Recent content by Herman Trivilino

What you are calling the light beam is actually a flash of light. The light flash is so brief that its length is negligible compared to the length of the train.

That is pretty much the way it used to be at Rice, except that the M.S. had to be earned at Rice to be able to proceed to the Ph.D. program.

Oh. Sorry. My mistake. It used to be back in the 1980's. I keep forgetting that I'm an old fart. I don't feel like an old man. I feel like a young man with problems. 😀

Well of course it depends on the university and the physics department, but I would tout it as an accomplishment. If nothing more, it at least demonstrates that are capable of overcoming that low undergraduate GPA. You have to advertise yourself as a potential asset to their organization. Don't...

Some universities require it. Rice U for example. They use it to weed out unqualified Ph.D. candidates. You must get a M.S. degree from them to apply. I couldn't think of any other reason the OP would think it unhelpful.

What makes you think the M.S. in physics with a 4.0 isn't that helpful? It may not "count" in the sense that you will have to repeat it, but it will certainly make you a more attractive applicant as it shows you are very capable.

Not sure what you mean by "kind of". But that aside you take classes. You have to start with the basics and work your way up to graduate level courses. It took generations of researchers to arrive at the understanding we have, and it will take years of study to absorb it. There are no...

I realize that this is probably tangential, but the so-called normal force is actually the perpendicular component of the contact force. Thus as @Dale points out it is by definition always perpendicular to the surface. (The parallel component is the so-called friction force.) Also note that the...

My experience has been that using preview mode destroys LaTeX rendering. It's a known issue.

What are you encountering that leads you to this conclusion? Is it nothing more than a vocabulary issue? In other words they haven't committed to memory the definitions of each so they know lots of stuff about them except for their names. Most of these types of difficulties are the instructor's...

Today I'm celebrating my 10th PF Anniversary. This is the best physics forum I've ever seen or been a part of. I'm grateful for the participation of so many knowledgeable experts as well as the contributions from interested laymen and students asking questions. And the rules about preventing...

My point is that in the phrase "objectively true" the adverb objectively adds no meaning to the phrase. The entire concept of truth is philosophical. Getting back to your statement: There is no place in physics for truth especially when it's independent of measurement. The validity of a...

Are there things in physics that are unobjectively true?

Can you explain where, in the passage you quoted, "objective truth independent of measurement" plays a part? What does "objective truth" in physics even mean?

Astronauts reported that moon dust on their suits and moon rocks stowed away for return to Earth stunk!