Recent content by sambristol

96Hicksy The above posts are correct but not the most straightforward explanation. Oscillation means something must be changing with time. Special relativity tells us two things of relevance. Firstly if something travels fast with respect to us we see its time-scale slowed down (its...

Don't worry about asking 'stupid' questions they are usually the best and most fundamental ones. In fact your question opens up a whole new set of ideas – quantum mechanics. Near absolute zero quantum mechanics effects become very obvious. For a start the atoms can't have zero energy (on...

A good way to think about this (given by Richard Feynman) is to think about a door, partly open. With one finger try to close it by pressing hard near the hinge edge - almost impossible. Now apply the same force near the edge away from the henge - easy.

folks check out this http://www.physics.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/twocaps.pdf Regards Sam

In the original capacitor disconect the power supply and text the voltage between them - it will surprise you !

This is an old problem folks but it would appear the answer is not well known ! Consider an idealised situation of a 'stiff' voltage source (a power supply which maintains voltage whatever the current drawn) connected via wires with no resistance to two parallel metal plates with a slab of...

Not surfactants in fact quite the opposite - oils. the cordial contains oils (in fact that's what gives the flavouring and smell of orange) The oil is hydrophobic and so stabilise the bubble. Regards Sam

The point is that electrolytic capacitors actually act as inductors if the load they are attempting to smooth has any transients on it with high enough frequency (digital circuits are notorious for this). The bigger the capacitance the lower the frequency in ceases to act as a capacitor, in...

Check out 'Numerical Recipes in Fortran' the 2nd edition is available free from www.nr.com Chapter 12 covers about all the FFT algorithms you will need. Note the copyright statement in the preface specifically permits you to use their source ! Pure fortran will be much faster Regards Sam

try 36 = 4t+0.2t2 0.2 t2 +4t -36 =0 t = (-4 + √(16+4*0.2*36))/(2*0.2) t≈6.7 seconds

Regret to say manual smt soldering is impracticable. The components are just too small to handle and their thermal capacity is very small as well so most soldering irons will fry them before a good joint is made. Industrially smt soldering is done by wave soldering - there are quite a few...

4 m/s

For a book covering exactly these matters, written by one of the leading researchers in the field but specifically for non scientists try K Thorne 'Black Holes and Time Warps, Einsteins Outrageous legacy' Hope this helps Regards Sam

the direct way to solve it, without having to calculate the final velocity, is to use d = V1 t + a t2 /2 put in the values d= 36, a=0.4 and solve the quadratic equation in t using the normal formula. Its obviously the positive value of t you take. Hope this helps Regards Sam

Don't worry about the math, the calculus you have mastered will get you started well. Your main work will be getting your head around the quantum mechanics and thinking at right angles to reality. There are lots of specialised mathematical methods which come up as you get deeper into quantum...