Left (your right). Right (your left). Center.

Get your pads, mouth guard, and helmet,were tackling relativity.
The Special Theory of Relativity as developed by the one and only Albert Einstein...includes only inertial reference frames (those that are not accelerating, i.e. superman flying at a constant velocity equivalent to that of a flying bullet, or Wonder Woman at rest in an airport wishing her invisible jet wasn't broken)

Everything's relative. Length, time, position, order of events, etc. EVERYTHING.

And experiments prove it. We can put an atomic clock on a plane, and have it measure the duration of the flight and it will differ from the amount an atomic clock on the ground measures. There is no "real" time, no "correct" position, no "actual" height, no "true" order of events. When did you read this blog? Before or after I wrote it?
(Next time you don't have your homework ready tell the teacher it wasn't assigned yet.)

It all derives from The Speed of Light Postulate: The speed of light in a vacuum has the same value, c, in all directions and in all inertial frames. Independent of the source motion.

side note, attempts to accelerate a particle to the speed of light have failed because when relativistic momentum is no longer proportional to velocity. so as the particle’s speed increase the acceleration caused by a given force continuously decreases. So no matter how great a force is applied as a particle reaches c, its acceleration reaches 0 and you get this graph:

-http://startswithabang.com/?p=1176

(this is from another physics orientated blog, so if you’re looking for someone who updates more regularly… also is an astrophysicist with degrees and experience and whatnot…and links to lots of other blogs. not going to lie. its pretty sweet. Props where props are due.)

Now fun stuff.

put Frederick on a train moving at a constant rate and Ishmael on a platform at rest. They will measure different spans of time it takes Freddy to pass, different lengths for the platform, and argue over whether two actions are simultaneous. What's fun is that as ridiculous as that seems, its true and the equations aren't even that hard.

Challenge question: How far does light think its traveled when it leaves the sun and goes to the earth? Hint: we measure it to have traveled 1 AU = 149, 597, 870.7 Km.

I know that is the absolute worst hint in the world since you’re already on the internet and could have googled that in about two seconds like i just did. maybe the equation would be a better hint.

Equations to use:

x’=vt’

delta t = delta t’/sq root of (1-u^2/c^22)

x’=(x-ut)/sqroot(1-u^2/c^2)

(probably these, I haven't actually worked this out yet so I cant make any promises)

Best Wishes!

There were Real Physicists!

Physics is in one word REAL. Its also broad, varying, growing, and most importantly…INSANE. Lets begin.

“You are invited to develop a theory of bottle washing. Assume that you have a large volume W of clean water and a bottle of volume B which contains a small volume D of dirt. W>>B>>D. When water is put into the bottle the dirt dissolves immediately, and when the bottle is emptied a small residue R of solution remains. How do you get the bottle as clean as possible using all the water?”

quoted from Thinking Like a Physicist: Physics Problems for Undergraduates written by the staff of the Physics Department of the University of Bristol, and edited by N Thompson. Problem 15.

That is a REAL problem on a REAL test at the REAL University of Bristol, although I think by Raymond’s definition the professor that gave it wouldn’t be a REAL physicist no matter what research or degrees they have earned.

Lets begin again.

“You are invited to develop a theory of bottle washing. YES!!!! I SCORED AN INVITE TO THE PARTY OF THE WEEK! Assume that you have a large volume W of clean water Delicious! and a bottle of volume B is that B-Awesome or Super-B? which contains a small volume D of dirt. time to get dirty! W>>B>>D. Gotta love the much greater than signs. When water is put into the bottle the dirt dissolves immediately, That's convenient, and when the bottle is emptied through direct drinking by yours truly (after being poured through a Brita *commercial plug*) a small residue R of solution remains Bummer . How do you get the bottle as clean as possible using all the water?”

I’m thinking…

A: tear off the bottom of the bottle by magic, sylar’s cutting ability, brute force, or whatever other device you prefer. then begin a continuous pouring of water through one end and emptying through the other.

2: Fill up the bottle, empty it. Repeat until W=0. Note that the bottle will never be 100 percent clean but D will approach an asymptote = 0.

III: Quit while you’re ahead. throw away the bottle and keep whatever container W is initially contained in instead.

