Recent content by handsomecat

thanks so much. You are right that the orientation is importont. I saw the fringes!

In many textbooks, a proof is provided where the work output of a super-efficient heat engine is provided to a carnot refrigerator, with the net result that a spontaneous heat transfer occurs from the cold reservoir to a hot reservoir. Let's use some numbers, TH = 600 K and TL = 300 K, so...

How do i demonstrate thin film interference with microscope slides? Textbook questions all mention that you will get parallel fringes when you put a hair between two microscope slides. However, i have tried doing so, but don't get the parallel fringes. I used a red laser pointer, and a...

Thanks! No its just another field, also in computation. After six years of PhD, I certainly need a change. Yeah, I think I'll check out a few postdoc positions.

I have almost completed a PhD in a field of computational materials science. I've kinda lost interest in it, and I'm wondering what are some strategies I can use to move to different areas for future employment ...

Is anyone familiar with the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and the principles behind them? Will you be so kind as to post a simple explanation? So far, what I have grasped is that they came up with a functional and the bounds are obtained when a certain tensor is chosen to be positive...

Surface energy is the additional energy per unit surface area for a system of atoms with a surface. Imagine that you have a perfect FCC crystal of 3 × 3 × 3 unit cells with periodic boundary conditions in all 3 directions. This means that it is effectively an infinite perfect crystal. Let's...

Does anyone know of any resources, textbooks etc that are suitable for high school students, A-levels, to learn about MRI?

Yes, it is hard, even harder if your supervisor is equally clueless. However, after groping around for a while, it usually is possible to find some direction. Personally, I struggled for about 3 years before i found my direction in a moment of serendipity. The supercomputing centre had just...

Well PBL is based on the idea that students need to construct their own knowledge and find their own meanings for them. So yes, this is vastly suitable for subjects like engineering due to the problem-solving nature of the subject, and the humanities due to the diversity of ideas possible, but...

I've known someone who dropped out because of a lack of motivation, and discovering something else which he really wanted to do. I also know someone who would drop out if he could. Unfortunately, he faces severe financial penalties if he does so. The university gives a scholarship for PhD...

I'm about to complete a PhD in computational materials science. However, moving on, educational research seems interesting to me. What are some ways in which I can make the move? Start doing a literature search on my own, then when I've identified a problem, then knock on someone's doors and...

Time was given for them to try it out and then I went round offering help to those struggling. As mentioned, they would have completed a maths course before this, and it was really surprising to see them struggle with it. Some difficulties: not knowing what "gradient" is not being able to...

ok here are some samples from the worksheet that I did. To place things in context: 1. This comes at the final tutorial of the module. They would have encountered the principles of equilibrium, the type of reaction forces at the support and drawing of freebody diagrams previously. 2. Many of...

Well, when the students were doing the worksheet, I went round looking at their answers and intervened when necessary - sitting down with them and helping them. I had to sit down with one student who didn't have a clue how the line y = 0 looked like. A few others didn't know what is meant by...