ZAP PhysicsIn this video, we talk about how physicists perform calculations in particle physics using perturbation theory and Feynman diagrams. We discuss what perturbation theory is, how it relates to Feynman diagrams, how to read Feynman diagrams and how one actually gets a mathematical result out of Feynman diagrams.
Feynman Diagrams and Perturbation Theory: Calculating in Particle PhysicsZAP Physics2021-06-07 | In this video, we talk about how physicists perform calculations in particle physics using perturbation theory and Feynman diagrams. We discuss what perturbation theory is, how it relates to Feynman diagrams, how to read Feynman diagrams and how one actually gets a mathematical result out of Feynman diagrams.Why is Einsteins mass-energy equivalence so famous?ZAP Physics2024-05-13 | This is the greatest equation of All Time.
Final audio of Einstein explaining the mass-energy equivalence from: https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/E=mcsquared/index.html
0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Deriving the Equation 7:14 - Massless Particles 8:20 - Massive Particles 10:29 - Physical Consequences 11:55 - Why is it so Famous? 21:50 - OutroStandard Model Part 8: Spicing Up the Standard ModelZAP Physics2024-04-11 | In the last installment of the standard model series, we round out the discussion by covering the fermions and the fascinating world of flavor physics!
00:00 - Intro/recap 01:33 - Lepton Flavor Universality 02:24 - Another Charged Lepton? 04:50 - Isospin and Decays 06:58 - Kaons and Strangeness 09:22 - Proceed at Own Risk! 09:41 - Rare Kaon Decays 12:45 - Quark Mixing: Cabibo Matrix 19:03 - Complex Phases: CP Violation 20:38 - Neutral Kaon Mixing 25:00 - Quark Recap 26:20 - OutroUnifying the Forces: Electroweak Theory (Standard Model Part 7)ZAP Physics2022-12-15 | In this video, we will go over how the weak and electromagnetic interactions can be unified into a single, electroweak interaction. This interaction not only explains several weird quirks of the standard model, but also makes several very important predictions.
Full Standard Model Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-RmwJq2kMwkDEUJwf1fmMi7ucxQZUVjMWhats Up with Weak Decays? (Standard Model Part 6)ZAP Physics2022-02-21 | In this chapter, we discuss particle decays in order to introduce a brand new interaction into the standard model: the weak interaction.
Full Standard Model Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-RmwJq2kMwkDEUJwf1fmMi7ucxQZUVjMLets Learn Physics: A Whole New (Quantum) WorldZAP Physics2021-11-21 | Last time, we took a bit of an extrapolation from classical mechanics, seeing that the structure of canonical transformations mirrored that of Fourier transforms. This gave us an equation (the Schrödinger equation) which did not obey the rules of classical mechanics. Two main questions that we will answer this time are: what do solutions to this equation describe? and is this actually physical/can it make predictions that are observed in reality?What is Spin?ZAP Physics2021-10-24 | Spin in quantum mechanics is an incredibly interesting property. However, it can be very difficult to understand what exactly it is. In this video, we dispel some misconceptions about spin as well as answer some of the more frequently asked questions about spin.
#physics #quantumColorful Quantum Mechanics (Standard Model Part 5)ZAP Physics2021-09-16 | Introducing quarks is great, but it seems to introduce more questions than it answers. In this video, we will take a look at how to resolve some of the seeming problems that arise in the quark model by introducing color charges, gluons and the quantum chromodynamics!
0:00 Questions from Quarks 1:27 Dubious Delta Baryons 2:45 New Quantum Numbers 9:58 A Brand New Force! 14:50 Curious Coupling Constants 18:30 RecapLets Learn Physics: A Surprise to Be Sure, but a Welcome OneZAP Physics2021-09-12 | In this stream, we will look at how to incorporate more general "canonical transformations" into our Hamiltonian framework. Along the way, we will see some very deep relations between transformations, symmetries, and conservation, as well as some other interesting relations between parameters. Comparing some of these relations with some previous mathematical results, we will find something quite amazing!Lets Learn Physics: Chaos in Phase SpaceZAP Physics2021-08-22 | We have seen how Hamiltonian mechanics can be used to solve for the dynamics of physical systems. It turns out that there is quite a bit of hidden power in this formalism in that we can prove some fairly general statements about physics as a whole. We will see one of these results, known as Liouville's theorem, in this stream. We will also introduce the idea of chaos in physics and connect the two by looking at the evolution of chaotic systems in phase space.Baryons and Mesons and Quarks, Oh My! (Standard Model Part 4)ZAP Physics2021-08-12 | We continue our discussion of the standard model of particle physics by looking at how the large number of hadrons observed in the mid-20th century can be explained by just a few, simple quarks.
