Delling's Thread

[Yonkey]

I think Delling deserves his own thread.   I say this because I don't want to spam everywhere else whenever I talk to him.

Ok, you mentioned that you're studying Physics, so I have three physics questions for you.

- Why is E=mc² referred to as the Theory of Relativity?
- What is faster than light?
- What is light?

[Petra Rocks]

Congrats Delling. 

[Yonkey]

Other people can answer too, cuz I have my own theories, but my high school Physics teacher never really explained that properly, and my first year Physics prof sucked.

I was going to Applied Optics as an elective in 3rd year, but it was the same prof so I dropped it.

[Jafar]

Why is E=mc2 referred to as the Theory of Relativity?

The E stands for Edna, Albert Einstein's aunt. And she's related to him. Hence, the Theory of Relativeivity.

- What is faster than light?

Light after drinking crugged coffee.

- What is light?

A science fiction novel written by M. John Harrison. I've never read it.

Okay, I've leave the serious explanations to other people.

[Yonkey]

LMAO!

Well, that was unexpected!

[Delling]

My browser died in the middle of my reply... ... I had a pdf open in another tab and I closed that tab...I need to update Adobe so Mozilla won't flip out when I do that...

omgyay! my own thread!

Thank you Yonkey!
Thanks for the congrats, Petra.

LOL @ Jafar

H'okay, so,

- Why is E=mc² referred to as the Theory of Relativity?

It's a consequence of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity wherein he assumes that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

- What is faster than light?

Theoretically, astronomical readings and relativity imply that the universe is like a dense gas that is expanding faster than the speed of light. Also, there's the theoretical particle called a tachyon that is thought to travel faster than the speed of light.

- What is light?

Light is complicated.  But, seriously, light "travels" in packets called photons (according to Planck... I think...). These photons are bosons. It's their nature as a boson that explains why they can pass through some things and not others. 

However, the idea of a photon is just a nice bookkeeping mechanism. In reality, everything we describe as particles belong to a wave-particle paradox which is a fancy way of saying we really don't know what we're talking about. There are mathematical constructions that consider them as particles or as waves... the problem being that where we have a paradox, nature has... something else... something we haven't managed to describe consistently yet. After this rather simple explanation, we end up in wave mechanics and wave-particle arguments and the like, but as I haven't had Quantum Mech yet, I'll leave it at that.

- What is faster than light?
Light after drinking crugged coffee.

I love that!

[Pacman928]

congrats on your thread, delling!!

[Delling]

Merci, Pacman

[Yonkey]

H'okay, so,

LOL "Well f*ck that".

It's a consequence of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity wherein he assumes that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.

So, the limit is a vacuum.  That sucks.

Theoretically, astronomical readings and relativity imply that the universe is like a dense gas that is expanding faster than the speed of light. Also, there's the theoretical particle called a tachyon that is thought to travel faster than the speed of light.

Ahh ok, so in other words, unscientifically proven theory is faster than light?  At least it makes for good science fiction.

However, the idea of a photon is just a nice bookkeeping mechanism. In reality, everything we describe as particles belong to a wave-particle paradox which is a fancy way of saying we really don't know what we're talking about. There are mathematical constructions that consider them as particles or as waves... the problem being that where we have a paradox, nature has... something else... something we haven't managed to describe consistently yet. After this rather simple explanation, we end up in wave mechanics and wave-particle arguments and the like, but as I haven't had Quantum Mech yet, I'll leave it at that.

Yeah, from what I remember from first year Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics says that particles are dynamic and move in clouds, meaning their location is nondeterministic and chaotic.  It can only be determined via probability, meaning science can predict and estimate with good confidence, but can never accurately say where an electron is at a specific point in time.

We harness the power of light through electron flow and projection, but light is actually invisible and massless.  Light itself is also undefined because its luminosity, polarization, and position can be altered using pretty much anything. 



Congrats! You passed those three.   Let's try three more:

- Is it possible for something to have both 0 mass and 0 energy?
- Why is it impossible to reach absolute zero (0 Kelvin)?
- What is the physically strongest substance known to date?


EDIT: Spelling.

[Pacman928]

- Is it possible for something to have both 0 mass and 0 energy?

because if you have a _ in between them, itd be 0_0 and it should be 0_-

- Why is it impossible to reach absolute zero (0 Kelvin)?

its too cold for a sweatshirt

- What is the physically strongest substance known to date?

duct tape hands down

[Yonkey]

duct tape hands down

LOL

[Delling]

- Is it possible for something to have both 0 mass and 0 energy?
Yes, a perfect vacuum. Now, here's my question for you do perfect vacuums exist? (not necessarily perfectly isolated, just completely empty, and for clarity's sake, we'll stick to strictly particle physics)

- Why is it impossible to reach absolute zero (0 Kelvin)?
Well, this is a potentially really fun question because heat is a macroscopic manifestation of microscopic motion and vibration. So, if we have a sufficiently isolated vacuum, we have 0 Kelvin (we have to eliminate conduction, convection, and radiation allowing that this also eliminates radiation resulting in pair creation since that could get us into trouble too). We can't tell that we have 0 Kelvin, but there's nothing there to cause heat. Thus, QED, we have 0 K. So, theoretically, it's possible. It's just not practical largely because of radiation heat sources leaking into our lovely little isolated system.

