The Paradox Thread

Plankton · 11-06-2013, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Charlie

I am driving my car at the speed of light and I turn on my headlights. What do I see?

Seems we're both wrong. The person travelling (close to) the speed of light would see a normal beam of light but it wouldn't exceed the speed of light.

I love science but I never really know what I'm talking about because all I can do is repeat second hand information and form a vague and shadowy understanding based on the experiences of others, never knowing whether what I heard or read is true or even likely to be true. But then again, I think everyday life is a bit like that too, whether we realise it or not.

Good article. Jeez, why didn't I ever think to google that?

Mr. Charlie · 11-17-2013, 03:58 PM

Apologies for hijacking this thread and turning it into nowt but a science thread, but these are pretty cool videos. Not sure how accurate they are but, if they are truthful, then it's quite the ride we're all on:

Mr. Charlie · 12-08-2013, 10:00 PM

Most people are familiar with Schrodringer's Cat thought experiment:

But not what it might mean:

Mr. Charlie · 12-08-2013, 10:18 PM

If there's a physicist on these boards, I'd like to hear their take on the following video's wider implications of Pauli's exclusion principle as I find it hard to accept:

Neapolitan · 12-13-2013, 03:30 AM

Apologies for hijacking this thread and turning it into naught but a nerdy mathematical thread, but these videos about the Rubik's cube are pretty cool videos. Not sure how accurate they are but, if they are truthful, then it's quite vexing and puzzling. The puzzling part of the Rubik's cube might not be a true paradox, but the fact that the combinations are in the Quintillions (43,252,003,274,489,856,000) and yet it can be solved in less than 10 seconds for experts speed-cubers, sub-30 seconds for advance speed-cubers, about 2 to 3 minutes on average for the average cuber and maybe a few months for the novice is sorta paradoxical considering if one went every single permutation it would take "1400 trillion years to finish to go through all the configurations." Any thoughts or feedback would be much appreciated.

Quote:

With 6 colored sides, 21 pieces and 54 outer surfaces, there's a combined total of over 43 quintilliondifferent possible configurations. To put that into perspective: if you turned the Rubik's cube once every second it would take you 1400 trillion years to finish to go through all the configurations. If you had started this project during the Big Bang, you still wouldn't be done yet.

Another way to think about this is, if a person had as many Rubik's cubes as there were possible configurations, they could cover the surface of the Earth 275 times. And if one considers the number of configurations you could reach by disassembling and reassembling the cube, the number would be nearly 12 times that many

Read more at A Rubik's cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible configurations.

Mr. Charlie · 12-13-2013, 04:37 AM

Cool video. I'm s**t at the Rubiks Cube. Most I can do is, err... one side and even that takes me a while. Shameful.

Mr. Charlie · 06-20-2014, 06:46 PM

Good video. It's interesting how science is at the stage where, because we can't make sense of what our senses and instruments are showing us, even the wildest theories are carefully considered. Was a time when theories like this would have been scoffed at by any reputable scientist, at least publically.

12-08-2013, 10:00 PM	#43 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	Most people are familiar with Schrodringer's Cat thought experiment: But not what it might mean: Last edited by Mr. Charlie; 12-09-2013 at 02:46 AM.

11-17-2013, 03:58 PM	#42 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	Apologies for hijacking this thread and turning it into nowt but a science thread, but these are pretty cool videos. Not sure how accurate they are but, if they are truthful, then it's quite the ride we're all on:

12-08-2013, 10:18 PM	#44 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	If there's a physicist on these boards, I'd like to hear their take on the following video's wider implications of Pauli's exclusion principle as I find it hard to accept:

12-13-2013, 04:37 AM	#46 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	Cool video. I'm s**t at the Rubiks Cube. Most I can do is, err... one side and even that takes me a while. Shameful.

06-20-2014, 06:46 PM	#47 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	Good video. It's interesting how science is at the stage where, because we can't make sense of what our senses and instruments are showing us, even the wildest theories are carefully considered. Was a time when theories like this would have been scoffed at by any reputable scientist, at least publically.