Pretty Much Physics' video on Clebsch-Gordan Coefficients: youtube.com/watch?v=UPyf9ntr-B8Lets Learn Physics: The Gravity of Hamiltonian MechanicsZAP Physics2021-08-08 | Last time, we went through a bunch of formalism to find a new way of doing classical mechanics which did not rely on our specific choice of coordinates, namely Hamiltonian mechanics. Now, we will see just how useful this formalism can be in simplifying physics problems!Renormalization: The Art of Erasing InfinityZAP Physics2021-07-18 | Renormalization is perhaps one of the most controversial topics in high-energy physics. On the surface, it seems entirely ad-hoc and made up to subtract divergences which appear in particle physics calculations. However, when we dig a little deeper, we see that renormalization is nothing to be afraid of and that it is perfectly mathematically valid!
0:00 Intro 1:20 Source of Divergences 3:30 A Simple Analogy 8:20 Renormalization in Particle PhysicsLets Learn Physics: Coordinates? What Coordinates?ZAP Physics2021-07-04 | Dealing with a fixed set of coordinates can be clunky and inconvenient, but in Newtonian mechanics, this is often what we have to do. Then, using various tricks and logical gymnastics, we can work out sensible equations of motion. However, this becomes very difficult when systems start to get complicated. So, wouldn't it be great if we could figure out a system where we can choose whatever coordinates will be most convenient to the problem? This is exactly what we will find in Hamiltonian mechanics: a completely coordinate-independent framework of classical mechanics!Lets Learn Physics: Fun with Fourier TransformsZAP Physics2021-05-23 | We have now discussed the Fourier series and how it shows up as a solution to the wave equation with certain boundary conditions. We also have seen how this can be generalized to the Fourier transform when we get rid of these special boundary conditions. Here, we will look at the Fourier transform more in-depth to see how it can be used as an important tool for solving difficult differential equations as well as finding some interesting relations that will be very useful for quantum mechanics.Adding the Neutrino (Standard Model Part 3)ZAP Physics2021-05-02 | In the early days of quantum mechanics, nuclear decays were a popular topic of study. During this time, beta decays in particular posed a potentially huge problem by seemingly violating the conservation of energy. The solution came in the form of a brand new particle, the neutrino.
Full Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-RmwJq2kMwkDEUJwf1fmMi7ucxQZUVjMLets Learn Physics: Good Vibrations from Wave EquationsZAP Physics2021-04-15 | The wave equation is not only important due to the fact that it describes many different physical phenomena, but also because it naturally leads us to some very interesting mathematical results and techniques. In this stream, we will talk about methods we can use to solve the wave equation with various boundary conditions, including the method of images and Fourier series for different types of functions. We will see that the latter is very similar to decomposing vectors in 3-dimensional space into orthonormal basis vectors where the analog of the basis vectors is played by sets of basis functions which satisfy their own version of orthonormality. Finally, we will introduce the idea of a Fourier transform and duality in physics.Antiparticles and C, P, and T Transformations (The Standard Model Part 2)ZAP Physics2021-03-31 | Before we start adding more particles to the standard model, we have to address an elephant in the room. When we try to make special relativity consistent with quantum mechanics, we find that some solutions to the theory don't seem to make sense. In this video, we will show how these can actually be interpreted as additional particles (antiparticles) which we must always take into account when adding new particles to the standard model!
Part 1 here: youtu.be/qtf6U3FfDNQLets Learn Physics: All About OscillatorsZAP Physics2021-03-18 | Harmonic oscillators are incredibly fundamental to almost all areas of physics. But how do we deal with systems that have more than one harmonic oscillators which all talk to each other? In this stream, we will discuss how to solve systems of coupled harmonic oscillators using the method of normal mode decomposition. We will then move on to deriving the wave equation by taking the limit of infinitely many coupled harmonic oscillators. Thinking about the underlying symmetries will give us our first hints as to why we might need a theory beyond Galilean relativity.Symmetry and Quantum Electrodynamics (The Standard Model Part 1)ZAP Physics2021-03-07 | The Standard Model of Particle Physics is an absolutely incredible theory and a triumph of modern physics capable of explaining almost all of the physical phenomena we observe in nature. However, to understand it, we need to dive into some deep ideas including symmetry and how these relate to conserved quantities in physics. Here, we begin our journey of the standard model by introducing these ideas an showing how they can be used to arrive at one of the most successful theories in history: quantum electrodynamics.Lets Learn Physics: The Magic of Small NumbersZAP Physics2021-02-18 | Up to this point on our physics journey, we have talked about a lot of exactly solvable systems. These systems are great as examples, but can be a little...boring. So how do we approach systems which are more interesting, but aren't necessarily exactly solvable? One answer is that we can use a mathematical trick known as a Taylor series approximation to get a result which is close enough to the exact result that we can get an idea of the general behavior of the system we care about.Where are the Extra Dimensions?ZAP Physics2021-01-24 | We know that there are four dimensions to our universe. But could there be more? It sounds like science fiction, but it turns out that these extra dimensions could certainly exist and would be very hard to detect under the right circumstances. In fact, theories like string theory actually rely on extra dimensions to be self-consistent.
