Recent content by EnchantedEggs

Well, see what I want and what I can realistically have are two different things. I mean, in an absolutely ideal world I'd love to go back to uni to do a design degree. But, I'm not in a position to do that. Therefore, I am currently in the process of finding something I CAN do with the skills...

That is something I didn't mention - I am literally the only person on the programme without a Masters degree. So I do feel behind, though my supervisors seem to think it's not a problem (despite taking every opportunity to point out that "I should know this already"). I do think a Masters...

Thank you for the reply, I find it quite encouraging! The idea that it's ok to try lots of things before getting it right is something that's been said to me before, but I'm still working on internalising that. Also, I agree with the exercise part. Everything always seems a bit brighter after...

Kind of makes me wish life was more like a video game - where we could choose to reset back to one of those pivotal points in life and go in a different direction. Just to see where it leads! The PhD so far has been maybe a bit non-typical, since I was thrown into research from day one because...

Oh I've heard of those kind of schemes - aren't they kind of tricky to get into without an engineering background? Which company are you joining, if you don't mind me asking?

Well, that's my problem - I have no idea anymore. I've tried computer security, that wasn't for me. I don't seem to enjoy research. What does that leave? Teaching is definitely not for me. Programming doesn't seem to suit me either. So... Give up and go into finance? I mean, what else is there...

Hi all, I'm three months into my PhD after taking a 2 year break between it and my BSc to work in government. I went back to academia because I thought I wanted to be a scientist - a proper researcher! However, I'm finding that my enjoyment and motivation to do the work has fallen to zero. I...

Not really? I mean, all you've done is throw some equations at me. Also, the way you've defined reactance there, it's just plain ol' resistance. So reactance and resistance are the same thing? What I'm aiming for is an intuitive grasp of the physical significance of these properties. Can you...

Hi All, I'm just trying to get my head around circuit theory at the moment (really, really basic stuff, like what a capacitor is etc) and I've run up against some difficulties in separating out some definitions. The main one I'm wrestling with right now is the difference between the inductance...

I've gotten myself in a bit of a muddle here, I'm hoping you lovelies can help me out! So, the capacitance relates to the amount of charge a capacitor can store. Higher capacitance, greater charge. Greater stored charge, greater stored energy (right? or not?). So a higher capacitance means you...

Well, the derivative wrt t is: \frac{dF}{dt} = \frac{\partial F}{\partial x}\frac{dx}{dt} + \frac{\partial F}{\partial y}\frac{dy}{dt} + \frac{\partial F}{\partial x}\frac{dz}{dt} Setting this to zero and comparing it to the scalar product of the two vectors comprising the direction numbers...

Hi all, When you have a surface defined by F(x, y, z) = 0 where x = f(t), y= g(t) and z= h(t) and a point on this surface P_0 = (x_0, y_0, z_0) , could someone explain to me why a line through P_0 with direction numbers [\frac{dx}{dt}, \frac{dy}{dt}, \frac{dz}{dt}] is perpendicular to a...

Huh. Well, that makes more sense than the jumbled mess of stuff going on in my head. Thanks!

Well goodness me, that makes a whole lot more sense. Thanks! It's been so long since I studied physics, I really can't remember the details any more. It's pretty sad. I'll be up to speed soon, I hope!

Hi all, I'm struggling with the concept of angular frequency in the context of sinusoidal waves. We describe sinusoidal waves with equations like y(x,t) = Asin(kx-\omega t) , where \omega is the angular frequency, yes? But what does this quantity physically represent? The rate at which...