Recent content by kcodon

Thanks so much atyy, this is the little explanation I have been looking for all along! I love the little lightbulb moments like this, even if it is someone else that turns the bulb on! Thanks again, Kcodon

But I believe the reason for only a certain amount of charge being stored on a plate of the capacitor is that as charge builds up on the plate it gets to a point where all the accumulated charge repels any additional charge, with an "force" equal and opposite to that provided by the cell...

Hi all, I'm a little stumped with how the dielectric increases capacitance. The general solutions all involve using the formulas, but don't really treat it conceptually. I realize that inserting a dielectric decreases field strength, and hence decreases the voltage across the capacitor. But...

Thanks guys, I have considered the Financial Aid - which is why Harvard seems promising - though I was wondering if anyone knew of the actual merits of the physics courses there? I am worried about Harvard's, as one only does half of their courses in their "concentration", and the other half...

Hi all, I'm a student from NZ, considering studying Physics for my Undergraduate course overseas, beginning September 2009. I know very little about the relative advantages and disadvantages of these three universities, and was hoping someone could provide a bit of general advice. I know...

Hi GT1, Claude puts it nicely, but this site http://perlnet.umaine.edu/IMT/FHM/IG%20FHM.pdf" helped me understand a bit more. I doubt you will find it useful, as it's actually like a lesson plan and not exactly an orthodox explanation, however see for yourself. I never understood how two...

Thanks Claude. I haven't been able to reply as soon as I would have liked, however I'd like to thank you for your perseverance! I finally found a site that explained the phase difference you keep referring to, and I think I now see how this applies to the transmission of light. Its gloriously...

I am in agreement with this...what I said before was an attempt to understand the phase difference. I know what you mean about how the phase difference will be cumulative, and how it will slow down, however I do not see where this "phase difference" comes from...I do not believe you have...

Excellent question...and I have no idea as to the answer, but I hope someone could provide one. It was similar to what I was getting at when I said For even with a crystallic structure I would think a dipole would affect and induce dipoles in all atoms around it... 3D...not neccesarily just...

I know this; what I was trying to understand was how there was a phase shift that could result in a slower propagation through the medium. It seems however that what I mentioned about how it takes time for a dipole to reorient itself is incorrect...? Are you saying that the photon is not carried...

What a nice explanation, and solves the isotropic worries about absorption and emission. However I do have some questions. Firstly, when you talk of the "phase" of the electrons, I assume you mean the phase of their oscillating dipoles. Ah, and we you talk about electrons A and B (I'll stick...

Ok these two confused me somewhat...in the first quote I read it as meaning the wave packet was constructed from the various solutions to the Schrodinger equation, which I then thought meant due to the differing values of n. I thought adding these waves together gave the wavepacket. However the...

I suppose I best keep taking mathematics then, in an attempt to further understand QM! Firstly I'm not sure if you're a teacher or not already, but you should consider the profession! Very helpful replies! Ok thanks for going through the simple maths of it, I can now see how the wavepacket is...

That is correct Yup, you figured out my problem. I was thinking like your classical example...there should be an equal probability of finding the particle anywhere in the box. I'm glad you pointed out then that there is no intuitive explanation for the probability osciallation, because that's...

Ok that's kind of what I expected about the position and time etc, after reading a bit on probability and the like but I'm still confused with the sinusoidal wave nature of the wavefunction. When we square the wavefunction, for the case you are referring too, this then gives the probability for...