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LAKEY INSPIRED Track Names: "WARM NIGHTS" Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED
'Homie Cat' ● Track Name: 'Sweet In Bitter,' 'Childhood Imagination' ● Official "Homie Cat" SoundCloud HERE - soundcloud.com/homie-cat ● Official "Homie Cat" Instagram HERE - instagram.com/homiecatbeats ● DOWNLOAD @ chilloutmedia.com/download License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 4.0) License. ● Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comLets Learn Physics: We Need a Moment (of Inertia!)ZAP Physics2021-01-14 | Up to this point, we have talked a bit about angular momentum, but only with regards to things we treated as point particles. Obviously, this isn't super physical, so let's talk about how to deal with angular momentum of extended objects by learning about moments of inertia.Lets Learn Physics: Back to WorkZAP Physics2020-12-24 | In these streams, we have talked about work and energy already. However, we only did so in the case of one-dimensional systems. Since, we have started talking more about higher-dimensional systems, so it would be great to generalize these notions as well. To do so, we will need to start talking a bit about vector calculus and then apply those tools to arrive at suitable definitions for work and energy. From these, we can start exploring some interesting relations and deep results.Did Newton Predict Black Holes?ZAP Physics2020-12-08 | In physics, there exists two main theories of gravity: general relativity and Newtonian gravity. While Newton's theory works wonders in most cases, we know that it must break down at some point and should be replaced with general relativity.
General relativity predicts the existence of black holes: objects with such a strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape them once they pass the event horizon. But does Newton's theory secretly predict that black holes should exist?
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'Homie Cat' ● Track Name: 'Childhood Imagination' ● Official "Homie Cat" SoundCloud HERE - soundcloud.com/homie-cat ● Official "Homie Cat" Instagram HERE - instagram.com/homiecatbeats ● DOWNLOAD @ chilloutmedia.com/download License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 4.0) License. ● Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comNeutrinos: The Gateways to Nu PhysicsZAP Physics2020-11-09 | There are many observations that tell us that we need some new physics beyond the standard model. However, there are very few indications as to where to look: the standard model agrees remarkably well with experiment and is mathematically consistent. Luckily, there is a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of neutrino oscillations and masses. In this video, we will talk about what neutrinos actually are, how they talk to other particles, why they are massless in the standard model, and how we know that they have mass in reality.
0:00 Intro 1:30 What is a neutrino? 4:15 Why are SM neutrinos massless? 6:00 Why do neutrinos have mass?
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LAKEY INSPIRED Track Names: "WARM NIGHTS" Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED
'Homie Cat' ● Track Name: 'Sweet In Bitter,' 'Childhood Imagination' ● Official "Homie Cat" SoundCloud HERE - soundcloud.com/homie-cat ● Official "Homie Cat" Instagram HERE - instagram.com/homiecatbeats ● DOWNLOAD @ chilloutmedia.com/download License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 4.0) License. ● Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com
"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comBlack Hole Physics: 2020 Nobel Prize in PhysicsZAP Physics2020-10-07 | The 2020 Nobel Prizes have been announced and this year's laureates in physics are Sir Roger Penrose, Dr. Reinhard Genzel, and Dr. Andrea Ghez for their contributions to black hole physics: Penrose, for his discovery of trapped surfaces, which took black holes from being possible flukes of highly symmetric mathematical systems to actual physical predictions of general relativity, and Genzel and Ghez for their discovery of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comLets Learn Physics: Putting a Spin on PhysicsZAP Physics2020-10-01 | Things rotate all around us: from the tiniest molecules to the largest galaxy clusters. Naturally, we need a good way of describing these rotating objects within our framework of classical mechanics. In this stream, we will find a new conservation law (conservation of angular momentum) and see some of its consequences as well as talking about some of the kinds of forces we need to apply to make things rotate.Lets Learn Physics: Fan FrictionZAP Physics2020-09-10 | Friction is ever-abundant in our world, so we should be able to write down some laws which describe the physics of friction. In this stream, we will introduce both static friction and kinetic friction and solve problems involving both!How to Visualize Quantum Field TheoryZAP Physics2020-08-31 | Quantum field theory has made incredible advancements in physics and technology possible and is arguably the most successful theory in all of physics. But what exactly is it? How can we visualize a quantum field theory? Let's run some simulations to see how we can interpret this complicated subject in a simple way!
