University of Leicester Open Journals
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P3_7 Spider-Man! Spider-Man! Does whatever a spider can?
Get PDF”Spins a web, any size! Catches thieves, just like flies! Look out, here comes the Spider-Man!” [1]In a world of reboots and sequels, this article looks back to Spidey’s silver screen debut, in SamRaimi’s nostalgic 2000’s masterpiece, in order to break down the web-slinging, high-octane, lawof physics abiding action which inspired a twenty year-long fascination and box office mania with superhero films. In the film, our hero has microscopic hooks grown onto his fingers that keep him attached to walls which he climbs. In this paper, we explore the idea of removing these hooks and instead have Spider-Man cling to a wall via frictional forces alone. The force which would need to be applied to keep a body still against a wall is calculated for a range of different substances. For Al3Mg3B56 (BAM), the material with the lowest coefficient of friction in the world, the necessary force was found to be 37,300 N
A3_10 Stretched to the Limit
Get PDFIn this paper we investigate the superhero Elastigirl. We used a scenario in ‘The Incredibles’ in order to calculate her Young’s modulus, which was found to be 7.6×107Pa. By comparing this to other materials such as rubber this value seems plausible. The study was then taken further to determine the elastic potential energy stored by Elastigirl during this scene, which was found to be 13×106J
Uses of Oral History in Museums: A Tool for Agonism and Dissonance or Promoting a Linear Narrative?
Get PDFThis paper explores the potential for the deployment of oral history in the museum space to challenge hegemonic narratives on the past and enhance multivocality. Following an overview of the general merits of oral history and debates about its use in museums, we set out the arguments in favour of combining such an approach with the notion of agonistic memory. We then move to a comparative analysis between the Schindler’s Factory exhibition in Krakow and the Voices of 68 project at National Museums NI’s Ulster Museum, Belfast to explore the limitations and benefits of digital storytelling as a tool for disrupting linear narratives. In so doing, this article showcases and explains the potency of combining oral history with agonism in encouraging radical multiperspectivity that takes representations of the past beyond the curtailed benefits engendered by approaches focussed on multivocality alone
P4_7 Rail of a Time
Get PDFWithin this paper, we discuss whether the Halo 4 railgun is a device that is producible with modern-day technology. It is discovered that the current required to launch the projectile at 345 ms−1 is 216.8 kA. This is not possible as a high power would have to be produced in a handheld weapon, meaning a real-life Halo railgun is not achievable. This is understandable as the game portrays weapons from the year 2557 that use advanced technology we do not currently have access to
P2_3 PREM reigns suPREMe
Get PDFThis paper verifies that the distribution of mass of the Earth described by the density equations outlined in the PREM model are correct by utilizing them to calculate the moment of inertia of the Earth as 8.117 × 10(37) kg m^2. This was then found to be within 1% of the known value of the Earth’s moment of inertia, 8.038 × 10(37)kg m^2
P5_1 Genius, Billionaire... Energy Weapon?
Get PDFThis paper investigates the minimum power output required for Iron Man to completely destroy Winter Soldier’s cybernetic arm in the film ”Captain America: Civil War”. This was quantified as 2.84 GW, demonstrating that the Mark 46 suit dwarfs the power output of the current strongest direct-energy weapon in the world (MK2 MOD 0) by almost a factor of 19,000
P6_8 Agni the god among us
Get PDFThis paper investigates the effect of a Gods ability within the game Smite. The God in question sends down a meteor which impacts earth and damages an opponent. through calculations, it is found that the suggested area of effect is less than the 'more scientific' value calculated of 28.707ft. This paper explores the variability in properties of both the crater and the impacting surface
Critical Realist Philosophy and the Possibility of an Eco-decolonial Museology
Get PDFNew forms of museum practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as interlinked systems are increasingly urgent. Critical realist philosophy is used to consider the emergence of tensions between museological processes of decolonization and ecologization, and potentials for their resolution into a new form of practice, which is conceptualized as eco-decolonial. The analysis is focused on South African museums, but is contextualized within international theory and practice.An exploration of the ontology of museum work surfaces a core tension in that trends towards a relational and emancipatory practice are paradoxically embedded within neoliberal ideology. Neoliberalism depends on and perpetuates the problematic human-nature dualism of the colonial era, and constrains the development of progressive social-ecological forms of museum practice. The analysis explores potentials for the resolution of this tension, in a contribution towards the transformation of the philosophical and theoretical frameworks of museum practice
The Application of Bloom’s Taxonomy to Higher Education Examination Questions in Physics
Get PDFExamination papers were analysed using a methodology based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to identify the cognitive skills required to complete questions and compare these to the cognition necessary for graduate skills. This research found that examinations access mainly mid to low-level cognition such as recall and apply, while competencies required by employers tend to need higher-level cognition such as synthesis and creation, which are not as commonly tested through examinations. This paper proposes that careful design of examination questions using different measurable verbs could be more effective at encouraging development of higher-level metacognitive skills in formal examinations
The Digital Laocoön: Replication, Narrative and Authenticity
Get PDFThis paper examines what qualities and affordances of a digital object allow it to emerge as a new cultural object in its own right. Due to the relationship between authenticity and replication, this is particularly important for digital objects derived from real world objects, such as digital ‘replicas’. Such objects are not an inauthentic or surrogate form of an ‘authentic’ object, but a new object with a complex relationship to the original and its own uses and affordances. The Digital Laocoön Immersive (VR exhibit), part of an AHRC funded project, was a response to the tragic fires at the Mackintosh Building of the Glasgow School of Art in 2014 and 2018. In this project a digital replica of a plaster cast of Laocoön, with a long history of use within the school, was chosen as the centre piece for the proposed immersive. As a consequence of both the immersive’s design methodology and the lessons learnt in its production, the Laocoön proved to be an ideal subject through which to critically assess the question of the status of the replica. This paper will explore not only how the material infrastructure, form and content of digital representations have an impact on its broader set relationships, but how the concept of an extended object, its production processes, and the way that these are explicitly acknowledged (or not), operate on its relationship to the original