# All Questions

173 views

### What does it mean for a Hamiltonian to be SU(2) invariant?

Can somebody explain what it means when one says a Hamiltonian is SU(2) invariant? I know Heisenberg Hamiltonian is SU(2) invariant but why?
41 views

### Accelerated charge in relativistic frame

An accelerated charge radiates energy as electromagnetic waves. Imagine a point charge at rest in an inertial frame We are standing on a frame accelerating with respect to the charge. Now with respect ...
76 views

### Why are there no explicit calculations in some articles

I am always baffled how in all the articles (theoretical ones), there is no explicit calculations, or at least some reference how to find it, or where to find it (the calculation). I get that, for ...
290 views

### How does concave bowl amplifies the sound?

I recently came across an article / answer in Quora see here that mentioned that if we place the iPhone in a bowl and play music, the volume is amplified. What is the physics principle behind this?
138 views

### Topological disorder in condensed matter?

What is meant by topological disorder in condensed matter (both crystalline and amorphous)? For example, please see the following two papers from arxiv.org http://arxiv.org/pdf/0906.3848.pdf ...
715 views

### How does a crow sitting on one of the electric lines attain the same potential as that of the line so as to prevent a charge flow through its body? [duplicate]

The crow doesn't get an electric shock while sitting on only one electric line because it has the same potential as that of the line. Since there is no potential difference the charge does not flow ...
344 views

### Does this type of phase transition exist?

The short version of this question is: Is there, or could there be, a system with a phase transition where adding a small amount of heat causes a discontinuous jump in its temperature? Below are ...
402 views

### Can I Demagnetize a ferromagnet with a hammer?

If an iron is exposed to an external magnetic field, the iron's domains are all aligned with that ext-B . If I strike it with a hammer, will it be demagnetized? Comparing it with heat, I know the Tc ...
886 views

### What exactly is $\hat{\psi}^\dagger(x)$? An operator or a function?

I've recently read Cohen-Tannoudji on quantum mechanics to try to better understand Dirac notation. A homework problem is giving me some trouble though. I'm unsure if I've learned enough yet to ...
69 views

### What are natural sources of longwave radiation

I am studying now the Earth radiation balance and I came across the question regarding the sources of the long-wave radiation on earth surface. The only source of theses wavelengths indicated in the ...
455 views

### What do the four components of Dirac Spinors represent in the Standard Model?

I've been trying to get my head around the formalisms used in the Standard Model. From what i've gathered Dirac Spinors are 4 component objects designed to be operated on by Lorentz Transformations ...
103 views

### What is the relation between N=2 super Yang-Mills and its twist

My question is what is the relation between N=2 super Yang-Mills and its twisted version topological field theory? After twisting N=2 super Yang-Mills, i.e. diagonally embedding $SU(2)'_R$ into ...
932 views

### How to find the resultant of two forces? [closed]

I got this question in a assignment and haven't been able to figure out how to get to the correct result. A force of 6 newtons and a force of 10 newtons can be combine to form a resultant of ...
314 views

### Transparence of an infinite square well? [closed]

What does it mean by an infinite square well being transparent? I have been doing the calculation of the infinite square well and I came up with an answer $T = 1$ where $T$ for Transmission ...
230 views

### Calculating Electric Field from a Potential Difference w/o Charge

So here is my homework question: Two long cylindrical shells of metal (radii $r_1$ and $r_2$, $r_2 > r_1$) are arranged coaxially. The plates are maintained at the potential difference ...
144 views

### A quantum finite square well

I have a problem with the argument of a finite square well. The stuff I read has mentioned that the Curvature " second derivative " is opposite sign of the wave function only when the E larger ...
436 views

### How does charge flowing between emf terminals reduce voltage difference?

I'm currently learning what electromotive force is and while reading my book's description of an ideal source of emf, I had difficulty understanding what these sentences mean: The nonelectrostatic ...
53 views

### What temperature will create amorphous TiSi?

At what temperature will create amorphous TiSi? I think it's around 500 Celsius but I'm not sure.
185 views

### Will light bend in a circle on its own?

I found this article and I didn't understand it. I did get that they were able to bend light to 360 degrees. Does that mean if take a box that is completely empty, and shine a light into it, it will ...
123 views

### I'm having trouble wrapping my head around force, and thus acceleration, diminishing with a higher velocity when using a constant power

Here is an hypothetical situation I thought about that I don't understand. Let's say I have 2 identical rockets with a fixed power. These rockets start to race in the same direction using the full ...
40 views

### Russell-Saunders Term

The Russell-Saunders term states that: $$^{2S+1}L_{J}$$ Now, if I'm not mistaken, $L$ is the total orbital angular momentum, $J = L + S$, but what is $S$ exactly? I know it's the total spin angular ...
2k views

