# All Questions

98 views

### Arguments for finite speed of physical processes

When beginning a study of the special theory of relativity, one discovers that the theory of special relativity has as an axiom that the laws of physics are invariant with respect to transformations ...
86 views

### How coordinate system shifting is related to similarity transformations?

I know that coordinate system shifting can be represented using matrices. But how exactly are similarity transformations related to coordinate shifts ?
241 views

### Power required to keep a freezer at constant temperature

Alright, I'm completely stuck on this and so is everyone else I've asked. A freezer has a temperature Tc = -23℃. The air in the kitchen has a temperature Th = 27℃. The freezer in not perfectly ...
3k views

### Conservation of 4-momentum in special relativity

I understand that the inner product of two 4-vectors is conserved under the Lorentz transformations, so that the absolute value of the four momentum is the same in any reference frame. This is what I (...
39 views

### Convert pressure to energy [closed]

I read a little about electricity being created from pressure, Piezoelectricity. I'm still pretty newbie about it though. Let's say I want to charge a battery from that technique, using my hands to ...
54 views

### Swinging onto a Hill

I was just watching the movie "Frozen" (not the Disney one), and they were trapped in a ski lift 50 feet off the ground. They had to jump. My question is, when they jump, should they swing on the ...
1k views

### Is there a name for a substance that is a gas at room temperature?

Is there a name for a substance that is a gas at room temperature, such as Hydrogen, Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, Chlorine, Fluorine, Bromine, Nitrogen, and Oxygen. I am writing a paper where ...
995 views

### Why is there a gap in porkchop plots?

On a porkchop plot for a given departure date (X axis), why are there two local energy minimums along the arrival date (Y-axis) for a transfer between Earth and Mars? The Hohmann transfer orbit seems ...
387 views

### An optical system with image from a convex lens forming behind a concave lens

I am having a problem drawing optical ray lines for optical systems. Namely, one which have a formation of image of the first lens beyond the second lens. Take the picture below as an example: In ...
163 views

### What's the conserved quantities correspond to the generator of conformal transformation

What's the conserved quantity corresponding to the generator of conformal transformations?
990 views

### How does AC current flow in an open circuit?

In common house hold wiring we have the hot lead, neutral and ground. If the hot lead in electrical wiring contacts earth ground (perhaps though a short circuit in the chassis of a device) then the ...
93 views

### Diamagnetism of a degenerate electron gas for weak fields

In the book "Statistical Physics, Part I ($3^{{\rm rd}}$ edition)" by Landau and Lifshitz, at $\S59$ when he treats the diamagnetic part of the magnetisation of a degenerate electron gas for weak ...
399 views

### The fundamental equations of electromagnetism

I'd like to know what are the basic equations of electromagnetism, that can be used to formulate all the other laws and equations. Those basic equations I can think of are Maxwell equations, Lorentz ...
119 views

### Why doesn't the air in a Standard Diving Dress crush you?

I recently watched a Mythbusters episode where they tested decompression in a tethered diving suit (which I believe is a Standard Diving Dress). When they removed the air pressure, the suit crumpled ...
278 views

### Rotational behavior of objects in zero-g with forces [closed]

I would like to know how this object would rotate in free space out of curiosity. Below is a diagram of the object. It is of uniform density and has a center of mass in the center of the object, ...
3k views

### How does the research in theoretical physics differ from mathematics

I would like to know what is the difference between research in theoretical physics and pure mathematics. In particular, what does a theoretical physicist actually do all day long for his research? In ...
320 views

### can gapped systems have gravitational anomalies?

The question is in the title. If it is possible, what are some examples of gapped systems--either quantum field theories or condensed matter systems--which exhibit some kind of anomaly when coupled ...
2k views

### Magnetic force and terminal velocity of falling loop and falling disc?

According to my textbook, if a square loop with mass $M$ is allowed to free fall (with a magnetic field at the bottom side and as soon as the square loop is dropped then the area inside the loop ...
113 views

### How can I take the Wigner transform of an operator with an absolute value?

I want to be able to find the Wigner transforms of operators of the form $\Theta(\hat{O})$, where $\Theta$ is the Heaviside function and $\hat{O}$ in general depends on both $x$ and $p$. For the ...
1k views

