# All Questions

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### How to determine how many atoms are in something?

I want to know if it's possible to find out how many atoms are in something, and how one would do that. For example, how many quarks are in my brain(easy to find out once you know how many atoms there ...
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### Error in Chapter 15 (Mechanical Waves) of University Physics with Modern Physics - 13th Edition?

After reading this question I figured someone here would be able to answer this as well: I thought the answer to part (c) of this question: (Figure 15.8 to the right:) was $$\frac{3}{8}T$$ ...
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### How is Space-Time curved?

How does space-time curved by mass/energy if there's nothing to be curved? I haven't seen any satisfying answer.
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### Power dissipated on internal resistance of short-circuited voltage source

Suppose we have a voltage source with an EMF of $\mathcal{E}$ and an internal resistance $R$. If we connect to it a perfect wire with zero resistance, we get a short circuit. The value of the current ...
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### How certain is the heat death of the universe?

According to our current scientific knowledge, how certain is it that heat death shall be the ultimate fate of our universe, and why? Are there any serious hypotheses competing with heat death, and if ...
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### Relativity and photon interactions

A particle's interaction (with anything it can interact with) can be thought of as it making a measurement of the physical quantity associated with the interaction, (e.g. electric field in case of the ...
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### Phase Space Flow

Phase space flow shares characteristics with fluid flow such as incompressibility by Liouville's theorem. Extending the similarities one might be curious, does phase space flow have a characteristic ...
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### Combined speed of Earth in Space is 1.5 million mph - how much slower is time for Earthlings as a result?

Theres a problem for intergalactic astronauts which is finding their way back to Earth. Combining all the rotational speeds, we are spinning and orbiting the sun, in our solar system which is spinning ...
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### Relationship between power and max. speed

I'm talking about the maximum speed if let's say I have a car with the power $P = 1000 \text{W}$ and a force of friction of $5 \mbox{N}$ acting in the opposite direction. After some googling I found ...
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### How to exchange light and matter?

A while ago an experiment demonstrated that it is possible to stop a light pulse in a supercooled sodium cloud, store the data contained within it, and totally extinguish it, only to reincarnate the ...
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### Quantizing the Dirac Field: which commutation relations are more fundamental?

When quantizing a system, what is the more (physically) fundamental commutation relation, $[q,p]$ or $[a,a^\dagger]$? (or are they completely equivalent?) For instance, in Peskin & Schroeder's ...
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### Is the total energy of earth changing with time?

Many years ego, Earth was hot. Over time, it has lost energy and has become colder. Is it now in equilibrium or is its total energy changing?
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### Is the sum of the amplitudes of an electromagnetic wave always 1?

It's been a while, and I'm trying to verify my understanding. I remember reasoning (but never being taught) that the sum of the (normalized) electric and magnetic waves in a single electromagnetic ...
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### About partially polarized light and the degree of polariztion

When I was taking Optics course, I found there were several questions about polarization of light. I use the textbook of Hecht. It seems that the definition of degree of polarization may be not so ...
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### Typical time scales for spin dynamics and lattice vibrations in magnetic solids

In a paper from the 1990s ([1]) on magnetovolume effects in ferromagnets, it is written that in most real situations, the moment (or spin) autocorrelation time is much larger than the period for ...
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### Vertical uniform circular motion.. can it really be uniform? [closed]

This is the picture in my mind: For centripetal force, I learned that: $T-mg\cos\theta= \frac{mv^2}{r}$ In vertical circular motion, the velocity is naturally going to decrease as kinetic energy ...
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### Higgs mechanism in QED

I'm trying to understand the Higgs mechanics. For that matter, I'm exploring the possibility of giving mass to the photon in a gauge-invariant way. So, if we introduce a complex scalar field:  ...
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### Rolling motion of an accelerated body

I recently read in a book that static friction is zero for a rolling body, and this explains why it doesn't slow down the rolling body. However, if static friction is zero, how does the body grip the ...
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### What happens when you give excess energy to an atom?

So this is my question: An electron in a hydrogen atom in its ground state absorbs energy equal to the ionisation energy of $Li^{2+}$. The wavelength of the emitted electron is? I started off by ...
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### Dimensions of strings in string theory

In the above image taken from wikipedia, at the string level the strings have been shown as some loops, the article in wikipedia says that in string theory the particles at lower level are broken ...
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### Is band-inversion a 'necessary and sufficient' condition for Topological Insulators?

According to my naive understanding of topological insulators, an inverted band strucure in the bulk (inverted with respect to the vaccum/trivial insulator surrounding it) implies the existence of a ...
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### Winter solstice, sunrise and sunset time

We all know the Winter Solstice comes on December the 20th or 21st, which is (by definition) the shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice day is not the day of the year the Sun rises later (that ...
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### 1D Ising Model (NN and NNN interactions) with 2 transfer matrices

I've tried an alternative solution for finding the partition function of this model. So is what I've done correct? If it isn't then please prove and explain why not. (I'm pretty sure I made a ...
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### Will Earth clock be slower than aeroplane clock when viewed from another planet?

I know that a clock placed on an aeroplane will have slowed with respect to a clock placed on earth because the more our velocities are, compared to the speed of light, the more the time slows down. ...
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### Straw and Water

I drink from a glass of water with a vertical straw. What's the longest straw I can use and still drink water if the ambient pressure is 1 atm? Details and assumptions 1 atm is 101,325 Pa. The ...
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### Will larger balls make a Newton's cradle swing more stable?

I got a rather small Netwon's cradle and when I start it, the effect is not very good since all the balls start to swing where the effect we want is obvious. The balls are small and I wonder if larger ...
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### Physics of the inverted bottle dispenser

When you invert a water-bottle in a container, the water rises and then stops at a particular level --- as soon as it touches the hole of the inverted bottle. This will happen no matter how long ...
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### How can spatially extended objects behave like point particles?

Wikipedia states: Sometimes due to specific combinations of properties extended objects behave as point-like even in their immediate vicinity. For example, spherical objects interacting in ...
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### Converting between Galactic and Ecliptic coordinates

I was hoping someone would be able to tell me the formula to convert between ecliptic and galactic coordinates. I've been able to convert values using ...
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### What is Rabi nutation in NMR?

What is the mathematical and physical significance of Rabi Nutation in terms of NMR?
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### General wavefunction and Schrödinger Equation

I'm starting with quantum mechanics and the book I follow (Griffiths) first introduces the wavefunction as the probability density of the position of a 0-spin single particle. Later on I've realized ...
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### Distance for No Quantum Effects Between Two Wires

Two wire traces on a substrate are separated by a distance d. Each wire carries a current. The mean energy of the electrons in the wires is E. Estimate the minimum distance that must exist between the ...
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### best fundamental physics book [duplicate]

Good evening. I'd like to know, in your opinion, what would be the best fundamental physics book for a freshman? I want to start all over again. Thanks in advance.
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### What really happens with Time Dilation? [duplicate]

I know if you move your time moves slower than someone who is stationary, by Lorentz's transformation. However, I don't get how this happens. What does it mean when time moves slower? How does it ...
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### What does “Information” and Virtual Particles mean?

I've read that attraction and repulsion between particles is caused by the exchange of virtual photons, and that virtual photons carry information. I don't understand how a virtual photon actually ...
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### Image formed in a compound light microscope

I am trying to understand whether the image formed in a compound light microscope is at infinity or not. I get conflicting answers everywhere I look.