Any one else here obsessed with physics?

[Ronald Zeeman]

My sister-in-law always debates me, she has a master's degree in actuarial science that she learned calculus in grade four or five back in Vietnam and that this is common same with a workmate who got educated in south America. My argument all they are learning is basic rules of calculus. chain rule quotient by memorizing them not actually applying it to real problems. Sure, an average 10-year-old can understand complex math concepts just by
applying a few simple rules. Einstein was no mathematician, but he was not a slouch at math knew enough to shock his fellows' physicists who were also no better at it then him. the need for heavy duty math did not happen until latter. Heisenbug did not know about linear algebra, which he used to develop quantum mechanics I learned it in grade thirteen, how times have changed.

 

[Outdated]

OK, a bit nerdy to read through but interesting if you would like to know what sort of car you'll be driving in the future. And it comes with it's own set of environmental risks.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319922048479

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Einstein like me was a visual thinker, just needed a bit of help with the math non-Euclidian geometry which he was not taught in university at the time to fit what he could see in his head, as we know now, he was bang on. just like Michael Faraday could see his stuff or even better Tesla also a visual thinker I wish I had their brains. So much I can see.

OK, a bit nerdy to read through but interesting if you would like to know what sort of car you'll be driving in the future. And it comes with it's own set of environmental risks.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319922048479

if you get an ammonia leak, not fun know from experience cleaning chicken barns as excrement produces ammonia which absorbs into water. Sweat very effectively sucks it as it in, Try moving your arms the next day with badly chemically burnt arm pits.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I love solving or seeing solved real-life mysteries or puzzles, my favorite show is Oak Island something I have been aware of for 50 it looks like this season it might finally be resolved. using a technique. that I have been aware of for the last 5 years, when the physicist who discovered it first published a paper on it. Muon detection waited all summer to see the results now must wait out the season while each episode plays out. I know this will work finally settling this 200-year-old mystery. The probable Asie that made this discover started a company making this instrument piece of plastic a bit of electronics I hope he gets rich. this will resolve other mysteries. maybe the great Dutch man's mine next.

 

[Ms Muffinz]

How can one develop an interest for physics through math?

I’m interested in math and find it rewarding (I’m doing an undergraduate degree in it at the moment), but I cannot sustain an interest in physics or theoretical physics. I bought a book on water mechanics (forgot the word), because the illustrations looked interesting, but I cannot make myself read it.
I fall asleep watching videos on theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Planets and black holes bore me to no end.

I feel guilty about this since I have the capacity to learn it, and I feel I “should” at least attempt to sample a field that many bright minds find intriguing. Perhaps I am ignorant? Missing something?

So, if there is a way to look at physics purely mathematically, I might be able to enjoy it. One idea is to look at the various phenomena as real life examples of math concepts.

Does anybody have any ideas?
I’m mainly trying to make myself interested in quantum mechanics. I know this sounds unhealthy but I want to do something new.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

40 years ago, physics was just physics with a bit of math, in the last 30 years mostly due to string theory it has gotten heavy into the math. The best living physicist Ed Witten even won the fields medal. in the early 80's the two fields are now heavily intertwined. Not finding Suzy is killing string theory. loop quantum gravity its main competitor also has a few issues. who knows you may be the guy that makes the big break through follow the anomalies muon g2 Neutron half life.

I think on a they are on the verge of a major breakthrough you are on the ground floor.

 

[Outdated]

To me Physics is about the world I live in - applied physics. From early childhood I dismantled every toy I ever owned in order to find out how it works, I always wanted to know how everything works.

Why does popcorn pop? How does a magnet work? How does water store compressed gas to make a fizzy drink?

There's a lot of physics to be learned just on the surface of the planet without going looking for more in space, although some of those findings fascinate me as well. I particularly liked a recent theory about Dark Matter, the theory that the matter they can't see is actually Light. People tell me that photons have no mass, but when I ask them why photons are affected by gravity they can't answer.

 

[Shevek]

OK, a bit nerdy to read through but interesting if you would like to know what sort of car you'll be driving in the future. And it comes with it's own set of environmental risks.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319922048479

That's off into engineering, with a strong focus on science fiction. Both hydrogen and ammonia are nasty to distribute. Hydrogen is more efficient in a fuel cell. Variable compression would do wonders for a hydrocarbon fuel, too.
What we really need is to keep the oil in the ground and make synthetic hydrocarbons from pure wind. It can be done for less that the pump price, and the process could be tweaked to sequester some carbon on the side, making the current fleet into a climate-saving, carbon-negative operation. See carbonengineering.com If we do go electric, we should use it properly, not waste it with trains copied from those with steam engines, or cars designed to waste as much as we could afford. There is no good reason for a land vehicle to weigh more than it carries.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

To me Physics is about the world I live in - applied physics. From early childhood I dismantled every toy I ever owned in order to find out how it works, I always wanted to know how everything works.

Why does popcorn pop? How does a magnet work? How does water store compressed gas to make a fizzy drink?

