1

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Today at 10:23:02 »

Temperature is the amount of energy required to change the entropy by one bit.

So the entropy of an object at constant temperature is continually changing?  Welcome to the world of Hamdani Yusuf!

The gradient is d height/ d distance .
That doesn't mean that all hills are moving.
That's not H Y's world, nor S T's world.
It's only in your world.

So if T>0, by ST's statement there is plenty of available energy in the system to change its entropy, and nothing to stop it.

2

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Today at 10:20:34 »

It's any form of energy.

Er, no. The potential energy of a strained lattice may be enormous, but as that can't be transferred by thermal conduction to another body, it doesn't affect its temperature.

There's a discussion elsewhere about dissolving a stressed spring.

3

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How can I pass a large DC current through mercury?

« on: Today at 10:15:33 »

Just as well the US Navy (nor Roscosmos, in the early days) don't watch Youtube.

science.howstuffworks.com/rail-gun1.htm

4

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is there a net heat exchange between water and ice at 0 degree C?

« on: Today at 10:10:59 »

It only shows that average temperature of an object (ice-water mixture) can be different than local temperature at specific location

An average being different from a sample? My god, he's invented statistics! There's a Nobel physics prize awaiting if you can demonstrate it, and  Fields Medal if you can present a mathematical proof. Or maybe not.

5

General Science / Re: How do we make synthetic gasoline?

« on: Today at 10:08:42 »

Audi have made synthetic gasoline directly from atmospheric CO2 and H2O. Almost as efficiently as a tree.

6

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: Yesterday at 23:12:52 »

Seems they believe that none except Putin had a hand in creating this war.

I don't recall anyone else having the authority to command the Russian army to invade Ukraine.

7

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Yesterday at 23:06:14 »

Would that be 0.3010 or 0.6931? Or does it mean log₂ of any number you can think of?

8

General Science / Re: How do we make synthetic gasoline?

« on: Yesterday at 23:00:10 »

The best thing about the Lurgi process is its name!

That said, some London buses and taxis ran on producer gas during WWII, and if the Thatcher government hadn't destroyed the mines, there would be around 200 years-worth of convertible coal under the UK.

9

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Yesterday at 18:48:53 »

How do you calibrate temperature far from those defining points, such as 1 milli Kelvin, or 1 million Kelvin?

You can only calibrate an instrument at the agreed fixed points. You can interpolate or extrapolate other values.

I measured microdegfree temperature changes with a thermistor, whilst my good buddy (also named Alan)  in the next lab measured plasma temperatures of 100 MK by studying the electron resonance spectrum. Herr Boltzmann's Konstant was very helpful in both cases.

10

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Yesterday at 18:42:54 »

So, what's your answer to this question : what is temperature?

A measure of the internal kinetic energy of a body.

11

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: Yesterday at 18:41:38 »

Temperature is the amount of energy required to change the entropy by one bit.

So the entropy of an object at constant temperature is continually changing?  Welcome to the world of Hamdani Yusuf!

12

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is there a net heat exchange between water and ice at 0 degree C?

« on: Yesterday at 18:35:16 »

Sadly, many people have attempted to disprove the laws of thermodynamics, with increasingly sophisticated apparatus. The goal is unlimited wealth and omnipotence - you could make a whole new universe! But AFAIK nobody has succeeded.

13

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 22.05.23 - Where does the potential energy of a spring go in acid?

« on: Yesterday at 18:32:18 »

My father was asked the same question in the 1940s - it's a real classic.

Fortunately James Joule answered it on his honeymoon when he measured the mechanical equivalent of heat, 4.2 joules per calorie. If you dissolve two identical springs, one compressed, and measure the heat of reaction, one will release a bit more energy. 

14

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How can I pass a large DC current through mercury?

« on: Yesterday at 18:28:25 »

The reason mercury was so useful in barometers stems from its low vapor pressure at room temperature, allowing it to be used also in diffusion pumps if silicones and organics are undesirable. The incidence of mercury poisoning from the pure metal is very sporadic: there are films of workers in a mercury production plant walking on the surface of vats of the stuff, yet some people succumb to its neurotoxicity at extraordinarily low concentrations.

Nevertheless the MIT experiment was about 40 years behind the times. The electrodynamic railgun was proposed as a satellite launcher in the 1960s and you can make a satisfyingly dangerous model that propels ball bearings  along two parallel rails. IIRC we used 500 microfarad capacitors charged to 300V to deliver a good whack of pulsed current through the 5 mm ball. Apart from the risks of electrocution and an occasional broken window, the college authorities found it quite amusing.

15

General Science / Re: How do we make synthetic gasoline?

« on: Yesterday at 18:14:43 »

Or ignore the carbon aspect altogether. https://www.riversimple.com has a practical small hydrogen-powered car under development, with Kirkwall town council and Humberside airport already running vans and buses on hydrogen. 

16

Just Chat! / Re: Should we report all people to the police if we find them with child porn?

« on: 22/05/2022 17:10:15 »

Not much informed consent in war these days, but plenty of documentary footage and even depiction of extreme nonconsensual violence as entertainment, Mr Bond.

17

Just Chat! / Re: a suitable pseudonym

« on: 22/05/2022 16:56:23 »

Cavendish, who was brilliant, but could never talk directly to people, but used correspondence.

Sensible fellow. Written correspondence cannot be misquoted, wrongly attributed, or simply plagiarised. Couldn't, or wouldn't? I never speak to government inspectors, and insist that all transactions are in writing. The crooked ones do not like it.
 

Darwin, with his intense childhood focus on collecting bugs

In Darwin's second year at the university, he joined the Plinian Society, a student natural-history group featuring lively debates in which radical democratic students with materialistic views challenged orthodox religious concepts of science.

Followed by years of collaboration and friendship with every major intellect of his era, and being invited to participate in years of exploration with the most accomplished seamen and navigators.....doesn't sound very autisitic to me.I doubnt that anyone with a hint of autism would cultivate the amount of publicity and controversy that Darwin (and indeed all major contributors to human understanding)  endured. If anything, he comes across as a very sociable person.

Contempt for intelligent men who think and behave like idiots is not autism.

18

Just Chat! / Re: Should we report all people to the police if we find them with child porn?

« on: 22/05/2022 16:42:48 »

Or indeed to the victim of any other crime depicted on public television or religious painting.

19

That CAN'T be true! / Re: How do people survive lightning strikes?

« on: 22/05/2022 16:39:20 »

I have a friend who has been struck by lightning twice. His only visible oddity is  an amazing Afro hairstyle which he ascribes to those misadventures.

20

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How can I pass a large DC current through mercury?

« on: 22/05/2022 16:36:45 »

5kW is not a lot for a cooker circuit, but it's still a hefty transformer and rectifier.

What is the experiment intended to demonstrate?