Today's Physics Lesson

Conservation of momentum is a basic concept that, (for instance) as explained at NASA can be very daunting for the average person. It's much more engaging to see a demonstration of it, and here's a YouTube clip which does just that. Here's another clip from I Am Bored that may end up making the rounds over the next few days, only because it does nothing to explain the phenomenon.

I ran across that last link via a website wherein the poster said, "This just blew my mind!" Well, I suppose that there are many scientific principles and fully explained phenomena that, if you're completely uninformed about them, will make your eyes pop out when they're demonstrated in simple experiments.

In his 1961 book, Profiles of the Future, Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I would only add that the bulk of our current technology on Earth is not only insufficiently understood by the majority of those living today, but even the most basic facts of science are completely unknown to all but a small percentage.