The intricacies of being sold on string theory
If you are seeking an appreciation for the techniques of string theory, then Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe could be an optional supplement. If, on the other hand, you want to explore the epistem…
Quantum mechanics
20 posts
Bohr and the breakaway from classical mechanics
One hundred years ago, Niels Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons go around a nucleus at the center like planets in the Solar System. The model and its implications brought a lot…
Bohr and the breakaway from classical mechanics
One hundred years ago, Niels Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons go around a nucleus at the centre like planets in the Solar System. The model and its implications brought a lot…
How hard is it to violate Pauli's exclusion principle?
A well-designed auditorium always has all its seats positioned on an inclined plane. Otherwise it wouldn't be well-designed, would it? Anyway, this arrangement solves an important problem: It lets…
The weakening measurement
Unlike the special theory of relativity that the superluminal-neutrinos fiasco sought to defy, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle presents very few, and equally iffy, measurement techniques to sta…
A simple overview of particle physics
(Click on the image for a larger size)…
The philosophies in physics
As a big week for physics comes up–a July 4 update by CERN on the search for the Higgs boson followed by ICHEP '12 at Melbourne–I feel really anxious as a small-time proto-journalist and particle-…
What's allowed and disallowed in the name of SUSY
The International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP) is due to begin on July 7 in Melbourne. This is the 26th episode of the most prestigious scientific conference on particle physics. In keepi…