You live, you learn

[Leyrann]

 

 

Actually was a router that needed replacing I think but all is well now.

And I don't understand any of that but I can tell you do and I know you'll use your power for good.

 

Basically, I don't know how long such a black hole would exist, but I'm pretty sure it would be shorter than 0,000000000000000000000000000001 seconds.

Is that long enough to get a TARDIS through?

 

 

Sorry. Never watched Doctor Who. I apologize.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

 

 

 

Actually was a router that needed replacing I think but all is well now.

And I don't understand any of that but I can tell you do and I know you'll use your power for good.

 

 Basically, I don't know how long such a black hole would exist, but I'm pretty sure it would be shorter than 0,000000000000000000000000000001 seconds.

Is that long enough to get a TARDIS through?

 

Sorry. Never watched Doctor Who. I apologize.

Nothing to apologize for. I love it, you might not.

 

Watch it someday if you like.

 

Ok would they exist long enough to cause any mayhem?

[Leyrann]

Most definitely not.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

What do we learn by making them then?

[Leyrann]

Nothing.

 

They're a (hypothetical) by-effect of other things. As far as I know, none have actually been spotted yet, nor is it conclusive that they should be there.

[Leyrann]

Something else I learned over the last few weeks: Quantum mechanics isn't some magical something that is impossible to understand and can do anything you can think of. It's just a heap of very annoying mathematics.

[Leyrann]

And it tells you that the world works as it does (or at all, really) because of a quirk in a pretty simple mathematical equation.

[Leyrann]

For those interested (weren't there some people around here who liked maths?), it's as follows, very simplified:

 

If a particle is on a line between two points, and not anywhere else, then there's a chance for every point on the line that it is there (of course, all chances together are 1).

The points where it is just not possible for the particle to be anymore (the end points of the line), the chance has to be 0, obviously.

To describe the chance for the particle to be on any given spot on this line, you need a mathematical equation, that needs to meet two requirements. First, it needs to be 0 at both ends of the line, per what I said just before. Second, this is also true for it's second derivative (this is because of another mathematical thing related to this matter which I can't exactly remember at the moment).

This, then, means that it has to be a sine or cosine function.

As you probably know if you've understood what I'm talking about up to now, a sine or cosine that is 0 at those two points where it has to be 0 has to have it's variable (typically x) that the sine or cosine is taken from multiplied by a whole number (so sin(x), sin(2x), sin(3x), and so on), as otherwise it's not 0 at both points.

And what do we find? These numbers, that have to be whole numbers to "fit", are the basis of electron shells.

 

In other words, without this requirement in the sinus function, we would not have molecules, as electron shells (or the more accurate but also more difficult description of them as orbitals) are required to form bonds between atoms. And without molecules... no life. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think there would even be solids without molecular bonds, as they use those bonds too... We would only have gases of varying densities, and nuclear fusion in stars without ever creating something else than elements that wouldn't do anything interesting but form new gas clouds.

[Leyrann]

Actually, there might be liquids. Not sure about that. Still. Blobs of helium in space aren't that interesting either.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I understand this when they explain it on cool CGI assisted science shows, for the duration of the show... but not for a second afterward.

[Aradin]

Today I learnt the Theory of Relativity. Time Dilation was amazing - right after watching INTERSTELLAR too!

[Niniel]

Two days ago I learned who Doctor Strange is. :)

[Panchi]

I didn't learn it today, but I saw today how a magnet floats above a superconductor. I even took it off and put it on again myself.

 

And I learned why it does that.

This sounds great. I learned in physics that superconductors behave as perfect diamagnets but have never seen it.

[Panchi]

Today I learned, it's too early for today. Yesterday, I learned how contradiction rules in Boolean statements work.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Today I learned that justice isn't always just. But I knew that already.

[Leyrann]

Today I learned that justice isn't always just. But I knew that already.

 

Then you didn't learn it today.

 

But you're right. Justice quite often isn't just. Though I suppose it might also be a bias that unjust rulings are talked about much more.

[Niniel]

Today I have learned about MCU's possible phase four movies. Because that is important. :)

[Panchi]

Today I learned how to solve recursion type integration questions.

[Leyrann]

What I learned today is basically "you got explained this stuff half a year ago already, now we're explaining it you again and this time we're using quantum mechanics to explain the why but it's just as easy as it was half a year ago because you're not actually learning anything new".

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

So sometimes when we learn something we're not really learning something but reinforcing it

[Leyrann]

I suppose... It was kinda funny. The last college of quantum mechanics and we're learning... Stuff we already know, now explained with quantum mechanics.

[Guest]

Today I learned how to code canonical correspondence analysis in R.

[Cross]

today i learned how to fix itunes when it decides to no longer recognize my device.