Related papers: Sliding rope paradox
Using semiclassical methods, it is possible to construct very accurate approximations in the short wavelength limit of quantum dynamics that rely exclusively on classical dynamical input. For systems whose classical realization is strongly…
In this paper, I will demonstrate a new perspective on the Two Envelope Problem. I hope to show with convincing clarity how the paradox results from an inherent problem pertaining to the interpretation of Bayesian probability. Specifically,…
In statistical mechanics, the generally called Stirling approximation is actually an approximation of Stirling's formula. In this article, it is shown that the term that is dropped is in fact the one that takes fluctuations into account.…
The slinky, released from rest hanging under its own weight, falls in a peculiar manner. The bottom stays at rest until a wave hits it from above. Two cases -- one unphysical one where the slinky is able to pass through itself, and the…
Despite being a major component in the teaching of special relativity, the twin `paradox' is generally not examined in courses on general relativity. Due to the complexity of analytical solutions to the problem, the paradox is often…
A modest aim of this pedagogical presentation is to analyze, critically, certain fundamental physical concepts to illustrate the physical principles behind the special theory of relativity and, hence, to also illustrate the limitations of…
An apparent paradox in Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, known as a Thomas precession rotation in atomic physics, has been verified experimentally in a number of ways. However, somewhat surprisingly, it has not yet been demonstrated…
We establish an instructive experiment to investigate the minimum time curve traveled by a small billiard ball rolling in a grooved track under gravity. Our intention is to popularize the concept of \textit{minimum time curve} anew, and to…
The dog-and-rabbit chase problem is a classical problem that illustrates the concepts of elementary kinematics and, therefore, can be used in introductory mechanics teaching. By dealing with the relative motion, the problem naturally…
In this paper we give the outline of a lecture given to undergraduate students aiming at understanding why physicists are so much interested in the Higgs boson. The lecture has been conceived for students not yet familiar with advanced…
We derive a system with one degree of freedom that models a class of dynamical systems with strange attractors in three dimensions. This system retains all the characteristics of chaotic attractors and is expressed by a second-order…
The bottle-flip challenge -- the upright landing of a partially filled bottle after tossing and flipping it in the air -- unexpectedly became a viral mechanics exercise. Through high-speed visualization, we evidence that fluid content…
The traditional approach to studying student understanding presents a question and uses the student answers to make inferences about their knowledge. However, this method does not capture the range of possible alternative ideas available to…
The Gibbs Paradox is essentially a set of open questions as to how sameness of gases or fluids (or masses, more generally) are to be treated in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. They have a variety of answers, some restricted to…
In this article, we present several apparent paradoxes of special relativity and their respective solutions. These paradoxes have appeared since the advent of relativity in 1905, and in fact they are never paradoxes. From a didactic point…
The quantum version of the free fall problem is a topic often skipped in undergraduate quantum mechanics courses because its discussion usually requires wavepackets built on the Airy functions -- a difficult computation. Here, on the…
We investigate the hopping dynamics between different attractors in a multistable system under the influence of noise. Using symbolic dynamics we find a sudden increase of dynamical entropies, when a system parameter is varied. This effect…
The tight connection between mass and energy unveiled by Special Relativity, summarized by the iconic formula $E = mc^2$, has revolutionized our understanding of nature and even shaped our political world over the past century through its…
The motion of a hoop hung on a spinning wire provides an illustrative and pedagogical example of a supercritical bifurcation. Above a certain angular velocity threshold Omega_c, the hoop rises, making an angle theta = (Omega-Omega_c)^(1/2)…
The Stokes paradox is the statement that in a viscous two dimensional fluid, the "linear response" problem of fluid flow around an obstacle is ill-posed. We present a simple consequence of this paradox in the hydrodynamic regime of a Fermi…