# All Questions

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### Gravity on supermassive black hole's event horizon

M = black hole mass Gravitation is about 1/r^2 Schwarzschild radius r is ~ to M Greater BH -> weaker gravitation on its horizon. Lets take black hole so enormous that the gravitation on its ...
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### speed of sound and the potential energy of an ideal gas; Goldstein derivation

I am looking the derivation of the speed of sound in Goldstein's Classical Mechanics (sec. 11-3, pp. 356-358, 1st ed). In order to write down the Lagrangian, he needs the kinetic and potential ...
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### Group Velocity and Phase Velocity of Matter Wave?

In quantum mechanics, what is the difference between group velocity and phase velocity of matter wave? How can it also be that phase velocity of matter wave always exceeds the speed of light?
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### How much time can I power my laptop by eating one dessert?

Random question that popped into my mind after a 4-hours power outage. Let us assume that I am eating an extra dessert (250 kcal) and that I am using a bike and a generator to power my laptop (it ...
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### What is the most efficient machine for translating gravitational potential energy of one mass into kinetic energy of a different mass?

As the question states, what is our current best machine for translating falling gravitational potential energy, such as a large weight, into launching a smaller projectile vertically? A lever? A ...
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### Why does your reflection stay the same size when you move further away from the mirror?

This was an experiment I saw in my son's workbook. It said to mark out the top of your forehead and the bottom of your chin on a mirror using a whiteboard marker. Then slowly move backwards, and ...
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### What happens when atoms speed up to extreme velocity?

The title might be misleading, but my question is in regard to what happens when we reach temperatures close to absolute zero (Kelvin). I've found different quotes as to what happens on the low end of ...
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### Boundary conditions for crystals

As students on solid state physics, we are all taught to use the periodic boundary condition, taking 1D as an example: $\psi(x)=\psi(x+L)$ where $L$ is the length of the 1D crystal. My question is: ...
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### What's the differences between pseudospin and spin?

It seems that they both transform as an U(2) group, but I've been told that the three components of real spin change signs under inversion while it is not the case for pseudospin. Could someone name ...
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### Would it be economical to add a counterweight to rocket launches?

It seems a large amount of rocket fuel during launches is spent to get the mass moving; indeed according to QuickLaunch, Inc. it takes 40% of the rocket fuel to get to Mach 1.3. It seems as though the ...
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### Why does your reflection suddenly turn upside down while slowly walking away from a curved mirror?

Many people should have realised, when looking into a concave curved mirror (or even a rather reflective spoon in that fact) at a close distance, you will see a slightly distorted reflection. But as ...
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### What is the main downfall of using QPSK rather than DQPSK in fiber optics?

I've read that QPSK works theoretically in order to encode two bits depending on the phase of the signal. However, practically a reference for the carrier signal would be needed due to some ambiguity ...
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### Proof of Pauli group preservation by Clifford group conjugation?

A well know result is that Clifford group preserve the Pauli group under conjugation or, in other words: $C(P_{1} \otimes P_{2})C^{\dagger} = P_{3} \otimes P_{4}$, with $C \in$ Clifford group and ...
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### What phenomenon is responsible for the evolution pattern of waves created by waterfalls?

I have been fascinated lately by the pattern of the waves created by a waterfall in my town. Specifically, the pattern shows a gradual decrease in the density of the waves as they travel away from ...
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### Finding the charge density

I can't figure out how to find the charge density for the following problem: A conductor is placed in an external electrostatic field. The external field is uniform before the conductor is ...
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### Did Aristarchus take the radius of the Earth into account in calculating the distance to the Moon?

My text says that Aristarchus (310 BC – ~230 BC) measured the "angle subtended by the Earth-Moon distance at the Sun" ($\theta$ in the figure below) to establish the relative Earth-Moon and Earth-Sun ...
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### About calculation of anomalous dimension in Peskin and Schroeder's book.

This question is in reference to question 13.2 in the QFT book by Peskin and Schroeder. To put it in general - I would like to know how does one define "anomalous dimensions" if one is given the ...
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### What is the general formula for a trebuchet?

What I'm really looking for is a formula for a trebuchet that I can input the desired initial velocity after launch and mass of the object, and from that figure out how long the long arm, short arm, ...
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### Lagrangian and Equilibrium Points

I'm wondering whether you can tell quickly just from looking at a Lagrangian whether a given point $q^0$ is an equilibrium point. Obviously all you have to do is verify it satisfies the E-L equations, ...
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### What is the general approach to calculating time of impact in 3D?

Given two objects a and b moving at fixed velocities, how would you determine (a) whether they will collide at all, and if so, (b) time of impact? (Let us assume these are spherical bodies each with ...
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### How does the Sun's magnetic field continue to exist at such high temperatures?

The temperature at the surface of the Sun is apparently well above 5000 C; I'm assuming the layers beneath the surface may be even hotter. At school, we learned that heating a metal beyond a certain ...
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### Driving a solution of optical isomer molecules with the resonant frequency

What happens when we drive a solution of optical isomer molecules (enantiomers) with a microwave radiation in resonance with the tunneling frequency of the molecules (the frequency of the transition ...
1k views

### Would a rocket burn more fuel to get from Earth's surface to LEO, or to get from LEO to GEO?

Would a rocket burn more fuel to get from Earth's surface to Low Earth Orbit, or to get from LEO to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit?
6k views

### Understanding tension

I'm trying to understand tension. So here it goes: I'll start from the beginning. Let's assume I'm in space and can move around and apply forces. Let's say a rope is attached to a body(which is in ...
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### Event Horizon fluctuating due to gravitational waves

Do the interiors of black-holes create gravitational waves and if so do these waves cause the radius of the event horizon to fluctuate as the waves pass the horizon ?
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### Does juggling balls reduce the total weight of the juggler and balls?

