# All Questions

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### Understanding the interpretation of wave-particle duality by W.L.Bragg

W.L.Bragg, the pioneer in x-ray diffraction, gave this lucid but vivid interpretation:"The dividing line between the wave & particle nature of matter & radiation is the moment now. As this ...
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### How can it be that the beginning universe had a high temperature and a low entropy at the same time?

The Big Bang theory assumes that our universe started from a very/infinitely dense and extremely/infinitely hot state. But on the other side, it is often claimed that our universe must have been ...
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### How does one calculate the full perihelion shift of Mercury, including perturbations from other planets?

I'm talking about the full calculation, including perturbations from other planets. I've seen the general relativistic correction done a half dozen times before, but I can't say that I've seen the ...
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### Time dilation as an effect of energy density

Has any relation been observed or postulated to exist between the energy-density (or the surrounding space) of an object and time dilation? i.e. Higher energy density==>Slower rate of time?
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### What does a colon mean in hydrodynamics equations?

In some hydrodynamics book I saw a notation like $e:e$ where $e$ is a matrix (shear stress tensor). This double dot product is in a scalar equation, so the result of this operation must be scalar. I ...
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### What is the meaning of Einstein's field equation in terms of source and its effects on curvature?

The Einstein's Field Equation is $$R_{\mu\nu}-(1/2)g_{\mu\nu}R=-8\pi T_{\mu\nu},$$ where the left hand side is the curvature term and the right hand side is the source term (see, Hartle). Now, in the ...
2k views

### Does electron being many places at the same time violate Physics laws?

The following passage has been extracted from the book Parallel Worlds, by Michio Kaku: Because of uncertainty, the electron does not exist at any single point, but exists in all possible ...
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### Is it possible to get the (Pauli) repulsive term in the Lennard-Jones potential from theoretical considerations?

Title says it: Is it possible to get the form of the (Pauli) repulsive term in the Lennard-Jones potential from theoretical considerations, or is it purely found experimentally through fits?
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### Basic rule for diffraction

I'm a high school student. I still don't understand the reflection, diffraction and refraction of light. It seems to me that in concept of quantum physics, reflection is just a process of object ...
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### Analogy between fluid dynamics and electromagnetism

I've been reading a set of notes (Chapter 13 of Caltech Ph 136 notes from 2004, by Blandford and Thorne) that draw an analogy between fluid dynamics and electromagnetism, identifying the magnetic ...
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### If there is no gravity on the moon why is the american flag waving?

If there is no gravity on the moon, how could this flag be flapping in the wind? (see link) http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2wD6eg/hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/images/desktops/Armstrong.jpg
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### Entropy change of mixing

$dU = Tds - PdV$ definition of internal energy $dU)_{V} = TdS$ internal energy change at constant volume $-C_{v} \Delta T = T_{1} \Delta S$ integrating, assuming that $C_{V}$ is invariant through ...
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### Can there be friction unless the objects in contact are not acted upon by an external force?

The definition of friction I read from The book, General Physics written by Henry Crew is that, The resistance which either one of the body offers to the motion is called force of friction". If it is ...
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### Are some sources of electromagnetic radiation theoretically (or perhaps technically!) more challenging to detect than others?

In a previous question, I learned that in order to detect an object in space, what matters is how much electromagnetic radiation it is giving off, and what sources of EM radiation the sensor can pick ...
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### Physics of the electric hot plate

For an electronics experiment, I began wondering about the electric hot-plates (specifically the temperature dependence over time). If I were to measure the given temperature over time, I assume that ...
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### What is the fastest speed that a massive object can travel at? [duplicate]

What is the fastest speed (in miles per hour) that a massive object can travel at? I have heard that an object can travel at the speed of light, but I've also heard that massive objects cannot travel ...
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### What is an expression/physical law that relates high frequency thermal fluctuations to gas pressure?

When a gas is compressed the 'ideal gas law' can predict what the increase in gas temperature will be. But that's just a mean temperature, right? At a quantum level the frequency of molecular ...
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### Why Normal force exerted by earth on the body is taken as the pressing force? [on hold]

For a body lying on the earth's surface there must be some laws governing its state. $a_o=0$ $=>$ $\sum F=0$ Since $\sum F=0$ then body is said to be in state of equilibrium. The net force is ...
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### Perturbations in arbitrary dimensions

In general is it acceptable to say that if a perturbation is in only one spatial direction then the energy eigenvalue to second order is only changed in that spatial direction? For example 3D ...
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### Can ultrasonic signal be guided through a tube?

I have an industrial application using an ultrasonic sensor to detect whether transparent film is present in a plastic ring. Ring minimum diameter is > 30mm. Sensing distance is 90mm. Sensor ...
232 views

### Gravity on the International Space Station - General Relativity perspective

My question is an extension to this one: Gravity on the International Space Station. If all the outside views of the ISS was sealed, then the crew inside would not be able to tell whether they were ...
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### Will a stress-energy tensor have the same identities as it's metric?