There's a lot of physics to be learned just on the surface of the planet without going looking for more in space, although some of those findings fascinate me as well. I particularly liked a recent theory about Dark Matter, the theory that the matter they can't see is actually Light. People tell me that photons have no mass, but when I ask them why photons are affected by gravity they can't answer.

Anything with mass curves space time and photons follows the curve whether it has mass or not as this is the shortest route. much like a car on a banked road.

 

[Ms Muffinz]

Why does popcorn pop? How does a magnet work? How does water store compressed gas to make a fizzy drink?

Wait a second, now that you mention it, why does popcorn pop? Why does heating up corn kernels make it pop, but why doesn't it do it to water or potatoes? That's really interesting. Thank you!

 

[Ms Muffinz]

I am speculating that once I know enough math to understand blackholes through symbols and equations and inequalities, then it will be tangible enough for me to be interested in it.
In one sense math is abstract, but in another it makes things tangible. I feel I have grabbed that thing by the balls, to use a potentially offensive sounding expression, when I know its properties mathematically.

So I tried googling it -- and found this (does Latex work in this forum?)

Schwarzschild radius
\frac {2G_N M}{c^2}

https://plus.maths.org/content/what-black-hole-part-2
And while I can read the explanation and loosely see what it's doing, now I'm stuck because WHY is this so?
How did they find this formula? Is it based on a combination of axioms like they do in math??
This is my frustration with physics -- where did this formula come from? Do I just have to accept it as truth?
With pure math, you could prove it, or derive it from something else. But how do you do this for physics?

 

[Ms Muffinz]

Ok I'm sorry for infodumping but I'm getting interested, thanks to your thread.

Quote from the page here: What is a black hole – mathematically?

"One of the reasons why black holes are so important in our understanding of general relativity is because of their simplicity – because they are made of the most fundamental building blocks of the theory, namely space and time alone. They are very simple and therefore we can understand them.

This [is in contrast to] other gravitational objects, such as stars. In order to understand a star, [as well as needing] to take into account general relativity, you also need to understand nuclear physics to account for the nuclear reactions [and] plasma physics to understand the transport of heat within the star. This gets very complicated and we are often led to study these objects within certain approximations."

Ok now this is SUPER interesting to me, since I LOATHE having to memorize facts. This is why I can't care for chemistry and biology -- memorizing textbooks full of concrete facts is horrible.
But if space and time are the only 2 variables, and this can be shown in math, then it is way more enticing.

"This Kerr solution is described entirely by just two parameters, namely the mass and the spin of the black hole. With these two parameters you can fully characterise all black holes in nature and we don't need to make any approximations to understand those objects."

 

[Shevek]

Wait a second, now that you mention it, why does popcorn pop? Why does heating up corn kernels make it pop, but why doesn't it do it to water or potatoes? That's really interesting. Thank you!

The shell of a popcorn kernel is airtight, so it can contain a moderate steam pressure before rupturing. The water flashing to steam throughout the interior of the kernel when the pressure is relased makes it into something resembling foam.

 

[Ms Muffinz]

The shell of a popcorn kernel is airtight, so it can contain a moderate steam pressure before rupturing. The water flashing to steam throughout the interior of the kernel when the pressure is relased makes it into something resembling foam.

So the popping is really only because of the shell? So as long as the shell is airtight, and weak enough that it can succumb to the steam coming from the inside, then anything would pop?

 

[Ms Muffinz]

So to make the pop infinitely "stronger", we need to make the steam coming outside infinitely stronger, and change the shell material so that it can withstand as much pressure as possible.. but if we do that, it will never pop, so there has to be a limit at some point. at that point, the pop will be infinitely strong and destroy the entire universe lol.

 

[Shevek]

So the popping is really only because of the shell? So as long as the shell is airtight, and weak enough that it can succumb to the steam coming from the inside, then anything would pop?

There are other seeds that pop, though not so usefully as food. I think that puffed wheat and puffed rice are produced by produced by suddenly opening a pressure cooker as an artificial shell.

 

[Ms Muffinz]

I think that puffed wheat and puffed rice are produced by produced by suddenly opening a pressure cooker as an artificial shell.

Wow this is fascinating. I need to see this in action. Is this mechanism used in other things (the suddenly opening the pressure cooker)?

 

[Shevek]

Wow this is fascinating. I need to see this in action. Is this mechanism used in other things (the suddenly opening the pressure cooker)?

You seem to have a very strong curiosity, but my time is limited. Are you familiar with Wikipedia, Google, or libraries?

 

[Ms Muffinz]

You seem to have a very strong curiosity, but my time is limited. Are you familiar with Wikipedia, Google, or libraries?

Yes, I asked because I wanted to know if there is a technical name for the phenomenon, since I somewhat doubted “pressure cooker rice effect” would be the real name. I’m not that good at reading social cues but I think I should shut up. Thank you for your time!

 

[Shevek]

Yes, I asked because I wanted to know if there is a technical name for the phenomenon, since I somewhat doubted “pressure cooker rice effect” would be the real name. I’m not that good at reading social cues but I think I should shut up. Thank you for your time!

I think you'd get better results by searching on "puffed rice" rather than guessing at what Kellogg's calls the process.