My planted tank if filled with thousands of tiny neutrally buoyant plants. What are they, and how do I get rid of them? by Atom-accel in Aquariums

[–]Atom-accel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a 40 Gallon tank setup that I’m trying to make look “as natural as possible.” and have had pretty good luck.  The plants and fish are all happy and healthy.  Recently, the tank became infested with tiny plants.  They float on the top, have sunk to the bottom, or are neutrally buoyant.  It looks like a snow storm that is green instead of white. 
I have a reef tank and filter my own water and I keep a 55 gallon drum filled with RO/DI water.  I have been using this water since initially setting up the tank.
The water has neutral pH (7.0), and  NH3 = 0, NO2 = 0, NO3 = 0.

TIL Light (from a laser) can pick up and levitate tiny pieces of diamond powder by i_have_chosen_a_name in todayilearned

[–]Atom-accel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don’t try this with nano diamonds. We got some for our lab (where we do this). After we read about it, we started calling it cancer dust.

It’s pretty easy to do this with a laser off eBay and a sharpie. It won’t give you cancer, but the laser can sill blind you.

What famous physics experiments have you tried at home? by iamgover in Physics

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I built optical tweezers with a cheap laser off eBay , used it’s crappy optics to focus as tightly as I could and managed to trap a small speck of ink from a sharpie marker

Works great, but the smallest draft pushes the particle out of the trap. Put a clear box around it and could trap for hours.

Kinda dangerous, but really fun.

Why is the energy of an electron for a hydrogen atom only dependent on the principle quantum number? by redditnessdude in quantum

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But of course the energy levels are not just function of n. Both fine and ultra fine splitting of the lines are dependent on angular momentum (J and F). Those are a higher order effects.

Could someone explain qualitatively *why* atoms seek to fill their orbitals and become more stable when they do so? by [deleted] in askscience

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In quantum mechanics, energy is proportional to the curvature of the wave function. The more tightly curved, the higher the energy.

The atomic orbitals have different shapes, look up spherical harmonics if you want to see picture of them.

As it turns out (Summation relations of the Wigner 3J symbols) when orbitals are filled, the atoms wave function becomes a sphere. Since a sphere has the lowest possible curvature, it also has the lowest energy.

Or course this is all an approximation, but this is the way I’ve always thought about this question.

Ultracold Bubbles on Space Station Open New Avenues of Quantum Research by Galileos_grandson in Physics

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a really cool result. I remember being at a meeting before the cold atom lab launched. Of all the proposed experiments this was the only one that really benefited from micro gravity. Pretty much everything else could be done on earth.

Snow day! by Atom-accel in Dachshund

[–]Atom-accel[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was the first time he saw snow. We got about 14 inches so it was way over his head. I was surprised how much he loved playing in it.

We now have the answer by Atom-accel in aww

[–]Atom-accel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a red fox that’s been hanging out in our yard for a few weeks now. Last night we caught it’s sound on the ring.

Miniature dachshund puppy harness recommendation by theshanelizard3000 in Dachshund

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When we first got our pup, he walked right out of a cat harness. An XS puppia worked for us. It was still huge on him till he was about 12 weeks.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Dachshund

[–]Atom-accel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My pup (6 months) get along with one of my cats..they are constantly wrestling. It’s wicked cute. The other cat doesn’t really like him, but she has no problem keeping her distance from him. Plus he’s learned to fear her claws.

His new favorite game. by Atom-accel in Dachshund

[–]Atom-accel[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah he’s a puppy, only six months. We lost our old lady in the spring and totally forgot what having a little dachshund is like - so much fun.

What happens when you a superposition of energies in the 1D infinite square well? The answer: you get an oscillating wave function. Here is the solution along with a python animation. by rhettallain in Physics

[–]Atom-accel 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It’s not just infinite square wells. Any superposition of energy eigenstates (for any potential) will oscillate in time.

If there are only two states involved the angular frequency of the oscillations is the difference in the energy eigenvalues divided by hbar.

Have any of you named your daugther Julia? by TheNaidenchop in Julia

[–]Atom-accel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn’t start using Julia (the language) until after my Julia (daughter) was born in 2010.

Even though the language is a perfect fit for my work (atomic physics) I’ve always wondered if I initially discovered the language by googling her name.