Skip to main content
Article
The Visualization and Measurements of Mass Functions with LEGO
Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society
  • Kyle K. Hansotia, Nova Southeastern University
  • Stefan Kautsch, Nova Southeastern University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-10-2020
Keywords
  • Astronomy data visualization,
  • Stellar mass functions,
  • Initial mass function,
  • Interdisciplinary astronomy,
  • Pareto distribution,
  • Mass ratio
Abstract

We promote the concept of mass functions for interdisciplinary science education and communication. A mass function characterizes the frequency distribution of the masses of objects in the universe. We present an experiment to demonstrate this concept to a diverse audience of science students, using popular LEGO toys. We discovered that the LEGO mass function is surprisingly similar compared to mass functions of astronomical objects such as stars and galaxies.

Comments

©2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Additional Comments
Nova Southeastern University's President's Faculty Research and Development grant #: 335510
DOI
10.3847/2515-5172/abad29
Citation Information
Kyle K. Hansotia and Stefan Kautsch. "The Visualization and Measurements of Mass Functions with LEGO" Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society Vol. 4 Iss. 6 (2020) p. 134 ISSN: 2515-5172
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stefan-kautsch/55/