Newtonian Mechanics

The Hen and the Egg of Gravitation

We suggest to view the gravitational field as the primary variable, which generates mass by local differentiation, instead of being generated by mass by global integration in actionat distance.

Does the Earth Rotate?

We show that the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass results from an operational definition based on Newton’s 2nd Law connecting mass to accelleration.

Hubble’s Law Without Dark Energy

Hubble’s Law states that galaxies appear to be receding from the Earth with a velocites proportional to their distances to the Earth. We derive Hubble’s Law using Newtonian mechanics from a Big Bang scenario with a rapid expansion phase from a hot dense spherical initial rest state centered at the origin of an Euclidean coordinate system under a pressure force increasing linearly with distance from the origin compatible with a constant heat source, followed by expansion with constant velocity with heat source shut off.

Gravitational Law as Perfect Harmony as Perfect Marriage

Does Einstein’s Generalization of Newton’s Gravitation Survive Ockham’s Razor?

Universality of Newton’s Law of Gravitation

The Universe as Weakly Compressible Gas subject to Pressure and Gravitational Forces

New View of Motion under Gravitation without Classical Mysteries

Zeno’s Arrow Paradox Still Unresolved after 2500 Years

The Equivalence Principle from Newton’s 2nd Law

From Spooky Action at Distance to Dig where You Are

Physics Illusion 1: Gravitational Attraction as Instant Action at Distance

Physics Illusion 9: Instant Action at Distance Not Physical Nor Needed

Physics Illusion 12: Modern vs Classical World

Physics Illusion 14: Gravitational Motion by Instant Action at Distance

Fluid Mechanics

The Secret of Turbulence

We explain the basic nature of turbulence and show that it is a necessary feature of complex flows, which properly used makes it possible to fly, sail, swim, and extract energy from flows of air and water, and more generally live an interesting life.

New Theory of Drag and Lift

We give an introduction to a new mathematical theory for the generation of lift and drag on a body moving through a slightly viscous incompressible fluid such as air and water, as well as a large variety of applications.

D’Alembert’s Paradox

A new resolution of d’Alembert’ s paradox from 1752 is presented.The new resolution is based on computational solution of the incompressible inviscid Euler equations with slip boundary condition showing that zero-drag potential flow is unstable and develops into a turbulent flow with substantial drag. The new resolution is entirely different from the official resolution supported by the fluid dynamics community based on Prandtl’s boundary layer theory, and is supported by mathematical analysis, computation and experiment.

The Spell of Prandtl’s Laminar Boundary Layer

20th century fluid mechanics has been obsessed with Prandtl’s theory of (separation in) viscous laminar boundary layers, despite the fact that the fundamentally different case of most importance concerns (separation in) slightly viscous turbulent boundary layers.

The Spell of Kutta-Zhukovsky’s Circulation Theory

It is shown that the classical circulation theory for the lift of a wing by Kutta-Zhukovsky represents a misunderstanding of mathematical logic. The true reason that an airplane can fly is something else than circulation, while pilots are told (and possibly also believe) that lift it comes from circulation…

Flow Separation and Divorce Cost

The drag and lift of a body moving through a fluid depends on the mechanism of flow separation, which is shown to be fundamentally different in slightly viscous turbulent flow and laminar flow.

Thermodynamics

Second Law of Thermodynamics

We present a deterministic continuum mechanics foundation of thermodynamics for slightly viscous fluids or gases based on a 1st Law in the form of the Euler equations expressing conservation of mass, momentum and energy, and a 2nd Law formulated in terms of kinetic energy, internal (heat) energy, work and shock/turbulent dissipation, without reference to entropy.

Black-Body Radiation

A new explanation of the spectrum of black-body radiation is presented based on finite precision computation instead of statistics.

The Direction of Time

We explain why certain physical processes are irreversible and define a direction or arrow of time, based on viewing the process as a form of analog computation with finite precision, in which necessarily developing sharp difference necessarily is destroyed.

