/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12464366
>sign up to get a physics degree because I like math and science
>learn some physics
but
>every homework is slogging through pages of algebra, making 30 careless mistakes on the way
yes anon, i can relate

I'll kick it off with second sound.

In any material, thermal energy is stored as atomic/molecular vibrations. Since the atoms don't vibrate independently and bump into each other, you can consider these as waves traveling through the material. You basically have sound waves crisscrossing due to thermal energy.

Due to wave/particle duality, you can also consider these sound waves as consisting of sound particles. You now have a gas of sound particles in your material. The higher the temperature, the denser that sound gas.

Now for the mind blowing part. This is a quantum mechanical quasiparticle, but it basically behaves as a classical gas. That means it can support density waves. Density waves in a gas? Classical sound.

You now have sound waves in a gas of sound particles. This is a real mode of heat transport in certain materials, and we can even measure the speed of this second sound.