network profile
| bio | website | |
|---|---|---|
| location | Cambridge, MA | |
| age | ||
| visits | member for | 1 year, 1 month |
| seen | Apr 18 at 21:23 | |
| stats | profile views | 19 |
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May 14 |
awarded | Yearling |
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Mar 27 |
comment |
How do permanent magnets manage to focus field on one side? Since I don't have this in front of me: Are you certain that the whole thing is actually a magnet? Is it possible that they are just backed with a thick layer of some similar-looking substance that prevents them from getting close together and exerting a strong repulsive force? |
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Aug 11 |
comment |
Triple slit experiment But it does state that blocking one of the slits in the double-slit destroys the pattern. To my understanding, detecting the passing photon with minimal disruption to it does not destroy the double-slit pattern. |
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Aug 11 |
comment |
Triple slit experiment True, but so does the original question. |
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Aug 9 |
comment |
Why do people rule out local hidden variables? I will note that the free will vs. determinism debate often assumes that probability plays no role. You may be better served by thinking of not a sliding scale between "free will" and "determinism," but as a triangle with "randomness" at the third point. If there's a philosophy stackexchange site, that's probably the place to ask about free will. |
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Aug 9 |
comment |
Is quantum perturbation theory taught in college? Additional supporting data points: It was taught in the undergrad classes I took at RPI. We did not get into field theory or second quantization. |
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Aug 8 |
answered | Triple slit experiment |
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Jul 12 |
comment |
Why do we think of light as a wave? You are correct - that's what I get for simplifying my language too far. |
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Jul 2 |
awarded | Commentator |
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Jul 2 |
comment |
Could someone remind me of what we mean by zero electric field “inside” a conductor? "Inside a conductor" usually is taken to mean literally within the medium of the conductor - in the metal. The example @jak is using would normally be phrased as "in a pocket..." or "in a bubble..." or "in a cavity within the conductor". |
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Jun 28 |
answered | Simulator for electrostatics |
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Jun 21 |
comment |
Why do we think of light as a wave? I didn't vote it down, but there are three things that struck me about your answer. First, it's a little incoherent and could be better organized. Second, you attribute interference patterns to particle behavior, when they're actually wave behavior. Third, you answered with material that seems to be way above the level of the original post, and would probably just be confusing. Those are probably why people voted your answer down. |
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Jun 20 |
answered | Why do we think of light as a wave? |
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Jun 20 |
comment |
Why do we think of light as a wave? How familiar are you with electric charges and electric fields? If you know some about them, I can give an answer that is a bit more in-depth and accurate without having to explain electromagnetism along the way. |
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Jun 1 |
comment |
boundary conditions Ok! Just wanted to make sure. Thanks! |
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Jun 1 |
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boundary conditions No offense, but this sort of sounds like a homework problem. Is it? |
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May 19 |
answered | What areas of physics should a mathematician study to understand TQFT? |
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May 17 |
comment |
Why do we need the quantity momentum? While it's true that energy can't be created or destroyed, it can end up in forms that aren't useful to us. In a car engine, for example, you use chemical energy in the fuel to give kinetic energy to parts in the engine, but some of the energy turns into heat, which isn't useful. (In fact, most of it ends up as heat; engines are not very efficient.) In introductory physics we often talk about energy "lost" to friction or deformation. |
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May 15 |
awarded | Supporter |
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May 15 |
comment |
how to calculate minimum torque a DC motor needs to move the wheels Minor nit-pick: if friction with the floor is too low, or your torque is too high, you could skid out and have trouble moving because of that. Other than that, good explanation. |
