# All Questions

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### Would gravitons follow the same trajectory as photons through a gravitational lense?

Would gravitons follow the same trajectory as photons through a gravitational lense? would all other particles follow the same trajectory?
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### Is the assumption that the two reference frames be inertial required in the derivation of transformation equations?

In the derivation of Galilean transformations the only assumption is that the two frames are moving with some uniform relative velocity $u$. Suppose with respect to some inertial frame $O$ the two ...
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### How can momentum but not energy be conserved in an inelastic collision?

In inelastic collisions, kinetic energy changes, so the velocities of the objects also change. So how is momentum conserved in inelastic collisions?
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### Do gravitational lenses have a focus point?

Do gravitational lenses have a focus point? Could I burn space ants?
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### Generalized Unitarity cut of Scalar One-loop Box integral

How does one perform the integrals in four particle cuts in generalized unitarity? It would be helpful how one finds solutions to the simplest case, the fully determined box integral given by: ...
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### Thermo-couple Eelectroomotive force

I am studying thermocouples. In a text book, the author said that, the electromotive force can be written as $$E= \alpha \theta + \beta \theta^2 \tag{1}$$ where $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are constants ...
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### How can space and time arise from nothing?

Lawrence Krauss said this on an Australian Q&A programme. "...when you apply quantum mechanics to gravity, space itself can arise from nothing as can time..." Can you elaborate on this please? ...
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### Plano convex lens with one silvered surface

For the derivation of the focal length of a planoconvex lens with one surface silvered, we consider the phenomenon taking place in three steps: Refraction through first surface Reflection ...
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### How close together must air molecules be to bounce off one another?

When, say $\text{N}_2$, is in the wild, it regularly collides with other $\text{N}_2$. I assume these collisions happen as, having become sufficiently close, the atomic electrons are repelled from ...
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### Polarization vectors of massive and massless particles

I read from Mandl & Shaw that when quantizing massless vector particles such as photons in Lorentz gauge, there are 4 linearly independent polarization vectors (2 of them being able to "gauged ...
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### Initial pressure of explosion

I would like to know, if given a TNT equivalent of explosive (or its Energy) is it possible to determine what would be the initial pressure that will be the result of that explosion ? To be more ...
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### Neutrino mass and energy question

If a neutrino has mass then it travels less than the speed of light. Suppose I boost myself to the rest frame; i.e. bring it to rest in the laboratory. Now if it oscillates between different states ...
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### Superposition principle and polarization

I am reading an optics book (Physics of Light and Optics by Peatross and Ware) that asserts this: A beam of light can always be considered as an intensity sum of completely unpolarized light and ...
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### Transfered thermal energy to a gas with varying mass

In my physics book (and wikipedia) it states that the thermal energy transferred to an object is: $Q = c \ m \ dT$, where $Q$ is the transferred thermal energy, $c$ is the specific heat capcity of the ...
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### What is the origin and nature of the “hydrogen envelope” located on the sun side of a comet coma?

It is tempting to assume the origin of the hydrogen is water vapor from the comet, in which case, what process "breaks up" the water molecule (or perhaps ammonia molecule?)? Is the hydrogen actually ...
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### Physics of batteries (volts vs charge)

Car batteries are usually 12 V. What is the difference between buying a car battery and hooking up a bunch of cheap household batteries in series? Both would register at 12 V. I assume that cars need ...
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### Relativistic beaming - which power of the Doppler factor

The context is that I'm building a simulation of a starfield, as seen from a relativistic spaceship. (EDIT: the simulation can now be found here.) One reference that I'm using is this paper by John ...
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### Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall?

Why did they used to make the mill chimneys so tall? This question was asked in an Engineering Interview at Cambridge University.
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### Is it possible to estimate the speed of wind by the sound emitted by a cable of an overhead power line?

I was near ($\approx40m$) an overhead power line and I heard a sound coming from the cables of the power line; I think the sound was made by the vibrations of the power cables due to the wind but I am ...
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### Increase in Mass with Velocity [duplicate]

I just had a confusion. Does the mass of the body actually increase when it is moving with a certain velocity? Or does it only look like the mass has increase to another observer. How can the actual ...
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### Why can apparent horizon be computed based on its local geometry?

Why can apparent horizon be computed based on its local geometry? In the paper titled Black Holes, Geometric Flows, and the Penrose Inequality in General Relativity by Hubert L. Bray, has been ...
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### Why the letter $B$ for magnetic fields? [closed]

Is there a reason behind the usage of this letter to represent magnetic fields, or is it a randomly made choice?
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### Electromagnetic duality

A key aspect of modern physics is the mapping of theories or different descriptions of a theory into a one-to-one correspondence. As I am trying to further understand the electromagnetic field tensor, ...
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### Three body force

Reading on wikipedia about Faddeev equations, I've come across the notion of three-body force. The article which describes this type of force doesn't give me any understanding what it is about. My ...
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### Collision Between Two Particles: Writing the Mass As A Function of The Angle [duplicate]

Suppose we have two masses, $m_1$ and $m_2$, where $m_2$ is at rest, and $m_1$ is headed directly towards $m_2$. I would like to write the ratio of the masses as a function of the angle. Using ...
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### Triple points for other substances

Can substances other than H2O have a triple point, where the three usual phases of matter (solid/liquid/gas) can exist?
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### Compression and expansion

Why is it that solids on compression [As in striking a hammer etc.] heat up, but liquids and gases on compression [Pressurizing liquids causes them to freeze or gases to liquify] cool down? Can ...
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### What is empirical mean of centripetal acceleration

We have this formula for centripetal acceleration - $a = v \frac{d\theta}{dt} = v\omega = \frac{v^2}{r}$ but in case of usual acceleration i know that speed in $t_1 = v_0 + a \cdot (t_1 - t_0)$ but ...
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### Vector Equilibrium

I'm trying to understand more about this 'vector equilibrium' apparently coined by R.Buckminster Fuller. In this site (http://cosmometry.net/), it claims: "The Vector Equilibrium, as its name ...