Clover: new version of A. Note anytime the dirt comes into contact with water it dissolves instantly but some solution always remains. So what you really want to do is dilute that solution as much as possible. Maybe theres an equation for this or along the lines of but I haven’t taken fluids yet so.. what i will say is that the more number of times you fill and empty the better off you are. So maybe instead of filling the bottle up all the way, you should fill it some optimal fraction so that you fill and empty the bottle more times. Perhaps you should even change the fraction, slowly increasing or decreasing. My best guess is decreasing. This is assuming that the amount of solution that remains behind is always a constant. Note i’m also betting that in the official answer they probably set N= number of times the bottle is filled and emptied and S= amount of solution left behind each time.

Lets Continue.

“It is clear that nothing is to be gained, at any stage, by re-using the rinsings from an earlier stage, since this would only serve to increase the concentration of the residue. If a volume of water knR (kn is a numerical factor to be determined) is added during the nth cycle of operations, the amount of dirt remaining is reduced according to Dn= Dn-1R/(R+knR). Thus after p operations,

Dp/D0=II 1/(1+kn)

if kn is kept at a constant value, k, then the number of operations to use all the water is W/kR and so

D/D0 = (1+ k)^(-W/(kR))

thus

ln (D/D0) = –W/R ln(1+k)/k

The largest value of the right-hand side (=W/R) occurs when k=0, and thus the smallest value of D is given by D=D0^(-W/R) and is obtained yb using as little water as possible for each operation. It is clear from this result that no improvement results from trying any procedure other than keeping kn constant.”

-same citation.

To paraphrase the “I’m on a boat” song..

This is as Real as it gets!

So…I’m going to say that out of 50 points we probably would have gotten …

A: if the teacher has a sense of humor: 45/50, if not: 0/50

2: 4/50

III: Kicked out of the University of Bristol

Clover: 35/50

Please appreciate the fact that I wrote out my answers before looking at the book’s answer and did not go back and change a word despite the grand temptation p.s.

Your turn

Problem 60: You have no mackintosh or umbrella, and have to make a journey ton foot in steadily falling rain. FI you run, the journey will not take so long, but you may intercept more rain. Taking as your criterion the necessity to minimize the number of rain drops that strike you and assuming that the rain falls steadily and vertically at 10 m/s construct a theory that enables you to decide the best speed at which to run. Mention any short comings of the theory which occur to you.

I’ll post the answer after receiving 4 ideas from you my beloved audience.

Need more insanity?

http://www.physics.harvard.edu/academics/undergrad/problems.html

A professor, David Morin, at Harvard used to post one physics problem each week. They’re all still up with the solutions but the last one was posted May 31 2004. Happy Hunting.

Oh and this post is dedicated to Dr. Rassoul for recommending the book to me when I came to FIT to visit before applying. (7 PREPOSITIONS in one sentence!) and of course props to Raymond for welcoming us to reality.

Kelsey would ask him if he were thirsty. I'm handing him salt.

This post is dedicated to you, Dr. Kovats, for teaching Differential Equations/Linear Algebra at 8 in the morning with a level of enthusiasm never before seen in a mathematics classroom, and then switching buildings and reteaching the material and doing the EXACT same problems again at 9 am for my class with the same jolting volume and an unsurpassable excitement for math that I haven't seen since my brother and I nicknamed our Algebra 1 teacher, the Stuhlminator.
(points for me for that absurdly long statement)


For those of you unfortunates who have not had the opportunity to sit in on one of these great man's lectures I offer you the following quotes.
Please note that every single one of these was shouted in a voice that can only be described as gleeful.

"We've got a 2 here, a 3, and a finsky (five)!"

"Absolutely! Absolutely! *walks towards the board, walks away from the board, shrugges shoulders all while continuing* Absolutely! Absolutely! Yes! Of course you can! Absolutely!"

"Before we start giving ourselves high fives all across the room!! we've got to make sure!!"

"Roll the Dice, going for a 5!!!"

"I find multiplication a challenge!"

"We'll use a and b that's the gentlemanly thing!"
(to which Raymond whispered, "See that, he's wooing you." Greatest word choice in the word, well done Sir.)

"ITS ALREADY IN ECHELON FORM!"

"Okay, Okay, Okay, what are we doing?"

"You have infinite solutions! NO! Even more than that, you have uncountably many solutions!!!"

(while looking at a 4 by 4 matrix) "There's Definitely something attractive about this thing."

Kovats: "what can you tell me about this matrix"
Austin: "Its really close to echelon form."
Kovats:" ITS REALLY REALLY REALLY CLOSE!!!"

"This place is like vegas"

to student who just asked a homework question
"I have no idea how to do this problem...THESE ARE THE ANSWERS!!!!"

