Thoughts Definition and 339 Threads

Is it possible if you just take the prerequisites at your grad school to hop from mechE to petroleum? I'm thinking if I go for mechE instead of aero for a broader job market that specializing my ms in petE might be a good idea.. What do you think?

New thoughts during my second read of "The Origin of Species"... On humans. Every time I read this book I have new ideas and this one came to me after a second read of Darwin, and another look into the documentary "Homo Futurus". For those of you who have not seen this documentary...

Hey PFers. I'm just wondering what your thoughts on a High Altitude Telescope are. What I mean is pretty much a telescope on a platform suspended in air on balloons at 40,000+ feet. The whole thing would be solar powered, with a couple of engines capable of station keeping, with the appropriate...

Could matter be a smaller reality than what we live in now. If so or not why? or why not?

Homework Statement edit: WHOOPS. Almost forgot to The Attempt at a Solution Ok. So I began with the line l_1 with exactly 6 points on it, A, B, C, D, E, F. (Axiom 2). Now, by axiom 1, there must exist 2 additional points not on this line. So I formed those, G and H. No by Axiom 3, there...

Let me start with my experience from the past, 3 years ago, when I was still in high school. We had a very strong physics teacher then, who understood physics relatively deeply (at least compared to teachers of other subjects, like mathematics). He was famous for his extremely low marks. On a 10...

Hey all, I've had some posts in the past related to pursuing a MSME or MSEE after receiving a BSMET. I've met with the ME and EE departments at my undergrad and they've given me a good idea of the course deficiencies I would need to make up. Since my BS was in Engineering Technology, I'm in...

I recently came across the following quote... This was in a work of fiction. I'm not sure if the author meant it to be a thought provoking statement or not, but I found it to be so. Considering the existence and persistence of not only astrology but a whole host of other pseudo-sciences I...

I started having an interest in physics when I was in grade 10 (or Year 11 for the UK). Back then, I considered myself "gifted" in physics. I spent time reading books on popular physics, and spent very little time studying at all for the school's physics materials, but I would always get top...

Paraphrased something like (this is an early proof based class) "I hear engineering majors and physics majors say that they like math as long as it can applied to something. So these folks won't take any upper level pure mathematics courses. It's useless. Is it? Did you know that (something...

Suppose there exists a black hole with a large + electrical charge. The escape velocity for any given particle will depend on the net force on it, gravitational + electrical. It seems logical that the more positive a particles charge the lower its escape velocity will be from any given point. If...

I really enjoy math (when I understand it), and am now going towards a Bachelor's degree in mathematics. I've read up on possible career options, but I was hoping to get more insight on here. So, what are the types of careers that a math major can get with a bachelors, masters, and Phd? Also...

Gravity, information, and cosmology (was "Thoughts about the universe") There was a thread here a few minutes ago, posted by a new user, called "Thoughts about the universe". It contained reflections about gravity, information, and the universe, that were probably inspired by the holographic...

Enrolled as a freshmen in engineering transfer program (need some help) Hi, I have been lurking this forum for sometime, and absolutely think its an amazingly helpful place. Regarding the topic. I enrolled in a college to study computer engineering, but sadly, in my sophmore year in hs I...

Today was my first day in astronomy. My professor, going over the general syllabus and what we'd be doing during the course, asked about good and bad sources for learning. Naturally, the responses for good materials included textbooks, science articles, etc. Bad sources were 'the internet'...

I am a second year student of engineering at a Canadian university and am very interested in mathematics and education. I feel like the methods of teaching math in high school and early university (I have no experience with senior university classes) are not only an inefficient use of the...

Everyone knows the situation. The one twin takes off in a rocket, and both twins see the others clock as running slow. Upon the return, its the one who has experienced acceleration that ends up being incorrect. So at some point, the "moving" twins view must show time on his brothers Earth clock...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general

As I understand Energy is finite. This is a problem for me tho as I can see one way to create energy. In fact in my eyes energy is created everyday in are very own solar system. Anyway I want to get some points of view on the subject from others before I make my self a fool because maybe you...

I was watching a program, Through the Wormhole. They were saying thoughts can travel faster than c, I thought information couldn't even travel faster than c. I don't know how this could be true?

Curious your thoughts about the use of a Stirling engine to power a space station, auxiliary power for space ships inside the inner solar system, and power for space colonies in the inner solar system. I think a Stirling engine would be great to generate an electrical field, and thus provide...

let me preface: i know nothing about neuroscience. it seems that at a fundamental level, everything is either detectable, or you can theorize about ways to detect it. shouldn't particles (neurons or whatever) in the brain emit waves, or any kind of signal, that indicate their interactions...

Thoughts on "realistic" model of electon Zitterbewegung Several researchers, for example David Hestenes, have a physical model of electron Zitterbewegung as a massless particle traveling at the velocity of light, c, around a circle of radius r. This is my take on what this might imply...

I own a copy of Griffith's Quantum Mechanics and I like how it is written very much but while skimming through Griffith's Particle book I saw a reference that said "at the level of Park" and I decided to investigate. I started to read through it and the text is structured the way most books...

Hello. I've been having some thoughts about the universe and I want to share them. If we consider a couple of facts; 1) The Universe haven't been here forever. (It had a beginning) 2) The speed of light is NOT infinite but have a speed at 3x10^5 km/s With those two facts we get an "edge" of...

