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Sanctuary’s science, spin and songs
by
Bryan Sanctuary
January 14, 2015
Published by Bryan at January 14, 2015
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That is, these two states are reflections of each other, see the figure, The operation of reflection via P13 changes one state into its mirror image. This is exactly the property sort by Yang and Lee to solve the fact that parity is not conserved for the electro-weak force. Using their example, if cobalt atoms undergo beta decay, and you watch it in a mirror, then the magnetic moments are not reflected, and so parity is violated.
December 6, 2014
Published by Bryan at December 6, 2014
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But two times? The first is the usual linear time that differs in different inertial frames. The second is a rotational time which rotates in the plane of the 2D flat space. This is a phase time or a frequency and accounts for the different relative rotations of 2D objects in different inertial frames.
November 30, 2014
Published by Bryan at November 30, 2014
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In the next few posts, I am going to describe spin in an entirely different way. Immediately you should be skeptical and doubtful that spin could be anything else from its present description: a point particle of intrinsic angular momentum. Do an experiment: Stern-Gerlach; coincidence photons; delayed choice, then spin is […]
November 25, 2014
Published by Bryan at November 25, 2014
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For many years now (since 2006) I have been studying spin 1/2 that has structure. People think the idea is crazy because spin is firmly established by the Dirac Equation. Recently I found that the two dimensional structured spin I have been advocating is just as firmly based in its own […]
August 30, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 30, 2013
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In one example I use bond energies to calculate the energy per mole of sucrose and TNT (the explosive trinitrotoluene). Most students expect that TNT has more energy, but it turns out the two have about the same. So why is TNT an explosive (actually a conflagration)? TNT burns rapidly and involves a huge volume change. It is the rate of reaction (chemical kinetics) and the rapid volume change that causes the explosive damage. Then I can move to the thermodynamics overview.
August 22, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 22, 2013
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I am sure the reviewer is knowledgeable about the EPR paradox and the foundations of quantum mechanics but he missed or dismissed a departing point of my approach: quantum mechanics is a theory of measurement and I find states that exist only when not measured. These undetected states account for the quantum correlation usually attributed to non-locality. Although the reviewer’s comments are easily answered, I was not allowed a rebuttal:
August 6, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 6, 2013
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When I start into heat capacity I contrast the temperature of a substance with the feeling of hot and cold. A thermometer will tell you the temperature of a substance, but that does not tell you how much heat is present. If you touch something, you can tell if it is hotter or colder than your hand, but what about two substances at the same temperature?
Suppose outside it is -10 C (14 F) and there you find a piece of steel and a piece of Styrofoam. Which is colder? If you touch the steel it feels colder than the Styrofoam, but they are both at the same temperature. If you placed the steel on the Styrofoam, no heat will flow between them (Third Law of thermodynamics). Since your hand is much hotter than the objects, heat must flow from your hand into them.
August 2, 2013
Published by Bryan at August 2, 2013
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Although the obvious "pro" of recording is to give students the chance to listen numerous times; review the material; and listen to missed lectures, there is a huge "con" and that is they skip class and opt to listen to my lectures at home. Last year the attendance dropped to half because lectures are available on line, but this year the time has been shifted to 8:30 a.m. from 10:30. I am going to predict that very few will want to attend at that hour.
July 25, 2013
Published by Bryan at July 25, 2013
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One question I pose every year to my physical chemistry class of life science students in the first lecture is “Where is chemical energy stored?” Almost all of them say in chemical bonds. Ask how the energy is released, and they say “When bonds are broken.”
Wrong!
July 23, 2013
Published by Bryan at July 23, 2013
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a required course on physical chemistry that deals with entropy and laws, ugh this is not what they want to know and, besides, "How useful will it be?" they naively ask. The problem is that it is impossible to avoid the use of mathematics, and they are not motivated to work through simple derivations.
July 10, 2013
Published by Bryan at July 10, 2013
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HOW do we know the other particle "magically assumes" the opposite state, rather than it just had the opposite state all the time?
The answer is "nobody knows because it makes no physical sense". When a physicist is asked how this happens, they indeed invoke the word "magic" as in quantum magic or quantum weirdness.
June 18, 2013
Published by Bryan at June 18, 2013
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But if the model does stand up, what have I accomplished? There is presently no experimental way to distinguish between one or two axes of quantization. Including counterfactual coincidences can be rejected out of hand and quantum mechanics still viewed as complete. The mechanics of applying quantum will not change. Having the option to accept local reality might have a salving effect on those generations of physicists who have been brought up believing the Copenhagen Interpretation and Bell. One can sigh a sigh of relief that non-locality is history and Nature is both real and deterministic, at least for spin. That would make a lot of people happy.