Say I have a metric tensor where $$g_{00} = -c^{2}\ and$$ $$g_{01}=g_{02}=g_{03}=0$$ and $$g_{12}=g_{13}=g_{23}$$ and $$g_{11}=g_{22}=g_{33}$$ My question is straightforward: would the same or ...
23 views

### Continuum Wave Function for the electron

I'm trying to understand certain processes like the photoelectric effect and Bremsstrahlung. In Bremsstrahlung I need to use the wave function of an electron coming from the continuum, and there is ...
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### Quantum relativistic effects

I was performing a thought experiment: let us assume an object is traveling so close to the speed of light that the length of the object is small enough for quantum effects to become noticeable to a ...
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### watter remaining liquid in low temperatures

On several occasions I have witnessed the following phenomenon and would like to understand the physics behind it: Water is placed in a very cold static location, in a cup or plastic bottle in a car ...
247 views

### Gauss's law for induced electric and magnetic field

Let us consider an accelerating charge, $Q$. As it is accelerating it would radiate energy in the form of EM waves, as per the classical postulates of EM theory. As such there would be induced ...
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### Do most physicists believe that axions exist? [on hold]

Is the theoretical justification behind proposing axions sufficiently robust, like, say the Higgs boson prior to its detection, that one should consider the existence of axions as generally accepted ...
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### Derivative of the magnetic field to the vector potential

So the magnetic field is defined with the vector potential A as: $$\mathbf{B}=\nabla\times\mathbf{A}.$$ How would I calculate the derivative: $$\frac{\delta}{\delta\mathbf{A}}|\mathbf{B}|^2$$ I ...
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### What is the Correlation Between Solar Wind Velocity/Density and Sunspot Count?

We have the Advanced Composition Exporer (ACE), which orbits in the L1 libration point as a source for solar wind velocity and density (particles/cm^3) data. Typically, at a velocity in the range of ...
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### On the definition of elastic restoring force in a spring

How is the elastic restoring force defined exactly for a spring? We know by hooke's law that $$F_{restoring} = -kx$$ but what does $F_{restoring}$ really mean? I thought up till now that it was the ...
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### Can individual forces be regarded as momentum flows? [on hold]

Net force on an object can be defined in two ways equivalently (from a classical point of view): $$\vec{F} = m\frac{d\vec{v}}{dt}=\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}$$ Looking at the last expression (definition in ...
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### Interaction between charged particles as seen from two inertial frames of references

Let us consider two charged particles travelling at a uniform velocity, V, as seen from a frame of reference A . Now let us consider a frame of reference, B, which is also travelling at a uniform ...
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### How much lux does the sun emit?

I want to know how much lux the sun emits on a bright day - I don't mean when one stares directly at the sun, but rather when one walks casually outside when the sun is shinning brightly. Now the ...
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### When generalizing from discrete (but infinite) eigenstates to continuous eigenstates, Why do we change the definition?

The propagator function for discrete eigenstates is $$u(t)=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}|E_n\rangle\langle E_n|e^{-iE_nt/ \hbar } \tag{1}\ .$$ But when we have continuous eigenstates, (like for the case of ...
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### How does a heated constant volume flow behave, for an expanding flow tube leading into the free atmosphere

I have a helium gas flow with a flow rate that has been set to a constant value ($0.3\,m^3/h$). It's streaming upwards in the picture, and beyond the upper big red dot position, it meets the ...
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### Why does Air Pressure not Matter in Phase Equilibrium?

So long as we are in the ideal gas range, the presence of air does not affect the liquid/solid-vapour equilibrium in any way (such as equilibrium vapour pressure, melting point etc.). Is there a ...
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### How is dark energy consistent with conservation of mass and energy?

I initially thought that dark energy must in some way violate conservation of mass and energy since the component of the energy density of space that comes from dark energy is constant, and space is ...
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### Examples in which the light maximizes the optical path length

I posted a similar question about geodesics on Math.SE. Many sources (Wikibooks for instance) claim that the light could maximize the optical path length in some cases. But I don't think it's actually ...
19 views

### MCNPX for nuclear simulation [on hold]

Anyone here expert in MCNPX? I need someone help. I run MCNPX. I try to calculate f4:n using nps:1000. But, it stop directly before culculate f4. There is comment: stack trace terminated abnormally. ...
45 views

### Ok ok this is a homework problem, but I'm having trouble with it [on hold]

Where do I even start. I've converted the miles that I should be getting in total and arrived at 700 miles total. From here, any hints on what I have to do?
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### States in light cone string theory

Currently I'm trying to understand string theory in the light cone quantization. I just have had a look into Polchinski (Vol. 1, Introduction to the bosonic string), because – as far as I could see – ...
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### Determinant for a coupled fluctuation Lagrangian

Lets consider a bosonic physical system in variables $t, x$ and $y(x)$ ($x$ dependent) with a classical Lagrangian $L$. To first order in fluctuations $x \to x+\xi_1$ and $y \to y+\xi_2$ the ...
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### What evidence is there of a universe older than 13.8 billion years

I've read an analogy that finding iron-rich galaxies just 900 years after the Big Bang is like finding an old man in a crib in a nursery. We just recently found a supermassive black hole 12 billion ...