Paradox Definition and 1000 Threads

Treatment originally used to discard inverse square law as solution to Olbers' paradox was not set up correctly. If we include sensor (camera) in the treatment and model light as photons the result describes what we actually see.

Consider the following thought experiment. Two spaceships are initially floating in a region of space far removed from other matter. They are at rest with respect to each other, and with respect to some inertial reference frame F. There is a distance L between them. At some time, t=0, as...

Gravitational Field Paradox Explanation?? Hi everyone. If electric and gravitational field has an infinite nature-meaning that the effect one charged particle has on another charged particle always remains even though it diminishes over distances but can never reach absolute 0-then how is this...

Not long ago I was surprised to learn that when trying to maximize the expected long-term growth rate of your money, it is sometimes necessary to bet on an outcome that has negative expected value (in addition to outcomes that have positive expectation). See...

I know the twin paradox has been answered a lot on here, sorry for bringing it up again. I thought i about had it figured out but then i read a few things that confused me again. For starters, its starting to sound like time dilation won't happen unless there is a complete round trip, that...

There has been a series of papers recently published that provide observational data that indicates that something is cyclically abruptly changing the geomagnetic field. The rapidity of the observed geomagnetic field changes cannot be explained by a core based mechanism. There is no...

Supplee's submarine paradox arises when you consider a submarine moving horizontally at relativistic speeds. (Never mind that this would obviously destroy the sub.) When at rest, the sub was neutrally buoyant. In the moving sub's frame, the water is more dense, so buoyancy is increased, and the...

I am trying to understand if SR can explain a real, measurable velocity time dilation as seen in experiments/observations like GPS satellite or Bailey et. al. Let us say we have twins sitting in their identical, individual spaceships in space, close to each other, and far away from any large...

Hi, there is something I can't understand: Consider a stationary observer at A. Now consider an observer B in a train that moves with constant velocity v with respect to A. In the train, B tries to measure the speed of light using an empty tube of length L0 (proper length as measured by B). He...

Given a Universe abiding solely by deterministic laws, Laplace's reasoning seems to make perfect sense. So let us take this deterministic Universe and imagine within it a scientist to whom the, let us call it: the ultimate formula, was made accessible. So, being capable to plug this hypothetical...

Hi. I am trying to understand Maxwell's equations. I am used to Gaussian units. The following sums up what I do not understand. (Or at least one thing I do not understand ... ) Let x0 be a position situated in a vacuum, with no photons in it, next to an infinite pane of glass. Ions arrive at...

A variant of the classic twin paradox. There are three triplets, who have the boring names of Adam, Bob and Charles. In Charles' "rest" frame, Adam and Bob get into identical rocketships, jet off in opposite directions and return a year later. To Charles, Adam and Bob's paths are...

Assuming that a Planck length is the smallest unit of distance, I propose this: Assume there was a circle of radius r and had an area of A. If I would increase this circle's area by 1 Planck length^2, would the radius change? The radius would theoretically change by less than a Planck...

twin paradox problem!? ok it's about the twin paradox the guy on spaceship goes at 90% of C (say) but since both the twins see each other's clocks equally slow and if one sees other at 90%C then the other one also sees his twin at 90%C in opposite direction. then how on returning the twin on...

1. The Ehrenfest Paradox After watching some of the posts here, I am not sure if I can conclude - The circumference-radius ratio is INDEED not 2π, but with a factor γ (which means Euclidean geometry is not necessarily correct in relativity, and the radius 'cuts through the circumference' ?) ...

This is an attempt to solve the twin paradox via two Minkowski diagrams with a few questions attached. Note that there might be mistakes in this drawing i will fix in the course of this thread in case someone notices any. First, let me explain the two Minkowski diagrams in the drawing first...

Cosmology isn't my thing but a friend showed me this and I thought it was great so I'll leave it here too for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJ4M7tyLRE

Ok, so I've been thinking of a certain paradox in relativity that I can't seem to resolve: We have two observers, one in a "stationary" frame outside the Earth. This observer is looking down on Earth at another observer sitting at rest with respect to the surface of the Earth, but obviously...

There are no actual paradoxes in mathematics (we hope). There are only things that appear to be paradoxes to fallible intuitions. Here is one that bothers me. There can be no translation invariant probability measure on the non-negative integers. Yet it is possible to imagine a general class...

Hi, I am new to this forum, and I wish I get some help here. I really can't find any solution to this paradox; I am going to deny all the special theory of relativity because of this. The paradox is very simple, here it is: Consider two persons sitting on two adjacent trains at rest...

And quite a paradox it is. Goes against everything we have been taught: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/health/research/more-data-suggests-fitness-matters-more-than-weight.html

Dear All, I have encountered the following situation: Given a node that is connected through n resistors to n ports. One if the resistors is a negative resistance and equals to minus of all other resistors in parallel. \frac{1}{R_n} =- \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} \frac{1}{R_i} Using the well known...

Homework Statement Planet W is 12ly from earth. Anna and Bob are both 20 years old. Anna travels to planet W at 0.6c, quickly turns around, and returns to Earth at 0.6c. How old will Anna and Bob be when Anna gets back? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I've tried...

People are intrigued by Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. They are fascinated by the Twin Paradox and the slowing down of moving clocks. However it is often forgotten that Einstein's SR, in spite of being weird to the day to day speeds we are accustomed to, saved Physics from something...

We know we can biject the segments of size 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, … to the segments of size 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625, …, furthermore we can biject these segments to the segments of size 0.125, 0.0625, 0.03125, …, and there is no end to it. So, we can use index #1 for segment 0.5. We can as well use index...

