Theoretical Physics [OT thread]

dmm · #1 March 1st, 2001, 11:35 PM

Yous guys is all stoopid. I happen to know, from watching the Disney movie "The Black Hole," that just inside the event horizon of black holes is a perfect place for evil scientists to have their secret laboratory. Sheesh! Get a ejerkayshun!

jimbob55 · #2 March 2nd, 2001, 01:15 AM

The speed of light is a constant. The speed of light depends on the media through which the light is travelling... So it's a variable constant?

Magnetising frogs seems a little cruel. How much power would it take to magnetise a human? If you didn't calibrate your field properly and were relying on it to protect against 14g acceleration your spleen could remain weightless as the rest of you was spread over the acceleration couch....

a philistine · #3 March 2nd, 2001, 01:32 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jimbob55:
The speed of light is a constant. The speed of light depends on the media through which the light is travelling... So it's a variable constant?

The speed of light (actually any electromagnetic radiation: radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays, etc.) in a vacuum is a constant (roughly 3x10^8 m/s) and that is what the "c" refers to in such equations as E=mc^2.

The speed that light travels is lower than c in various media (e.g. water, atmosphere, glass).

--A Philistine

Husky65 · #4 March 2nd, 2001, 02:39 AM

quote:
Originally posted by a philistine:
The speed of light (actually any electromagnetic radiation: radio waves, x-rays, gamma rays, etc.) in a vacuum is a constant (roughly 3x10^8 m/s) and that is what the "c" refers to in such equations as E=mc^2.

The speed that light travels is lower than c in various media (e.g. water, atmosphere, glass).

--A Philistine

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't light made to go faster than c quite recently (quite odd concept, light travelling faster than the speed of light..)

Derek · #5 March 2nd, 2001, 03:18 AM

You're not wrong. Read the rest of this thread, and the answer you seek, you shall find.

Derek

Suicide Junkie · #6 March 2nd, 2001, 07:42 PM

Nobody ever said that the magnet thing would be easy.

But the field would be uniform, and it magnetizes your atoms, not organs, or whatnot. All your atoms would be pulled with the same force, as long as the field is uniform. (otherwise, that frog would have been mush)

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 02 March 2001).]