Modern and Theoretical Physics

Suppose the universe was a trillion light years across, and suppose the only things in the universe were a proton and an electron. If the electron was at one end of the universe and the proton at the other (i.e. they were 1 trillion light years apart), and given enough time for photons to travel, would they still 'feel' each other's electromagnetic attraction? If they did, the force would have to be incredibly weak at that distance, but would it still happen? In other words, what I'm asking is, is there a critical distance such that any two particles that are separated by distance greater than this, the influence one can have on the other in virtue of their forces (whatev…

i keep reading that strings are 1 dimensional. if all they have is length, then wouldn't they also exist in time, making them 2 dimensional at least? they vibrate, so wouldn't that infer they exist in time, or am i completely missing something?

I have been thinking. Just wonder what you might think as well. Not to mention, I don't have much thought behind it other than the fact that it doesn't make sense. But why is matter allowed to 'touch' other matter? I have no idea where this came from. I just had an idea about taking a microscope and zooming in infinitely at an atom. It appears together, like a particle is a sphere. But I just tried to zoom in even closer on this imaginary atom. And what I thought was that we can't zoom to a point where matter is 'smooth' and lacks any sort of hole or bump or anything. Here is another thought to go along with it that I thought could act as some sort of proof.…

In a random conversation in a highschool physics class, we got around to some conversation about quarks. I heard that if an electron (though now I'm not entirly sure it was an an electron he said, but I am going to go with it. Please correct me if when I'm wrong though, so as not to make the same mistakes again), was to hit a quark, knocking it away from the other quarks in its confinement, and it was to move far enough away from the othe quarks, another quark would be created from the energy produced. I have not been able to find the sources my fellow student found to make this point. All I have been able to find is a bit of confusing information from wikipedia that is t…

According to one popular theory, strings are supposed to be the most fundamental thing in the universe. But in thinking about this, I came to the conclusion that strings, if they vibrate, must have components. If they vibrate as waves, they must have peaks and troughs. If they don't, well, they still must have parts - tops and bottoms, left ends and right ends, or whathaveyou. Even if these parts can't be physically separated from the whole, they are still there (such that you must say of one part that it is not any of the other parts). Does this make sense, or do the string theorists have a way around this?

Picture a very hot high-pressure taffy of atoms similar to the earth's mantle. To begin the analysis, the temperature and pressure are high enough where all chemical bonds are broken. The distinct atoms will be crowding and pushing against it each other ionizing their outer most electrons. Next, let us decrease the volume substantially. Since atoms are mostly space, as electron clouds, the loss of volume will mean less volume for the electron clouds, resulting in lower atomic orbitals overlapping. The logical result should be the overlapping orbital electrons repulsion ionizing, and then gradually reorganizing themselves to share the overlapping orbitals. This process wil…

If I have a cuboid shape magnet (1mx1mx1m) with a field rated at 1 Tesla, can I find it's magnetic dipole moment (A m^2).

just going through some of my old junk and I came across an old beam spreader, and that gave me an idea, could Light be switched at speeds exceeding c to get at single photons or a simple "Flat Packet" of light? the idea goes like this, this beam spreader is basicly a hexagonal metal mirror that spins at several Thousand RPM (it actualy Whistles), and so when a laser is shone onto this mirror the beam then gets spread into a line nearly at a 180 (you`de see a line across your wall). now in Slow motion if your on that line looking at the mirror you`de see a series of single flashes as if the laser were pointing directly at you for a moment. imagine that happens 1000 …

This may not be the place for this, but I had a hard time decided where it would appropriately be placed. As I understand it, current theory has it that reality is made up of 11 different dimensions (don't ask me what they are). Does this imply that in order for any object to exist that it touchs on all 11 dimensions, or are some objects not related to the other dimensions (strings for example). In other words, if an object exists in the basic 4 dimensions (3 of space and 1 of time) then must it also touch on the others? Or would it be possible to have and object that exists only in the other 8 dimensions?

This is Loop-and-allied Quantum Gravity growth in research papers as of 7 December (I've updated because of minor variation in the last couple of numbers): Year 1994: http://arXiv.org/find/nucl-ex,astro-ph,nucl-th,math-ph,hep-ex,physics,cond-mat,hep-lat,quant-ph,gr-qc,hep-ph,hep-th/1/OR+OR+abs:+AND+AND+loop+quantum+OR+cosmology+gravity+abs:+AND+AND+quantum+gravity+OR+OR+discrete+phenomenology+OR+canonical+nonperturbative+abs:+OR+OR+spinfoam+AND+spin+foam+AND+OR+triply+doubly+special/0/1/0/1994/0/1 Year 1995: http://arXiv.org/find/nucl-ex,astro-ph,nucl-th,math-ph,hep-ex,physics,cond-mat,hep-lat,quant-ph,gr-qc,hep-ph,hep-th/1/OR+OR+abs:+AND+AND+loop+quantum+OR+cosm…

The formula for the maximum force between identical magnets is: F = AB^2/2mu where A = cross-section area of the magnet in m^2. I have taken out two identical magnets from the manufacturer pack rated at 1.23 Tesla. I have found the Force by calculation to be 100N or can lift 10 kg. However the manufacturer pack says that one magnet can lift 4 kg. Is there a flaw in the formula or calculation?

