Problem: Peepholes don’t allow a person to see down the hallways.
Crazy things can happen right outside our dorm door, but we may not always know what’s going on. One day my roommate and I heard some loud banging and as if someone was throwing around furniture. Unfortunately there was nothing to be seen out the peephole. Another day I could hear a pack of girls running and talking in the halls. My roommate looked out the peephole to see the last girl of the pack running by in only a bra, underwear, and a santa hat. Last month there was commotion in the halls and I looked through the peephole quick enough to see a police officer walk by. There was more commotion as I wonder “what is going on???” My concern and curiosity was soon resolved when I hear a girl yell “I’m not drunk!”
It can be annoying at times that the peepholes only give you a view of the wall across from your dorm rather than enabling a view of the hallway to the left and right. I have two ideas to fix this dilema. One is to have a crystal that enables a “fisheye” distorted view of the halls. The other idea is to use angled mirrors to allow a view of the hallway.
Dilemma: How do you lock a door without a key?
Once upon a time I forgot my dorm key at work (a 30 min bus ride away). My roommate had been kind enough to let me in and out of our room, however I ran into a dilemma when I tried to leave the room for classes without my roommate. I had no way to lock the door for the day. I was already running late so I had to think fast. I took some old shoelaces, tied and taped the shoelace to the inside lock knob, fed the shoelace underneath the door, closed the door, and pulled on the shoelace until the lock knob rotated thus locking the door. This process didn’t take long and I still made it to class on time.
Question: If light (photons) are massless particles then why are they affected by gravity?
Gravity is the attractive force between two or more masses. Light doesn’t have mass therefore shouldn’t be affected by gravity. However, light is indeed affected by the gravity of objects such as black holes. I was stumped by this seemingly nonsensical phenomenon, so I asked a random physics professor why this occurs. According to Dr. Random Professor, gravity affects time. (Crazy right?) Since light can act like a wave with a frequency (cycles per second), changing time changes the frequency. Adjusting the frequency then changes the motion of the light particle (photon). This makes it appear as if gravity is bending and attracting light.
This is kind of cool! I have never thought about doing things these ways, and you pose interesting answers! I think your blog will be very useful in the most odd times. I look forward to reading your blog again in the future!
I really wish I had read this post last week, well actually the first day of class. I lost all my keys on the way to pep band and didn’t find them until Thursday. I have a follow-up question. Once you lock the door without keys how do you unlock it without keys.
This seems like it’s going to be one of my favorite blogs to read. I’m actually really impressed by your door locking contraption, it’s a simple fix to a troublesome problem. I’ve also had peephole issues, mostly in the form of my friends taking out my peephole and flipping it so that people can see in but I can’t see out. Your thoughts on light also meant something to me because I am a physics major. I like the explanation Dr. Random Professor gave you, I’ve never heard it explained in those terms.
I enjoyed this post. I always tried to find a way to lock and unlock my door without a key. One time my roommate left to go take a shower without bringing his key and I needed to go somewhere. So I put my key on a string in the vent at the top of the door after I locked it. Then, he could find the key later on and unlock it himself. Unfortunately, I almost dropped the key through into the room after locking it, which would have been bad considering that both of our keys would be inside the locked door. It was a failed attempt. Kudos to you!
This post was random but interesting to read. I gravitated towards it because of the strange post title, and I really liked your first idea in this post! Although I leave my dorm door propped open a lot, I do use my peephole a lot, but I do wish I could use it to peer to the left and right. The fisheye lens would be neat! Cool ideas!
That’s so cool how you did this! I’ll have to try that at home. I like your question at the end relating back to science and how light is affected by gravity. I would’ve never thought about that but you did a great job explaining it. Great post!
I love thinking about light! There are so many crazy things that happen with light and honestly it boggles my mind a little. Solar sails are a really awesome field of study that I think you might find interesting.
I also really enjoyed your stories about your dorm door 🙂
That’s awesome that you figured out how to lock your door without a key, that’s insane. I never would have thought of that!! I’m kind of jealous because I don’t think I have a peephole on my door 🙁