# All Questions

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### Measuring the spring constant in a system with hydrostatic buoyancy

I have a physics lab tomorrow and I would appreciate it if you could give me your opinion on whether my reasoning is correct for this situation or not: http://i.stack.imgur.com/WMzA7.jpg The title ...
898 views

### What is more efficient: Add milk, and then heat up coffee in the microwave, or microwave than milk?

Adding milk first increases the volume to heat and lowers average temerature, but adding it afterwards seems to have similar effects. How can you compare the two?
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### Creating the proper suction

I'm a bit rusty on my fluid dynamics. I'm experimenting with creating my own leaf vacuum. How would I determine how much suction a fan creates? Bernoulli's equation would apply correct? I would ...
3k views

### Does magnetic propagation follow the speed of light?

Does magnetic propagation follow the speed of light? E.g. if you had some magnet of incredible strength and attached an iron wire that is one light year long to it, would the other end of the iron ...
1k views

### Why does a tire produce more traction when sliding slightly?

It is well known in racing that driving the car on the ideal "slip angle" of the tire where it is crabbing slightly from the pointed direction produces more cornering speed than a lower slip angle or ...
250 views

### Expansion of space and gravity

In my previous question I asked how gravity can be represented as dents in space. It seems that it's a metaphor. But I wondered with spac expanding does the effect of gravity get bigger as well, I ...
397 views

### What is the boundary condition of graphene flake with zigzag edges?

It is a question about free carrier behavior in graphene flakes. (or may be called charge confinement) Say if we have a perfect hexagonal free standing graphene flake terminated with zigzag edges. ...
571 views

### Why are some solitons formed from bosonic fields fermionic?

Some topological solitons formed from bosonic fields have fermionic statistics. Why?
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### Is it really possible for water to be held in a “cone shape” for a brief period of time?

I just saw this "trick" where a cup of water is turned over onto a table without spilling (using a piece of cardboard. After removing the cardboard from underneath the cup, the person then removes ...
3k views

### How does one build up intuition in physics? [closed]

How does one build up an intuitive gut feeling for physics that some people naturally have? Physics seems to be a hodgepodge of random facts. Is that a sign to quit physics and take up something ...
2k views

### Does String Theory disagree with General Relativity?

I would like to expand on what I mean by the title of this question to focus the answers. Normally whenever a theory (e.g. General Relativity) replaces another (e.g. Newtonian Gravity) there is a ...
519 views

### Neutrino versus Anti-neutrino Detection

Is there a that detection method in use that can distinguish between a neutrino from its anti-neutrino?
561 views

### There seems to be no definition of “stability” in axiomatic QFT. Is there? And, if not, is this a problem?

"stability" is invoked as the justification for the axiomatic requirement that the spectrum of the generators of the translation group must be confined to the forward light-cone. The spectrum ...
374 views

### Does time have a special status in general relativity?

In a lot of laymen explanations of general relativity it is implied that the four dimensions of the space-time are equivalent, and we perceive time as different only because it is embedded in our ...
219 views

### What happens when two D-branes annihilate?

What happens when two D-branes annihilate? Do we get a radiation of strings? Thanks in advance
664 views

### What is the historical origin of the term action

In Physics ordinary terms often acquire a strange meaning, action is one of them. Most people I talk to about the term action just respond with "its dimension is energy*time". But what is its ...
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895 views

### Anti-laser: How sure we are that energy is transported?

Reading this PE question can-we-transport-energy-over-infinite-distances-through-vacuum-using-light, a related question arises naturally: Is energy transported (by light)? -- (I did believed in this ...
723 views

### Light years in terms of actual time space [closed]

What actually is 1 light year? What is the equivalent time in Earth time space?
4k views

### What is Fermi surface and why is this concept so useful in metals research?

What is Fermi surface and why is this concept so useful in metals research? Particularly, I can somewhat appreciate the Fermi energy idea - the radius of Fermi surface which is a sphere. But is there ...
224 views

### How do you derive Noether's theorem when the action combines chiral, antichiral, and full superspace?

How do you derive Noether's theorem when the action combines chiral, antichiral, and full superspace?
855 views

### A die versus a quantum experiment

Let suppose you roll a die, and it falls into a hidden place, for example under furniture. Then although the experiment has already been made (the die already has a number to show), that value can not ...
1k views

### Momentum-Representations in Quantum Mechanics

Why do we get information about position and momentum when we go to different representations. Why is momentum, which was related to time derivative of position in classical physics, now in QM just a ...
377 views

### Are there any applications of quantum information theory to physics?

Are there any applications of quantum information theory to physics?
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### Natural systems that test the primality of a number?

There might be none. But I was thinking of links between number theory and physics, and this would seem like an example that would definitely solidify that link. Are there any known natural systems, ...
669 views

### Most elegant/fundamental formulations of the laws of classical mechanics?

Newton tried to do it with three laws/statements. While the first can be derived from the second, the three form a pretty nice framework. Later on, I've encountered Lagrangian Mechanics, which ...
555 views

### The difference between free energy and perpetual motion [closed]

What is the difference between free energy (over unity) and perpetual motion? Please provide some examples, both real world and theoretical.
948 views

### Can we transport energy over infinite distances through vacuum using light?

I know that light (or electromagnetic radiation in general) attenuates in intensity as the square of the distance it travels. Why does it attenuate? Are the photons being scattered by the medium ...
381 views

### The full entropy quote

What is the full text (and possibly the source) of the summary of the 3 laws of thermodynamics that goes something along the lines of "Can't break even, can't win and can't even stop playing the ...
414 views

### Diff(M) and requirements on GR observables

This question is kind of inspired in this one: Diff(M) as a gauge group and local observables in theories with gravity The conundrum i'm trying to understand is how is derived the (quite) ...
759 views

### The Coriolis force bending a railway

Suppose a very long railway line goes from South Africa to Sweden, and then it's decided to move the entire railway line, sliding it 1 km to the north (leaving aside the difficulty of moving and ...
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### What are the uses of Hopf algebras in physics?

Hopf algebra is nice object full of structure (a bialgebra with an antipode). To get some idea what it looks like, group itself is a Hopf algebra, considered over a field with one element ;) usual ...