Recent content by Charlie313

Thanks mfb for the response and that's a good point. (playing the license plate game w/ mfb, I got mondo-freaking brilliant, or something to that effect :D) -- Still wondering if someone can point me toward discussion of how the prob distributions change for gas in a box as it hypothetically...

The colloquial statistical mechanics explanation of entropy as if it is caused by probability is dissatisfying to me, in part because it allows highly organized (i.e. with a real potential for work) arrangements to appear as 'random fluctuations', though with very low probability. But as far as...

"Dechoherence killed the cat" Thanks again. Ok, my understanding is that a quantum-coherent system, upon interacting in a detectable way with a thermal-mechanical system (like the cat-killing device) decoheres, almost by definition -- for the cat to be killed, a particle must interact with the...

A good, clarifying hint for me -- thanks! A lot of what I'm doing now is trying to clarify what my questions actually are, so I greatly appreciate the patience of wiser heads and any hints that come my way. As to the grav. pot. energy, some is dissipated as atmospheric heat, some warms the...

1) Thanks! The distinction between superposition and mixture is helpful, and especially the reminder about interference effects -- which if I recall correctly were an early or even first clue that superposition was happening? (those slits and interference patterns...it's a wave -- it's a...

Layman question(s), but I hope not too stoopid -- many thanks to anyone with the patience to read and attempt even part of an answer, or share a possibly relevant link! I've got time today to follow and read links... 1) Saw a recent 'popular' article discussing that darn Cat as if still a...