"There's something offensive about calling this matrix star"

while about to start a Mixing Problem:
Here's the point, when I was in college there was only one energy drink. It was called Jolt cola. It came in a red can with a yellow lightning bolt across the front and the slogan: All the sugar and twice the caffeine. and that was it. that was the drink. One day at a concert i saw a man with a red shirt and the lightning bolt across it and then under that the words: Jolt Cola, All the sugar twice the caffeine..."I WOULD HAVE FOLLOWED THAT YOUNG MAN ANYWHERE!"

student: yank out the e^x out of the first column
Kovats: lets talk more about yanking
Class laughs silently and then becomes quiet
I burst out laughing
Kovats: "CHUCKLES! What To DO!?"
Xenia: pull an e^x out of the first, e^2x out of the second and e^3x out of the third column
Kovats: YOU BEAST!!!

"Here's the thing, you CANT do drugs before coming to class!"

Right before taking a derivative that will include 5 product rules
"okay...we RIDE!"


Let me leave you with a few final thoughts...Kovats on a blind date... Kovats on the upwards climb of a Roller Coaster... Kovats in a library with a very strict librarian...Kovats realizing that his favorite type of cereal is half off...


p.s. watch this post, more quotes to come.

its all rather super...b isn't it?

so today we're once again discussing the amazing, yet oh-so-commonplace, 100% wave, 100% particle phenomenon that we commonly refer to as light. Whats the latest buzz?
Those of you who read my previous post "You're Hideous and Sexy" are already aware that light is made of particles. Those particles are referred to as photons. Photons have no mass (although i recently heard that this might no longer be true) and are small packets of pure energy. Now when most people think of light they generally think only of visible light (red to violet). Surely its only this light that has experiences this odd wave-particle duality? No of course not, what kind of blog would that be? The entire electromagnetic spectrum from infrared to radio waves to Ultraviolet waves to gamma rays, etc not only all experience this odd dual form but are all composed from the same Photons! not really all that shocking and yet...the only thing that makes these things different therefore are not the material they're formed from but their frequency and wavelength. Its like if you changed the frequency at which you were doing something and all of a sudden you became something completely different (from a mild mannered reporter to the one and only Superman! (Wonder Woman is cooler))
Some of you are still disappointed. Get back to the parallel universes you exclaim. (Feeling thirsty? ) But wait! There's more!
...You and I and everyone else you know emit light....
does your face currently look like this ? --------------------> >:(
good.
First let me just clarify that I dont mean we reflect light. Of course we do, otherwise all humans would be invisible. (listen up Department of Defense, there's a new way for you to camouflage planes or people or whatnot)
We emit light.
If you go and stand in a perfectly dark, light-tight room, while being filmed by an ultra sensitive camera and then watch that film.. You'll die in seven days. No! Oops, wrong movie. No, you'll see your body glowing. Interestingly enough your face will be glowing the brightest and your entire body will dim or brighten with your "metabolic rhythms"
need more? GLOW .Below you can see the findings for yourself.

"Question..." -Michael Collins

"Answer" -Xenia
"hahahaha" -everyone else.

Quoted from July '07
Lynchburg College, Va
Yes indeed i do miss you governor's school for science, math, and technology.

and the reasoning behind this memory...

"

Having had first hand experience using that type of pencil ,
the answer to the question is that in the old days the
filaments used in pencils were made of different material
than today's graphite which is charcoal colored and its
 particles separate easily on friction with the paper surface
leaving clear marks.  The old material did not leave much
of amark on the paper due to its high density.  It was water
soluble and if left in a water filled container ,will dissolve
 completely.  On contact with water it changes color from
dark charcoal like color to violet blue.  In order to leave a
clear mark on paper it was necessary to actually moisten the
 tip of the pencil filament with your saliva ,the
resulting product behaved and flowed like ink.

"

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1999-11/941497627.Sh.r.html

so now we know.
Add an ink-like, high-density pencil to my Christmas wishlist. Right below a vat of a non-newtonian liquid. Speaking of which, turns out that human (and probably other animals) blood is non-newtonian. Kudos to my brother for telling me about that.

your corneas can freeze...

...just in case you didn't have enough to worry about ;)

I neglected to bring home any mechanical pencils. Why am i always capable of envisioning an entire summer without graphite? It has yet to be done without regrets. As a result I've reverted to pencils that require sharpening. and you know what? there is something delightfully quaint and fun in using them. Makes me feel a little like an accountant. By the way does anyone know why detectives in old movies always lick their pencils while flipping open their notepads to jot down the facts of the case?

