# All Questions

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### Electric field of not-grounded conducting plate with a given potential?

I have been trying to find an equation (or some solution) of how to calculate the electric field strength (in N/C) of a conducting rectangular (nearly flat) plate which has non-zero potential to it, ...
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### range of infrared light

I notice in the EMS chart that only half of the IR range will travel through the earth's atmosphere. So in the range of frequencies that penetrate the atmosphere what frequency travels farthest?
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### Can we make a change of variables (for example to polar coordinates) into a divergent integral?

I know that if the integral is convergent we can always make a change of variable to make it better, however what happens with DIVERGENT integrals? can we make a change of variable into a divergent ...
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### $N$-body simulation in General Relativity

How would one perform an $N$-body simulation in General Relativity (GR) for something like galaxy formation or galactic dynamics? Suppose one wants to simulate the rotation curve $v(r)$ for galaxies ...
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### Could asteroseismology have a significant potential to unravel the mechanisms of solar cycles that last thousands of years?

Could asteroseismology have a significant potential to unravel the mechanisms of solar cycles that last thousands of years? And what about solar cycles 1 billion years ago and 2 billion years ago ...
281 views

### Hydrogen transition and photon behavior

consider a transition for an electron in the Hydrogen atom from the ground state to the 1st excited state. Let's say this transition occurs through absorption of a photon of exactly the energy ...
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### Are the inner planets on planar orbits because there was more dust in the inner solar system (early on in planetary accretion)?

Question inspired by a question thread here. So when there's lots of dust in a galaxy, the galaxy tends to collapse into a spiral galaxy (to maintain angular momentum and to minimize gravitational ...
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### Where does a star's angular momentum go as its spin slows down?

So we know that stars slow down as they age. But total angular momentum must be conserved. Where does that angular momentum go? The dissipation of Earth's tides somehow transfers Earth's angular ...
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### Distribution of each element and molecule as a function of distance from the Sun and as a function of time

Are there any graphs that show the distribution of each element and molecule as a function of distance from the Sun? And maybe even the time-evolution of each distribution over the solar system's ...
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### Are the rest masses of fundamental particles certainly constants?

In particular I am curious if the values of the rest masses of the electron, up/down quark, neutrino and the corresponding particles over the next two generations can be defined as constant or if ...
188 views

### Converting Angular Momentum?

I am aware of three apparently different forms of angular momentum: spin, orbital and macroscopic, like a spinning crystal or baseball. Can angular momentum be transferred or converted from one of ...
1k views

### Proving that interval preserving transformations are linear

In almost all proofs I've seen of the Lorentz transformations one starts on the assumption that the required transformations are linear. I'm wondering if there is a way to prove the linearity: Prove ...
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### How fast does an ice cube melt in a microwave?

I have noticed that when I microwave an ice cube it appears to melt more slowly than I would expect. For example, an equal volume of water starting at 0 deg C would probably be at boiling point before ...
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### Maximum depth for bacteria on rogue planets [closed]

If microscopic life evolves on a planet which is subsequently ejected from orbiting its star, then the planet would cool down. How deep into the interior of the planet could organisms reach, assuming ...
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### Vesta dwarf planet status

Now that we have close-up photos of Vesta, which the IAU had previously said was a candidate dwarf planet, when is the IAU going to decide the issue? Personally, Vesta doesn't look round enough to me. ...
820 views

### What does ionization of neutral Hydrogen have to do with “transparency”?

Most accounts of the early history of the Universe make some reference to (re)ionization as being the reason that the Universe becomes transparent after a period of opacity caused by the absence of ...
170 views

### units of measure

This question is rather historical one. kilometres can be defined in metres, metres in centimetres, centimetres in millimetres. There must be some elementary unit (like millimetre or smth.) which ...
1k views

### What are the mathematical problems in introducing Spin 3/2 fermions?

Can the physics complications of introducing spin 3/2 Rarita-Schwinger matter be put in geometric (or other) terms readily accessible to a mathematician?
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### SO(3) x SU(2) Symmetry of the Hamiltonian

I have a question converning multiplets when describing atoms. Let $H=\sum\limits_{k=1}^{N} (p_{k}^2 - \frac{Z}{|x_{k}|} + \sum\limits_{i<k}^{1..N} \frac{1}{|x_{i} - x_{k}|}$ be a (self-adjoint) ...
621 views

### Understand audio signals

Most audio signal are described by a curve having two parameters: The amplitude and the frequency (amount of time from positive to negative amplitude value). What I want to understand is how the ...
736 views

### At what temperature does water become a liquid on Mars? On the asteroids? And in a vacuum?

I know that I can just read off the phase diagram for water (for the surface atmospheric pressure on each object). But could there possibly be some nuances that someone might miss just from viewing ...
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### radioactive decay in molecular constituents [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What happens to chemical compunds that include radioactive nuclei, when those decay? Suppose a radioactive atom, which is incorporated in a molecule, decays? What ...
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### What is meant by “combinatorial background” in experimental high energy physics

My guess is that they find a certain tracks coming from a certain source by "combintaorially" selecting all track pairs and finding their invariant mass. If this is true, of which I am not sure, how ...
443 views

### Are there formulae for calculating stellar luminosity and effective temperature as a function of age?

Is there a manageable formula or set of formulas or simple algorithms that approximate stellar luminosity and effective temperature (or radius) as a function of stellar age? I'm aware that accurate ...
1k views

### Are we capable of discovering planets in the Andromeda galaxy?

I just watched this SpaceRip video on YouTube which shows pictures taken by Hubble while looking into the disk of the Andromeda galaxy to study a certain type of variable star. It occurred to me that ...
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### Could Jupiter's gravity destabilize Earth's artificial satellites over a long timescale?

Could Jupiter's gravity destabilize Earth's artificial satellites over a long timescale? After all, it can destabilize Mercury's orbit, and it can also destabilize orbits in the asteroid belt.
6k views

### How does a hole's size affect the distance that water will squirt

I took a bucket, drilled 2 different sized holes on the side near the bottom and filled it with water. The stream of water the proceeded from the larger hole traveled further than the stream from the ...
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### Why only one prong in the plugs are not showing response to tester pen?

I have 2 pin outlet for A.C current . Now when I connect a TV plug in that and when I touch one of the prongs with my tester, the tester is showing response. But on the other prong the tester shows no ...