The http://crysis.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons#Aliens" - are they theoretically possible? The weapon "Molecular Arrestor" is basically a freeze ray, is this thermodynamically possible? Freezing something would require removing energy - how something have its energy removed that rapidly makes it...

This guy used to play the saxo in the street 1 block away from my apartment so I could listen to him quite a few times. Each time I walked there I was blown off due to his play. It's the best saxo I've ever heard live (ok I didn't hear a lot but still). He's simply awesome in my opinion, what...

To those very familiar with Einstein. Why couldn't he agree with Bohr. Was it because Einstein rejected indeterminism or was it because QM rejected realism? But I have problem believing in the latter. Einstein 4-dimensional spacetime is just pure mathematic. 4-D objects are stationary.. and...

I invite you to watch a video. However, I warn you that it is extremely disturbing. Do NOT watch this if you are extremely sensitive to violence. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/CollateralMurder.ogv This is a video that was leaked from combat in the middle-east. The...

Common Temperature ranges from a welding arc can range from 3000-8000 Degrees Celsius. I would like to know the direct relationship of a resultant arc temperature based on the amount of current (amps) flowing. Let's say common steel for the base metal (Electrical Resistivity: 1.74e-005...

Based on the theory that language is determined by thought, I was wondering if it is possible for a person to have absolutely no thoughts (while retaining consciousness) and be able to speak. Dee

Maxwell says that electromagnetic energy traveling through space has a electric and magnetic component at right angles. That is what the measurements prove but... what about electromagnet energy that travels through space unhindered? The permitivity and permiability of space seems to be...

I need some feedback about something that does not make sense. The parabola and hyberbola can be found in the conic sections. These curves are seen if one looks at right angles to the plane of the section (cut surface if you will).. All math books also say that the ellipse is a result of a...

Hello all, this will be my first post on these forums though I've been lurking about for a while. I was thinking to myself about light and the maximum speed of light, and I thought of the following: A photon travels at 'c', the speed of light, in a vacuum. If it were possible to be there...

So, I remember once watching a lecture series on relativity. In one of the lectures which discussed black holes, the lecturer spoke of what it would be like to actually fall into the black hole. Of course, he did the whole talk about the outside observer seeing the person falling in slowing to a...

Yes,I do know that the definition of velocity is rate of change of displacement, but I sometimes wonder if there is something more fundamental to velocity. Is there a funamental change in an object or the space around it that enables the object to cover a greater distance in a certain time...

Hello there, I am new to the forums, and relatively new to physics. Please bear with me as I am still learning the intricacies of the subject. I have always been fascinated with science, but I missed several opportunities to study it academically. Most of my knowledge is self-learned through...

I started doing a BSc in Computer Science last year and its great . What I would like to know is if there is a career path for someone who has a keen interest in merging the two fields such as going into research for a physics career path BUT using the knowledge from a IT degree to create the...

Ok, I neglected the forum rules for my first post. Hopefully I got it right this time. Here are a few ideas I have about the so-called heat-death hypothesis. First, if we take the wikipedia entry as a description, it's inherently false. It suggests that the universe reaches maximum entropy...

Does consciousness cause thoughts? This question is central to the debate concerning free will. 1. Effect ( by definition) cannot precede cause. 2. It is impossible to be conscious of a thought before you think it. 3. Therefore, it is impossible for consciousness to cause thoughts.

I'm going to proceed to give enough background information as possible to help inform any advice. Basically, I picked a major and now I'm in third year I'm second guessing it. This link gives a list of course codes for courses I will be taking if you need specifics...

thoughts on death... revisited Zen master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi once said, "You will always exist in the universe in one form or another." For an existentialist, this is easy to understand without having to resort to things like reincarnation, a soul that survives death, or any other similarly...

Since most of us here are fundamentalists/atheists, I was wondering what you guys think abut death. Do you guys fear it? Have you guys accepted death? I sometimes start thinking and to know it is inevitable it's hard to assimilate. I was wondering what was your philosophy of death.

So I was sitting on the toilet earlier (not needed, I know lol) and the chord for the bathroom light just happened to be swinging back and forth; I also noticed the clock to be ticking. At one particular moment, the chord for the light was swinging in sync with the ticking of the clock and...

Hello, I'm new to the community here at Physics Forums. I am an undergrad double majoring in mathematics/computer science. I will soon be enrolled in a double masters for both math and comp sci...and eventually would like to enroll in a physics PhD program. Well then, enough about me...here...

Can quantum physics measure our thoughts and emotions? Is there or if any a formula to measure this energy? I was just thinking about the trouble in the unification of Quantum and relativity would be like our body. Relative physics would govern the physicality of our body and I am not sure if...

Hey everyone, As the name of the thread suggests, I'm having second thoughts about my BSc degree. I'm studying a nanotechnology course, and yeah i know that probably sounds cool, but what deters me is the fact that it's my second year, i have 2 nanotech units, and neither of them have...

I got two different things here so bare with me. First let's start with colors. What if the color blue or at least the color you know as blue is really the color red to me or black to the next guy. you may see blue i may see red but i call it blue and you call it blue because its the same...