- What is the physically strongest substance known to date?
Do you mean tensile strength, Moh's hardness, Brinell's hardness, some other scale, or something that typifies them all? What do you mean by strength?

[Yonkey]

- Is it possible for something to have both 0 mass and 0 energy?
Yes, a perfect vacuum. Now, here's my question for you do perfect vacuums exist? (not necessarily perfectly isolated, just completely empty, and for clarity's sake, we'll stick to strictly particle physics)

The only thing I can think of that would be close to one is a black hole.   Only problem is no one will ever be able to get anyone or anything physically near them without getting sucked in and destroyed.

So, theoretically, it's possible.

Correct.  Going back to Einstein's forumla, E=mc², but at absolute zero, there is no particle movement, making E=0, and the only way for E to equal 0 is for m=0.  As stated you said in the previous question, the only way for both E and m to be 0 is in a perfect vacuum, or a black hole.

Do you mean tensile strength, Moh's hardness, Brinell's hardness, some other scale, or something that typifies them all? What do you mean by strength?

Basically, I'm asking what is the most physically indestructable substance on Earth.  We just said that outside of Earth, it's a black hole, but within our atmosphere what is it?

[Delling]

A black hole is not a vacuum. A black hole gets all of its intense power by having an immense gravitational density and a small volume. GM/r for a gravitational potential r is the distance from the center of mass to the surface of the mass.

For a black hole, the radius can be less than our sun's with a mass many times more than the sun's. Thus, the gravitational potential is really really big.

There are in fact an insurmountable number of perfect vacuums all around us on a daily basis. Gases in general are high energy particles "filling" a vacuum. The issue is that they don't really fill these vacuums: the gas particles move around randomly and chaoticly filling and emptying space haphazardly. We don't notice because the pressure differential for these tiny vacuums is infinitesimal. The exchange is so rapid that macroscopic the effect is inconsequential.

As far as the most indestructible substance, I'm still not sure I'm getting this quite right... diamond is the standard for testing hardness... and titanium tops some scale or something... I think it's hardest metal or some such...

EDIT: bad bracket... how'd you get there!?

[Rosella]

My official opinion is that this thread rules. Congrats Delling!

[awesomeasapossum]

There is a LOT of physics in here.
*is having trouble breathing*

[Delling]

There is a LOT of physics in here.
*is having trouble breathing*

Aspira ponte, AAAP.... which is to say: Breathe deeply!

My official opinion is that this thread rules. Congrats Delling!

Danke, Rosella (I'm trying to thank people in different languages... ... but I really only have English, Irish Gaelic, French, Spanish, German, and Latin...maybe I'll just start making stuff up after that  )



EDIT: "in peole"   sorry, was typing this up quickly before I had to go to class this morning... which was a boring recap of special relativity and the derivation of equations for motion from Lorentz... blah blah blah... it's dull especially when you got it the first time

EDIT II: Oh, I used Spanish twice... well, I'll fix that... Rosella will just have to live with German...

[Yonkey]

There are in fact an insurmountable number of perfect vacuums all around us on a daily basis. Gases in general are high energy particles "filling" a vacuum.

So, what exactly is a vacuum?  Based on what you said there, it sounds like space is the perfect vacuum?

As far as the most indestructible substance, I'm still not sure I'm getting this quite right... diamond is the standard for testing hardness... and titanium tops some scale or something... I think it's hardest metal or some such...

Hmm ok those aren't the substance I was thinking of, but let's use them anyway.  What are the chemical forumlas for both diamond and titanium?

[Petra Rocks]

I'm trying to thank people in peole in different languages... ...

Shukran means thank you in Arabic if you want a new one. 

[Delling]

Tibi multas gratias ago, Petra (thanks in Latin)

A vacuum is space without any matter in it. You know what a siphon is right? It's basically a function of a simple pressure differential, but it's caused by the presence of a vacuum. The phase of matter we call gas is actually a bunch of really tiny gas molecules at high speeds being driven by their internal energy or heat through what is largely empty space, a vacuum.

Titanium is elemental and thus Ti: some of its compounds according to Wikipedia are handy too. Diamond is a form of pure carbon: I think it's C-14 (14 carbon atoms in a particular arrangement).