Question: Why, if an object is charged with static electricity, does it not attract to a magnet? If it has an excess of electrons, shouldn't it be attracted to the positive side of a magnet? I'm working on a theory that states a bird can't fly south unless it first rubs its feet on a carpet.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it seemd the most apropreate. A question that has been in my mind for some time now is: Can charged virtual particles curve in a magnetic field?

I know the four states of matter as SOLID, LIQUID, GASEOUS and PLASMA, but do not understand the concept of PLASMA:confused: Could anyone help me out? What does a plasma state actually mean? Any examples?

If one looks at energy moving radially from high gravity it will red shift. This implies that the energy will lose potential or cool into longer wavelength. Matter does just the opposite, if a given mass is moving radially away from high gravity, it will gain potential energy. If one lets the mass go, its potential energy would become kinetic energy as it accelerates back toward the gravity source. What this simple analysis implies is that mass cannot be composed of energy as its fundamental building blocks. If this was true, all the energy builiding blocks would red shift when moving radially away from high gravity causing the mass,via e=mc2, to decrease. This does not h…

it is said that the faster a body moves the more mass it "aquires". since the more massive a body is the greater it`s gravity, if you were to fire a bullet for instance in space at near the speed of light and past a grain of rice say only a few mms away, would the rice be pulled towards where the bullet was when it passed?

hello don't know if this is the right forum but here goes. recently had one of those fun dreams where you feel you've been some place doing some task and it felt as if you were really there passing time, such as a afternoon at the beach. but on waking find only ten or fifteen minutes have actually pasted. question is, since the mind thinks in terms of bio-electric energy, does energy have its own sense of time, or does time not exist for energy. i know time slows when approaching lightspeed, but if you actually did travel at the speed of light or faster, would time as we percieve it stop to exist. which would be useful in extending space flights where a…

Does anyone agree or disagree with my contention that in regards to the passage of time all modern theoretical physics tells us is that it is dependent upon 'local' conditions? aguy2

Can anybody tell me what gives a elementary particle its rest mass? I was under the impression that it is overall the mass of the quarks that gives a elementary particle its rest mass. For example: Lets take for instance two baryon elementary particles, a proton p and a Delta particle Δ+ (type one plus charge). Both have a quark arrangement of uud and have baryon number +1, but Delta has a spin of 3/2 while a proton has a spin of 1/2 and delta has a rest mass of 1232 MeV/c2 and a proton has a rest mass of 938.3 . So would I be right in saying that elementary particke aquire their mass through spin rather than through their basic quark arrangement?

I have designed a setup for measuring pinning force of a superconductor. Here it is. Can it work? The superconductor is in the superconducting phase and it is rotated very slowly. Would the Balance show a net attractive force?

I'm thinking in circles and would appreciate somebody's help. Firstly, is electromagnetic radiation matter? Secondly, would it make sense for a scientist to say that non-matter can interact with matter? Cheers

Can someone just talk me through this Feynman diagram: 1) Firstly can I just check with that virtual positron... is that just how you draw one or is that a virtual positron going backwards in time (so it's an electron)? 2) Also that photon (top left) seems to have just split into an electron + virtual positron... why is there on real and one virtual particle? (ie. isn't it 2 real particles? - obviously not, but why?) 3) Can someone explain the thing about when you get 2 photons and when you only get 1? Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry to bother the forum with this but a question came to my mind in a part of physics I have not studied thoroughly and the semester is over so I can't bother any physics professors right now and I've come to an assumption and I was curious if it was valid. Say you have a solid body in space that is hot, it's excited molecularly. And it cools. Did the heat escape by emission of electromagnetic waves?

Destructive Interference and particle waves... A Question! Hi there everyone! I understand that destructive interference has been preformed on thing other than light waves such as electrons and even whole atoms, I understand that destructive interference occurs when the path difference of two waves are not evenly divisible by the wavelength, when this occurs the waves cancel each other out. So my question is this, the waves are nulled, the product is a wave with no amplitude and no wavelength and so there is no wave. What happens to the particles the waves were from? Are they simply lost or does something else happen? Cheers, Ryan Jones

This is also posted in a Mathematical Forum: I've been scoffed at before for making this request, but here goes: As a hobby since I was young I've been trying to develope a working theory for Gravity. (With the enthusiasm for anti-gravity, of course) When I say theory, I mean an explanation that makes sense scientifically. I've explained it completely in terms of waves and electromagnetic radiation right down to how ratiation converts to particle form in the proper conditions. I've explained how the speed of light is crucial in setting the standard for how gravity works, and so on. From an illustrative point its convincing. Unfortunately I do need someone more sk…