Newest Questions

There is a common myth that water flowing out from a sink should rotate in direction governed by on which hemisphere we are; this is shown false in many household experiments, but how to show it ...

What is Einstein's theory of Special relativity, in terms a lay person can follow?

A person drove 120 miles at 40 mph, then drove back the same 120 miles at 60 mph. What was their average speed? The average of the speeds is $$\frac{40\ \text{mph} +60\ \text{mph}}{2} = 50\ \text{mph}...

We've learned that the wave function of a particle collapses when we measure a particle's location. If it is found, it becomes more probable to find it a again in the same area, and if not the ...

I am wondering if someone could provide me with a formula that would tell me at what velocity a projectile can be launched from something using an electromagnetic field. The idea is much like a rail ...

I think it's clear enough that if you turn your bicycle's steering wheel left, while moving, and you don't lean left, the bike will fall over (to the right) as you turn. I figure this is because the ...

Where is the Monte Carlo method used in physics?

Physicists often refer to the energy of collisions between different particles. My question is: how is that energy calculated? Is that kinetic energy? Also, related to this question, I know that the ...

Why does the sky change color? Why is the sky blue during the day, red during sunrise/set and black during the night?

I know that there's big controversy between two groups of physicists: those who support string theory (most of them, I think) and those who oppose it. One of the arguments of the second group is that ...

I've been using the term "sound" all my life, but I really have no clue as to what sound exactly is or how it is created. What is sound? How is it produced? Can it be measured?

Hamilton's principle states that a dynamic system always follows a path such that its action integral is stationary (that is, maximum or minimum). Why should the action integral be stationary? On ...

What are the main problems that we need to solve to prove Laplace's determinism correct and overcome the Uncertainty principle?

This is a question that has been posted at many different forums, I thought maybe someone here would have a better or more conceptual answer than I have seen before: Why do physicists care about ...

How would you explain string theory to non-physicists such as myself? I'm especially interested in how plausible is it and what is needed to successfully prove it?