Stephen Sekula on chirp.cooleysekula.net
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Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Saturday, 04-Feb-2017 17:53:45 EST 
Stephen Sekula
The current will be given by I = I_0 (1-e^{t/(RC)}), where I_0 is the maximum current that can be delivered by the capacitor when it's discharged at time zero. So the current maximum will depend on not just C, but the resistance in the circuit. What's the resistance? -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Friday, 03-Feb-2017 17:28:26 EST
Stephen Sekula
I should note for any general readers seeing this that the Dept. of Energy, while it's primary role is as steward of the nation's nuclear capabilities, plays a huge role in funding basic science in the US. For instance, it funds 90% of particle physics research (the study and application of subatomic particles), mostly by funding projects through national laboratories. Th… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Friday, 03-Feb-2017 17:25:44 EST
Stephen Sekula
It would crack me up if he was qualified for the job... OK, that aside, it is one of these interesting things that Trump would have selected Perry for this position, when it's not clear Perry really understood what the job was. Combined with Perry's rather spineless confirmation hearing (he seemed to agree with his inquisitors regardless of the party or idea they raised f… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 22:33:25 EST
Stephen Sekula
There's been so much noise about other cabinet positions, you probably missed it: Gov. Rick Perry was confirmed for Energy Secretary by the Senate Energy and Water Committee: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/donald-trump-1/2017/01/31/rick-perry-clears-first-hurdle-become-energy-secretary-signaling-easy-confirmation -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 22:14:02 EST
Stephen Sekula
Another good interview from today: recent former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on the challenges faced by current administration: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-02-02/what-former-secretary-energy-thinks-about-iran-climate-change-and-nuclear -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 22:13:42 EST
Stephen Sekula
Really enjoyed this interview with George Takei on "Think": http://think.kera.org/2017/02/02/a-conversation-with-george-takei/ -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 12:52:12 EST
Stephen Sekula
A good summary of the chaos in sci. policy in wk 1 of the Trump admin. Eyes on the ball. Avoid the head-fake. https://www.aip.org/fyi/2017/scientific-integrity-under-scrutiny-during-trump’s-first-week -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 10:42:59 EST
Stephen Sekula
From Twitter https://twitter.com/drsekula: RT @CERN_JOBS: Inspiring young generations: science is fascinating http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/02/naturally-im-scientist #IWorkAtCERN https://twitter.com/CERN_JOBS/status/827169721938173952/photo/1" -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 10:42:45 EST
Stephen Sekula
From Twitter https://twitter.com/drsekula:
RT @NASA: This #CitizenScience image created with @NASAJuno data shows an enhanced color view of Jupiterâ^TMs haze. Details:⦠https://twitter.com/i/web/status/827170716235788288 https://chirp.cooleysekula.net/attachment/21565 -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 10:42:07 EST
Stephen Sekula
From Twitter https://twitter.com/drsekula: RT @SNOLABscience: A look at some of the #research happening here at #SNOLAB with @katelunau and the team from @motherboard https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/inside-the-dark-matter-lab-buried-over-a-mile-underground-11/5834aeb8d9f88aa65cd9ac80 -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Thursday, 02-Feb-2017 08:22:06 EST
Stephen Sekula
Meet the first African-American to earn a PhD in the US: Edward Bouchet. He earned it at Yale in physics in 1876. #BlackHistoryMonth http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/awards/bouchet.cfm https://chirp.cooleysekula.net/attachment/21558 -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 22:12:13 EST
Stephen Sekula
Since you have crossed the line into anti-semitic commentary and have decided to revert to terrible name-calling, I'm done talking with you. Stay off my GS feed. -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 19:05:40 EST
Stephen Sekula
@axemansays, Einstein was Jewish, though not particularly devout; that's why he fled Nazi Germany in 1933 - the purge of "Jewish Academics" put his life at risk and he was brought to the US by colleagues at Princeton, where he remained the rest of his days. He actually refuted the big bang idea at the beginning because he felt it smacked too much of Biblical theology, but… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 18:58:39 EST
Stephen Sekula
@steve's, And, as you can imagine, it is difficult to do any kind of half-decent job in a format like this... especially since there are whole reliable textbooks devoted to the subject, so why bother with me. ;-) Anyway, I am trying but since I have other responsibilities in my life - a wife, a job, two cats, a book to write, three grad students to supervise, and MEETINGS… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 17:57:45 EST
Stephen Sekula
That book relies on a wrong model for the speed of light. The author argues that you can assume that the speed of a source of light is added to the motion of light itself, increasing its speed. This flies in the face of evidence accumulated since the Michelson-Morley Experiments in the late 1880s, that demonstrated that the speed of light is independent of the motion of t… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 17:47:52 EST
Stephen Sekula
So, were those predictions verified? Yes. The light from the early universe was detected as microwaves in the 1960s, quite by accident. The properties of the microwave energy, measured very well in the early 1990s, corresponded to a universe with an average temperature of just about 3K. The relative abundance of Hydrogen and Helium is highly consistent with the predictio… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 17:44:20 EST
Stephen Sekula
Second, let's understand the early predictions of such an idea. 1. One should observe that very distant astronomical objects, corresponding to faint objects (e.g. because intensity falls off with distance), are moving away from us in any direction we look. Evidence: Edwin Hubble and others observed distant galaxies are all receding from us in every direction. Of cours… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 17:41:13 EST
Stephen Sekula
First, let's make sure we understand the big bang hypothesis:
1. The universe started out very small and, since matter and energy were compressed into a small volume, very hot.
2. The universe expanded with time, cooling in the process. -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 10:00:40 EST
Stephen Sekula
As I said earlier, you clearly have some kind of world view or other thing that you are working to protect. I'm going to go back to being a practicing scientist, testing the natural world in the hopes of finding a better explanation for it, one that explains all that came before and predicts new things we can test. I recommend you go back to your work, too. I wish you wel… -
Stephen Sekula (steve)'s status on Wednesday, 01-Feb-2017 09:54:50 EST
Stephen Sekula
Well, Einstein was just one of thousands of physicists in the 20th century who contributed small steps in understanding the universe, and of course tremendous progress was made. The laws of physics, which include Maxwell's Equations and Special Relativity (which, itself, includes Newton's Laws, and so is not separate from it), are known well enough to predict the behavior…
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