Why Thomson scattering calls for a "size-changing" electron?
From my limited understanding of Thomson scattering, it only works for wavelengths comparable to the size of the electron. Because scattering was observed at a variety of wavelengths, it was assumed that the size of the electron must...
It does help, though this is later in the derivation. Sorry I didn't include the full reference.
The part that was giving me grief has been dealt with. I appreciate the extra info on the Fourier bit though. I still need to get more comfortable with that.
Ah, I see. I didn't realize that you were supposed to redo the entire integral after substituting for n' = n. I thought you were supposed to be able to infer the answer from the result of the first calculation. Thank you, the first 2/3 of your work looks very similar to mine.
kind of feel...
I've been working my way through Intro to Electrodynamics (Griffiths), and in Chapter 3, one of the derivations comes out to
∫sin(n\piy/a) sin(n'\piy/a) dy ={ 0 if n'\neqn
a/2 if n'=n
where the function is...
Wow thanks. I do not know why that had me so stumped. I should probably sleep more.
Also, I just realized this probably should've been posted elsewhere. I was doing mechanics so I just went straight to the mechanics section. Apologies to anyone reading this.
In my Classical Mechanics book, one of the example problems makes a step that I do not understand. The steps are in the picture in the attachment. I do not understand how the left hand side goes from what it is in the first step to what it is in the second step. I have a poor understanding of...
Has anyone heard of some sort of book series that is meant to supplement college courses with boatloads of examples and solutions? I've always thought it would be helpful if someone were to publish a big set of these. I've been searching for just a book full of challenging examples and step by...
Thank you very much for these suggestions. Buying Munkres, Griffiths, and Schaum's.
This site is super helpful for physics majors. Should've made this account when I was a freshman.
Cool suggestion. I'll check it out. I don't have too specific of a preference, I pretty much like everything. I mostly just don't want to end up being another physicist held back by his/her lack of mathematical proficiency.
Also I'd be interested in books on topology
Last time I made the mistake of making a solutions manual thread. This is probably what I should've asked instead:
Most textbooks I own either have poor student solutions manuals or offer a few answers in the back, which makes learning yourself and checking your work rather difficult. I'm going...
Thanks for posting that. I tend to stick to whatever the general consensus is among physicists for most issues, but it is at least nice to know what else may be possible.
You're right that we view things subjectively, but the Big Bang did not occur in existing space, rather it caused space to expand, so it is only subjective to our current understanding of physics. Unless the Big Bang model changes, then all present knowledge points to the Big Bang happening...
To your second question, I believe the most commonly accepted theory is that gravity is caused by massive objects warping spacetime, so it is the massive objects that distort spacetime, not gravity. So if you put a heavy ball on some stretched out fabric, it makes an indention. Anything close to...
Just three?
1) We have actual pictures of atoms, both from electron microscopes and from an individual barium ion emitting a photon. This one seems to amaze the people I know, especially the nuts that say the existence of atoms isn't proven.
2) A lot of people read about matter waves and...