Tag Archives: classical mechanics
What on earth is a wavefunction?
If you drop a pebble into a pond, ripples spread outward in gentle circles. We all know this sight, and it feels natural to call them waves. Now imagine being told that everything — from an electron to an atom … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged classical mechanics, coherence, decoherence, delocalisation, Newton's second law, quantum information, Quantum mechanics, quantum superposition, Schrödinger equation, uncertainty principle, wavefunction, wavefunction collapse, zero-point motion
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The Kapitza pendulum
Rarely does a ‘problem’ come along that makes you think more than casually about the question of mathematics’s reality, and problems in mathematical physics are full of them. I came across one such problem for the first time yesterday, and … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged classical mechanics, Kapitza Pendulum, mathematical physics, Pyotr Kapitsa, Simple Harmonic Motion
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The calculus of creative discipline
Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over world-building. World-building is dull. World-building literalises the urge to invent. World-building gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). World-building numbs … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Op-eds
Tagged classical mechanics, creative discipline, critical points, Dan Shechtman, differential calculus, EPR paradox, fantasy fiction, Imre Lakatos, JK Rowling, Karl Popper, literary criticism, M John Harrison, Malazan Book of the Fallen, mathematical analysis, nerdism, Niels Bohr, Paul Feyerabend, Philosophy of Science, quasicrystals, replication crisis, smooth functions, Steven Erikson, Thomas Kuhn, Viriconium, world-building
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Scientists make video of molecule rotating
A research group in Germany has captured images of what a rotating molecule looks like. This is a significant feat because it is very difficult to observe individual atoms and molecules, which are very small as well as very fragile. … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged carbonyl sulphide, classical mechanics, Coulomb explosion, electromagnetic force, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, laser, Quantum mechanics, quantum superposition, strong nuclear force, velocity map imaging spectrometer, weak nuclear force
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Bohr and the breakaway from classical mechanics
One hundred years ago, Niels Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons go around a nucleus at the center like planets in the Solar System. The model and its implications brought a lot of clarity to the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged classical mechanics, epistemology, Erwin Schrodinger, Niels Bohr, principle of correspondence, Quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality
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Bohr and the breakaway from classical mechanics
One hundred years ago, Niels Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons go around a nucleus at the centre like planets in the Solar System. The model and its implications brought a lot of clarity to the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged classical mechanics, epistemology, Erwin Schrodinger, Niels Bohr, principle of correspondence, Quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality
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Thinking quantum
In quantum physics, every metric is conceived as a vector. But that’s where its relation with classical physics ends, makes teaching a pain. Teaching classical mechanics is easy because we engage with it every day in many ways. Enough successful … Continue reading
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Tagged classical mechanics, quantum physics, teaching tools
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The philosophies in physics
As a big week for physics comes up–a July 4 update by CERN on the search for the Higgs boson followed by ICHEP ’12 at Melbourne–I feel really anxious as a small-time proto-journalist and particle-physics-enthusiast. If CERN announces the discovery … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged classical mechanics, deterministic causality, eigenstate, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Higgs mechanism, philosophy of physics, probability, quantum field theory, Quantum mechanics, Standard Model, universe
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