Ok, thanks, but that's a little opaque. Is there any way to understand it in physical terms? What is it about the fact that metals conduct electricity that causes them to absorb a large part of the spectrum while dielectrics absorb very little?
I work in computer graphics so I use and am familiar with the fresnel equations governing reflections from conductors and dielectrics. My question is about the origin of these effects. As I understand it, the fresnel equations describe the 'average' result of myriad individual photon-material...
So the consensus is that it is possible (i.e. is allowed by the laws of physics as we know them), just astronomically impossible.
Bugger, I was hoping for a definitive no!
For the entire ball to tunnel through the wall, would a particular amount of energy be required? I understand that in...
I was having an argument with my sister last night about the limits of scientific knowledge (her beliefs encompass a more "spiritual" world view than mine) and she brought up quantum mechanics as an example of how weird things are possible (as peddlers of hocus-pocus love doing).
Leaving aside...
So it actually means something then! I think I first read that analogy in Stephen Hawking, or Brian Greene's books.
Okay, so the next part of my question: if space and time are not separate any more, but a malleable (by gravity) fabric we call spacetime, in what ways (other than ability to...
So what exactly is meant by time as a 4th dimension?
I've read in a couple of places a nice visualization of the effect of time dilation using velocity as a 4-component vector. Since the maximum possible velocity is the speed of light, as something travels through space at close to the speed...