HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel)
Subject: Re: Specific Heat
Organization: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:02:26 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.021132.5417@radford.vak12ed.edu>
kgrossha@radford.vak12ed.edu (Kurt Grosshans) writes:
>jdebruyn@newton.physics.mun.ca  writes:
>> Now for the point which prompted me to post in the first place -
>> why the #$%%& did the original poster ask for this info over the
>> net? Why didn't he look it up in HIS CRC Handbook?
>
>Point 2 is not [well taken]. The CRC is a reference tool. So is the computer.
>What's the problem?

     The problem is that Usenet is not a computer.  It is a bunch of
people communicating through computers.  You are using us as your
"reference tools".  Most of us are willing to look up hard-to-find data
when we know where it is and think it possible that few others do
(that's what makes Usenet work), but when you ask for readily available
information, you should consider yourself lucky if you get that
information along with a mild rebuttal.  We're not your personal
librarians.

				Marc R. Roussel
                                mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca
Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: heke@stekt.oulu.fi (Heikki Paananen)
Subject: MCP information, Where?
Organization: University of Oulu, Dept. of EE, Finland
Distribution: sci
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 12:33:52 GMT

Greetings,

Need some info about micro channel plates. 
Wondering, is there any book discussing the usage of MCPs.

Any help appreciated,

Thanks,
  Heke
------------------------------------------------------------
Heikki Paananen                           heke@stekt.oulu.fi
The University of Oulu                     
Department of electrical engineering    
Finland
------------------------------------------------------------
               Home is where the heart lies,
            but if the heart lies where is home?
                                           -Fish















Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: c.brennan@student.utas.edu.au (chris brennan)
Subject: Re: Computer Program Idea - Help!!
Organization: University of Tasmania
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 07:32:34 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.35540.4531@ms.uky.edu>, msunde01@mik.uky.edu (Mark Stephen Underwood) writes:
> 
> 
>      I am currently trying to teach myself the C++ programming language  
> and am in need of a "project" to work on - one that will be interesting   
> and useful, rather than the usual boring stuff (in other words, my mind  
> has drawn a blank).  I was wondering if any of you had any ideas of a  
> utility or other handy little program that you always wished you could  
> have on your PC (or whatever), possibly of the Personal Information  
> Manager or Handle-those-Dumb-little-Calculations-I-Keep-Having-to-do or  
> possibly even something to handle some experimental data.


Well most video cards can have upto four pages (screens) of text in memory
which can be switched in with a bios call (ibm's i'm talking about)
so a little tsr which switched screen pages would be great.

This could be done by copying what's on the screen (page0 usually)
to page1,2,or 3 or by simply issuing a bios call to int10. The trick
part is setting the thing up as a tsr, and doing the bios call
when dos isn't busy or simply swapping the two screen pages around.

>      If you do, I would greatly appreciate an idea to work on while I  
> learn.  Please describe the nature of the "problem" and any relevant  
> input/output needs, and maybe in a few months I'll actually be able to do  
> something useful.  If you need something of a VERY technical nature  
> (something in math/science/whatever) that I have no experience in yet I  
> will also need help with relevant equations, concepts, or whatever.
>      Thank you.
> 
> --
> 			By your leave,
> 			
> 				Mark S. Underwood
> 				Electrical Engineering Student
> 				University of Kentucky
> 				msunde01@mik.uky.edu
> 				
> P.S.  This is a (somewhat) serious request from a programming novice, so  
> please do not ask me to write a program that solves the three-body problem  
> or does anything else extremely hard, or does anything impossible.
> 
> 
Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld)
Subject: Re: EINSTEIN'S SCHOOL DAYS
Organization: University of Toronto Physics/Astronomy/CITA
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 22:33:21 GMT

In article <17241@mindlink.bc.ca> Gordon_Wong@mindlink.bc.ca (Gordon Wong) writes:
>I read that Einstein was a very poor student in his early years. Was it
>because he just didn't bother to go to school because he found that what was
>being taught just wasn't stimulating enough for him or was it something else?

