# All Questions

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### Fluid to particles under newtonian gravity

How to start with a perfect fluid concept and reach (by approximations through certain mathematically well defined assumptions) to the concept of particle ? Here newtonian gravitation is being ...
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### Spectral Line Width and Uncertainty principle

so I've been at this for about 3 - 4 hours now. It is an homework assignment (well part of a question which i've already completed). We did not learn this in class. All work is shown below. An ...
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### Does the recent re-count of stars in elliptical gallaxies affect our understanding of the universal mass balance?

I've seen several popular reports of a new count of low-mass stars in elliptical galaxies (here's one). Edit: Pursuant to several correct comments I've changed the title to agree with the actual ...
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### Applications of Algebraic Topology to physics

I have always wondered about applications of Algebraic Topology to Physics, seeing as am I studying algebraic topology and physics is cool and pretty. My initial thoughts would be that since most ...
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### Classical mechanics without coordinates book

I am a math grad student who would like to learn some classical mechanics. The caveat is I am not to interested in the standard coordinate approach. I can't help but think of the fields that arise in ...
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### Can a web community write papers? [closed]

the internet has changed science drastically. Not only in terms of distributing knowledge e.g. via online encyclopedias as wikipedia and freely available sources of publications as arXiv but also as a ...
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### “Natural units” of mass

Gravitational attraction is given by $\frac{GMm}{r^2}$ while attraction due to electric charge is given by $\frac{q_1 q_2}{r^2}$. Why does gravity need a constant while electric charge doesn't? ...
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### What if physical constants were increased or decreased? [closed]

(Probably related to this one, and probably should be CW.) A very long time ago, I had the good fortune to read George Gamow's excellent series of Mr. Tompkins books. That introduced me to the idea ...
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### Deriving the speed of the propagation of a change in the Electromagnetic Field from Maxwell's Equations

I've been told that, from Maxwell's equations, one can find that the propagation of change in the Electromagnetic Field travels at a speed $\frac{1}{\sqrt{\mu_0 \epsilon_0}}$ (the values of which can ...
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### How to determine the (n,m) dimensions of a carbon nanotube?

I've been reading about nanotubes lately, and I keep seeing the $(n,m)$ notation. How does this describe a nanotube's structure? How do I determine which is $n$ and which is $m$ ? I'm familiar with ...
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### Calculating de Broglie wavelength

Hey, trying to finish an assignment but having some trouble with it. I will show all my work. The topic is on wave/particle dualty, uncertainty principle (second year modern physics course). So the ...
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### Which experiments prove atomic theory?

Which experiments prove atomic theory? Sub-atomic theories: atoms have: nuclei; electrons; protons; and neutrons. That the number of electrons atoms have determines their relationship with other ...
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### Accelerating particles to speeds infinitesimally close to the speed of light?

I'm in a freshmen level physics class now, so I don't know much, but something I heard today intrigued me. My TA was talking about how at the research facility he worked at, they were able to ...
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### Creation of the Electromagnetic Spectrum [closed]

After seeing this image: http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/images/EM_Spectrum3-new.jpg And reading this: "The long wavelength limit is the size of the universe itself, while it is thought that the ...
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### Magnetism-Related Terminology

A few questions about a magnet and a paperclip: What do you call a material that attracts another material via magnetism? (i.e. the magnet) What do you call the material that is attracted in #1? ...
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### CPT and heat equation

I haven't understood this thing: Physics is invariant for CPT trasform...But the Heat or diffusive equation $\nabla^2 T=\partial_t T$ is not invariant for time reversal...but it's P invariant..So CPT ...
690 views

### Nonlinear optics as gauge theory

the widely used approach to nonlinear optics is a Taylor expansion of the dielectric displacement field $\mathbf{D} = \epsilon_0\cdot\mathbf{E} + \mathbf{P}$ in a Fourier representation of the ...
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### An iPhone falling on carpet is fine, is it true? [closed]

I heard that an iphone falling on carpet would not cause damage to it, both internal and external. Any physical explanation for this?
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### Relation of angular speed of a rigid body to Euler's Angles

My Question was like this and i have realised few things and still have some doubts I have a book in which a paragraph goes like this Now, $\dot\phi$, $\dot \theta$, $\dot\psi$ are respectively ...
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### Separation of variables, eigenfunctions of the Dirac operator

Disclaimer: I am not a physicist; I am a geometer (and a student!) trying to learn some physics. Please be gentle. Thanks! When solving the Schrödinger equation for a particle in a spherical ...
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### Why are there 3 quarks in proton?

A few quark related questions (I don't knowmuch about them other than there are 2 flavours concerning protons and neutrons) Why are there 3 quarks in a proton or neutron? Why not 2 or 4? Is there an ...
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### Is it possible to determine timescales of electron dynamics from the natural linewidth of an electronic transition?

A lot of work has been done recently on electron dynamics using attosecond pump-probe techniques; for instance in this paper. In this particular paper, the authors photoionized the neutral ...
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### Is it possible to obtain gold through nuclear decay?

Is there a series of transmutations through nuclear decay that will result in the stable gold isotope ${}^{197}\mathrm{Au}$ ? How long will the process take?
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### Why are quark types known as flavors?

