# All Questions

969 views

### Unpolarized light vs. randomly rotating polarized light?

I am confused with physical picture about unpolarized light. Is unpolarized light very fast rotating polarized light? or co-existing state of two orthogonal polarization? (or something else?) If ...
502 views

### Problem on apparent height of postage stamp underneath paperweight

A postage stamp is placed on a surface and a glass cube of refractive index $1.5$ is placed over it. When observed through the cube, the stamp appears at a height of $1.5cm$ from the bottom of the ...
372 views

### How is wavelength actually related to space (/distance)?

Is a photon of 400nm in wavelength "smaller" than a photon of 1km in wavelegth?
180 views

### representation of conformal group in d>2

In P. Di Francesco, P. Mathieu, D. Snchal they fix the generators of the conformal group acting on a scalar field by somewhat arbitrarily defining $$\Phi'(x)=\Phi(x)-i\omega_a G_a\Phi(x)$$ and by ...
60 views

### Where the extra power comes from?

Suppose we have two radio waveforms each has amplitude of 1, then the total power is 2. Suppose these two waveforms add up some where constructively, then the amplitude become 2, and the total power ...
3k views

### Is squared motor gearbox ratio proportional to inertia ratio?

I read an interesting article http://m.machinedesign.com/news/motor-sizing-made-easy It is very interesting, but I can not follow the 2nd last paragraph. I don't understand why it is true. ...
746 views

### Diagonalization of a hamiltonian for a quantum wire with proximity-induced superconductivity

I'm trying to diagonalize the Hamiltonian for a 1D wire with proximity-induced superconductivity. In the case without a superconductor it's all fine. However, with a superconductor I don't get the ...
185 views

271 views

### Photons moving relative to photons

I know we can't move at the speed of light, but if we were to travel on a photon how fast would we see other photons going? The speed of light is constant... So do photons see other photons moving at ...
297 views

### How do you travel in a circular orbit around a massive body?

I am trying to figure out how an object could achieve a perfectly circular orbit. Given a mass for the planet or other body the object is orbiting and a distance from the center of mass, how fast ...
197 views

### Why do new towels dry better after a few uses?

Most of you will be familiar with the phenomenon: you have bought a new towel and you first have to wash it or use it a couple of times before it starts to work properly, i.e. dry your body after ...
330 views

### Light in Different Reference Frames

I think I'm just confused, but for some reason I thought that light moving straight in one frame would have to move in the same direction in another frame. I know there are photons-but because I have ...
773 views

### Canonical transformation generated by hamiltonian?

Someone told me that, in a hamiltonian system, the hamilonian function is the generating function of the canonical transformation given by time translation. However, this statement doesn't make any ...
112 views

### Compton scatering problem - How to solve this large problem faster using the momentum system?

I have encountered a hard exercise which i cannot quite solve. Could anyone help me with it? This is the exercise: Lets say we have a photon whose energy $W_f$ is equal to the relativistic ...
9k views

### Transformer: primary side & secondary side current 180 degree out of phase

I am a novice in electrical engineering. I notice that in transformer the secondary side current & current referred to as primary are 180 degree out of phase from each other. But why it is so, I ...
214 views

### How to derive Eq. (1.2.17) in Polchinski?

I have a super stupid question about deriving Eq. (1.2.17) in Polchinski's string theory, vol 1. The book seems to derive from $$\tag{1.2.16} h_{ab}=\frac{1}{2} \gamma_{ab} \gamma^{cd} h_{cd}$$ ...
583 views

### Does trade affect Earth's rotation? [duplicate]

Every country is trading with other countries around the world, some more than others. I was wondering if there would be any change to the Earth's rotation because of the imbalance of trade between ...
1k views

### Drag force at high speeds [duplicate]

The drag force on a spherical body according to Stokes' law is given by $$F = 6π\mu rv$$ Where $\mu$ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, $r$ is the radius of the spherical object, and $v$ is its ...
177 views

### Is an ice globe the worst possible way to cool a drink (with ice)?

Given an alcohol solution and a mass of ice in whatever shape you like, is shaping it into a sphere the worst possible way to cool your drink without diluting it? If the ice starts off at a sub-zero ...
2k views

### Total angular momentum of deuteron

I'm studying for my nuclear physics exam and the book we use is Introductory Nuclear Physics by K.S. Krane. In the chapter on Basic Nuclear Structure, we research the deuteron. However, when ...
383 views

### Bertrand's theorem

I found in Goldstein's Classical Mechanics that the condition for closed orbits is given by $\frac{d^2 V_{eff}}{dr^2}>0$.(bertrand's theorem). Can somebody explain to me, how this inequality is ...
231 views

### Is a permutation of coordinates or labels really equivalent?

To construct a N-body anti-symmetric wave function some derivations start with the requirement that the N-body wave function should be anti-symmetric under a permutation of coordinates, other ...
12k views

### How to estimate the physical size of a molecule?

I'm reading some chemistry-related papers that employ concepts of droplet evaporation. Since I am no chemist, I am wondering: How can I estimate the actual size of a molecule, say succinic acid? An ...
204 views

### How is everything a field?

I've heard before that everything in physics can be thought of as either a field, or its excitation. Is there some intuitive explanation of how I can look at gravity, light, electromagnetism, etc as a ...
417 views

### On Einstein notation with multiple indices

On Einstein notation with multiple indices: For example, consider the expression: $$a^{ij} b_{ij}.$$ Does the notation signify, $$a^{00} b_{00} + a^{01} b_{01} + a^{02} b_{02} + ...$$ i.e. you ...
156 views

### Supersymmetry in Quantum Mechanics (Does it apply?)

Suppose we try to apply supersymmetry in quantum mechanics to a particular potential. If you come up with two partner potentials, and two partner Hamiltonians, and then look at the energy of the ...
1k views

### What is the difference between Feshbach resonance and Fano resonance?

What is the interpretation of "resonance" in Feshbach resonance and Fano resonance? What is the difference of Feshbach resonance and Fano resonance?
96 views

### Gauss's Law understanding

In the case of a point charge $q$ at the origin, the flux of $\vec{E}$ through a sphere of radius r is, \oint \vec{E}\cdot d\vec{a} = \int \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0 ...
2k views

### Find E and B from vector potential

I have a vector potential given by: $\mathbf{A}(x,t) = \mathbf{e}_{y}\frac{1}{2} e^{-(x-ct)^{2}/{4a^{2}}}$ Now, the question is "Determine the E and B under the condition that the scalar potential ...
336 views

### Why is the Coulomb potential in pseudo-2D experiments proportional to the logarithm of distance?

Inspired by this question, I ask another. Theoretically, Coulomb potential in 2D is proportional to the logarithm of distance; In experiments, though electrons are constrained in a pseudo-2D ...
1k views

### Do black holes have charges?

Do black holes have charges? If so, how would they be measured? Also, does electricity behave the same way? Black holes affect photons, which are carriers of EM radiation, so do black holes have any ...
941 views

### Why vary the action with respect to the inverse metric?

Whenever I have read texts which employ actions that contain metric tensors, such as the Nambu-Goto, Polyakov or Einstein-Hilbert action, the equations of motion are derived by varying with respect to ...
1k views

586 views

### Physical Significance of Operator Norm/Spectral Norm of a Quantum Operator

Is there any physical significance of operator norm/spectral norm of a hermitian operator?