Applied uses for surds in science beyond Pythagoras

[PonderingMick]

Can someone please tell me what applied uses surds have in Science? Apart from Pythagoras?

Cheers,

Mick

 

[Mentallic]

Whenever quadratics appear, surds are likely to be present also. One example would be in Physics to measure the time it takes an object undergoing constant acceleration (say, under the influence of gravity) to complete some distance, the time is likely to be irrational.

There are many places in which surds appear.

 

[NascentOxygen]

The mains AC voltage (e.g., 240v in Europe) is actually a sinewave which swings from a negative peak of sqrt(2) * 240 volts to a positive peak of sqrt(2) * 240 volts. This amplitude waveform, called 240 v RMS, makes an incandescent light bulb glow exactly as brightly as would a DC voltage of 240 volts.