Recent content by Rob Stow

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    Opinions on elementary school science homework

    The comments here are quite possibly the kind of discussion the teacher wanted to cause in her classroom. The "homework" is just to get the students thinking about the topic beforehand so that they are prepared to participate in the discussion.
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    I 1s orbital overlaps with the nucleus, why don't they interact?

    If you, like I, have a stack of "Scientific American" gathering dust on your shelves, you might find it interesting to read or re-read this article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-proton-radius-puzzle/ As I recall, part of it talks about how the electron wave function...
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    I Strength of materials in a reinforcing being for garage

    Among the many ways I failed to put my physics B.Sc to work, I worked in a truss plant for 5 years. Most of my time was spent building trusses and supervising the workers but I did take a truss design course and spent some time designing trusses. I currently do construction ... including...
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    At what point does the atmosphere become space?

    Another "definition" for the boundary is the altitude at which a descending spacecraft begins to experience air resistance that will begin to destroy the craft - such as stripping off antennae. I see this discussed fairly often when I follow up on current links about impending reentry of...
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    I Matter/antimatter collisons between "unlike" particles?

    Thanks for your reply. I finally have a day off to read up more on this and this time my search found those pre-existing threads on this topic ... no idea I could have bungled the search I did last week before starting this new thread. Maybe I'll get lucky and a moderator will just delete...
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    I Matter/antimatter collisons between "unlike" particles?

    Just about everything I have read about antimatter talks about proton/antiproton, electron/antielectron, and neutron/antineutron annihilation. But what happens if, for example, a proton and an antineutron collide? Would a weird nucleus be created or would there be a partial annihilation...
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    Reason for one chiriality in biology

    Disclaimer - I am not a chemist or biologist. I have a physics B.Sc and what I know about biology is only because I read a little bit about everything. I tried but failed to find a link to a page I read long ago about how chirality affects the way proteins fold, how DNA twists, etc. I think...
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    Stargazing The terrible distortions of the Hubble Telescope

    Many thanks for that link - fascinating reading.
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    Is My Friend's Basement Safe from Radon Exposure?

    What kind of building does your friend live in? 20 cm thick concrete basement walls are normal for a house or for a 1 or 2 story apartment building - but those kinds of buildings will also normally have a basement floor that is 10 to 12 cm thick - not 60 cm as you claimed for your friend's...
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