'Homie Cat' ● Track Name: 'Sweet In Bitter,' 'Childhood Imagination' ● Official "Homie Cat" SoundCloud HERE - soundcloud.com/homie-cat ● Official "Homie Cat" Instagram HERE - instagram.com/homiecatbeats ● DOWNLOAD @ chilloutmedia.com/download License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 4.0) License. ● Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com
"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comLets Learn Physics: Adding Some DimensionZAP Physics2020-08-27 | Up to this point in our streams, we have only dealt with one-dimensional physics. But of course, our universe has 3 (spatial) dimensions! Let's develop some more tools, namely vectors, and see how we can apply them to the physics we already know!Lets Learn Physics: A Lot of Work (and Energy)ZAP Physics2020-08-13 | The concept of energy is one of the most important ideas in physics. It appears everywhere in physical settings and can be used to vastly simplify problems. In this stream, we will derive the conservation of energy, give physical interpretations to potential and kinetic energy as well as introduce the idea of work.Why Adding Velocities Does Not Work in Special RelativityZAP Physics2020-08-09 | Special relativity is counter-intuitive in a lot of ways. But perhaps the result which is the most confusing for people seeing it for the first time is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. It seems straightforward that this can't be true, right? I someone is travelling at 0.5c relative to you and they throw a ball at 0.6c relative to them, clearly you see that same ball travel at 1.1c, and it is going faster than the speed of light! If this is the case, then special relativity has contradicted itself! So, we have to dive deeper into the assumptions we make and the framework we are working in when we assume that velocities simply add together like this. What we find is that there is a surprising rule for the addition of velocities in relativity!
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"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com
'Low Frequency Music' Track Name: 'Good Day' Music By: Low Frequency Music @ soundcloud.com/user-551516820 License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License. Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comLets Learn Physics: Newtons Laws in a New LightZAP Physics2020-07-30 | Newton's Laws are the backbone of classical physics, and were fundamental for the advancement of physics in general. But where do they come from? In this stream we will find Newton's laws the same way that a modern theoretical physicist might create a new theory: by thinking about symmetry. Once we have the laws, we can then use them in some interesting examples.Lets Learn Physics! The Beginnings (Calculus and Kinematics)ZAP Physics2020-07-23 | Physics is an incredibly deep and interesting topic with many amazing results. However, with so much to learn, it can be difficult to find a good place to start. In this stream, we will learn the basic building blocks necessary to do our first physics problems!What is the Smallest Thing Possible? [ft. Everything Science]ZAP Physics2020-07-08 | Check out our video over on Everything Science's channel: youtube.com/watch?v=tg1OAti1hFU
Things in our universe are get really small. So small that the sizes very quickly become unimaginable. Asking what the smallest thing that we know of is is an interesting question to consider. But an even more interesting question is what the smallest thing possible is. The answer blends together quantum mechanics, special relativity, and general relativity in an incredible way.
Music credit: 'Low Frequency Music' Track Name: 'Good Day' Music By: Low Frequency Music @ soundcloud.com/user-551516820 License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License. Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com
"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comHow to Get Classical Physics from Quantum MechanicsZAP Physics2020-05-31 | We tend to think of Classical Physics as straightforward and intuitive and Quantum Mechanics as difficult and conceptually challenging. However, this is not always the case! In classical mechanics, a standard technique for finding the evolution equations for a system is the method of least action, where a functional known as the action is minimized to find the equations of motion. Inside of the action lives a mysterious function known as the Lagrangian. While mundane on the surface, it raises some serious questions on how to interpret classical mechanics.
To answer these questions, we must turn to quantum mechanics, and specifically the Feynman path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. This video shows how to get from the world of quantum mechanics to that of classical physics by a straightforward analogy to the ticking of stopwatches.