Why do paradoxes like Russel's paradox and the barber paradox occur? Is something wrong with the definition or what?

hi .. i don't understand in the twin paradox and in general and special relativity why time changes if speed changes thank you

If h(x) = ax, g(x) = bx and f(x) = g(h(x)). Wouldn't h'(x) = a? And g'(x) = b? And f'(x) = ab? But the chain rule says f'(x) must equal h'(x)g'(h(x)), so that means f'(x) = ab(ax) = (a^2)bx. Am I missing something obvious?

In quantum physics, a wave function instantaneously collapses once an observable is measured. For instance, if an electron's angular momentum in the z direction is measured, then the angular momenta in the x and y direction immediately become indeterminate due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty...

Hello! I'm new here, and already did a search. Sorry if the answer is elsewhere, I just couldn't find it! I'm writing a sci-fi novel and have been brushing up on general and special relativity. I'm running into a small problem with the twin paradox, and how to describe it from another planets...

As I understand, we should treat length contraction as if all space in the moving frame is contracted-- that is, the distance between two objects as well as the objects themselves are cotracted by a factor of gamma. If this is correct, wouldn't the string in Bell's paradox NOT break- because...

A friend raised an observation which I thought would be easy to explain. But it seem I have a gap in my physics knowledge... An object (rigidbody) is stationary in zero gravity empty space. In the first situation we apply an impulse to its COG and its linear momentum changes, and no angular...

So, we probably all know by now the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment. A cat is in a box with a small amount of radioactive material. If it happens to give off radiation, it sets off a geiger meter, which causes a hammer to break a small vial of poison gas. Until you look in the box, the cat...

Is there an answer to Zeno's paradox of "Achilles and the tortoise"? I'm not sure if there is an answer or way to resolve this paradox nor do I know if it would go in the category of physics or math (even though I've heard that as a math problem it was solved a few centuries ago).It goes...

In Hilbert's paradox to accommodate a new guest you move guest 1 to room 2, guest 2 to room 3 and so on this will make space for a new guest. I assume that guest 1 has to wait for guest 2 to move to room 3 before he can move to room 2 thus all guests have to wait for guest n to move to room n+1...

Suppose I have a set that contains all sets that it does not contain. Obviously no such set exists because the thing I just said makes no sense. I might as well say consider the natural number which is greater than zero and less than one. No such thing exists. So I don't understand why Russell's...

Has Anyone ever thought of this time travel paradox before? That a couple or more (some men and some women ok) went back in time via a Time Machine and started, i.e. seeded the Human race? That is the Human Race is a Perpetual Loop? What would this be called?? A feedback loop?

Hello, Suppose, A and B spaceships are moving with constant acceleration. There is a string tied to spaceships center to center. A is on left of B and B is on right of A. C is outside observer. As speed increase, A sees that B going further ahead, and B sees A going further behind. So, from...

Hi, I was learning about collisions, and I stumbled upon this materials, which is interesting because a guy who wrote it gave this interesting example. He was talking about "somewhat inelastic collisions", as he calls them, and he gave an example of a ball bouncing of the floor. Here are the...

Homework Statement B = variable magnetic field, of constant direction (e.g B = b cos(wt) N, where N=const vect) A = magnetic potential vector of B R = vector from some origin O to a point M It is assumed that no exterior electric potential is present. Problem: to find the...

Sorry, I have 2 doubts about the EPR paradox. 1) Just check out if I am ok: What EPR proposed was that QM suggest that if two entagled particles, for example photons, prepaired in some special way, get away from each other then: a) if we measure their x-spin then one particle will get the...

Hey everyone, I've searched the threads for an answer to my question but came up short. Basically what I want to know is how does time dilation relate to the twin paradox. I'm a newb to relativity and just started reading about it last night. I hit this bump and I'm trying to get over it...

I have studied in some details pole&barn paradox and I thought I could solve the following paradox, but sadly I couldn't! Please help me with it so that I can understand special relativity better. Thanks in advance for any help. The paradox: There are two trains T1 and T2 of equal proper...

I'm having a little trouble understanding the equivalence principle explanation of the twin paradox. I understand that the resolution to the paradox according to the equivalence principle is that the non-traveling twin has a higher gravitational potential energy in the pseudo-gravitational...

Hi, I am a little confused with this paradox. I asked my professor about it and he didnt really give a convincing answer. So the scenario basically seems to be some twins on earth(or anywhere) at rest, and then one leaves at relativistic speed for some time then comes back to see that his/her...

"The paradox: Let T be a standard first-order formulation of ZFC. Assume T has a model. By Skolem's Theorem, T has a countable model M. Since T ⊢ ∃A(A is uncountable), M ⊨ ∃A(A is uncountable). But how can M—i.e. a model that “sees” only countably many things in the universe—“say” some sets...

Came across this video which says that a moving object has to cover infinitely many intervals in order to get from one point to another and because of this motion couldn't really take place and since it does take place, its a paradox. youtube.com/watch?v=u42Y3RbP7JE Since motion does take...

Ok so my textbook explains all the rules to carry the inherent uncertainty in measurements through mathematic calculations (the result of an addition must have as many decimal places as the term with the least decimal places, etc, it also explains significant figures etc...) and at the very end...

This is an argument I thought up after a class on combinatrical properties of the model \textbf{L}. Our course is about set theory, not logic, so this paradox desn't seem relevant in its context. Can you help me figure out where I got it wrong? The constructible heirarchy of sets is a series...

According to Lorentz, time is [SIZE="5"]always dilated.So think of two twins, Speedo and Goslo. - Goslo stays on Earth and drinks tea. - Speedo gets into a rocket, zooms off into outer space and zooms back.Imagine YOU are Speedo. You zoom off, and when you return to Earth, you find that Goslo...