Recent content by Harry Wilson

  1. H

    How big/small is Planck constant?

    Considering that classical physics is recovered when h -> 0, and our every day physical experiences seem classical, one could argue h is infinitely large in comparison!
  2. H

    Why is the speed of light constant?

    First of all, the universe doesn't care what you like to think :P. Having to accept ideas as even more required when you learn the mathematics of physics, because everything starts with assumptions! From those assumptions, you then derive predictions which are tested experimentally. You cannot...
  3. H

    What is the expected energy range for discovering SUSY particles?

    Wasn't the SSC meant to be 40 TeV? I know that's less than half what's being asked, but I think it shows that the idea isn't that crazy. The LHC was built on top of preexisting facilities, so its energy was limited by old hardware which I suppose makes it difficult to compare to a hypothetical...
  4. H

    Why do some still type Gauß for Gauss?

    I know that "ß" represents "ss", being a long s attached to a modern s, but why do some people STILL type it this way? Is it any different to writing Чебышёв for Chebychev?
  5. H

    How is light speed constant and in all directions ?

    No, that isn't what happens. You are not moving in your reference frame; everything moves relative to you. When things move relative to you, you will observe THEM undergo time dilation and length contraction. You will never see your own clock slow down. If you zoom by a space-station at 86% the...
  6. H

    Can black holes have net color charge? can a BHs help separate quarks?

    From an outside point of view, it takes infinite time for any part of the proton to enter the black hole. From the proton's point of view, it falls in all at once.
  7. H

    What are contact forces, really?

    It's still the interactions between fields. The electrons never touch, but come close to each other then interact through intermediary photons.
  8. H

    Do we really need to unify GR and QM?

    For the same reason that one needed to have a quantised theory of electromagnetic radiation, Einstein suggested that we need a quantised theory of gravitation - otherwise, atoms would radiate away all of their energy gravitationally!
  9. H

    The vicious circle of standard redshift explanations

    Special relativity is a theory about of and reference frames, mass and energy. You can put deterministic interactions into it, but that's not special relativity itself; SR is just the stage! Similarly, one can put non-deterministic interactions into the SR setup, which is essentially just a...
  10. H

    How do we know space and time are related?

    Indeed. GR doesn't play nice with QFT, so we know that it must, in fact, be wrong! But it has been tested to ridiculous accuracy - as has QFT - and that makes things tricky.
  11. H

    Why would we want to unify general relativity and quantum mechanics?

    Einstein himself notes the need for a theory of quantum gravity - it's exactly the same as the reason we needed a quantised theory of electromagnetism; atoms would radiate constantly and thus be unstable. That is to say, by GR, atoms would release tiny amount of gravitational radiation...
  12. H

    Uncertainty principle regarding a narrow optical fibre?

    That's not how uncertainty works. It does not describe experimental errors, but rather errors in prediction.
  13. H

    Why electrons can have only 2 spin orientations?

    The electron can exist in a superposition of states; a mixture of two different states. By measuring the spin in one direction, the electron is forced into a state spinning either up or down in the measured direction. It makes no sense to talk about the x-direction spin if you've just measured...
  14. H

    Mirror image inversion in the 4th dimension.

    Are you talking about rotation, or reflection?
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