'Homie Cat' ● Track Name: 'Sweet In Bitter,' 'Childhood Imagination' ● Official "Homie Cat" SoundCloud HERE - soundcloud.com/homie-cat ● Official "Homie Cat" Instagram HERE - instagram.com/homiecatbeats ● DOWNLOAD @ chilloutmedia.com/download License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 4.0) License. ● Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.com
"Who I Want To Be" Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat" • Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be • Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) • See More @ https://www.LoFi-HipHop.comWhats the Difference Between Fermions and Bosons?ZAP Physics2020-04-20 | Often, when physicists talk about particles, they classify them in two fundamentally different classes: fermions and bosons. But, outside of name, what's the difference between these? How different can particles really be?
As it turns out, the answer to this question comes from how the wavefunctions of systems change when exchanging two identical particles. This small difference has huge consequences in the physics of the two different types of particles.
Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED Track Names: "BETTER DAYS," "NEW DAY" Music By: LAKEY INSPIREDCan Temperatures Go Below Absolute Zero?ZAP Physics2020-03-29 | Absolute zero: the coldest anything can ever get. To reach this temperature, all motion in the system must completely stop, something which is impossible according to quantum mechanics. So, if we can never hope to even reach absolute zero, it would seem that it is ridiculous to even consider temperatures below that. However, if we generalize our definition of what we mean by temperature to include systems where the traditional definition fails, we find that it is not only possible to reach negative absolute temperatures, but in fact, it is relatively simple to do.
Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED Track Names: "BETTER DAYS," "NEW DAY," "WARM NIGHTS" Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED
Official SoundCloud soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired Official YouTube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCOmy8wuTpC95lefU5d1dt2Q License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode Music promoted by: Chill Out Records @ goo.gl/fh3rEJ www.ChillOutMedia.com / www.LoFi-HipHop.com3 Common Misconceptions About Quantum Mechanics [ft. Higgsino Physics]ZAP Physics2019-08-29 | Quantum mechanics is a complicated subject. Not only can it be incredibly mathematically challenging, but it also inherently goes against our intuition about how the world around us works. This naturally leads to misconceptions about the subject arising from either misunderstandings or miscommunications. This can give people the wrong ideas about quantum mechanics and these (often incorrect) interpretations can frequently be seen in pop-culture or even spiritual/religious ideals. Higgsino physics joins me in trying to dispel three of these common misconceptions about quantum mechanics.
Higgsino Physics: youtube.com/channel/UC02-e6K7o5_bPw0weXh3W3gA Defense of the Centrifugal ForceZAP Physics2019-06-30 | Many people who have taken an intro-level physics course probably heard their instructor tell them that "centrifugal forces don't exist" or something similar. But what does it mean for a force to not be real? It turns out that the centrifugal force falls under what is known as a "fictitious force," or a force that arises from being in a non-inertial reference frame. These types of forces may not have the same origin as a typical external force like gravity or tension, but they still have very real physical consequences for observers in the non-inertial frame.
► Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED Track Name: "Blue Boi" Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED @ soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired Original upload HERE - youtube.com/watch?v=wAukvwLCVbM Official "LAKEY INSPIRED" YouTube Channel HERE - youtube.com/channel/UCOmy8wuTpC95lefU5d1dt2Q License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License. Full License HERE - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJCan the Second Law of Thermodynamics Be Broken?ZAP Physics2019-04-28 | The second law of thermodynamics is incredibly important in scientific fields ranging from physics to chemistry to biology and has been used to explain many natural phenomena. It is so well established that Sir Aurthur Eddington said, "if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation." However, despite this, we can use statistical mechanics and come up with a very simple system that seems to violate the second law. How can this be? Is statistical mechanics wrong? Well, we have to remember that thermodynamics is essentially the theory for huge systems, so we have to look at the statistical system in the limit where we have a very large system. Unsurprisingly, we see the second law very naturally arise from taking this limit, where the highest entropy states have a significantly higher likelyhood of being occupied than low entropy states.
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/ZapPhysicsWhat does 1+2+3+... REALLY equal and what does it have to do with particle physics?ZAP Physics2019-03-31 | The sum of natural numbers, 1+2+3+..., is a fairly regularly cited sum to show off the strange nature of mathematics. This is mainly due to the fact that it can (seemingly) easily be shown to be equal to -1/12. That's right. Not only is the result finite, it is also a fraction as well as negative! This seems completely crazy and that's because there is an important factor of infinity that is hidden from view when proving this in the usual ways. So let's find out what this sum is equal to while still retaining this mysterious hidden infinity. The way of doing this is through what is known as regularization of the series (which is secretly done is the normal way of evaluating this sum as well).
