/u/Dr_Snarky's posts in /r/askscience

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Is there a rule that states that calculations of particle interactions at micro scales, by nature, cannot be scaled up into the macro-systems? Or are we just limited by our current understanding and nothing really prevents us from finding a way to scale quantum equations upwards?

531 upvotes

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Why does the conversion from energy to mass "need" the speed of light in the equation? I don't have trouble conceptualizing the necessity for some huge constant, but how the heck does light speed coincidentally fit the bill?

178 upvotes

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Jacob Bekenstein proved that black holes grow by a Plank distance^2 every time it absorbs one bit of information. What does this mean exactly, what qualifies as "one bit"?

41 upvotes

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What would happen if I had a wire circuit that stretched to the moon and back and connected it to a battery and a switch. Would there be a delay when I turned it on? How is it possible for that info to move faster than light?

34 upvotes

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Why is Tantalum the rarest stable element in the solar system?

25 upvotes

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Whenever there is a loss of information in any system, does that reduction in entropy ultimately result in heat? Aside from friction, electrical impedance, etc: does a theoretical pure loss of information contribute to heat?

17 upvotes

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Do humans also emit radiation at lower frequencies than infrared? (microwaves, radio, etc)

5 upvotes

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What does radiation poisoning do at a cellular and molecular level?

4 upvotes

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Why aren't there goggles that let us see radio waves? If there are infrared goggles, why not radio?

1 upvotes

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In which types of calculations are the addition of higher spacial dimensions required? And which branches of physics depend on the accuracy of these calculations?

1 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Is there a rule that states that calculations of particle interactions at micro scales, by nature, cannot be scaled up into the macro-systems? Or are we just limited by our current understanding and nothing really prevents us from finding a way to scale quantum equations upwards?	531
Why does the conversion from energy to mass "need" the speed of light in the equation? I don't have trouble conceptualizing the necessity for some huge constant, but how the heck does light speed coincidentally fit the bill?	178
Jacob Bekenstein proved that black holes grow by a Plank distance^2 every time it absorbs one bit of information. What does this mean exactly, what qualifies as "one bit"?	41
What would happen if I had a wire circuit that stretched to the moon and back and connected it to a battery and a switch. Would there be a delay when I turned it on? How is it possible for that info to move faster than light?	34
Why is Tantalum the rarest stable element in the solar system?	25
Whenever there is a loss of information in any system, does that reduction in entropy ultimately result in heat? Aside from friction, electrical impedance, etc: does a theoretical pure loss of information contribute to heat?	17
Do humans also emit radiation at lower frequencies than infrared? (microwaves, radio, etc)	5
What does radiation poisoning do at a cellular and molecular level?	4
Why aren't there goggles that let us see radio waves? If there are infrared goggles, why not radio?	1
In which types of calculations are the addition of higher spacial dimensions required? And which branches of physics depend on the accuracy of these calculations?	1