   It was, I am told, due primarily to historian error (and likely a dose
of wishful thinking).
   European schools did and do use a system assigning numbers in place of
the american letter-grade system. A student's mark was summarized by a
number from one to five. Now, I believe that at present a good mark is a
'1', and a poor mark is '5'. It wasn't always so, though. When young
Einstein began school the mapping was opposite to the way it is now.
Partway through his schooling they changed to the modern convention.
   Now, some historian goes back and looks at Einstein's old report cards
and sees that he went from earning '4' and '5' to earning '1' and '2' all
of a sudden, partway through his career. "Well," (s)he says smugly to
(her)himself, "look at that! I got a better math mark in grade three than
Albert Einstein!"
   The quick answer, according to news reports which came out about two
years ago, is that Einstein was always a very good student throughout
his schooling. Of course, there is that famous quote by some math
professor allegedly telling Einstein that he "would never amount to
much", but that doesn't necessarily mean he was doing badly in that
course, either.

-- 
 Christopher Neufeld....Just a graduate student  | Don't let your mind
 neufeld@helios.physics.utoronto.ca    Ad astra  | wander -- it's too little
 utzoo.utoronto.ca!generic!cneufeld              | to be let out alone.
 "Don't edit reality for the sake of simplicity" |
Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: frisinv@alleg.edu
Subject: Re: EINSTEIN'S SCHOOL DAYS
Organization: Allegheny College
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 12:37:49 GMT

In article <TORKEL.92Nov8011711@bast.sics.se> torkel@sics.se (Torkel  
Franzen) writes:
> In article <BxDAnL.Bnp@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>  
neufeld@helios.physics.
> utoronto.ca (Christopher Neufeld) writes:
> 
>    >The quick answer, according to news reports which came out about two
>    >years ago, is that Einstein was always a very good student  
throughout
>    >his schooling.
> 
>   Indeed Pais, in "Subtle is the Lord..." says that "contrary to popular
> belief, [Einstein] earned high marks in elementary as well as high  
school."

One of the little artifacts I've aquired over the years is a complete set  
of Einstein's report cards. He did quite well in school. Although his  
grades were not spectacular, I'd not say that he did poorly at any point. 

Vincent Frisina
From: jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Carr)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: NASA Coverup
Date: 8 Nov 92 21:36:30 GMT
Reply-To: jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu (Jim Carr)
Organization: SCRI, Florida State University

Thanks snarfy, I need that! 

I liked the way you started out with Newton.  Of course, the mass of the 
moon has nothing to do with its orbital properties, making this a nice 
diversionary tactic.  Until an object actually orbited the moon so we 
could observe its dynamics, estimates of its mass were based on models, 
which means guesses. 

I also liked the emphasis on the misses.  As long as your audience does 
not think about just how hard it is to hit this target even if you knew 
its mass exactly, this is also a good diversionary tactic.  The fact that 
the first russian shot came as close as it did is an indication that the 
situation was pretty well under control.  The fact that we did worse for 
some time will surprise no one who remembers those early days of the 
space race.  We stunk.  But all of this is of no significance without 
some indication of *how* we missed!  Were the misses systematic in a 
direction indicating a miscalculation, or were they random?  If it 
was just a miscalculation, we should have hit on the second try after 
feeding the trajectory data into the model.  In fact, since we could 
track the russian probe, we should have hit on our first try....

But I will add my own tidbit.  I have heard that a computer code for 
calculating trajectories for the Apollo mission actually had the *sign* 
of the moon's gravity wrong.  They caught the mistake, but anyone care 
to see how bad we would miss with that big of an error? 

So this lengthy argument boils down to numbers quoted in a newsmagazine. 
Since interviews in 1969 would coincide with plans for construction 
in space, many of which involve L5 or other lagrange points than the 
saddle point on the line between earth and moon, journalistic errors 
of one sort or another is the most likely explanation of this conundrum. 

I know plenty of people who saw the launch live, but most of them are 
'gators' so it *is* possible that there is a massive conspiracy afoot. 
As to the film, I saw the moon walk on live TV and can state that it 
looks the same in later playbacks as it did then.  But then, I could 
be part of the conspiracy too!  ;-) 

--
J. A. Carr                                    |  "The New Frontier of which I  
jac@gw.scri.fsu.edu                           |  speak is not a set of promises
Florida State University  B-186               |  -- it is a set of challenges."
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute |   John F. Kennedy (15 July 60)
From: sichase@csa1.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: space
Date: 6 Nov 1992 15:43 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.196
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <1992Nov06.211115.134895@watson.ibm.com>, lucas@watson.ibm.com (Bruce D. Lucas) writes...
>How do we know space is three-dimensional, or space-time
>four-dimensional?  Is there a simple experiment one can do to
>determine the dimensionality of space or of space-time?

