1

Chemistry / Re: Shrink ray or growth ray, how could they work?

« on: Yesterday at 16:16:50 »

    What we have a real opportunity to do, is to change the di-electric or practical ε in the environment around the atoms.

We might substitute other atoms or dopants but this won't merely alter the bulk size of our target, but its chemistry and physics - in other words you will be making a completely different object.

Consider a protein molecule surrounded by water. If you substitute liquid hydrogen sulfide for the water you might indeed cause the protein molecule to shrink, but the mouse that works by the interaction of proteins with water will cease to do so. Or to take a simpler example, changing the dopant of a semiconductor will alter the effective density of the electron cloud of the parent material, but p- and n-doped substrates have very different functions.   

2

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 24.12.12 - Is there any way to harness nuclear energy other than steam?

« on: 06/12/2024 20:12:35 »

There are already some promising semiconductor thermocouples with > 20% efficiency, apparently.

3

Just Chat! / Re: Should smartphones be banned from the dinner table?

« on: 02/12/2024 12:34:35 »

Further thought. I have attended a few committee dinners in pub restaurants. Time was that these were places for quiet conversation in an acoustically "soft" environment, separated from any live gigs in the "spit and sawdust" bar.

Nowadays the acoustic environment is  "hard" (no sticky carpets, big glass windows....) and filled throughout with umpteen decibels of piped noise, over which you have to shout to be heard by your nearest neighbor.

So it is quite likely that those under the age of 40 have never experienced conversation over a meal, and don't know how to behave at a family dinner.

4

Just Chat! / Re: Theories to start a new world.

« on: 01/12/2024 09:49:31 »

Desert Island Discs is still running on Radio 4. The limit is 8 discs (now tracks), one book, and one luxury.

Presumably we are leaving on a rocket, so I'd take Newtonian mechanics, the atomic theory of chemistry, and probably the Krebs cycle if I'm not allowed the whole biochemistry library. Then my descendants would understand how we got here, and religion (the reason why we left Earth) might not take root.

DID participants are asked to name the one track they would save above all else. Gerry Mulligan's "Golden Notebooks"

encompasses the apex of civilisation in four minutes and should set the tone for humanity's next gig.

5

General Science / Re: Can an electron travel a bit in a copper wire for inertia?

« on: 26/11/2024 15:15:29 »

Save your typing fingers! "Free electricity" is not possible. The work done separating the ends of the wire will exceed any energy available to make electrons leave it.

The answer to a sustainable future for homo sapiens is to reduce our standard of living or reduce our population. The latter is obviously more desirable, saves a lot of effort, and costs nothing.

6

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 25/11/2024 08:55:20 »

Perhaps I should have said "of particles within a confined space" but I guess that's still not absolutely explicit.

The atoms within your rod have no idea how fast the rod is travelling in space if the speed is constant, but they do know what happens when they bash into each other. If you decelerate the rod by crashing into a brick wall, the energy transferred to the wall will be the  0.5mv² component of the rod plus its heat content, but we are no longer talking about the original bounded ensemble.

7

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: What Causes This Optical Effect?

« on: 22/11/2024 12:44:58 »

Not disputing one word of what you have said but I fear you have got the "wrong end of the stick". The OP was talking about an illuminated room versus a dark exterior and your example was a detailed analysis of an illuminated room with daylight outside.

Mea culpa, but geometric optics is commutative!

8

Just Chat! / Re: Where do I get my confidence to challenge established theories?

« on: 22/11/2024 10:19:05 »

High voltage, high current and high frequency (65000Hz) through the body of Dr Irwin Moon!!!

High current through the body? I think not. Skin effect is significant at 65 kHz and any current greater than 10 mA through the heart can be fatal.

9

Just Chat! / Re: What's your advice on writing a series of story?

« on: 14/11/2024 19:26:17 »

Hemingway's sentences are short, and so are the words he uses. The UK civil service style manuals tell you to use the Anglo-Saxon word rather than the Norman French word wherever you have a choice - they advocate against sesquipedalianism!

Also worth studying Steinbeck. His background was journalism, so he knew how to tell a story with impact, and he also worked with the legendary "Doc": "The Log from the Sea of Cortez"  is a brilliant blend of scientific reporting (a marine biology expedition) and beautifully descriptive writing, with an underlying adventure almost as exciting as his war reports.

10

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 14/11/2024 08:17:27 »

And the result is still crap. See above.

