nov. 6, 2015

Chain reactions

Poincaré Distinguished Visiting Professor, 

Date and time: 

Friday, November 6, 2015 - 3:00pm

³¢´Ç³¦²¹³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô:Ìý

ECCR 245

´¡²ú²õ³Ù°ù²¹³¦³Ù:Ìý

To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  However, there turn out to exist in nature situations where the reaction seems to be neither equal in magnitude nor opposite in direction to the action. We will see a series of table-top demos and experimental movies, apparently in more or more violation of Newton's 3rd law, and give a full analysis of what is happening, discovering in the end that the phenomenon is in a sense generic.  The keys are shock, singular material property, and supply of 'critical geometry'.