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Showing posts from March, 2020

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The Definition of Speed pt.II

From the general and historical perspective in the definition of speed , let's have a look at the final two options: Velocity ( v ) or rather speed is now defined as distance by time or d / t , and measured in km/h , m/s , mph or something equivalent. Wikipedia : " Italian physicist Galileo Galilei is usually credited with being the first to measure speed by considering the distance covered and the time it takes. Galileo defined speed as the distance covered per unit of time. In equation form, that is v=d/t " However, I suppose Roman legions , comparing troop movements, and even ice age hunters used similar equations - it's a natural definition for a sentient being, at once a predator and prey , to cover movement in time and space , and defining it by the relation of distance to time . Speed , defined as distance by time or d/t , increases with distance and decreases with time . This worked for eons; we instinctively appreciate speed th

The Definition of Speed pt.I

I have written about my misgivings about the original, now somewhat discarded, 150 year old definition of entropy - and its consequences . Those consequences being, in part: The inability to come to grips with reality without throwing exception after exception , having to define such a thing as " negative " entropy to describe something positive , and getting into contradiction after contradiction and argument after argument when trying to define physical processes and conditions. What , for instance, correctly and unequivocally defines thermodynamic closure? What are the universal conditions for the Second Law of Thermodynamics ? How is entropy defined at low temperatures? At the beginning of the universe? And so on. The original definition My take is that things would have been and would be different, in the general concept of the world, if Rudolf Clausius had defined entropy the other way around; not S=Q/T      ( Quantity o

360 Degrees - Division in Time and Space

360 Degrees The partitioning of time and space into 360 steps Partitioning a whole into 360 degrees / 60 minutes with a compass and a ruler as universal instruments for the division of space and time The partitioning of a full circle as a representative of the whole into 360 degrees goes back to Babylonian times of farming and simple technology  - 5000 years ago, around 3000 BC to 300 BC. Our current decimal number system is based on the number 10; their numerical system was based on the number 60 . In those days, the emphasis was not , as it is today, on arbitrarily precise mathematics, but on those principally so; it was not about calculations ( these were then neither possible nor needed ), but about division and construction of artifacts with available aids . Within simple life, symmetry, dividing evenly, and fair and correct sharing, are of big, if not existential importance. Since reality itself is but an approximation on the mathematically correc

The Building of the Pyramids

The Mystery of the Egyptian Pyramids - Solved? Some personal views and comments on the Egyptian pyramids. Everyone wonders how the Egyptian pyramids were built. On the other hand, why does nobody ask how the ancient south American temple pyramids were built? This probably is because these have an open outer stairway . Although this doesn't really change much, it makes everything seem obvious. Who says that the ancient Egyptian pyramids didn't? Or to put it differently: Why were the Egyptian pyramids built in the first place? Just an Idea... :-)   The Egyptian pyramids were built not from the bottom up , but rather from the inside out . By the way, has anyone ever walked once around an Egyptian pyramid on one of the tiers, to check if it is indeed a step and not a spiral? That would be the "ramp". Not that this needs to be; but it would make things easier, it seems. So here