### Do airlocks in space decompress violently as they do in movies?

The standard scene follows: The good guys have finally captured the enemies and have them in an airlock chamber on a spaceship. A button is pressed and out they go, violently propelled by the blast of ...
344 views

### Is time subjective?

In Minkowski spacetime time is subjective [or more precisely: time is different for every particle/ reference frame]. It is the coordinate time of an observer whose reference frame travels up the $ct$-...
230 views

### A formula for the photon gas correlation function

i need to derive a formula for the photon gas correlation function $\left\langle\partial n_i\partial n_j\right\rangle$ where $$\partial n_i=n_i -\left \langle n_i \right \rangle.$$ whilst solving ...
115 views

### How to discover the $F = m\cdot a$ equation from scratch? [duplicate]

Is there a paper or a book that conceptually 'discover' the Newton's famous formula? I've been thinking about this equation, and I really don't know it for sure. Did Newton empirically noticed that ...
619 views

39 views

### Association of financial phenomena/indications with the conservation laws of Black Scholes equation

For a while I've been doing research on methods of obtaining conservation laws via the symmetries of differential equations (DEs). I'm presently doing research on identifying financial indicators/...
1k views

### Why must a singularity form inside a black hole? [duplicate]

What is the exact reason that normal matter can not exist within an event horizon? I can understand how a super-dense object like a neutron star could accrete mass until its physical radius is less ...
65 views

### What's the critical temperature of the XY model on a triangular lattice

I've been looking deeply into many bibliographic references without finding the answer. I would be interested in knowing the numerical value of the critical 2d XY spin model on triangular lattice. ...
293 views

### Proof of the conservation of the energy functional for the Gross-Pitaevskii equation?

From the Gross-Pitaevskii equation $$i\hbar\frac{\partial\psi}{\partial t}=\left(-\frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2+V+g|\psi|^2\right)\psi$$ using the variational relation \begin{...
7k views

### Will a blanket warm you if you are underwater?

Suppose a man falls into very cold water and gets their foot stuck under a heavy rock. Fortunately, his head is above water and someone is able to call for help. The paramedics want to keep him warm ...
480 views

I was taught today that the Electromagnetic wave Theory is unable to explain black body radiation. The example that was given to me: When a metal is heated, it emits different frequencies of light as ...
87 views

### What is different in representation?

I'm sorry if this is somewhat a dumb question. First: "Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by representing their elements as linear ...
328 views

795 views

### Why is salt so hard to remove from water?

Water molecules and various salt molecules are very different. However, it seems very difficult to separate the two. Once a salt is dissolved in water, an energy or chemical intensive method (like ...
153 views

### Can a point source be located more accurately out-of-focus or in-focus?

Let's say I am taking a picture, and I know a priori that the image is of a single ideal point source of light at infinity. With a perfect imaging system in focus, the image shows an Airy disk. I ...
59 views

### what if the time is zero in one reference frame

Consider measuring the length of an object in another frame of reference. Of course this should happen at the same instance in the frame of reference the measurement takes place in. but using Lorentz ...
1k views

### What is the difference between surface plasmon and surface plasmon polariton?

I'm trying to understand this reading article linked below and I still don't know how to explain this simply, without need to derive everything mathematically. Can someone just write here how do SP's ...
11k views

### Black and white matters. But why and how?

I know black conducts heat while white reflects it. But they are colors after all. If a metal is painted black, it conducts more heat or at a rapid speed than it would do before it was coated. But, ...
63 views

### Is there a general H-theorem?

In statistical mechanics, Boltzmann showed that for dilute gases the H-function increases. I remember from a lecture that there is no general H-theorem, e.g. for non-dilute gases or in the quantum ...
116 views

### Contact resistance copper-silver

I need to determine the contact resistance of a copper silver interface. The copper wire was soldered to the substrate using an IR-Laser. I was wondering if I can treat the entire system as a series ...
26 views

### Why do I have spin splitting at 5 and 7 at the quantum hall effect?

I just learned something about the quantum hall effect, and was wondering about the spin splitting at a filling factor of 5 and 7, i.e. I have nearly equal sized plateaus for the filling factor of 2, ...
### Role of physics in the zeta function $\zeta$ and the Riemann hypothesis
Hilbert and Polya suggested a physical way to verify the Riemann hypotesis about $\zeta(x)$. If the Riemann hypotesis is true, we can state all eigenvalues of physical problems are real. What is the ...