### Resultant of two forces acting in the same line

I'm quoting the definition of Resultant of two forces acting in the same line from the book "A FIRST COURSE IN PHYSICS" one of whose authors is Robert Andrews Millikan: The resultant of two forces ...
123 views

90 views

### Were fermions ever massless?

In a discussion of the Standard model and Higgs mechanism it was claimed that accordingly: "During an early phase of the cosmos all fermions were massless." I wonder whether this claim can be ...
163 views

### Infinitesimal volume using differentials

I don't understand why in some texts they put that infinitesimal volume $dV = dx dy dz$. If $V = V(x,y, z)$ infinitesimal volume should be dV = \frac{\partial V}{\partial x} dx +\frac{\partial ...
320 views

### Smallest minimum feature size possible for transistors printed by photolithography

I'm doing a project about Moore's Law, one of the subtopics I've come to is photolithography. The way I understand it is that the MOSFET transistors are currently printed on a silicon wafer by ...
97 views

### Why does taking a long step increase the chance of slipping?

Me and my friend were walking and it was raining. He didn't have any grip on the slippers so he took smaller steps to avoid slipping. We both were wondering why does taking a long step increase the ...
189 views

I'm trying to wrap my mind around the twin paradox, but I can't figure out this one problem from my textbook. It uses the relativistic Doppler effect to demonstrate how the paradox works. The first ...
417 views

### Calculate the latitude / longitude coordinates of the location where the Sun is at the zenith

There are plenty of resources showing how to calculate zenith and azimuth of the Sun when the time and the location are given. However, I need to calculate the location where the sun is at the ...
213 views

### Can I make a rod in the vertical plane move with its one end on the ground in a slanting position?

Consider a rod kept vertically on the ground. I keeps the rod in a slanting position making some angle with the horizontal. Can I now move this rod along the horizontal plane by applying a force at ...
109 views

### Length contraction as $v>c$

What would theoretically happen to an observed object's length (let it be a 5 meter line) moving at some speed greater than that of light in a straight path?
246 views

### Quantum Thrusters and Warp Drives

Any reservations about the potential of this (given in the link below/title above)? Does it seem like a helpless attempt or something which might have the potential of developing into something real? ...
90 views

### Accelerated charge inside sphere (again!)

Sorry to go on about this scenario again but I think something is going on here. Imagine a stationary charge $q$, with mass $m$, at the center of a stationary hollow spherical dielectric shell with ...
159 views

### Quantum randomness and brownian motion in biological systems, e.g., fertilization

I am looking for examples of physical indeterminacy impacting the macroscopic world. By physical indeterminacy, I mean physical sources of randomness such as quantum indeterminacy or brownian motion. ...
71 views

### EMF induced in a dynamo is by photons of permanent magnets?

i know little about the quantum field theory and also that the permanent magnets have there fields because of exchange of virtual photons across or around the ends. so when we take a dynamo and the ...
276 views

### Signs in proof of gravitation potential energy (GPE)

Proof of gravitational potential energy. Work done by gravity in bringing mass from infinity to a distance of $r$ between masses. When we use the integration formula and arrive at the answer we ...
377 views

### In truth, only atoms and the void

I have a question about this motto used by Sean Carroll in his blog: In truth, only atoms and the void. Can you explain what this sentence means? My interpretation is that the sentence does ...
691 views

### Physical meaning of Impedance

So I have been thinking about the way impedance is defined for electrical systems, and the way it is derived. Even after looking through some websites, I cannot seem to grasp something, which every ...
94 views

### Why is charge $q$ symmetrically distributed?

Simple question: Why is charge $q$ outside symmetrically distributed? The material is a conductor.
276 views

### Is there scale by size of all discovered particles?

Atom: Neutron: Elementary particles: Is there scale by size of all discovered particles? From neutron and proton to electron and to boson? Compare to each other, like this I have found ...
84 views

### Obtaining a measurement very indirectly [closed]

While answering a question I came to reflect on the fact that in science experimental setups measure things indirectly. Example: the setup of the Pound-Rebka experiment. The amount of absorption was ...
406 views

### Can we quantize Aristotelian physics?

Aristotelian physics, shorn of whatever the historical Aristotle actually believed, is pretty similar to Newtonian physics. Instead of "An object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an ...
227 views

### Thermodynamics shell-and-tube heat exchanger

A shell-and-tube heat exchanger is used to cool a flow of steam using a stream of cooling water cooling water. The steam enters the heat exchanger at $0.1 ~bar$ and a quality of $91$% , and exits as ...
32 views

### Factors defining interaction between atoms and molecules

Let's say we have a stuff that consists only of hydrogen (H), then we add a single atom of oxygen (O) and they interfere - we get a water molecule where atoms are arranged in a particular way. Then we ...
Topological insulator is a fermion system with only short-ranged entanglement, what does the entanglement mean here? For example, the Hilbert space $V_s$ of a lattice $N$ spin-1/2 system is ...