/sci/ - Science & Math

Need /sci/'s help to make sense of this once and for all.
What is the difference between the electric field E, and the electric displacement field D?
Does D include the polarization in the medium?
Is it stronger or weaker than E, given that it is multiplied by epsilon naught which is a very small constant, and that the polarization always seeks to minimize the electric field?
What is it good for and what are its uses, and why is it the one who's used for vacuum solutions?

Thanks.

You will forever be stuck on this God forsaken planet.
You will never venture forth and explore our mighty galaxy.
Your human senses will never have a taste of the majestic glory of the cosmos.
You will never be aware of its infinite realms and the result of untold epochs of stellar and galactic progression.
You will always fulfill the cliche of a lost soul which looks upon the stars and can only wonder what's out there.
You will always be subjected to mundane human affairs denied a more grand existence like an ant within its colony never knowing what lies beyond the mountain ridge.
You will spend the last of your days on this desolate rock, never experiencing the boundless dust and echoes of space and time.

I'm addressing you, people of /sci/ who possess measured IQs of over 140:

How does it feel to be a genius?
How do you see the world?
What mental abilities are your most prized possessions?
Can you share some insights that you've gathered in all of these years?
What is your attitude towards life, humanity and the universe?

I'd very much appreciate your input.

What's the best video on the internet to truly demonstrate the sheer size of the universe?

How can you believe in Einstein's Field Equations if it's just a tensor (a stress)?

>Study with a friend to a uni exam in Astrophysics
>Be both 3rd year physics undergrads
>Be talking about gravity field and time dilation and self time for different systems
>He says "Yeah, well God didn't want us to understand the universe so easily"
>I respond with "God...? what the fuck are you talking about?"
>He claims "I believe in God. Whatever you see around you was created by him."
>"The burden of proof lies on you. Until such time as you can back up that claim, he doesn't exist"
>"What proof? It's my belief now stfu"

I'm pissed. A physicist in his 3rd year cannot reason into understanding how flawed that belief is.
But seriously, how the fuck do you respond to people who claim that God caused the big bang and left the universe in "Set and Forget" mode?

Valid arguments only please.

Capitalism must always expand or die. Consequently, there are no accommodations that can be made with it. Its blood sucking nature fuels an appetite that can not be satisfied, it is an ideology developed by the greed of Europeans to own and control the wealth, power and cultures of the world's people.
Understanding this is the key to dealing with their backward motivation of classic greed. Obviously, those who subscribe to their ideology exist in a culture of death. Now we should be able to understand devil worship, their uncompromising nature and their inability to keep treaties, contracts and their word. Any culture built on the exploitation of hue-man kind is anti-civilization.
Their expressions of culture and civilization are as backward as a cave dweller trying to create fire. Therefore, technology in their hands becomes an arsenal producing storage of knowledge used against the world's people. Their technology is built on our foundations, however usage of the stolen legacies creates only hue-man tragedies.
Our stolen technology became war toys in their hands. It developed into nuclear power and biochemical warfare (drugs 'n Aids etc.). Mathematics, astronomy, astrology, medicine, herbology, navigation and military sciences such as; Shaka Zulu and Hannibal's military tactics, the European has built an edifice of horror on our achievements. The difference is clear, they steered all of science into their aspirations for world conquest and domination.

What process has taken place in the west that could possibly have led to such an extreme level of decadence?
How did we turn into a society of apathetic individuals who allow and promote such behavior?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pAC0YSmK0g

Fellow /sci/borgs, please add the /sci/ MSN group:

group1056817@groupsim.com

For those of you how don't know, It is completely anonymous and no one can know your email address.
All you have to do is add the group's address and you can chat with anyone on /sci/ who adds it as well.

This should be a great platform for sharing ideas and general chit-chat.

Let's see if you guys can depress me.
Post depressing scientific facts.

Dear "agnostics",

Even when disregarding the fact that you all are in fact agnostic atheists, and that agnosticism serves as an independent axis to theistic choice and not a morally superior middle-point, one cannot seem to be able to ignore or disregard the very nature of human belief in a higher power: it is simply beyond the human conceptual ability to verify or reach any level of certainty regarding its number and nature.

Seeing as how all odds are equal for any given form of deity or higher power of unknown nature, it is a fallacy to believe that "sitting on the fence" is in any way a stable, safe or acceptable policy when it comes to believing in any sort of deity.

Your sin is that of anthropocentrism, in believing that any transcendental being would share a human world view and will in fact show any leniency or understanding towards your desire to not take part in that which you know nothing of.

For example, it is likely that should a deity exist, it would frown upon any being in its universe that shows no interest in finding its purpose, after all hard work being put into its conception.

Furthermore, you seem to disregard the fact that any and all truths are subjective, as a direct result of being subjectively interpreted by a organic brain of highly limited capabilities.
Even the very concepts known to a human mind as belief, faith, higher power, intangible deities, cosmic and existential necessity for any of the above are just that - projections of the mind upon its environment and any connection of it to an actual one is entirely coincidental.

In conclusion, while you may not be as delusional as the rest of the bunch, you are certainly up there in caliber for not noticing the very simple truth - that there is none and can be none.

Signed,
A nihilist.

At what level of ignorance do you draw the line when it comes to your date?

Can I get a recommendation for a good /sci/-fi book?
Assume I've read none.

/sci/, what's the answer to this?

{8,2,72,304,1792,9600,52736,287744,1572864,8593408,?}

It's driving me crazy.

http://flash.hoodamath.com/games/iqtest.swf

/sci/ what's your score on this

>The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-489653/Human-race-split-different-species.html

What does /sci/ think?

So if the uncertainty principle dictates that there is infinite potential for energy in the vacuum, and the entire universe was created when it borrowed some energy from the vacuum, then what the fuck is this so called vacuum and what is its state of existence?
And what would prevent it from creating an infinite amount of universes simultaneously or during an infinite period of time?

ITT: post the best lecture you've ever seen on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

Dear /sci/,
I just watched The Poetry of Science: Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RExQFZzHXQ

And A Universe from Nothing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

I'm looking for more videos that range from eye opening to downright mind blowing.

What do you recommend?

Are we going to see real space travel in the future or will we destroy ourselves before that'll ever happen?

I don't get the whole proton-proton deuteron reaction that takes place within a star.
It should be p+p+e- --> H2 + neutrino
However, the overall energy for the process is insufficient for it to take place.
Can anyone rectify this for me?

>Third year physics, astrophysics class.
>Professor talks about the early universe
>"The first 300,000 years of the universe were by far the most exciting, it was the golden age of the cosmos"
>"All matter was ionized, therefore there were no atoms"
>"There were no atoms so there was no chemistry"
>"There was no carbon, so there was no biology"
>"There was no iron, so there were no engineers, no great loss there"
>"And there was no gold, so no industrial engineers or economists."
>"Those were humble times in which physics reigned supreme. If you were to built a university, it would only have departments of physics, math and philosophy."
>"But we shouldn't really be concerned with the last two"

ITT: Glorious professor quotes thread.

ITT: Post the most impressive, awe inspiring and informative video you've ever seen on Youtube.

I'll start with this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpJ7yUPwdU

My mind was blown to pieces.

ITT: your more in-depth and far more complex philosophical explanations you had/have for life and existence while other people were running around believing in Jesus.

inb4 Cthulhu.