Related papers: A statistical mechanical analysis on the possibili…
The problem of creating a three-sided dice with the probability of it landing on each of its sides being equal to 1/3 has been around for many years. Various approaches have been attempted, but as different authors achieved at different…
When a thick cylindrical coin is tossed in the air and lands without bouncing on an inelastic substrate, it ends up on its face or its side. We account for the rigid body dynamics of spin and precession and calculate the probability…
What are the face-probabilities of a cuboidal die, i.e. a die with different side-lengths? This paper introduces a model for these probabilities based on a Gibbs distribution. Experimental data produced in this work and drawn from the…
Have you ever taken a disputed decision by tossing a coin and checking its landing side? This ancestral "heads or tails" practice is still widely used when facing undecided alternatives since it relies on the intuitive fairness of…
Calculations and mechanistic explanations for the probabilistic movement of objects at the highly relevant cm length scales has been lacking and overlooked due to the complexity of current techniques. Predicting the final-configuration…
The prediction of the final state probabilities of a general cuboid randomly thrown onto a surface is a problem that naturally arises in the minds of men and women familiar with regular cubic dice and the basic concepts of probability.…
Although not as wide, and popular, as that of quantum mechanics, the investigation of fundamental aspects of statistical mechanics constitutes an important research field in the building of modern physics. Besides the interest for itself,…
We analyze the impact of two equal billiard balls in three ideal situations: when the balls freely slide on the plane of the billiard, when they roll without sliding and when one of them freely slides and the other rolls. In all the cases…
A critical examination of some basic conceptual issues in classical statistical mechanics is attempted, with a view to understanding the origins, structure and statuts of that discipline. Due attention is given to the interplay between…
Dice control involves "setting" the dice and then throwing them carefully, in the hope of influencing the outcomes and gaining an advantage at craps. How does one test for this ability? To specify the alternative hypothesis, we need a…
A physical model is developed, which suggests a pathway to determining the optimal release conditions for a basketball free throw. Theoretical framework is supported by Monte Carlo simulations and a series of free throws performed and…
Motivated by applications of statistical mechanics in which the system of interest is spatially unconfined, we present an exact solution to the maximum entropy problem for assigning a stationary probability distribution on the phase space…
The dynamics of a hollow cylinder containing granules and rolling down an inclined plane was investigated. A theoretical approach for investigating the behaviour of such a cylinder was proposed. The critical angle of the plane that allows…
The dynamics of the tip of the falling chain is analyzed. Results of laboratory experiments are presented and compared with results of numerical simulations. Time dependences of the velocity and the acceleration of the chain tip for a…
This study applies complexity sciences to analyze the game of Padel. Data from 18 professional matches were collected, and the probability distributions of the total number of shots and the probability distribution of rallies' duration were…
The problem of a cylinder of mass m and radius r, with its center of mass out of the cylinder axis, rolling on an incline that makes an angle with respect to the horizontal is analyzed. The equation of motion is partially solved to obtain…
The theoretical cornerstone of statistical mechanics is the ergodic assumption that all accessible configurations of a physical system are equally likely. Here we show how such property arises when an open quantum system is continuously…
The art of making structural, polymeric and metallic glasses is rapidly developing with many applications. A limitation to their use is their mechanical stability: under increasing external strain all amorphous solids respond elastically to…
There has been a long-standing and at times fractious debate whether complex and large systems can be stable. In ecology, the so-called `diversity-stability debate' arose because mathematical analyses of ecosystem stability were either…
A classical particle system coupled with a thermostat driven by an external constant force reaches its steady state when the ensemble-averaged drift velocity does not vary with time. The statistical mechanics of such a system is derived…