A friend offered me a brain teaser to which the solution involves a $195$ pound man juggling two $3$-pound balls to traverse a bridge having a maximum capacity of only $200$ pounds. He explained that ...
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### Electric scooter acceleration

I tested two electric scooters with almost same power (1500 W), but very different performances: A "Zem Star 45" (1500 W, 60 Nm) can reach 50 km/h in "a few seconds" (not measured actually), An ...
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### What is the mass of the emergent magnetic monopoles in spin ice and how is the mass of an emergent particle determined?

In solid state physics emergent particles are very common. How one determines if they are gap-less excitations? Do the defects in spin ice called magnetic monopoles have mass? What is the mass of ...
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### Tracking down the locality assumption in a CHSH inequality derivation

CHSH inequality requires both locality and realism. I will equate here realism with counterfactual definiteness. Now counterfactual definiteness tells us that given two different measurements on the ...
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### Why is the critical density of the Universe non-zero?

I'm missing something and I wondered if someone could enlighten me. As I understand it, Einstein's equations say, among other things, that matter curves spacetime. I also understand, the Universe has ...
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### What is the meaning of following expression $C=\frac{\delta Q}{dT}$ mathematically?

Our professor raised the following question during our lecture in Statistical Physics (even so it's related to Thermodynamics): Many text books (even Wikipedia) writes wrong expressions (from ...
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### Liquid analog of the Black Hole (Part 2)

Similar question has been asked but did no get good answers. We know that black hole can confine light, but can we create an ocean black hole - which can confine surface water waves or sound waves in ...
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### atomic friction [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Friction between atoms in spring thanks john:when we apply a stress within elastic range of metal/spring,due to flow of atoms the particular void(defect) region getting ...
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### Effects of EMP in superconductor-based devices/equipment?

What are possible effects of electromagnetic pulse / EMP on superconductor-based devices/equimpent/transportation? Are they resilient or more sensitive to EMP?
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### picture of newtonian gravity and black hole

We assume that the earth planet is a black hole. When a light beam is fired. The only way that even light can move is A and B which means this is impossible that light move on other ways C, D, E ...
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### Acceleration of table tennis racket

I can't find any numbers about table tennis. What accelerations occur during a forehand smash for example? Thanks in advance & kind regards, Hans
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### Is a compact universe consistent with the results of (for example) the Michelson-Morley experiment?

If the universe is compact then there is a twin paradox that is resolvable only by selecting a preferred inertial reference frame (arXiv). I was under the impression that the lack of a preferred ...
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### Friction between atoms in spring

if i doing experiment on spring-mass system in vaccum,if i pull the to some extent (within elastic limit of spring) & let it go,will the system oscillate indefinitely? (neglect contact frictions ...
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### Laplacian of a delta function as an interaction potential for Laughlin state

I am reading Xiao-Gang Wen's paper "Pattern-of-zeros approach to Fractional quantum Hall states and a classification of symmetric polynomial of infinite variables", on page 8, he gives three ...
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### Temperature measurement, precision

I am having problems with one of the problems I have done (a) which is basically $\theta = 273.16K (19/15) = 346.00K$ For (b) I am given that the length is 15.00cm when the thermometer is incontact ...
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### What is the angle at which water is splashed when a vehicle tyre rides in water on the road?

I would like to know the following: What is the angle at which water gets splashed when I ride my vehicle through a water on the road? How does angle of water varies with speed? What is the relation ...
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### Sinusoidal Wave Displacement Function

I am learning about waves (intro course) and as I was studying Wave Functions, I got a little confused. The book claims that the wave function of a sinusoidal wave moving in the $+x$ direction is ...
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### Was the Universe's entropy equal to zero at the Big Bang? Is zero-entropy state unique?

It is postulated by many cosmologists that at the Big Bang time the universe was in an unusual low entropy state. Does this claim specifically mean that the entropy of the initial universe was zero? ...
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### detect movement - how does it relate to G force

I would like to detect if a user is moving by using an android smartphone - walking or jumping doesn't matter - want to know if the user wearing the smartphone is moving. I have found this code ...
581 views

### Could Quark model turn out to be false?

Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks ...
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### Intuition for gauge parallel transport (Wilson loops)

I'm looking for a geometrical interpretation of the statement that "Wilson loop is a gauge parallel transport". I have seen QFT notes describe U(x,y) as "transporting the gauge transformation", and ...
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### Space Rocket Lift Efficiency and the Gyroscope?

I'm no physicist apart from basic 3d web animation, I'm just curious and please feel free to correct my misuse of terms or inadequate speculations. I've been reading a lot on gyroscopes and ...
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### Why are L4 and L5 lagrangian points stable?

This diagram from wikipedia shows the gravitational potential energy of the sun-earth two body system, and demonstrates clearly the semi-stability of the L1, L2, and L3 lagrangian points. The blue ...