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Sanctuary’s science, spin and songs
by
Bryan Sanctuary
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.
June 7, 2013
Published by Bryan at June 7, 2013
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When there are nagging doubts about something in my work I worry about them until they make sense. Experience shows me that if I brush something aside, it comes back later to bite me. So I feel that those in the field of quantum information must have the same uneasiness about non-locality. and a stubborn, even defensive, acceptance of Bell's theorem. So there must be a sense of paranoia about this inexplicable property. Local realists are a thorn, and I will only shut up if I am shown to be wrong, or some other viable local realistic explanation comes along.
June 3, 2013
Published by Bryan at June 3, 2013
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Nonetheless, the Moderators (of ArXiv) blacklisted me in 2009, denying me the exposure that others have, and for unknown reasons too. When I asked for the reasons, I get a note with no name, other than signed by "the Moderators" stating that in order to find out why they blacklisted me, I should submit the paper for publication.
By the way, most of the papers on the archives never get published.
May 30, 2013
Published by Bryan at May 30, 2013
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I am, by the way, an interloping chemist. I actually think that not being brought up in physics has helped me see through the EPR paradox, but I can actually concur with the earlier negative responses I got as I blundered onto the field and asked stupid questions like, “What is the mechanism for teleportation?”.
May 14, 2013
Published by Bryan at May 14, 2013
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Computer simulations of experimental data provide a way of testing models and theories. For example in classical statistical mechanics various simulations are done by starting with a collision model between particles, and then running computer simulations until the system becomes statistical under various approximations. The results from the simulation of properties are compared to the known experimental values.
May 14, 2013
Published by Bryan at May 14, 2013
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1. The following is a research lecture given on January 22nd, 2013 at McGill Chemistry: Part 1: Introduction and the Statistical Ensemble Interpretation of quantum mechanics Part 2: The EPR paradox and problems with quantum mechanics Part 3: Measurement and EPR experiments Part 4: Entanglement and Non-locality Part 5: The […]
February 7, 2013
Published by Bryan at February 7, 2013
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In this part after the seminar there is a question and answer period for the seminar: A local realistic reconciliation of the EPR paradox.