Equipotential lines and surfaces are a big thing in electrostatics. Graphically, these provide a way of trying to visualize an abstract quantity such as voltage, and mathematically it makes use of a gradient - E-field = dV/dr
The graphing program and site DESMOS has a wonderful visualization and simulator for this. We just wanted to be sure everyone has access to this, and hopefully it will help make sense out of this abstract, mathematical concept.
What great timing, where an article in Science News about a projectile method of spreading pollen for a certain type of plant, came out while we are studying projectile motion.
The Brazilian flower Hypenea macrantha has evolved a catapult-like mechanism that can launch its pollen when hummingbirds have their beaks in the flower, sipping out nectar. This does two things: it helps knock other, competitor flower's pollen off the beaks of hummingbirds, and then increases the amount of the flower's own pollen that sticks to the beak, thus increasing the odds of having its pollen transferred to a female flower. Nature is awesome!
