Category Archives: Physics

Q: Can light be used to transfer energy instead of power lines?

Posted on July 22, 2011 by The Physicist

The original question was: Is it possible that, when more efficient methods of harnessing light energy are established, light could be used as a means to transfer massive amounts of energy (for instance, enough to power a city) without physical … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Engineering, Physics | 7 Comments

Particle physics, neutrinos, and chirality too!

Posted on July 17, 2011 by The Physicist

Physicist: This was an email correspondence that was too interesting to abandon, but covered so much ground that it didn’t easily parse into just a couple of questions. Q: What force is the ‘kinetic’ force? If 2 particles bounce of … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Particle Physics, Philosophical, Quantum Theory | 3 Comments

Q: What are integral transforms and how do they work?

Posted on July 14, 2011 by The Mathematician

Mathematician: If you have a function f(x) and a function k(x,s) then you can (as long as the product of f(x) times k(x,s) is integrable on the set X) always form another function of a new variable s as follows: … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Mathematician, Engineering, Equations, Math | 9 Comments

Q: How does reflection work?

Posted on July 4, 2011 by The Physicist

The original question was: How does reflection work (what happens on the reflective surface), why is the angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection and can this be viewed both from particle and wave point of view? Physicist: … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Geometry, Philosophical, Physics | 2 Comments

Q: What does a measurement in quantum mechanics do?

Posted on June 29, 2011 by The Physicist

Physicist: This is a follow up of this post, that would’ve been too long and meandering with this included.  To sum up that post, a “measurement” is an interaction that exchanges information. In the Copenhagen interpretation, what that measurement does … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Entropy/Information, Philosophical, Physics, Quantum Theory | 14 Comments

Q: If you stood in the beam of a particle accelerator, what would happen?

Posted on June 25, 2011 by The Physicist

The original question was: Assuming you could avoid any other of the effects of being in an active particle accelerator tube,  How much damage would you expect by the particles smashing into you?  How much would the amount of mass within the particles … Continue reading →

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Particle Physics, Physics | 20 Comments