The Hyperfine Physics Podcast

Oct 08 2022 28 ep. 64 mins 760
The Hyperfine Physics Podcast artwork

Physics puzzles and deep dives into physics topics.

  Science
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Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 - The universe is not locally real. What does that mean?

Oct 08 2022 37 mins  
The 2022 Physics Nobel Prize, awarded to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger "for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science" https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2022/press-release/ Scientific American article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universe-is-not-loca

Acoustic Levitation w/ Special Guest Dr. David Jackson

Jul 08 2021 62 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss acoustic levitaiton with Dr. David Jackson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dickinson College. Their published paper at AAJP (requires subscription), "Acoustic levitation and the acoustic radiation force": https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/10.0002764 You can contact Dr. Jackson to request a copy: https://www.dickinson.edu/site/custom_scripts/dc_fa

Gravitational G and How Science Works

Jun 17 2021 67 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss the "controversial" value of Newton's gravitational constant G. They cover the history of its measurement and how the value (and confidence in that value) has changed over time. Gravitational G wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant Relative uncertainty of phsyical constants: https://codata.org/blog/2015/08/04/codata-recommended-valu

Cosmology and the Arrow of Time

May 16 2021 57 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss the big question: why is the future different than the past? Why do we remember the past but not the future? Much the discussion comes from Sean Carroll’s book, “From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time“The podcast lives at https://www.thehyperfine.com/ Join our listener community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheHyperfine/

Is Anything Truly Random? w/Special Guest Grant Ciffone

May 04 2021 57 mins  
Zak and Derek chat with special guest, Grant Ciffone! Grant joins us as a non-physicist who asks “Is anything truly random in the universe?” Interested in being a guest on the show? Come ask us a question! Email us at [email protected] podcast lives at https://www.thehyperfine.com/ Join our listener community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheHyperfine/ Follow the s

How to Keep Time

Apr 20 2021 57 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss a mystery in a hospital, where an MRI machine seems to have taken out only iPhones; Android was unharmed. This leads to a conversation on how watches work, fundamentally.The podcast lives at https://www.thehyperfine.com/ Join our listener community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheHyperfine/ Follow the show on Instagram @thehyperfine: https://www.instagr

Entropy & Statistical Mechanics

Apr 08 2021 84 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss the statistical origins of entropy and how it connects from there into thermodynamics. They also encourage using flashcards 🙂The podcast lives at https://www.thehyperfine.com/ Join our listener community on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheHyperfine/ Follow the show on Instagram @thehyperfine: https://www.instagram.com/thehyperfine/ Derek on Instagram (a

Thermodynamics

Mar 23 2021 74 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss the basics of thermodynamics, including the so-called thermodynamic potentials. Topics: energy, temperature, entropy, pressure, volume, enthalpy, Helmholtz free energy, Gibbs free enthalpy. Modern Thermodynamics: http://www.av8n.com/physics/thermo/ Legendre transformation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendre_transformationThe podcast lives at https://www

Benford’s Law

Mar 05 2021 57 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss Benford’s Law, including the strange places it pops up, and some fundamental origins of the law. Some of the references discussed: The Mathematics of Benford’s Law – A Primer Arno Berger and Theodore P. Hill April 22, 2020 A Simple Explanation of Benford’s Law R. M. FEWSTER The American Statistician, February 2009, Vol. 63, No. 1 https://en.wikipedia.o

Planck, Einstein, and the Origins of Quantum Mechanics

Dec 07 2019 66 mins  
Zak and Derek discuss Max Planck’s work in the foundations of what would turn into quantum mechanics, and Albert Einstein’s role in its promulgation. How did Max Planck fix the blackbody radiation problem with the ultraviolet catastrophe, or is that actually what happened? References discussed: Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity by Thomas Kuhn (Amazon book) Einstei