Recent content by MalachiK

Thanks. I thought it might be something like that.

Today I took two coils and connected one of them (coil A) to an AC power supply. I held the second coil (coil B) close to the first one and then connected them both to a dual trace CRO. As expected, an emf was induced in coil B and the traces on the scope were 90 degrees out of phase. As I...

For what it's worth, the pay is only low if you live in the South where everything is expensive. Up North I live like a king. It's not really the money that drives people out of physics teaching. It's the workload and not getting to do that much physics teaching. Stick around long enough and...

You're studying the BTEC National Extended Diploma with predicted grades of D*D*D* ('triple distinction star') and you have a high grade in a construction qualification? I'm guessing the construction qual is either one of the old vocational A-Levels or a BTEC certificate in construction. I don't...

This is righteous. You will probably become a better student as you get older.

Okay.. setting ##B = \frac{q}{2ml_0^2}## I can write ##F_x(x) = m\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}## so ##\frac{d^2x}{dt^2} = -Bx^3## I had to look up some examples, but in the end I got a solution that I posted here. I should have read the rules and not posted this in the DE forum. Anyhow, eventually I get...

After some further reading I've got this... Let ##s = x'## so ##s' = x''## ##-Bx^3 = x'' = s' \frac{ds}{dt} = \frac{ds}{dx}\frac{dx}{dt} = \frac{ds}{dx} s## ##-\int{Bx^3 dx} = \int{s ds} ## ##\frac{-Bx^4}{4} + C = \frac{s^2}{2}## 2C is just a constant that I'll rename C...

I have ##\frac{d^2x(t)}{dt^2} + B(x(t))^3 = 0## for a system where I know the initial conditions and where B is a constant that's constructed from the properties of the system. I would like to find ##x(t)##. I've modeled the system in Python and produced some graphs. I know that ##x(t)## is...

Oh yeah. thanks for pointing that out. I just did an edit and fixed it. Now I'm going to have a crack at the time period.

I'm taking another look at this this evening. ##F_x = \frac{q(\sqrt{l_0^2+x^2}-l_0)x}{\sqrt{l_0^2+x^2}}## is just... ##F_x = q x \frac{\sqrt{l_0^2+x^2}-l_0}{\sqrt{l_0^2+x^2}}## ##F_x = qx \bigg({1-\frac{l_0}{\sqrt{l_0^2+x^2}}}\bigg)## I don't know what I was thinking the first time I tried to...

23 is certainly not too old to do anything whatsoever. If you ask me, many students would do well by waiting a few years before embarking on their undergrad studies. You're a few years older than most undergraduates and you'll likely have a better understanding of why you are studying than many...

I think I understand. In fact, for a long time this got in the way of my learning. I had this idea that to be good at physics you should basically be Richard Feynman - that is, be able to read almost any problem and immediately understand the solution. What I realized eventually was that holding...

1. The problem statement, A spring of stiffness q and natural length l0 is fixed at one end to a point x = 0, y = l0 and at the other end to a mass m that is constrained to move horizontally and displaced through a horizontal distance x. The length of the string in this position is l. 1. For x...

Then I am content!

Okay, here's what I've got. I pondered for a long time and felt like I could feel the shape of the answer but couldn't see it. In fact, I wrote all this as I was thinking, which is why this post is so long and rambling. As the particle slides down the slope, work is done by gravity. For each...