Category Archives: Experiments

A Quantum Computation Course

Physicist: I’ve been a little busy to post much here for a while, but you may be interested in what I’m working on, so here it is.  I’m teaching an introductory course on quantum information and computation, and the primary … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Computer Science, Entropy/Information, Experiments, Math, Philosophical, Physics, Probability, Quantum Theory | 9 Comments

Q: How can I set up a random gift exchange that’s different from year to year?

The original question was: I’ve got a large family and we do a yearly gift exchange one person to one person. And I’d like to make a algorithm or something to do random selection without repeating for some time. And … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Combinatorics, Experiments, Math | 2 Comments

Q: If light is a wave, then what’s doing the waving?

Physicist: In short: nothing.  Light acts like a wave, but unlike sound waves, light isn’t a material that’s moving back-and-forth. Waves are a coordinated movement of atoms.  A wave itself isn’t made of anything, it’s just a propagating motion through … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Experiments, Physics | 38 Comments

Gravity Waves!

Physicist: A few days ago we managed to detect gravity waves for the first time.  Gravity waves were predicted a century ago by Einstein as a consequence of his general theory of relativity.  This success isn’t too surprising from a … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Experiments, Physics | 18 Comments

Q: Is geocentrism really so wrong? Is the Sun being at the “center” (i.e. the Earth orbiting the Sun) just an arbitrary reference frame decision, and no more true than the Earth being at the center?

Physicist: When you walk around in this big crazy world, there aren’t any immediate reasons to suspect that the ground under your feet is doing anything more than sitting perfectly still (ring of fire notwithstanding).  Given that, when you look … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Astronomy, Experiments, Physics, Relativity | 19 Comments

Q: How many times do you need to roll dice before you know they’re loaded?

Physicist: A nearly equivalent question might be “how can you prove freaking anything?”. In empirical science (science involving tests and whatnot) things are never “proven”.  Instead of asking “is this true?” or “can I prove this?” a scientist will often … Continue reading

Posted in -- By the Physicist, Experiments, Math, Philosophical, Skepticism | 5 Comments