Ask a physicist anything. (3)

[Delphiki]

*** Logging to WoW to delete all characters except paladins ***

Not after they finally nerfed the crap out of them! Nooooo! lol

 

[pgp_protector]

They just sent me an e-mail a few days ago, asking me to come back
So tempted to log back in.

 

[Upisoft]

Not after they finally nerfed the crap out of them! Nooooo! lol

They will get their "long range new-clear holy blast" quite soon. Have faith!

 

[pgp_protector]

wow, don't even remember my battlenet password

 

[Upisoft]

wow, don't even remember my battlenet password

Don't commit suicide!!! You'll prove AV' point.

 

[pgp_protector]

Don't commit suicide!!! You'll prove AV' point.

well I remembered my e-mail & security question, I've now got a new password.
(and the client downloading )

 

[pgp_protector]

9.7 Gig do download.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Are beliefs mathematical objects?

I just had this idea of energetic forces in our heads causing us to act and interact (and argue). I don't know how to describe that technically, but thought of vectors. A similarity might be "belief x.y causes us to perform action z to the nth degree, wheras x alone would result in z to a lesser degree or in a different 'direction'"! For examples of x, y, z: theism, catholicism, churchgoing.

 

[Steffenfield]

Here's one.

Why is it that sitting in a place that's room temperature (say 62 to 72 degrees farenheit) is just fine...

But jump in a bathtub with the same temp degree and it's a frigid experience from hell.

I don't get it.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

I just had this idea of energetic forces in our heads causing us to act and interact (and argue). I don't know how to describe that technically, but thought of vectors. A similarity might be "belief x.y causes us to perform action z to the nth degree, wheras x alone would result in z to a lesser degree or in a different 'direction'"! For examples of x, y, z: theism, catholicism, churchgoing.

So belief in God is fine, involvement in a community is fine, but both together foster extremism and fundamentalist, that kind of thing?

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Here's one.

Why is it that sitting in a place that's room temperature (say 62 to 72 degrees farenheit) is just fine...

But jump in a bathtub with the same temp degree and it's a frigid experience from hell.

I don't get it.

For the same reason a fan cools you down, even though it's not actually doing any cooling.

When you sit still, your skin warms the air around it to its own temperature. When a fan blows air at you, this warm air gets replaced with the cooler room air, and for as long as the fan blows on you, you won't be able to warm up the immediate air.

Similarly, sitting in a room about 20°C (sorry, I can't do Fahrenheit ), you're actually sitting in a cloud of warm air several degrees hotter - or, more importantly, closer to your skin's temperature. When you jump into a bath, the water won't be at the cloud's temperature. Hence, you experience a temperature drop.

That said, I like my baths to be a toasty 30-35°C (about 95F)

 

[GrowingSmaller]

So belief in God is fine, involvement in a community is fine, but both together foster extremism and fundamentalist, that kind of thing?

No. More like there is a thought space inside our heads (or thereabouts), and this "thought space" is something like a force field (s). So, as I do not know field equations, but know a little about vectors from school, I thought "Aha! Like a vector", not wanting to stray too far into the unknown. Thoughts have, I would imagine, some form of energetic property.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

No. More like there is a thought space inside our heads (or thereabouts), and this "thought space" is something like a force field (s). So, as I do not know field equations, but know a little about vectors from school, I thought "Aha! Like a vector", not wanting to stray too far into the unknown. Thoughts have, I would imagine, some form of energetic property.

Our thoughts don't work like that, but I suppose it could be a good way to model how they work. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how your model works

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Our thoughts don't work like that, but I suppose it could be a good way to model how they work. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how your model works

The brain cannot be described by field equations?


Some seem to think it can:

Neural fields - Scholarpedia

http://www.springerlink.com/content/tq837833t8767120/

 

[Assyrian]

If your thoughts don't go anywhere, does that make them scalar?

 

[Delphiki]

Here's one.

Why is it that sitting in a place that's room temperature (say 62 to 72 degrees farenheit) is just fine...

But jump in a bathtub with the same temp degree and it's a frigid experience from hell.

I don't get it.

I didn't think hell was a frigid experience. Has it frozen over finally? (kidding)

Though this reminded me of an email that used to go around. Many of the science-y people here have likely already seen it, but here it is for your amusement. I thought it was funny when I first read it:

Joke - Is Hell Endothermic or Exothermic?

College Essay: Just remember, on tests, B.S. does pay off.
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry midterm. The answer was so "profound"
that the professor shared it with colleagues, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing with time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.
Since there are more than one of these religions, and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell; because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year--"...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you."--and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then #2 cannot be true; and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.
THE STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A" GIVEN

 

[Wiccan_Child]

The brain cannot be described by field equations?

No, our thoughts can't be. The brain can be describd as by field equations to the extent that the whole universe can be. My point was that the interaction of thoughts, the systemic collapse of beliefs into beliefs isn't vectorised, though vectors can make a simplified model. I'm talking about how our minds work on the mental level, not the physical level.

 

[Steffenfield]

Nice one Delph!

I never saw that link before, it gave me happy chuckles!

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

Also to add, water evapourates from your skin which gives a cooling feeling as well.

 

[food4thought]

Aside from the claimed miracles, are there any statements made by the Bible that contradict physics?