School of Physics

could you please go into more detail regarding the light-year method of deriving length contraction? i don't seem to be able to bash the maths out, from my interpretation of your method. and apparently my train thought experiment apppears to be invalid and doesn't work; i need to use a mirror to ref...

in the 1st method, is it simply because of the notation? is x' is the position of the moving object from the moving frame and so that correlates to x_2- x_1 i.e. L_0?

what am i doing wrong in deriving the equ of length contraction & why? 1st Method: Using Lorentz transformation #1, x' = (x-ut)/rt(1-(u^2)/(c^2)) I thought L_v = x'_2 - x'_1 simplifies to (x_2-x_1)/rt(1-(u^2)/(c^2)) = L_0/ rt(1-(u^2)/(v^2)) however for correct equ, L_0 = x'_2 - x'_1and L_v = x_2...

LEOs experience orbital decay when exposed to the fringes of the earth's atmosphere, causing friction. Friction implies a decrease in Kinetic energy(?) which is converted to heat. LEOs however drop to a lower orbit meaning they increase in KE while decreasing in GPE and then due to greater KE experi...

[contd.] I also agree on the comment about the lack of proper physics teachers. In my high school out of all the teaching staff there was only one physics teacher I actually had a good deal of expertise on the subject. Others would buckle under the slightest probing for the explanation of physical c...

so many years, the politicians/BOS haven't listened. disappointment!! The greatest worry of all to me is that many kids who would have loved physics in its proper form will instead develop a hate of it - due to the emphasis on essay-writing/memory work (worth many marks depending on your exact wordi...

There are two identical chambers, A and B containing identical metal balls initally at the same temperature. Each chamber is a perfect vacuum and has thermally conducting walls at a lower temperature than the balls. In A the ball is resting on the floor, which is made of material which is a perfect ...

what is REALLY interesting is that there was a guy who did an experiment similar to what Joe did in the lectures - whether a solid can rolls faster than one with liquid inside. to test this he sealed ice in a bottle with a rod through it, and also liquid water in a bottle with a rod through it. he r...

also, i wasnt sure whether or not police are in fact allowed to fire warning shots... so i did a google search, didn't come up with much reliable information but found that "Officers would risk internal disciplinary action by firing warning shots to control an armed offender. Police tactical or...

Could you please list your sources/references... was the experiment you described from the mythbusters episode "bullets fired straight up?"

Unless that someone is a physicist... :lol: but even so, feathers would still be measured in SI units unless you happen to live in north America. Regardless, once you reduce that question down to a matter of linguistics of units, it loses any scientific meaning... it becomes a question of perhaps hi...

That is definitely not true if you are using SI units, the METRIC tonne which is NOT based on imperial units (pounds) which is what your two systems are referring to.

hahaha you're way too rigorous and analytical for me!! i just frankly have no idea :P can't wait see what joe is going to say. sorta reminds me of the phenomena of lightning - such a common occurence but yet one clearcut complete explanation. and also the "how do aeroplanes fly" with berno...

i learnt about this via science by email in 2010, which is run by CSIRO
here is the link to the experiment and explanation they gave. hopefully you'll find it more reliable and englightening than wiki.

http://www.csiro.au/helix/sciencemail/a ... inghot.htm

hot water freezes faster partly due to the fact that that it evaporates more leavng less water to freeze into ice.
it doesnt entirely explain it, wiki once again has other a variety of explanations.