Monthly Archives: March 2015

This is an incredible photo of the 1999 total solar eclipse in France. (Luc Viatour / www.Lucnix.be) — Seeing a solar eclipse, especially a total solar eclipse, is an unforgettable experience! It’s also a lengthy experience, plus you’ll want to share it with others, so it’s worth having a camera handy to photograph the event. Another good reason to take pictures is because the camera sees the eclipse […]

How to Photograph a Solar Eclipse Safely Recently updated !

This entry was posted on March 12, 2015 by Anne Helmenstine (updated on September 24, 2023)

Photo of the sun taken with a Canon camera and cheap solar filter on March 11, 2015. — So, as you may (or may not) know, I’m headed to Iceland this weekend. It’s a huge bucket list trip for me, second only to visiting Mars, but a tiny bit more attainable. While it’s a working trip, I’m also calling it my 50th birthday present to myself (yep, I’m […]

Iceland Total Solar Eclipse Trip – Getting Ready

This entry was posted on March 12, 2015 by Anne Helmenstine (updated on February 21, 2023)

March 14 is traditionally Pi Day since 3-14 are the first three digits of pi. The year 2015 added little more significance because the next two digits are 15. The year 2016 worked too, since you could round pi to 3.1416. Anyway, the digits of pi are important. That hasn’t stopped […]

Pi Day and the Indiana Pi Bill

This entry was posted on March 12, 2015 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on April 9, 2020)

Pi Day Chart — This pie chart shows the results of a poll conducted at chemistry.about.com that asked “What are your Pi Day plans?” My Pi Day activities are likely to be the “be irrational” and “eat pizza” ideas. What do you think?

Pie Chart of Pi Day Activities

This entry was posted on March 12, 2015 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on March 9, 2020)

Unknown Gas — The ideal gas law can be used to determine the identity of an unknown gas. If you are given the pressure, volume and temperature of the unknown gas, you can determine what the gas is likely to be made up of. This ideal gas law example problem shows the steps […]

Ideal Gas Law Example – Unknown Gas Problem

This entry was posted on March 3, 2015 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on February 8, 2022)

Balloon — The ideal gas law describes the behavior of an ideal gas, but can also be used when applied to real gases under a wide variety of conditions. This allows us to use this law to predict the behavior of the gas when the gas is subjected to changes in pressure, […]

Ideal Gas Law Example Problem

This entry was posted on March 1, 2015 by Todd Helmenstine (updated on February 8, 2022)