There are six types of quarks, known as flavors. Why where these types called flavors? Why do the flavors have such odd names (up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom)?
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### Spherical wave as sum of plane waves

How can we do this computation? $\iiint_{R^3} \frac{e^{ik'r}}{r} e^{ik_1x+k_2y+k_3z}dx dy dz$ where $r=\sqrt{x^2+y^2+z^2}$ ? I think we must use distributions... Physically, it's equivalent to ...
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### Ising model for dummies

I am looking for some literature on the Ising model, but I'm having a hard time doing so. All the documentation I seem to find is way over my knowledge. Can you direct me to some documentation on it ...
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### Light emission spectrum units

Do someone knows the units of the spectra provided here ? It seems obvious enough that it's said nowhere, but even Wikipedia and other sites are quite blurry on this point. So, is it power ($W$), ...
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### Why does my watch act like a mirror under water?

I have a digital watch, rated to go underwater to $100 \rm m$. When it is underwater it can be read normally, up until you reach a certain angle, then suddenly, it becomes almost like a mirror, ...
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### What is an analog to QM's Hilbert space in GR?

I've read that QM operates in a Hilbert space (where the state functions live). I don't know if its meaningful to ask such a question, what are the answers to an analogous questions on GR and ...
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### How many Onsager's solutions are there?

Update: I provided an answer of my own (reflecting the things I discovered since I asked the question). But there is still lot to be added. I'd love to hear about other people's opinions on the ...
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### Does the energy of a magnetic field decrease when it moves a conductor carrying a current?

When a charged particle moves in an electric field, the field performs work on the particle. Thus, the energy of the field decreases, turning into kinetic energy of the particle. Does the magnetic ...
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### How efficient is an electric heater?

How efficient is an electric heater? My guess: greater than 95%. Possibly even 99%. I say this because most energy is converted into heat; some is converted into light and kinetic energy, and ...
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### Can I parameterize the state of a quantum system given reduced density matrices describing its subparts?

As the simplest example, consider a set of two qubits where the reduced density matrix of each qubit is known. If the two qubits are not entangled, the overall state would be given by the tensor ...
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### Is there a conserved quantity that enforces planar orbits in central force motion?

From what I remember, one of the first steps in finding the equations of motion for an orbiting body is to argue that the body's motion has to be restricted to a plane, because the central force has ...
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### Why is the mapped universe shaped like an hourglass?

I've watched a video from the American National History Museum entitled The Known Universe. The video shows a continuous animation zooming out from earth to the entire known universe. It claims to ...
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### How far does a trampoline vertically deform based on the mass of the object?

If a baseball is dropped on a trampoline, the point under the object will move a certain distance downward before starting to travel upward again. If a bowling ball is dropped, it will deform further ...
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### Relation between density and pressure for a perfect fluid

what is the relation between mass density $\rho$ and pressure $P$ for a perfect fluid ?
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### Behaviour of mass and momentum distributions under Newtonian Gravity

In the context of this question should mass distribution $\rho(r,t)$ and momentum distribution $p(r,t)$ be well behaved ? By 'well behaved' it is meant that derivatives of all orders exist everywhere. ...
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### If time standard clocks and any memories about the time standard are destroyed, can we recover the time standard again?

Assume the time standard clocks and any memories about the time standard are destroyed. Can we recover the time standard again exactly? Recovering the time standard again means we can determine the ...
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### Why some nuclei with “magic” numbers of neutrons have a half-life less than their neighbor isotopes?

It's easy to find the "magic" numbers of neutrons on the diagrams of alpha-decay energy: 82, 126, 152, 162. Such "magic" nuclei should be more stable than their neighbors. But why some nuclei ...
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### Reciprocal Lattices

Is there an easy way to understand and/or visualize the reciprocal lattice of a two or three dimensional solid-state lattice? What is the significance of the reciprocal lattice, and why do solid ...
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### Appearance of atoms

I was watching a documentary entitled "The Atom" and one of the statements made was that Atoms behave differently when we look at them. I wasn't too sure about the reasoning behind this and i'm hoping ...
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### Evolution of mass and velocity distributions under newtonian gravitation

Let $\rho(r,t)$ and $v(r,t)$ be mass and velocity distributions. Given $\rho(r,0)$ and $v(r,0)$ (initial conditions) what is the differential equation that describes the evolution of $\rho(r,t)$ and ...
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### Is there a name for the derivative of current with respect to time, or the second derivative of charge with respect to time?

This measurement comes up a lot in my E&M class, in regards to inductance and inductors. Is there really no conventional term for this? If not, is there some historical reason for this omission? ...
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### What is the definition of momentum when a mass distribution $\rho(r,t)$ is given?

This question is Edited after recieving comments. What is the definition of momentum when a mass distribution $\rho(r,t)$ is given? Assuming a particle as a point mass we know the definition of ...
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### General relativity (gravitation) in time and one spatial dimension

I don't have any idea of general relativity but intend to learn. Is it a good idea to study general relativity in two dimensions (time and single spatial dimension) in the begining to get good idea on ...
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### Why is Physics so hard? [closed]

I'm in a classical mechanics class now. On our exams, most questions are quantitative. And in general, besides the theory part, all physics problems just require you to gather formulas, manipulate ...
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### 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

I understand that the 2nd law of thermodynamics roughly states that, if you have a body (or a gas in a chamber) that is hot at one end and cold on the other, the heat will always flow from the hot to ...