How many mutually perpendicular rulers can you affix to a single pivot?
After you have attached three of them, you won't have room for a fourth.
So space is three dimensional.  (Of course, if you worry about
General Relativity then you have to deal with the fact that it is curved
as well...)

Spacetime is four-dimensional because we add one dimension of time to 
three dimensions of space.  How do I know that time is one-dimensional?
I'm not sure.  It certainly is a good working hypothesis until someone
shows me how to move perpendicularly to the normal flow of time. :=)

-Scott
--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"It is not a simple life to be a single cell,
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		 although I have no right to say so, having
				 been a single cell so long ago myself that I 
				 have no memory at all of that stage of my 
				 life." - Lewis Thomas
From: fils@iastate.edu (Douglas R Fils)
Subject: heavy doubly magic nuclei
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 06:24:25 GMT

sci.physics
	While reviewing my 300 level quantum bokk I came upon a
section that hadn't impressed me as much as it does now.  It's
in reference to possibility of doubly magic nuclei at Z=114
and N=184 (Shell model) or perhaps more accurately, Z=110
and N=184 (Collective model prediction) with decay on the order
of 10^8 years via alpha or spontaneoius fission.

	Has anyone got any good references or heard anything about
this subject?

Thanks
Doug


-- 
Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: matt@physics16.berkeley.edu (Matt Austern)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: New Group sci.physics.orthodox
Date: 9 Nov 92 10:59:19
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Theoretical Physics Group)
Reply-To: matt@physics.berkeley.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics16.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: jhh@waldzell.physics.yale.edu's message of Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:57:19 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.135719.18651@cs.yale.edu> jhh@waldzell.physics.yale.edu (Jim Horne) writes:

> I think a much better name would be sci.physics.research, and it
> would have to be moderated, though lightly. There is already a  
> successful moderated group sci.math.research which could serve
> as an example of how to encourage substantive discussions of current
> research.

I would welcome a moderated physics newsgroup.  (I also agree with the
idea of "light" moderation, where the moderator does nothing but
select those articles that actually have something to do with
physics.)

Unfortunately, a call for moderation is useless unless someone
volunteers to be the moderator.  At this point, I am unaware of anyone
who is (a) qualified to be the moderator, and (b) willing to take the
time to actually do it.  (Please not that I am not volunteering.)

If anyone does volunteer, then I think we should start the discussion
in news.groups immediately.
--
Matthew Austern                   Just keep yelling until you attract a
(510) 644-2618                    crowd, then a constituency, a movement, a
austern@lbl.bitnet                faction, an army!  If you don't have any
matt@physics.berkeley.edu         solutions, become a part of the problem!
From: sichase@csa2.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: NASA Coverup
Followup-To: sci.physics
Date: 9 Nov 1992 12:38 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.197
Summary: G
Keywords: Moon Neutral Point calculation
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <1992Nov8.211900.18937@isus.UUCP>, hoyt@isus.UUCP (Hoyt A. Stearns jr.) writes...
> 
>G can be calculated from basic Reciprocal System principles to
> the minimum accuracy of the three numbers used as a starting point:
>	c, Avogadro's number, and the Rydberg frequency.
> 

Well, now here's something testable.

c  = 299,792,458 m/s
N  = 6.0221367x10^23 /mol
R  = 13.6056981 eV

Would you please demonstrate a derivation of G from this data?

-Scott
--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"It is not a simple life to be a single cell,
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		 although I have no right to say so, having
				 been a single cell so long ago myself that I 
				 have no memory at all of that stage of my 
				 life." - Lewis Thomas
From: mcirvin@husc8.harvard.edu (Mcirvin)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: Some physics questions
Date: 7 Nov 92 22:02:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc8.mcirvin.721173771
 <6NOV199212364099@csa1.lbl.gov> <1dg27fINNihp@gap.caltech.edu>
Distribution: na

brahm@cco.caltech.edu (David E. Brahm) writes:

>sichase@csa1.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) writes:
>> What makes the speed of light any more fundamental than the charge
>> of an electron, or the electroweak mixing angle?

