Recent content by Mephisto

  1. M

    Why have a minimum temperature

    right, but you can still talk about the kinetic energy of the constituents, whatever they may be. Is temperature defined strictly for atoms?
  2. M

    Why have a minimum temperature

    its not much different from asking why is there a lowest natural number, but no highest natural number? you can have infinite temperature, in principle, with infinite kinetic energy of the particles involved... if you want to get technical, it would be bounded by something proportional to...
  3. M

    Solving 1D Wave Function Evolution with Quantum Simulation

    thank you for the suggestion signerror! I implemented it using COMPLEX() in python, and got the same results, but MUCH slower. So I put it back to what it was before, handling imaginary and real separately. So that means the math is right, and its just that my timestep is too large, or the...
  4. M

    Creating a Shortcut Program for Winamp

    Check this: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=VB+launch+EXE&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f perhaps more specifically how about http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t47491.html http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-1050075.html looks like Shell is what you need
  5. M

    Solving 1D Wave Function Evolution with Quantum Simulation

    Thank you very much for that. Surprisingly, it is really hard to find anything about this on the internet! I implemented the difference equations, and it looks like it could have worked. I don't actually know, because my solution almost always "blows up". I set up potential V=0 with a gaussian...
  6. M

    Dirty snow (snirt) & melting point

    You know that dirty disgusting snow that accumulates on sides of roads over the winter, and then doesn't melt until well into May or something? Why is it that this snow refuses to melt? It mixes with dirt and exhaust fumes from the cars, and somehow becomes really hard and un-meltable. Does...
  7. M

    Free Fall: Does an Object Reach Speed of Light?

    yes. the short answer is that intuition simply breaks down for particles traveling near speed of light, and the acceleration is not constant 9.8 anymore. You have to use different equations that correct for relativistic effects.
  8. M

    Is Dark Energy Just a Misunderstood Form of Gravity?

    Marcus: thank you for that answer. I don't study astrophysics so I cannot go into that much detail. I read a lot of popular literature articles on DM though, and never is it really discussed that one potential explanation for the discrepancy is that our laws of gravity are faulty themselves. I...
  9. M

    Is Dark Energy Just a Misunderstood Form of Gravity?

    From everything I have read so far, we only know of Dark matter by means of gravitational inconsistencies. My question is this: Why is it so outside of the box to suggest that our understanding of gravitation itself may be faulty? Why are we inventing mysterious particles that are distributed...
  10. M

    Exploring the Enigma of Gravity: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe

    Physics is not really concerned with explanation of Why things exist. We simply try to understand it, describe it mathematically, design a model, and be able to predict future behavior. Your question is more philosophy then physics. Simple answer as far as I am aware is that we simply don't...
  11. M

    Modelling Muscles? Understand Torque & Spring Pull at Joints

    ooh i see. Thanks Dave. I find it so hard to believe that we can develop such a great force through our muscles, and that this is the mechanism behind it? Torque = rxF, and there is almost NO r at all. So strange. Thanks for the help!
  12. M

    Modelling Muscles? Understand Torque & Spring Pull at Joints

    ok I finally arrived at counterexample to the way you tell me nature handles things. At least I think. If you bend your hand to make right angle at elbow, and imagine you put it vertically against a wall, you can clearly push against that wall by applying torque around the elbow, trying to...
  13. M

    Modelling Muscles? Understand Torque & Spring Pull at Joints

    ok. my biggest problem with that is that if ABC are on the same line, then I cannot ever possibly create this kind of torque! Note that in this case there simply is no vertical component of force applied (if you imagine them on a horizontal line). T=r x F and clearly r and F are now on the same...
  14. M

    Modelling Muscles? Understand Torque & Spring Pull at Joints

    I don't understand how muscles create torque. More specifically, I am trying to model muscles inside a computer program. I have two line segments (bones) from A->B and B->C, so B is obviously the joint. I was thinking of modeling a muscle as a spring going from A to somewhere on the line BC (but...
  15. M

    Where do you get your daily news?

    I get mine at Digg, Slashdot, and most recently I discovered a pretty awesome physics/technology website http://www.physorg.com/
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