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MOTION MOUNTAIN

LIGHT, CHARGES AND BRAINS - Motion Mountain

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58 1 electricity and fields<br />

Challenge 44 e<br />

Challenge 45 s<br />

F I G U R E 25 Top: how to see the information stored in the magnetic stripe on a credit card without any<br />

electronics, just using a lens, a polarizer and a magneto-optic layer; bottom: how to see the information<br />

on a hard disk in the same way, by adding a simple coated glass plate to a polarizing microscope<br />

(© Matesy).<br />

sees it for the first time. Where does the momentum of the final ball come from?<br />

∗∗<br />

Objects that are not right–left symmetric are called chiral, from the Greek word for<br />

‘hand’. Can you make a mirror that does not switch chirality (i.e., does not ‘switch left<br />

and right’)? In two different ways?<br />

∗∗<br />

An adhesive tape roll is a dangerous device. Pulling the roll quickly leads to light emission<br />

(through triboluminescence) and to small sparks. It is suspected that several explosions<br />

Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–November 2015 free pdf file available at www.motionmountain.net

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