11

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 12/11/2024 17:21:45 »

 

ChatGPT is monumentally stupid

Hardly surprising. In science there is usually one correct answer and an infinity of wrong ones. If you have a bot that scans the internet to form a consensus, it will at best give you a fuzzy answer, hedged about with "maybes", and at worst settle on popular nonsense rather than a little-known or counterintuitive truth.     

Fact is that friction is a combination of geometry and chemistry, which is why we like to make bearings with dissimilar metals: highly polished clean surfaces of the same metal tend to stick together, which is quite a problem in high-vacuum systems.   

12

Just Chat! / Re: Where do I get my confidence to challenge established theories?

« on: 10/11/2024 16:45:07 »

As usual, CHATGPT gives you the useless, childish answer it thinks you want. Just to pick up a small point: "debate" has no place in science. All scientific hypotheses are subject to mathematical or experimental disproof, and all scientific data is open for review.

Likewise the "theory of evolution" is a meaningless term coined by religious parasites and used by those who do not understand the business of science. Evolution is an observed phenomenon, not a theory.  If there  is no evidence of the existence of species A  prior to  a given date X, it must have either been created spontaneously at X or evolved from something else.

Lots of what politicians, journalists and civilians called "established science" has been proved wrong over time. No big deal - it just means the term has no value.

13

New Theories / Re: Return of Hitler, World war lll, nuclear warfare

« on: 01/11/2024 16:24:51 »

Evil, selfish, incompetent, incontinent, a  bankrupt, perverted, fascist traitor,  but not sick in the head. He knows exactly what he is doing.

He was elected the first time by the Press, and this time by the Democratic Party. All of whom should have known better.

14

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why Is There No Point For Taking Supplements?

« on: 31/10/2024 21:38:29 »

I recall Mo deficiency was discovered in a district of China about 50 years ago. Can't remember the details but the principal protein source was chicken whose feed was deficient, leading to weird symptoms of the human consumers.

For any hypochondriac supplement-junkies with a sense of adventure, there's plenty of MoS₂ in engine oil additives ("Molyslip"). But I'm not a nutritionist or toxicologist, so consult your doctor or wellness shaman before ferreting around in the garage!

15

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 29/10/2024 22:50:30 »

Maybe  in the future, our descendants will be able to harness the power of this motion to make a perpetual machine ?

Only if they repeal the most fundamental laws of physics and common sense. But I wouldn't put that past Donald Trump and the US Supreme Court..

16

Just Chat! / Re: Copout 29 on the way, what do you think?

« on: 29/10/2024 16:55:57 »

Amazing technological breakthrough! When I played the YouTube clips, I could actually smell the bullshit!

And isn't that what COP is all about?

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 29/10/2024 16:46:56 »

It makes them perpetual, but not machines because any model of an atom that invokes movement must require that movement to be essentially random. Heisenberg rules!

18

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why does Quantum Stuff Still Move At Absolute Zero ?

« on: 29/10/2024 15:30:02 »

Carnot efficiency is η = 1 - Tc/Th.

So if the theoretical efficiency of a heat engine is 100%, Tc must be zero. There's the definition!

19

Just Chat! / Re: What is the purpose of the conductor in an orchestra?

« on: 28/10/2024 13:06:57 »

Strict tempo has its place, whether for marching or dancing, but it isn't very interesting for a seated audience, and nor is strict adherence to constant volume (think the Motown "wall of sound" and the crap that passes for music in clubs for the aesthetically challenged), but it helps if everyone stays together throughout the variations.

Quote from Lesley Garrett, playing some of her recordings on the radio: "That was me versus the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Well, we started together and finished together, but I can only apologise for the bit in the middle." I know the feeling.

20

Just Chat! / Re: What is the purpose of the conductor in an orchestra?

« on: 28/10/2024 10:09:40 »

 

Surely if one has a good sense of time(something I lack) coupled with the sheet music, one has a pretty good idea?

Alas, no! And this from a bass player who is supposed to be holding the beat! Big bands spend most of the rehearsal time practicing introductions and endings, because everyone has a slightly different idea of tempo and tension. The most terrifying thing for a sight-reading deputy is that     last            NOTE!!!!   (sorry, chaps)


Apropos ES's contribution:

The orchestra was on tour. On the first night the conductor went sick. Panic meeting, but Second Viola said "No problem - I toured this book with John  two years ago, and I have his notes. I'll conduct until he recovers"

The tour went well, and on the last night the conductor had recovered enough to take the podium. Second Viola sat down, and First Viola said "Where the hell have you been for the last two weeks?"