Recent content by Rob D

And he did it at 26, just because of boredom during sequestration from the plague rampant in the cities. And to piss off Leibniz. I find myself doing most calculus in physics on my graph lined notebook. Only use the computer to do tough graphs and watch Lenny do incredible physics whilst...

For those of you who knew of him and loved him, Christopher Hitchens returned to the universe one year ago today. I did not personally know him but I was an avid follower of his writings and debates for many years. Amongst his friends however he numbered many great scientists, physicists...

This reminds me of the thought experiment involving a cargo plane carrying 2,000 pounds of pigeons in light cages. It's a big cargo plane with a large cabin. Suddenly the pigeons escape from their cages and begin flying wildly about the cabin. Question: With all the birds in flight inside the...

A very simple experiment should answer your question. Take a ping-pong ball or any small object and hang it by a thread a foot or so below the head liner of your car. Now drive and you will see that when you accelerate or decelerate, the ball will swing aft or forward as is appropriate. It does...

I understand. But, do you like your universes digital or analog? I'm an anolog guy myself but digital sure makes the math work out well. Rob

Many thanks Zarqon, I'm sure that will help greatly. Bye the way, are you involved in the Zarqon development team? Or, alternatively, are you the Zarqon development team? Interesting concept. Rob

Ah, many thanks. That is my take on it exactly. I apologize in that my vexation was derived from the media and more specifically from the Sunday afternoon Uber Scientists who populate the cablesphere and provide at times an excellent public service by demystifying some difficult concepts and...

I am vexed. In your expert opinion can matter and the particles and wave forms of which it is composed be described within a digital model or an analog. Is this a human perception limitation wherein the analytical left hemisphere types prefer a digital universe mostly because it can be...

As a very long time trombone player, I can say that I have never perceived any difference in heard volume from closed slide to fully extended using even airflow and at various harmonic levels. I think that you will find that the more excellent the quality of the instrument, the less difference...

Do you have some reliable data on field strength variance with mass of the magnet? Shape of the final ground magnet would probably have little effect other than affecting field propagation. How or how much I denna ken. The above are the WAGs of yet another self-taught physicist. Best of...

Could someone comment on the particle constituents of the most recent "solar storm". A look at the films of the SOHO observatory show very marked particle trails on the photo-active medium shortly after a large explosion of 1429. The print media made mention of two Earth observations, one of...

Thanks to all who responded. This horse is starting to smell and I'm tired of beating it so so please accept my gratitude for the insight. RD

(a)(a)+ab+ab+(b)(b) = a2+2ab+b2 Yeah, of course I know you're right but it bugs me. But sometimes I wonder if the outcome is not more a product of procedure and dogma than true mathematics. But, as I always say "Cooperate and Graduate."

Borek, Spaciba Bolshoi, for the response. Actually I know my intuition is flawed. I am well past this level of study but I've always had a niggling problem with (a+b)2 not simply being (a+b)(a+b). While I can do the math, I've never understood how the 2ab was generated. Since I can do...

Please forgive this most basic and fundamental of algebra questions but as I enter the calculus arena there is one small algebra function that has eluded intuitive understanding. In factoring quadratics and other polynomials, I am very successfully able to work the operations of factoring but...