Feynman on the Infiniteness of Word Bags

Excerpt from the Horizon video "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out."

You can see the whole thing here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7136440703094429927

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Feynman
• on
• the
• infiniteness
• of
• word
• bags

[2012DarkKnight]

lol you explained it perfectly, even a high school drop out like me understood it..

[wownov83]

@SuperFinGuy Of course I'm regurgitating, there's nothing left to add! I've never come across any physics professor or intelligent student who thinks there's a valid reason to believe that EM waves require a medium to propagate. Do a google search on this... What question have I not answered? Your assumption that field oscillations imply a medium is just that, an assumption... do you have a physical argument or theoretical reason to propose that supports your view, or not?

[madmiles]

If only I could have had teachers like this when I was younger! I could listen to this man talk all day every day for years!

[automaticSOM]

@aradioactivedonut

When a particle annihilates with it's corresponding antiparticle, photons are given off. However, the production of photons are not exclusive to pair annihilation. The photon is the carrier of the electromagnetic force, just as the gluon is the carrier of the strong nuclear force.

[S1CKDRIFT3R]

@Wowmaxy The analogy can only be taken so far, what you said is correct in principle, but the electron does not create the photon, the photon is a mere product of the energy difference between the two levels. The only relevance with the speaking analogy was that the photon wasn't inside the aton before hand, its only "created" when needed, like words from your mouth.

[Wowmaxy]

But atoms DO have a 'word bag.' A photon striking an electron makes it jump up one or more energy levels. The photon converts to electron energy. When the electron jumps down one or more levels, it releases a photon. The electron cannot create a photon if it does not have the energy to do so.

[SuperFinGuy]

@wownov83 It seems you haven't properly studied Maxwell's, since you're just regurgitating. Answer my question and you'll find the answer to yours.

And I mean that rho is dependent on the mass and charge distribution...

[wownov83]

@SuperFinGuy No offense, but have you even studied maxwell's equations? The fact that no medium is required for the propagation of EM waves is pretty well known to any undergrad...

[wownov83]

@SuperFinGuy "rho" is a charge density... not a mass density. Maxwell's idea of an ether has been disproved... and once again, there's just no need to invoke the existence of a medium for EM waves to propagate through. It's just incorrect to say that every wave needs a medium to travel through. What do you mean by field oscillations? Do you mean oscillations in E/M fields? If so, how does that necessitate the existence of an ether?

[SuperFinGuy]

@wownov83 It's clear I am talking about the electromagnetic wave, which of course is an oscillation of the electric field E and the magnetic field B. We are not talking about mass or mass density (rho). What you are calling a "vacuum" Maxwell called it the ether. How can you say there is no evidence for a medium when we have field oscillations?! Lines of forces and their undulations occur, needless to say, in a field of physical entities. If not, again how do you explain EM waves?!

[wownov83]

@SuperFinGuy No... with physics. The oscillation of E and B fields produce an electromagnetic wave. There's no evidence that they need any medium to travel through. Starting from Maxwell's equations you can show in two or three lines that they produce wave-solutions in a vacuum (rho = 0). There's no need to invoke the presence of a medium for the wave to travel in.