>Forgive me for jumping into a thread I haven't followed, but the obvious
>answer is that the speed of light has *dimensions*, and thus is determined
>by (or *defines*) the units you work in.  Once you set up (Planck) units
>where c=G=hbar=1, the remaining physical constants (the dimensionless ones)
>are the interesting ones.

In partial defense of Scott, you *can* just as easily define some
coupling constant to be 1 (thereby making the question of "why does
it have that value?" meaningless) and push the corresponding information
into the speed of light.  This is exactly what atomic physicists do
when they use units in which Coulomb's Law has a coefficient of 1
and the speed of light is 137.  Then the question "Why is the
electromagnetic coupling constant what it is?" becomes "Why is
the speed of light what it is?"

The point is that physics as now practiced has a certain number of
fundamental free parameters, and one of the jobs of future physics
is presumably to find explanations for them;  but the way particle
physicists usually express those free parameters, c is not one of
them.  The question "Light travels at some speed.  Why that speed?"
becomes part of "Why do things made of matter have the sizes and
run at the speeds that they do?" which is really a question about
masses and coupling constants.
-- 
Matt McIrvin
From: sichase@csa1.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: Campfire and plasma musings
Date: 6 Nov 1992 15:26 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.196
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <74055@apple.Apple.COM>, slovick@Apple.COM (Linda Slovick) writes...
> 
>While watching my campfire as it burned down to coals, I got to
>wondering about plasma.

I'm going to answer your questions, but not in the order you posted them.

>7.) Just what IS plasma, anyway? I remember from physics class
>many (MANY!) years ago that plasma is supposed to be the fourth
>state of matter, and have the vague general idea that it's
>supposed to be a sort of superhot gas, but just what makes it a
>whole different state?

Plasma is a gas of ionized atoms.  That's all.  It's what you get when you
heat a gas enough that the kinetic energy of the atoms is enough that 
when they happen to collide, electrons get knocked out of their orbits.
You can also make it by applying a strong electric field to rip the 
electrons off their atoms, as in a spark.

>4.) Is plasma somehow associated with ionization?

You can answer this one now, yourself.

>2.) Is a flame a plasma?

Yes. 

>1.) Do campfire coals get hot enough that the "gas" coming off
>of them is really a plasma, or is it still just a gas?

Yes.

>3.) Is there some hidden heat associated with the state
>transition between a gas and a plasma like there is between the
>other states?

Yes.  The energy of ionization, i.e., the tens of eV it takes to
remove each electron from it's atom.  

>6.) Does a working florescent light contain a plasma? 

Yes again.

>5.) I have played with one of those little Radio Shack plasma
>ball toys, but am still pretty hazy about what it's doing.  It
>also doesn't seem to get at all hot, so is plasma always
>associated with high temperature?  If so, is there just too
>little stuff in the plasma ball toy for high temperature to give
>off much heat?

I think so.  The plasma channels in the gas are most certainly
hot, but probably the gas is too rarified to heat the plastic shell
enough to burn you.

-Scott

P.S. I love my IIci.  You guys make a terrific product.  
--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"It is not a simple life to be a single cell,
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		 although I have no right to say so, having
				 been a single cell so long ago myself that I 
				 have no memory at all of that stage of my 
				 life." - Lewis Thomas
From: oser@fermi.wustl.edu (Scott Oser)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Summer Research Programs for Undergraduates
Date: 13 Nov 1992 21:23:32 GMT
Organization: Washington University
NNTP-Posting-Host: fermi.wustl.edu


Can people recommend summer research programs in physics for undergraduates, 
as well as addresses to which I may write for applications?  Thanks.

-Scott Oser
oser@fermi.wustl.edu



Organization: Sophomore, Physics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 11:47:39 -0500 
From: Maulik Harish Shah <msb0+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Request...........
	<1dc4k6INN7si@chnews.intel.com>

Hello,
	I dont know if this is the right place to post, but here goes.....

