Recent content by Barny

Hi, thanks for replying. It's possible to construct systems in classical mechanics where the Hamiltonian is conserved but the total energy of the system is not. In this instance the Hamiltonian no longer represents the total energy of the system. For example on Section 6.4, page 18 of...

Hello! I've just finished a discussion with my peers and lecturer on some of the postulates of QM, My lecturer said that "the total energy of any quantum mechanical system is always given by the Hamiltonian, which may be obtained by appropraite application of the classical Hamiltonian"...

Sorry, I am rather slack when it comes to writing, I should be clearer (can I blame it on a bad english teacher?). I'm aware of the meaning of bohemia. As far as I could guess in this context the bohmeian traits of unorthodox and frugal living, meant that when you were asked to jump at uni you...

So it would seem me and mal4mac have quite different A-level and undergraduate experiences, which I think explains our differing opinions. Personally I did both A-level maths and physics, and managed to get A's in both. However, I was helped by two things- the transition to the new maths...

Please forgive me if it wasn't your intention, but the exam you posted smells of scare mongering. Yes the topics that exam covers are very similar to first year maths exams in physics, however it's probably the hardest example you could have found of a maths paper a 1st year undergrad physics...

Kurdt's advice is spot on, email the admissions tutors of departments that tickle your fancy. Even better, if the opportunity arises go to open days and corner the admissions tutors. It can only help if an admissions tutor can put a face to an application. As already said, foundation years...

Lots of departments will offer a degree programs with a foundation year. I have course mates who started the year before me, taking a foundation year, one of which had no A-levels whatsoever, the other didn't have maths A-level. They are doing just fine now, one graduated with a 2:1, and the...

Another possible route might be to consider working for the International Atomic Energy Agency who are related to the UN, its not such a direct path to your own national security, but is still very important work, for the world as a whole.

Rejection isn't necessarily a bad thing, you can still take something positive away from getting refused. Experience counts a lot with these things, interview practice and just having the guts to push for the best are valuable character traits imo. I accept that it would cause harm accepting...

And my point is what is the harm in trying your damnedest to get into get into somewhere like Cambridge, even if all the odds are stacked against you? It can do nothing but aid your applications to other places. I applied to Oxford and got an interview, on the way up there I knew I wasn't the...

I would agree with this but for two small things...Wackyracer admitted to being a slacker and not wanting to do well during his GCSE's, yes natural flare takes you a long way at GCSE, however having carried out a placement as a teaching assistant I can assure you familiarity with the material is...

Problem was my fault! Sorry if I added any confusion, one day I'm going to learn how to use a calculator properly!:blushing: Regards, Barny

Hmm, I must be having a ditsy moment. I did this question, by splitting the initial and final velocities into components of X and Y, and approximating the acceleration by (Vf-Vi)/t and came up with an acceleration of 8.3m/s^2. Only way my approach differs from yours (Topher) is that I use...

The electric field creates a perturbation, this takes the form of \hat{H_{p}}=-e\textbf{E.r} If you plug this into the first order degenerate perturbation theory on the n=2 states of Hydrogen you end up with a linear shift in the energy levels equal to 3eaE where a is the bohr radius, e is...

It's been a while since I have done the stark effect, so am a tiny bit sketchy... However I was under the impression that the stark effect did break the degeneracy of the angular momentum states. Having said this I know for a fact that when using degenerate perturbation theory to calculate...