What is it about Physics...

If you're talking about hydrogen as a fuel source, you must have missed the announcement that there are vast untapped reservoirs of it on the sun. All we have to do is make water energy spaceships to fly there to retrieve it.

 

Really? Good luck.

The problem is that the other "better" theories are so complicated that nobody is able to carry out the calculations that would give you the answer.

Say, for example, that you want to calculate the path and collisions of balls on a pool table. Don't even think about starting to write down the relativistic equation that describes it, left alone solving it. Don't even think about writing down the equation that would give you the quantum mechanic wave solution, left alone solving it. No can can do it, and quite likely no one will ever be able to do it.

And this is a simple problem. Think about calculating the stability of a building under an earthquake.

No one has ever solved relativistic or quantum mechanical problems that are even much simpler than that (simple) one. Not analytically, not with number crunching computers. And it doesn't make any sense to do it. Even if you could, it's not going to give you any different answer.

So, "wrong" Newtonian physics remains the only tool available for 99.9% of the physical calculations people need to do.

 

You don't seem to have enough of a background in physics for me to bother with an explanation.

 

Oh, don't be a tease! Go ahead. I want to learn why vtie is wrong.

 

Come on, do yourself a favour and try to exit this discussion in a more graceful way...

 

Tom

At a very basic level, I feel our society - especially our "edumacation" system - is badly broken. Broken as in FUBAR. All sorts of folks want to believe in mystical friends in the sky, tooth fairy, santy claus, etc etc. The same folks also keep buying lottery tickets as one day they might be "lucky"

Don't even bother trying to patiently explain things, you'll just give yourself a stroke or a heart attack trying. Never mention you actually provide consulting to the petrochemical industry - like I do - as folks automatically assume you're part of "them" or a Conspiracy

Want to know why we are in such deep s***? Thanks to decades of the Boob Tube and the "edumacation" system sheltering those fragile young minds from the harsh realities of the world, we have the majority of folks who are dumb as a stump.

No getting around it. Just accept it, do well in your career, and look after your needs and the needs of your immediate family. It's easier that way

jay

 

Uh-oh, this could get messy.

I'm eagerly watching, cold beer in hand ...

 

Evan

Oh cah-rist, why even *bother*

It's easiest to just accept that our society has become so dumb that most folks pay far more attention to Idol than to geopolitical events, or the reason why the latest scam is just that, a scam

Why do you think it's so easy for a crook to rook so many folks out of their dollars? "Run your car on water! Top secret plans from Area 51! Only $599.95"

Just like the FJ community, with the record high fuel prices a lot of folks want to believe there is a magic potion or gadget that will allow an FJ Cruiser 4.0 litre V6 with a 6 inch lift and 34 inch tires to get 35 mpg

It didn't help matters when that news crew put a gadget in their news van and mysteriously doubled their fuel economy. No details, no dyno tests, just irresponsible media talking heads

As I mentioned to Tom, once these folks find out I provide consulting to the petrochemical industry, among other clients, they automatically assume I'm part of "them" and am engaged in a terrible conspiracy.

Did you know a lot of folks actually believe that deriving oil from shale is so cheap it could result in gas being $1 a gallon? When I try to explain the energy required to "cook" the syncrude from the shale, the huge process water requirement 3-5 times more than a conventional refinery, or even the simple fact an oil refinery has a 1:1 ratio of water to crude consumption, they automatically suggest I'm full of s***

So do what I do: don't even bother trying to explain things too much. Heavy drinking helps too

jay

 

I've had well-meaning but deranged people tell me - to my face - the CRC is absolutely WRONG. Why? Well, because it just ... well ... it HAS to be. All that "stuff" works because of a nice friendly guy in the sky

These folks also believe electricity simply cannot work as we claim it does. "Oh, you're wrong, you can't CREATE energy!"

:frusty:

Now that I think about it, most of my college math and physics profs were always s***faced. I know why

 

No kidding. Tell us all about it. Please do.

[And Patrick continues writing in a vain attempt to keep this thread on topic]

I have my own theory about physics education based on insights gathered while I was studying it. College-level physics, either algebra or calc based, is hardhardhard for many students (and therefore ignored by many students) because they were not taught problem solving skills in high school. I had this problem when I first stepped into a physics class. Every problem in the text caused me to draw a blank. And then I thought about all the 'hard' word problems in high school that were conveniently left out of the homework sets (to everyone's great relief). It took some effort (and two drop slips!) before the ability to solve the problems came to me. Now I find it absurdly easy to solve the little Newtonian problems, and my friends think I'm either a genius or a magician. Go figure.

 

The lottery: A tax for people who can't do math.

I can see it now:

Bathroom breaks and water fountains have been banned from the XYZ petrochemical plant. News at 11.

 

Physics? Isn't that a laxative? It is to most people. LOL.

 

:rofl:

Geez you *are* old! Just kidding big guy, I'm laughing *with* you, not *at* you!

I guess I wasn't pretty enough for the Air Force, or even the Marines for that matter. Know guys who are/were career AF, and they're expected to think on their toes.

Of course, like anything else, there are bright ones, average ones, and ... shall we say ... dim ones. I always encourged everybody to at least try.

So, how is that heavy drinking progressing? Is it helping get over some of the more anoying lack-of-knowledge folks you've encountered?

 

My clients think the same about me. I was taught a long time ago to either impress folks with honest intelligence, or completely dazzle them with bulls***

Whatever works!

 

Why do you say H2 isn't too smart? It's an excellent medium for transport of energy. Generate it at a central location. Transmit it by pipeline. Use it at the destination. Sounds quite analogous to the current petroleum infrastructure to me.

 

Well Jay, doesn't the saying go: "The two most abundant things in the universe are: Hydrogen and Human Stupidity, and we're not too sure about Hydrogen"

ZC1

 

Hydrogen may be a way to transport energy, but it is not a source of energy. Whatever source is used to generate hydrogen could be used more efficiently to generate electricity. Also, cells to convert hydrogen back into electricity - conversion loss number two - are far more expensive than plain old batteries. The relative inefficiencies and prohibitive expense make hydrogen a comparatively poor choice.