# All Questions

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### How can I calculate the relationship between power and acceleration for a beam driven photon sail?

I am writing a novel, and although I have a background in physics, I am unsure of the exact equations to use. Specifically: For a photon-sail ship, how powerful would a driving laser need to be in ...
121 views

### Effect of small variable transverse force on satellite orbital precession

Consider a small satellite which moves in a 2D elliptical orbit around a much larger body (e.g. the Sun) under the influence of Newtonian gravitational acceleration $$Ar = G.M/d^2$$ Next imagine ...
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### Calculate Euler equations of fluid dynamics without division?

I'm working on the calculation of the Euler equations with the finite volume method. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to do a division. So I'm wondering if there's a form which does not need a division. ...
427 views

### Experimentally measuring coherence length of laser

So I am trying to figure out the coherence length of my laser source. I am using a mach zehnder interferomter (image attached). I have theoretically calculated $L_c$ to be somewhere between 800-1200 ...
143 views

### Is frequency or Bayesian interpretation used in quantum mechanics?

In quantum mechanics, we discussed about probability. There are two kinds of interpretations: frequency and Bayesian. Which one is actually used in quantum mechanics? My impression is, it doesn't ...
208 views

### Color-charge conservation in proton decay

In some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics (Supersymmetry with R-parity violation being a prominent example), the proton is allowed to decay, e.g. via $p\to e^+\pi^0$: While this ...
4k views

### Why does a flat universe imply an infinite universe?

This article claims that because the universe appears to be flat, it must be infinite. I've heard this idea mentioned in a few other places, but they never explain the reasoning at all.
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### Gibbs equation and third law of thermodynamics

I have seen a discussion of what would happen for an ideal gas expands irreversibly and adiabatically until absolute zero degree K. The entropy change is like that: Δs=Cv ln(T2/T1)+R ln(V2/V1) It is ...
628 views

### Problem understanding basic sail mechanics

I am trying to understand the physics behind a single sailed boat. I have read the following questions Sailing against the wind. Is this a fair model? What exactly is the 'lift' of a ...
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### Generating forces precisely [closed]

When we like to produce known forces, we know that standard weights acting vertically on a object creates a known force. Now, what are the other methods to generate forces with accuracy? It is a 'do ...
58 views

### Maxwell calculations that predicted the generation of waves (further use for wireless telegraphs)

At this point in this documentary about the history of electricity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnS2WO2_0k&t=4m40s the guy says the Maxwell calculations predicted the generation of certain ...
135 views

### Current in a strip - Scalar or vector [duplicate]

In certain books like David Griffiths electrodynamics , he treats current as a vector in some places. Moreover certain problems like current in a strip are often dealt with by taking current ...
1k views

### Will a tall narrow cup keep a cup coffee warmer than a more evenly dimensioned cup?

I noticed a colleague had a tall narrow cup for his coffee, and it got me thinking about whether it would retain heat for longer or not. Assume two cups, both are cylindrical, and both hold the same ...
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### What length should be the gap to block UV waves from the Sun?

The origin of the question is practical, but the theoretical part is interesting too. Let's rest a little bit on the roof on a sunny summer day. We don't want to get burned, so we usually place some ...
4k views

### How does a magnetic field cause objects to move?

I understand electricity and magnetism and the relationship between them. What I never understood, and never actually seen explained in any book or website, is how opposite magnetic fields cause ...
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### Why are laws of physics always of product forms?

A first observation is that all the extant laws of physics are of product forms. This phenomenon is somewhat intriguing. The question is: why do law of physics always take, instead of a sum of two ...
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### How does the Alcubierre drive warp space in the vicinity of it's destination?

I don't understand how this could work. So lets say the drive is set to go 30,000,000 meters in a straight line to get to a distant planet. Now lets say the ship size is 20 meters. Now let's make ...
371 views

### Massless $\phi^3$ theory in $d=6$ dimensions

I am asked to calculate renormalization for a massless $\phi^3$ theory in $d=6$ dimensional space using dimensional regularization. I'm having trouble finding the three-point vertex correction as one ...
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### Analogues of mass, space, or time? [closed]

I began wondering about this when working through this question: is there anything analogous to spacetime or matter? Both spacetime (note: most of what I know of about the concept of spacetime comes ...
579 views

### When falling through the air, does swinging arms/legs actually help anything?

Let's say someone jumps off an Olympic-sized diving board into a pool below (so air resistance is negligible). As soon as they jump, they start swinging their arms. Does this help them stay upright ...
197 views

### Flying eggshells

This question was asked on Judaism.StackExchange a few days ago, but I think it has a better chance of being answered here. Disregarding the grammatical discussion in the comments on that question1,...
333 views

### Could we recharge the sun's “batteries”?

From this link: The Sun is 4.6 billion years old and is estimated to live in this stable phase another 4.6 billion years. Since the Sun is a star, once it reaches the end of its lifetime, it ...
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### What is the error on measuring the phase of a sine wave?

Let's say I have a wave, with frequency $\omega$ and phase $\phi$, of the form: $$y(t) = 1 + A \sin(\omega t+\phi)$$ where $A < 1$. I have measured this wave N times, and we can assume these ...
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### Does the definition of the SI unit “second” require that possible perturbation of primary frequency standards should be measured?

The definition of the SI unit "second" is stated as The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground ...
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### How do adhesive and cohesive forces affect surface tension? [closed]

Surface tension appears at the interface of two immiscible fluids if the cohesive force of attraction is more than adhesive force. What will be the physical effect if the adhesive force is more than ...
890 views

### Fluid dynamics - Water level in a container

An open container is being filled with water from the top at a constant volumetric flow rate $300 \frac{cm^3}{s}$. At the same time, water is leaving the container trough a circular whole at the ...
477 views

### Why does a string remain taut in circular motion

Lets say an object is tied to a string and it is being swung in a circle: In this case, the tension of the string acts as a centrifugal force that keeps the object moving in a circle. However, if ...
2k views

### Question on circular motion — car turning on road

Lets say a car is turning on a road that has friction. I made this small diagram where the two parallel lines indicate the tires of the car. In order for the car to keep turning in a circle, there ...
110 views

### What is a superfluid in field theoretic terms?

I'm wondering how one precisely defines a superfluid in terms of the effective field theory description. In Nicolis's paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.2513 there seems to be an extremely simple ...
51 views

### If a planetoid was wet and you spun it would the water move to the equator?

If the moon was alone in space and covered in X feet of water and it began to rotate would it displace to a bias along the equator?
Let's have Kallen–Lehmann spectral representation for the scalar theory: $$\tag 1 D(p) = \int \limits_{0}^{\infty} d(\mu^{2})\frac{\rho (\mu^{2})}{p^{2} - \mu^{2} + i\varepsilon}.$$ We can represent ...