Back to Science! I do room service at the fanciest (oldest, and most haunted) hotel at the oceanfront. While carrying a tray from the oceanfront Cavalier to the Original Cavalier on the Hill. I realized I was a walking Physics 101 problem.
Q: If Xenia carries a 34 pound tray, resting one of the long edges along her waist , with her arms holding the handles on each side 26 cm from her waist the full width of the tray being 52 cm, what is the tension in her arms? Xenia is 5 feet 4 ( on a good day) and the distance from her waist to her shoulders is 17.5 inches. She is moving at a constant rate of 2.5 feet per second up a slope of 27 degrees. It's 87 degrees and everyone that walks by thanks her for bringing them breakfast (as though that's an original comment, come on people I do still optimistically believe in your ability to be creative and refreshing, prove me right!).

The Original Cavalier (Don't call it the old one, that's frowned upon)




The Oceanfront Cavalier







A view with both halves:

There's more than one of everything

I got confused while writing this... I originally wrote a note to myself "do blog on Matter Mirror and De Broglie waves and the connection" But ...
A) I can't find anything on a Matter Mirror and apparently (the coincidence would be too great to think it was an accident) Mirror Matter exists and is pretty cool all by itself
B) however Mirror Matter is not really connected to D-Brizzle's wave?


So anyways, De Broglie waves! Lets say you shine light down a corridor which has a corner where another corridor meets it. The light will bend when it meets the corridor, thereby lighting up the mysterious person that a minute ago was cloaked in the shadows. At this juncture Velma will shout Zoinks! and some fun techno music will begin playing. Additionally the flashlight used to light up the hallway will probably get dropped during the action, allowing us to continue watching this interesting property of light. This bending is a result of the Wave Nature of light (which as i previously discussed in another blog is only half the story). Now a man known as De Broglie asked himself if light can act as a wave and as a particle than why can't things with mass also act as both? The result was the De Broglie Wavelength!

De Broglie Wavelength=Planck's Constant/Momentum

This equation was proven by Lester Germer and Clinton Davisson when they shot electrons at a target of crystalline nickel and the experimental diffraction pattern matched the theoretical one.
Basically this theory means that things with mass have a wave property, and therefore also diffract when they encounter other things. some of you are probably scoffing at this idea since you have mass but don't undergo any of this silly so-called diffraction every time you encounter a doorway. This is because Planck's Constant is to the negative 34 power while your mass is in the tens of kilograms. (mass matters because momentum equals mass times velocity) divide a really tiny number to a proportionally much bigger one and you get an even smaller number. With such a tiny wavelength the diffraction is undetectable but theoretically you do get shifted over a colossally small fraction of a meter each time you pass through something.
So...You have a wavelength! Impress your friends by calculating your own! Post it on your facebook and watch the friend requests roll in!
This wavelength is also referred to as a matter wave which leads us to the interesting part of this post...
Mirror Matter! Shadow Matter! Alice Matter!
(three names for the same redonkulous concept)
Mirror Matter...
"is a hypothetical counterpart to ordinary matter." -Wiki
"is perfect to explain dark matter. It's dark and can only be detected through its gravity."-Dr. Foot
"doubles the amount of matter in the universe" -ABC news

Q: Where did this idea come from?
A: Normal elementary particles follow the rules of rotation and translation symmetry but not that of mirror symmetry (aka Parity).

Q: How do you explain this phenomenon?
A: By inventing a new type of particle!

Isn't physics fun?

Why is this neccessary? Can't we just accept that nature didn't mean particles to follow parity?
Of Course Not! That would mean nature is uneven on some levels. And what kind of a world is that?
So the idea of mirror matter was formed, the theory being that every particle has a matching mirror particle. When a normal particle interacts with another in a left handed interaction (whatever that means) the mirror particle would interact in a right handed one.
This would "restore [parity] as a fundamental symmetry of nature." -Wikipedia

Do i honestly understand this? No, but i find it fascinating every time physicists make something up because they want nature to behave a certain way but their tests prove that it doesn't. and ninety percent of the time the new thing can't be observed.

Find my post lackluster? go reengage your mind with one of these:
Physics Games


Today's Cosmic Brownie Points go as always to anyone who knows where the title of the post comes from. Additionally Mario gets (insert your favorite number here, Mario) Points for being an incredible reader. Tes commentaires ont toujours vraiment apprécié.

p.s. thank goodness for automatic saving on blogspot.