Recent content by sshai45

I want to comment here a bit about the "study the math" rebukes I see: the trouble here is that the formalism itself is, or *seems*, not complete enough, in a rather basic way, that may go underappreciated depending on how one is coming at it. And that is this: it provides for two basic...

Bohmian mechanics will predict something different *if* you allow the possibility that the particle distribution at some time does *not* conform to the Born rule. The reason this is hypothesized is that there is a theorem that suggests that if you start with a non-Born distribution, then over...

It seems to me here the point is getting missed all throughout this. If an "arbitrarily small change" can indeed result in a wildly divergent outcome, that is, that the atmosphere is a truly chaotic system, then that means that if we consider a hypothetical scenario of two exact Earths (or even...

I read this stuff and to me it seems you need both, not just one xor the other. If you just have maths alone, then imo you end up just memorizing formulas and not really knowing what they mean. You can memorize them but it's rather difficult to then use that to solve problems. To solve problems...

Hi. I saw this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/05/29/surprise-the-universe-has-a-third-way-to-form-black-holes/#52d7225f216d suggesting they saw a star undergo a "direct collapse" to a black hole with no supernova. Now this seems like it could be sensible -- if there's...

Thanks, these explanations definitely help a lot.

I am wondering why everyone is jumping on trying to figure out or debunk the "hype" -- to me, I am chiefly after here as to whether or not the metallic hydrogen has been created at all as some suggest it hasn't, e.g...

I wonder about this. The explanation that I keep finding is that "dipoles" occur "randomly" when "electrons move" to different sides of the atom. Yet I find this difficult to reconcile with what I understand about quantum mechanics -- so I must be missing something, on either side or both. In...

Hi. I once heard somewhere that atoms of heavy elements like gold get unusual properties such as gold's yellow color due to "relativistic contraction" of the orbitals due to their high "orbital velocity". But what on Earth does orbital velocity mean in quantum mechanics? These are quantum...

You can conclude anything if you're allowed to break math rules. In particular, division by 0 is undefined. Actually 0/0 has no value at all, because it is not defined. It is not "infinity" -- it doesn't have any value. And your calculation is actually part of the reason why it is not defined...

So what would be the best advice here for the remaining course? I still have ~3 weeks left, these courses are intense. What if I don't do so well on the Chinese courses but do good on English/English writing ones? I also think I should point out what my goal is here. The goal is I want to...

@mfb: I am American. I am taking the course in Chinese Mandarin because I had interest in the language and in the country, China. I thought it was a good way to both explore that interest area and cross off a few gen ed requirements. What I am saying though is is if I don't get an "A" grade in...

TL;DR: in over my head with study abroad program Hi. I have been doing a Physics + Computer Science Double Major at a college and right now I'm in the 2nd semester of my sophomore year. However, I'm wondering about this. One of the things I had wanted to do when at this college was to do a...

Hi. I have heard this, that entropy is often called "disorder" but _isn't really so_. And I am even more puzzled by the connection and difference between entropy from "information theory" pov and from "thermodynamic" pov. I see stuff like this...

Hi. I am wondering about this. I have been able to find many graphs showing what the atomic orbitals look like for hydrogen, but nothing for more complex atoms, like helium. Why is this? Now I know the Schrodinger equation for helium cannot be solved exactly, but you don't need an exact...