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An exploration of physics and the quest to understand our world.
Matt Springer is a graduate student of physics at Texas A&M university. He is also an occasional writer and tinkerer, and he is probably too curious for his own good.
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Category: Worked Problems
So consider the one-dimensional time-independent Schrodinger equation: In some ways it's not really an equation as such, because you have to plug in some function V(x) that describes the potential in the problem you're solving. When you first learn quantum...
Posted by Matt Springer at 11:48 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
The new academic year is starting, and if there's one thing students love it's a good word problem. If Sue is four times as old as John will be when Sue is one year than John... So in that spirit...
Posted by Matt Springer at 10:57 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
There's a classic problem in physics textbooks which asks you about astrology. It's sometimes said - the problem will tell you - that the gravitational pull of the doctor delivering you is stronger than that of Jupiter, therefore it's unlikely...
Posted by Matt Springer at 4:11 PM • 27 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
If you happen to be in the Bryan/College Station area tomorrow, you might consider checking out the Texas A&M Physics Festival. It's sort of an open house with a ridiculous number of top-notch physics demonstrations as well as some very...
Posted by Matt Springer at 10:32 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
First of all, happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you spend the day happily with the people you care about, and remember to spend a moment or two reflecting on the things for which you're thankful this year. Now on with...
Posted by Matt Springer at 10:00 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This is what happens when you don't...
Posted by Matt Springer at 12:50 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
Note to the reader: this post is relatively stiff mathematically. For those not mathematically inclined, I think you might enjoy reading it anyway and enjoying it as you would a tour of a widget factory; even if you're not worried...
Posted by Matt Springer at 9:00 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Intro Physics
This guy is Allo Diavolo: He was a circus daredevil. At the dawn of the 20th century he worked on a number of stunts dressed in his ominous horned outfit. These days a lot of people, including me, have heard...
Posted by Matt Springer at 10:00 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
This week the science blogosphere has been spending a lot of time on space exploration and the science of understanding the universe outside our own planet. At risk of being the buzzkill distracting from all the cool space travel history...
Posted by Matt Springer at 10:00 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Worked Problems
We haven't done an actual straight-up physics problem in a while, much less one above the level of undergraduate freshman physics. There's a reason: it's roughly as niche as it's possible for an internet post to be. But on the...
Posted by Matt Springer at 12:29 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Orac 02.14.2012
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MarkH 02.14.2012
