How a fly can stop a train

[GreenPiggy]

When I did physics at university I didn't mind quantum theory and relativity. It was thermodynamics that used to p*** me off, apart from the fundamental laws the rest of it seemed to be based on approximations. Oh and I hated doing differentiation in three dimensions

@Thermodynamics. Favourite part was modern optics & lasers, lasers are great.

Integration was the solution to adding infinities wasn't it? Invented by Newton & that other chap.

[Auran]

I did modern physics & astrophysics as my options in the first couple of years, until I decided that I wanted a life, and moved to Process Engineering & Food Chemistry.

The last thing I read about optics was about those nutters that managed to get photons to travel faster than the speed of light

[Stoo]

I thought zero time was impossible because it's infinitely divisable?

[Rave]

I quite like Thermodynamics, actually. It's all the maths, like sodding Fourier Transforms and stuff that I can't stand.

Rich :¬)

[GreenPiggy]

Thats the problem. Ancient thinking stated that everything had to have a base unit -i.e time had to be a sum of lots of little pieces of time with a defined smallest piece. This leads to all sorts of nonsense if applied to the real world such as the original problem at the top of the page. The only way to properly describe it is to integrate.

[GreenPiggy]

You like thermodynamics? Did you ever get into things like adiabatic expansions and Carnot engines?

[Stoo]

Carnot Engines.. that rings a bell...

[GreenPiggy]

Carnot Engines.. that rings a bell...

evil evil evil

[Nick]

Quasimodo... he rings a bell too....

[mike_w]

Quasimodo... he rings a bell too....

That's terrible!

Edit: Sorry, I meant that's wonderful. Better than most of my jokes anyway (well, all my jokes actually)

[Stoo]

Oh don't start on that poor chap, he'll only get the hump... (sorry)

[Rave]

Is this the most OT thread ever? Anyway, I'm enjoying it....

You like thermodynamics? Did you ever get into things like adiabatic expansions and Carnot engines?

Well, I got a bit cocky after I got 83% in my first year Thermo exam, and flunked the second year. Had I not been unceremoniously booted out of uni after that, my third year project would have been thermodynamics based. As I remember, I didn't have too many problems with adiabatic expansions, although the concept of entropy caused me a few headaches. I still might get back into it actually, I quite fancy putting together a homebrew phase change system- you see enough old fridges and freezers lying about round here waiting to be cannibalised. I still have my old textbooks and those funny charts you had to use.

Rich :¬)

[GreenPiggy]

Jesus yes. Entropy is a C***

[shiato storm]

what is actually the last thing that goes through a fly's mind as its hits the train then?
[one for the philosiphical ones out there...]


...i'd like think its bum, but thats just me...

[turkster]

Entropy is cool. The whole concept is just so amazing.

[GreenPiggy]

The concept may be cool but doing equations with the damn stuff is nasty