This parallels nicely to a technique in physics known as renormalization, where we take infinities that show up like this and hide them in other places, like the masses and charges of particles. This allows us to have finite physics, but we lose the ability to predict these quantities.
Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/ZapPhysicsWhy Do Universal Constants Show Up and Why Can We Get Rid of Them?ZAP Physics2019-02-24 | Often times, the same constants show up in our theories over and over again. This may seem mysterious at first, but what exactly does this tell us about the universe? Typically, these constants end up being nothing more than conversion factors, allowing us to connect two quantities that originally seemed completely separate. For, example, in special relativity, light travels the same distance in the same amount of time in every inertial reference frame. This tells us that space and time are fundamentally linked and we made a bad assumption that they were two disconnected things. We see similar trends in other theories, like quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. But if these constants are nothing more than conversion factors, then there's no reason to keep them around to clutter up our equations! We just have to choose units for the relevant quantities in our theory which will allow us to get rid of the constants. This is known as using "natural units" and is done quite often in theoretical physics.
However, not all theories agree on what units certain quantities should have. For example, the units of distance and time in general relativity seem to be inverted from those that are found in quantum field theory if we set all universal constants to one in both theories! To alleviate this, we can't completely get rid of all of the constants in both theories.
• Music promoted by NCM: goo.gl/fh3rEJEntropy is NOT About DisorderZAP Physics2019-02-10 | Entropy is often taught as a measure of how disordered or how mixed up a system is, but this definition never really sat right with me. How is "disorder" defined and why is one way of arranging things any more disordered than another? It wasn't until much later in my physics career that I learned a much better way of thinking of entropy: in terms of information.
In statistical mechanics, we try to substitute exact descriptions of systems for descriptions based on probabilities and average states. However, in doing so, we sacrifice information about the precise state of the system, so we introduce entropy to account for this ignored information. With this in mind, we can derive a relatively simple expression for the entropy corresponding to the large-scale behaviors of a system. Once we do that, we can apply it to a simple system to make sure that our definition works as it is supposed to.
As it turns out, this definition of entropy has more applications than just to thermodynamics. It is often used to study quantum entanglement and when applied to black holes, it sparked the search for a quantum theory of gravity.
Check out Higgsino Physics's video on entropy: youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7H6bKbp24Whos Actually Younger? (Paradoxes in Special Relativity: The Twin Paradox)ZAP Physics2019-01-19 | One of the more famous supposed paradoxes in special relativity is known as the twin paradox. Time dilation tells us that moving observers age slower than stationary observers. The issue comes from the fact that (inertial) observers in special relativity always feel like they are stationary, so how do we tell the difference between who is moving and who is staying still? For this, we have to use the Lorentz transformation to show that one of our observers is not truly an inertial observer and therefore had to travel in two different directions.Why Do Things Explode?ZAP Physics2018-12-29 | Why do some things explode and some things only burn? Why do some things do neither? As it turns out, the answer has multiple parts. The first has to do with stored, or potential, energy which can be converted to other forms of energy like kinetic energy, light, heat and sound. To release this energy, chemicals have to be supplied with a certain amount of activation energy. This activation energy determines the sensitivity of the compound. The final element has to do with the speed at which the reaction takes place. Some reactions are limited by outside components, so the stored energy can only be released very slowly, leading to a burn. However, other compounds can release their energy very fast, leading to a more explosive result.How to Solve Unsolvable Problems in PhysicsZAP Physics2018-12-12 | Real-world systems are complicated. Much more complicated than any fundamental physics model can handle. Take, for example, a simple glass of water. This glass of water has an unimaginable number of molecules, each made up of several individual atoms which are themselves made up of their own constituent particles. Trying to explain this system with, say, fundamental particle physics would be an impossible feat, even with access to all of the world's strongest supercomputers. So how do we go about solving these unsolvable problems? We resort to statistical mechanics!Is Special Relativity Broken? (Paradoxes in Special Relativity: Train Paradox)ZAP Physics2018-12-01 | At first glance, it seems as though paradoxes, or contradictions, arise in special relativity. One of these is known as the train (or ladder) paradox and comes from the introduction of length contraction. As a train passes through a tunnel, the two reference frames (train's and tunnel's) experience very different events. If we rely on our classical intuition, it seems that two different realities unfold in the two different reference frames. But how can this be? As it turns out, we can use the Lorentz transformations to show that there is nothing wrong with special relativity, and the problem lies with our intuition.