I studied thermodynamics as an undergrad. Online resources really help refresh my understanding; so, here’s a summary of my notes about entropy. Hopefully these agree with how the term is used in physics. Statements Equation: S = k ln Ω [Wiki] “The second law of thermodynamics states that an isolated system’s entropy never decreases. Such… Continue reading More about entropy — reality vibrates
Happy Pi Day! When you’re trying to solve any interesting problem (a problem about almost anything) — a problem with lots of interplay between different things, it’s important to know what’s important and not, what makes a big effect on the result and not. And just how precise the result needs to be anyway (at… Continue reading Effective theory
Physics was a requirement for the first two years when I was an undergrad. That introduced me to The Feynman Lectures on Physics, three heavy red volumes (© 1963, 1964, 1965). The preface in each volume had a picture of Feynman playing the bongo drums. And then the early morning physics labs. Two of the… Continue reading Reality is fields
I watched some online video interviews recently which discussed the question of dialog between science and religion. Do science and religion need to speak to each other? From a practical perspective, I was puzzled at first. There’s always been an interplay. Has the character of that dialectic changed in the last 50 – 100 years?… Continue reading Garbage in, garbage out
Lately in reading about modern physics and watching video interviews on contemporary cosmology, the number 10^100 (ten to the power of 100) kept coming up. Well, I found out probably why. Googol (not Google) is a large number: “In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred 0s.” A googol has… Continue reading Googol, googolplex
Sometimes we say, “that person is going through a phase.” Somethings are the same; somethings are changing. So, if and when that phase ends, we may need to describe that person differently, alter the way we talk about their personality or attitudes (mental state). Might be for the better or not. More or less permanent.… Continue reading Phase transition
When I was in grad school studying theology, philosophy, psychology and physics, naturalism was a term that I had to be careful using. There’s a long history of knocks on that term. I still remember the tone of the philosophy department that was my academic base for awhile. When I started talking about an essentially… Continue reading No God, no gaps
Naturalism — philosophy based on a natural philosophy or ontology — has had a problematic history. In the history of science, in the general history of thought. In the last 50 – 100 years, arguments for naturalism have been strengthened by two major developments: empirical cosmology and the concept of emergence. This has happened despite… Continue reading Emergence, not reduction
One of the major sources of confusion I’ve encountered in reading about modern physics is the discussion of gravity. No surprise, eh. Classical mechanics includes both Newtonian and relativistic mechanics. In Newtonian physics, gravity is an attractive force, which acts at a distance between all objects; and can be represented as a universal gravitational field.… Continue reading GR: Chicken or egg redux
When I started reading some of the latest books by well-known physicists, I realized that there were some foundational concepts and terminology that I needed to revisit and review. Thanks, Wikipedia (to which I have indeed donated money). So, I’m not talking about Einstein’s famous E = mc^2. No, something more basic: energy and entropy.… Continue reading Starting with ‘e’ it’s a mystery
