In my previous post, it seems I’ve made some serious errors when discussing the technicalities of music recording, both digital and vinyl. This is not my area of expertise and I apparently did not do nearly enough research. Thanks to Gregor Robinson and Jonathan Griffitts for correcting me. Here are Gregor Robinson’s and Jonathan Griffitts’ corrections verbatum. Thanks to both of you. Gregor Robinson said: There is actually a big difference between lossy formats and lossless digital audio formats (which may be in fact compressed; see FLAC). It’s not just that the sample rate is lower. Lossy compression makes
jonah
Jonah is the author of The Physics Mill.
Computer Related / Science And Math
Sound: Vinyl Records Vs. Digital Files
All music is beautiful ~Billy Strayhorn I apologize to everyone who looked for my article earlier today. I was delayed in writing it last night. I think I need to start working ahead and building a buffer. sunstreetreviews asks Audiophile friends tell me that vinyl records have a much richer sound than MP3 files. Is that really the case, and if so, why? In principle, there’s no reason a digital file should produce lower-quality sound than a vinyl record. In reality, tests are inconclusive. Why this is the case has to do with how sound works, and how sound
Physics / Quantum Mechanics / Science And Math
The Dice Are Loaded: Probability Waves
God does not play dice ~Albert Einstein Einstein, stop telling God what to do! ~Niels Bohr This is part three of a multi-part series on quantum mechanics. In part one, I discussed how we discovered that light is both a wave and a particle. The dual nature of light suggests that massive particles like electrons might be waves too. In part two, I gave a theoretical underpinning to the dual nature of electrons: treating electrons as waves completes the Bohr Model of the atom and explains the Rydberg Formula. However, legendary physicist Richard Feynman once said: It doesn’t matter
Physics / Quantum Mechanics / Science And Math
Unreal Truths: Matter Waves and the Bohr Model of the Atom
Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real ~Niels Bohr This is the second part of a multi-part series on quantum mechanics. In part one, I described and motivated particle-wave duality for light. I demonstrated that light waves are also particles (photons). But does this duality go the other way? Are particles like electrons also waves? As I hinted last time, the answer is yes. These are called matter waves, and their story is very interesting. The Mystery of the Emission Spectrum Last time, I discussed the emission spectrum of hydrogen, and the
Uncategorized
No Cat
Sorry everyone, but some family stuff came up this week. For this reason, I’ll be posting on Monday instead of Sunday. In the meantime, here’s a video of a cat barking. …and here’s a video of a very upset cat. I know, little guy. I’m sorry about the delay.
Mathematics / Science And Math
Panning For Primes With the Sieve of Eratosthenes
They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve. ~Kahlil Gibran I know that last time I promised to talk more about quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, finals hit me with all the force of a great typhoon; I don’t feel like I have the time to write an article on quantum I’d be happy with. So here’s some filler on prime numbers. Our regular programming returns next week. A prime number is a counting number that is greater than one and only divisible by one and itself. For example, 2
Physics / Quantum Mechanics / Science And Math
The Charming Doubleness: Particle-Wave Duality
But the beauty here lay in the duality, in the charming doubleness… ~ Thomas Mann (Felix Krull) I apologize to those of you who have requested a topic. The current requests are all pretty in-depth and I want some time to think about how to explain them properly. So, in a bid to buy time, I’m going to do a multi-part series on quantum mechanics. In this part, I’ll describe some of the experimental results motivating the fundamental principle of quantum mechanics: particle wave duality. As amazing as it may seem, quantum mechanics tells us that every particle is
Geometry / Mathematics / Physics / etc.
FTL Part 3: General Relativity Lets us Take Shortcuts
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint,it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff. ~The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) This is part three of a multipart series on faster-than-light travel. In the first part of the series, I explained why the speed of light is constant, no matter the observer. In part two, I explained why this invariance prevents us from going faster than light. This time, I’ll explain how we might use general relativity to get around this restriction. Fair warning: although general relativity
Uncategorized
What mathematicians do all day
I’d like to share with you all a humorous article by Yasha Berchenko-Kogan, describing what mathematicians (specifically math graduate students) do all day. It is very much in accord with what my own research experience has been like. https://gist.github.com/4158578
Physics / Relativity / Science And Math
FTL Part 2: The Universal Speed Limit
It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one’s hat keeps blowing off. ~Woody Allen This is Part Two of a multipart series on faster-than-light travel. This time, I’ll describe why it’s difficult to travel faster than lightspeed. At the end of my last article, I told you that the speed of light is constant, independent of the speed of the observer or the source. If I drive past you at half the speed of light with my headlights blazing, the photons of my headlights will be going past you at