Efficiency of Heat Pumps and Refrigerators

A new form of the 2nd law of thermodynamics is used to analyze the efficiency of heat pumps and refrigerators.

Global Climate

Mathematics of Global Warming

Present far-reaching policies to limit CO2 emission are based on mathematical climate models which show better resemblance to observations with sources from CO2 emission than without. The reliability of these models is unknown, while the consequences for the developing world of strict emission control can be severe.

Climate Sensitivity

We argue that basic climate sensitivity as global warming from doubled CO2 without feedback, is 0.15 degreesCelcius C (by Fourier’s Law), rather than the commonly presented 1 C by Stefan-Boltzmann’s Law.

Basic Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere

The basic thermodynamics of global climate is described by the Navier-Stokes equations expressing conservation of mass, momentum and total energy of a fluid, compressible air in the atmosphere and incompressible water in the oceans, subject to graviation and forcing from radiation and rotation. We analyze basic properties of solutions for the atmosphere using a convenient form of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

Quantum Mechanics

Why Schrödinger Hated His Equation

Schrödinger as the inventor of the foundation of quantum mechanics in the form of the Schrödinger wave equation never accepted the statistical particle Copenhagen interpretation of his invention.

Many-Minds Quantum Mechanics

A computational version of quantum mechanics in the spirit of the Hartree method is presented in which each electron in a multi-electron system updates its own state over time by solving its own Schrödinger equation in three-dimensional space expressing the attraction from the kernels and the repulsion from the other electrons, which defines a stable configuration of the system by computation. In this many-minds model the full many-dimensional wave-function is not computed (and thus does not exist) and Pauli’s exclusion principle is replaced by stability requirement. A parallel is made with the interaction of a group of people interacting pairwise, which can described as a set of individual states while the total multi-dimensional interaction is determined by nobody (and thus does not exist).

The Microscopic World Cannot Be a Casino

According to the dominating Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the elementary pointlike particles of modern physics are interacting by playing games of roulette. Macroscopic physics is thus considered to be based on microscopic roulette wheels. However, a roulette wheel has its own microscopics as a necessary requirement for unpredictability, which leads into microscopics of microscopics with elementary particles which are not elementary. We suggest an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics as complex interaction of wave functions which are not game addicted.

Are All Grey Cats Identical?

We exhibit difficulties of the concept of identical particles in the probabilistic Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

The Dark Age of the Uncertainty Principle

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle is the signum of a Dark Age of modernity with nobody understanding what physicists (and politicians) are saying.

Waves or Particles or Both?

On microscopic atomistic scales only waves can exist, because microscopic particles must have their own microscopics, and microscopics upon microscopics does not make sense.

The Brainwash by Bohr

Quantum mechanics based on a linear Schrödinger equation with multi-dimensional wave function leads into the non-physical Copenhagen Interpretation threatening to take physics into a dead end. Formulating instead the Schrödinger equation as a non-linear system of three-dimensional wave functions, opens to a physical interpretation and new possibilities.

The Desperation of Planck

In an act of desperation to motivate his modification of Wien’s displacement law of blackbody radiation, Planck in 1900 introduced the idea of a smallest package of energy named quantum of energy, and thus gave birth to modern physics but also prepared the end pf physics.

Observation vs Computation in Quantum Mechanics

A child of age less than a year likes to play peeakbo, the thrill being that the world seems to seize to exist when the eyes are being closed and miracously reappears when the eyes are opened. At the age of two a child understands that the world exists independently of being observed. In the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, physical reality only exists to the the extent it is being observed and thus is an ideal playground for peekabo. But computation changes the game…

Many-Minds Not Many-Worlds QuantumMechanics

The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics lacks reason and thus is not science.

Quantum Contradictions

Theory of Relativity

Many-Minds Relativity

A theory of relativity is presented, which is physical, in contrast to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which is non-physical.

Is One Dollar = One Euro?

The principles of constant of speed of light and equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass underlying theories of relativity have an ambiguous character of being both analytic/true by definition and synthetic/ expressing properties of physical systems. The ambiguity causes confusion.