I am a physics undergraduate (sophmore) here at Carnegie Mellon University. Does anybody out there have any information on summer internships/jobs at research laboratories around the country? I'd really appreciate it if you could send me some information.

			Thanks in advance!!!
					-Mo




********************************************************

The following sentence is true.
The preceding sentence is false.
                              -Somebody I know

********************************************************
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.math
From: jbaez@riesz.mit.edu (John C. Baez)
Subject: Re: Covariant vs. Lie Derivative in Gen. Rel.?
Organization: MIT Department of Mathematics, Cambridge, MA
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 21:38:40 GMT

In article <1992Nov12.172748.16273@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> anderson@fermi.phys.ualberta.ca (Warren G. Anderson) writes:
>In article <1992Nov11.062853.22717@galois.mit.edu> jbaez@riesz.mit.edu (John C.  
>Baez) writes:

>> 2) The covariant derivative only requires a tangent vector at one point
>> of the manifold.  The price you pay is this: to define it you need to
>> choose a connection on the (tangent bundle of) the manifold.  Of course,
>> such a connection - the Levi-Civita connection - comes for free if your
>> manifold has a Riemann metric on it.  
>
>Or even a pseudo-Riemannian metric. In fact, wouldn't any way of identifying 
>the tangent space with it's dual be enough?

Agreed, pseudo-Riemannian is fine and of course that's what you have in GR.
As for other cases, I'm suspicious.  Take a look at the proof of the
existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection and see what
happens if your metric is replaced by a nondegenerate *skew-symmetric*
bilinear form on the tangent bundle.  I'm afraid something will go
wrong.  Why?  If nothing did, every symplectic maniold would be blessed
with a natural connection analogous to the Levi-Civita connection.  If
such a thing existed I should have heard about it, but I haven't.  Of
course, it's possible that I am missing out on this crucial facet of
symplectic geometry!!

Perhaps the symplectic geometers and fans of gravity theories with
asymmetric metric tensors can straighten this out in a jiffy.
Newsgroups: sci.physics
From: alison@wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken)
Subject: Re: History of AC vs DC Power
Organization: W S Rupprecht Computer Consulting, Fremont CA
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 04:55:49 GMT

zowie@daedalus.stanford.edu (Craig "Powderkeg" DeForest) writes:
>As far as history goes, Edison and his company had established some
>small DC power grids. . . .

When I lived in Boston about 5 years ago, there was a story on the
news saying that the local utility had just rewired some homes on
Beacon Hill (Boston's most upscale neighborhood) for ac power that had
been on a dc grid since about the turn of the century.  Evidently the
rich folks had gotten electric lights first, before the ac/dc
controversy was settled, and they never converted until recently.

-- 
Alison Chaiken 				alison@wsrcc.com
(510) 422-7129 [daytime] 		or chaiken@cmsgee.llnl.gov
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.
From: sichase@csa1.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: Re: Compelling Mysteries (II)
Date: 10 Nov 1992 11:34 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.196
Keywords: compelling, mysteries, partridges and pear trees
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <1992Nov10.151421.11274@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>, crb7q@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Cameron Randale Bass) writes...

>          d) the solar neutrino 'problem'.  Is it a problem?  Do we believe 
>     the calculations.  Why do no two experiments seem to tell us the same 
>     thing?   Is something being left out of the 'standard model' of the 
>     sun?  How much *is* gallium chloride by the ton?

You can look up the price of gallium in the CRC.  It's expensive - so much
so that it delayed these experiments for quite a few years.  The different
experiments are not, as you seem to imply, inconsistent.  They tell us different
things because they are looking at different parts of the neutrino spectrum,
and because the statistics are VERY poor.  But it is possible to construct
a neutrino spectrum consistent with all measurements to date, within
statistical erro bars.  Unfortunately, this result does not allow us to 
distinguish clearly between different physics senarios.

-Scott
--------------------
Scott I. Chase			"It is not a simple life to be a single cell,
SICHASE@CSA2.LBL.GOV		 although I have no right to say so, having
				 been a single cell so long ago myself that I 
				 have no memory at all of that stage of my 
				 life." - Lewis Thomas