Comparisons – Page 2 – Science-Education-Research

bright stars orbit the galactic centre like cream stirred into a cup of coffee

An example of an analogy used to illustrate a scientific idea:

"Across the entire disc of a galaxy like the Milky Way, the rotation speed is constant. This can only mean that the entire disc of bright stars is embedded in a much bigger halo of dark material, which carries the bright Galaxy around in its gravitational grip. The picture is rather like the way a thin layer of cream swirls around when it is stirred into a cup of dark coffee."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed., Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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Many examples of science analogies are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

stars orbiting the galactic centre bob and down like the the needle of a sewing machine

An example of an analogy used to illustrate a scientific idea:

"Although most of the stars in the Galaxy orbit in a relatively thin disc about 100,000 light years across but only some 2,000 light years thick (thicker nearer the centre; thinner at the edge), they bob up and down within the confines of the disc as they orbit the centre of the Galaxy. This motion , rather like the way the needle of a sewing machine bobs up and down through the cloth, is constrained by the amount of matter there is in the disc."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed., Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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synchrotron radiation from star which 'died' is 75,000 times more powerful than the Sun's energy output

An example of a simile used in explaining science

"The total energy output of the Crab nebula in the form of synchrotron radiation is 3 x 10³⁸ ergs per second, which is 75,000 times more than the total energy output of the Sun, 4 x 10³³ ergs per second. And this from a star which 'died' 900 years ago!"
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed., Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Read about 'The passing of stars: birth, death, and afterlife in the universe'

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Many examples of science similes are listed in 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

electromagnetic force is like two footballers exchanging passes

An example of an analogy used to explain a scientific idea:

"The electromagnetic force, for example, can be described in terms of the exchange of photons between two charged particles, such as an electron and a proton, like two footballers exchanging passes."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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pulsar acts on companion like a fire hose on a pile of sand

An example of an analogy used to explain a scientific idea,

"black-widow pulsar [is a] binary pulsar in which the intense beam of radiation from the pulsar (like a fire hose turned on a pile of sand) is eating away at its companion, which is losing mass as a result."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed., Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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cosmic inflation leads to bubbles like opening a bottle of fizzy cola

An example of an analogy used to explain a scientific idea:

"The conventional version of inflation says that our entire visible Universe is just one of many bubbles of inflation, each doing their own thing somewhere out in an eternal sea of chaotic inflation, but that the process of rapid inflation forces spacetime in all the bubbles to be flat. A useful analogy is with the bubbles that form in a bottle of fizzy cola when the top is opened."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed. Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson

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spacetime was flattened like a prune placed in water

An example of an analogy used to explain a science concept:

"The key point is that during inflation opposite regions of the Universe were blasted apart, in a sense, 'faster than light'. …This awesome expansion also ensures that spacetime gets highly flattened, in much the same way that the wrinkly surface of a prune becomes a smooth, flat surface when the prune is placed in water and swells up."
John Gribbin (1996) Companion to the Cosmos. (Ed. Mary Gribbin) Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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gold is like the cockroach of the periodic table

An example of a simile used to explain a scientific idea in public discourse,

GH: "it's a very unreactive material, so if you have got some gold and the house catches fire, the gold's there afterwards…"
HF: "It's like the cockroach of the periodic table"
Dr Hannah Fry (mathematician and broadcaster) was talking to Prof. Graham Hutchings (Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cardiff) on an episode of BBC Curious Cases

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LIGO's sensitivity is the equivalent of the width of a human hair in the distance of the nearest star

An example of an every day comparison used to explain scale in science:

"In effect, LIGO, the laser gravitational interferometer, LIGO is a quantum sensor, because despite the fact it is kilometres in size, the length, and has mirrors which weigh the same as a human being, it is so delicately arranged, that it effectively acts like a quantum detector. And It's detecting a movement in a mirror over many kilometres less than the nucleus of an atom, which is the equivalent of the width of a human hair in the distance of the nearest star."
Prof. Paul Davies, Regents Professor of Physics, Arizona State University

Prof. Paul Davies (Arizona State University) was talking on an episode ('Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues') of BBC's 'Start the Week'

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A document listing a wide range of examples of science analogies, similes, metaphors and other comparisons, drawn from diverse sources, can be downloaded using this link: 'Creative Comparisons: Making Science Familiar through Language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts.'

electromagnetic spectrum is an umbrella organisation

An example of a metaphor used in public science discourse:

"Optical is a great way, we can see it with our eyes, we can perceive the universe that way. But it is not the only radiation that can travel through the vacuum of space. It is part of a much larger umbrella organisation, called the electromagnetic spectrum."
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock (science communicator)

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock was talking on an episode ('Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues') of BBC's Start the Week

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Many examples of science metaphors are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.

salt marsh is like a big trifle

An example of an analogy used in public science discourse:

"The organic material which is being grown in the form of salt marsh plants, and the organic material that comes in with the tides, every time we get the laying down of sediment, on every tide, that is essentially being buried. So, tide in, tide out, we've got material being buried, and then we've got the growth of salt marsh plants through that material, and then we've got more sediment going on top, and so it's like building up a big cake, essentially, a big trifle of different layers."
Orlando Venn (Principal Project Manager for Coastal Wetland Restoration)

Orlando Venn (Coastal Wetland Restoration) was speaking on an episode of BBC Inside Science

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black hole is wobbling like a bell

An example of a simile in public discourse about science:

"…these two black holes spiral around each other and gradually come closer and closer and closer – called an inspiral – and you sort of hear this as a note in this gravitational wave, like this ripple passing across the earth. And then as they finally collide they make a single black hole, and what is different about this one is the data is so good you can see the black hole itself wobbling, it's like hitting a bell, you know if you strike a bell, the bell wobbles, and it has various frequencies, and it has harmonics of those, overtones, you can see those in this data, and by modelling those you can start to test more details of general relativity."
Prof. Tim O'Brian (Professor of Astrophysics, University of Manchester)

Prof. Tim O'Brian was talking on an episode of BBC Inside Science

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