Recent content by NeilWallace

Hi could someone help me understand maxwells reasoning for how to derive the speed of light and why it should be the velocity that it is?

Thanks that was very informative. I had no idea that a battery had an electric field that stopped the reaction when the terminals are not connected together. I think I am really interested in the border where the terminals are connected to the circuit. If the battery is shorted +...

Thanks this was very helpful! I guess I nerd that I am - am actually interested in the black box stuff that is not really important for everyday use. I'd kind of like to get away from the waterfall analogy to try and understand what is actually taking place. I thought that it is electron flow...

Hi hope someone could help me understand the workings of electronic components. I think I am right in saying that all electronic components require energy for them to function. If you connect a battery to the component to supply the energy then this is supplied from the electrochemical...

Thats getting close I think. But its way beyond my understanding - 'How can nothing weigh something' - or how can a vacuum have mass, cool..! The possibilities of that concept and if it can be recreated in a lab seem intriguing..! I'll understand it properly one day..

Hi, Prunca's definition of a vacuum. 'A non depending and self existing force of compression'. I don't know if it is crazy or not. But my own hunch as to how things got started was something similar. has to do also with the relationship between a vacuum and matter. Or if compression of a vacuum...

I don't fully understand the line you are taking, but its seems interesting. Can this property of a vacuum fit into an ex-nihilo from nothing (or from a vacuum) explanation for the origin of the universe?

Thanks, i guess a better question for me is why has the neutron no charge and the proton a positive charge when their masses are the same (i think) That means they must be configured differently. And the difference in configuration causes the charge or not as the case may be. I guess I need to...

I know that energy is equivalent to mass and that a proton is many times more massive than an electron and yet the charges are equal in magnitude in both. How is it the electron is able to match the protons charge with so much less mass? What is it about its configuration that enables it to...

I'm just getting into physics and know that the entropy of the universe tends to a maximum. So in the long term stars burn out creating a lot of high entropy. However the left overs of dead stars - the dust and bits of left over radiation then can reform under the influence of gravity to...

That's kind of confirmed my suspicion thanks! I just need to learn some of the hard physics to flesh out what's going on.

I have read that it is impossible to create a true vacuum that is completely free of matter, energy and radiation due to the effect of blackbody radiation. Also that in interstellar space there is on average 1 hydrogen atom per cubic centimeter (or something like that) and various background...

Sorry about the piston ..:redface: but this was the information I was angling for from DaveC426913: 'On the other hand ... yes, the vacuum of space in maintained by gravity. Gravity keeps the Earth's atmsophere gathered around the planet, rather than letting it uniformly fill the solar...

Thanks - So in the case of the piston the vacuum is maintained by a force. Is the vacuum of outerspace maintained by a force too? or is it a different kind of vacuum?

If you have a vacuum within a piston say and compress its volume what happens to it? I am trying to understand how a vacuum that is 'nothing' - no molecules / energy within it can have properties such as Volume and a sort of existence that obeys physical laws. I guess I am ultimately thinking...