David Zaslavsky

28,138 reputation

451114

bio	website	ellipsix.net
	location	State College, PA
	age	27
visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
	seen	17 mins ago
stats	profile views	7,561

I'm a fifth year graduate student in physics at Penn State University, doing research in high-energy particle phenomenology. I also have a hobby interest in computer programming.

You can find me on Google+ or Twitter. Or check out my blog and personal website!

For matters not related to Stack Exchange, I can be contacted by email at stack+physics@ellipsix.net.

	28,138 reputation	bio	website	ellipsix.net	visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
451114 badges		location	State College, PA		seen	17 mins ago

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9h	comment	How does the Cern LHC collide particles head on if uncertainty principle limits the precision @user1433153 there is one copy of the uncertainty principle in each direction. So the precision to which you can constrain the x momentum of a particle is entirely unrelated to the precision to which you can constrain its y position, for example.
10h	comment	Thermodynamics - Volume expansion Hi user25961, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help; in particular, just asking if you're on the right track, without some compelling reason to think you're not, isn't really what we do here. If you're confused about some particular concept, feel free to edit your question to ask about that and I'll be happy to reopen it.
1d	comment	Can someone explain to me inertia? What don't you get about it?
2d	comment	How does energy convert to matter? Actually, a standing wave is made of two waves of the same frequency moving in opposite directions. But anyway: you've probably only learned about one kind of wave so far, the kind that corresponds to massless particles. (So you know why e.g. photons can't be made to stop.) There's a different kind of wave that occurs in a "massive" medium (the mass is a property of the medium, not the wave); I'd recommend reading this, especially parts 4 and 5, to learn about that.
2d	comment	Solar distillation plant output Hi Avinesh, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
2d	comment	Is energy simple or composite? Nope. Photons are not a form of energy, but they can have energy. The fact that a photon is massless means that it has no mass energy, but like any other particle, it can still have kinetic energy.
2d	comment	Is energy simple or composite? Yeah, but it's not the mass.
2d	comment	Is it possible to generate electricity using a water tower? Note that whether it's feasible, or cost-effective, isn't on topic here. (I guess I kind of already said that... oops)
Jun 16	comment	Is it possible to generate electricity using a water tower? Hi user25858, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! I personally suspect your question is off topic here. If you edit it to identify a physics reason that you expect the water pressure not to be high enough, it might be better. But let me note that what you're talking about is called hydroelectric power and it is a very common method of storing or generating energy.
Jun 16	comment	Principle of Least Action via Finite-Difference Method @bolbteppa (2 comments up) yes, definitely. If you've looked at similar questions but they don't address what you want to know, you should mention that in your question. Something like "I looked at [other question] but it doesn't explain [thing], and also at [other other question] but it doesn't explain [other thing]." Tell us what research you've done so we don't duplicate it.
Jun 15	comment	Young's double slit question Hi Sayantika, and waelcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
Jun 15	comment	Kahn-Penrose metric @Nivalth you should probably add that to the question.
Jun 15	comment	If Galileo had an electronic scale Hi fabrizio, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
Jun 14	comment	Problem from Sakurai about a delta-function potential Hi Surreal, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
Jun 14	comment	Frequency & Sound Waves Hi derek, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
Jun 14	comment	charge placed on a capacitor Hi user25818, and welcome to Physics Stack Exchange! This is a site for conceptual questions about physics, not general homework help. If you can edit your question to ask about the specific physics concept that is giving you trouble, I'll be happy to reopen it. See our FAQ and homework policy for more information.
Jun 14	comment	What can be known about the formulas for energy only from the fact that it is conserved? OK, well then I'd say (just personally speaking) the question might be a bit better if it were phrased more like "what can be known about the formulas for energy only from the fact that it is conserved by gravity and springs?" or something like that.
Jun 14	comment	What can be known about the formulas for energy only from the fact that it is conserved? Why do you want to restrict your methods to being based on a rudimentary knowledge of physics and algebra? Crippling your deriving ability in this way isn't what we do here, at least not without a reason.
Jun 14	comment	Soft Condensed Matter @Oaoa please take a moment to read the definition of the reference-request tag.
Jun 14	comment	Confusion with derivation of fictitious forces I deleted an inappropriate comment and its response.