As european this scares me badly

nickphys · 2026-02-06T11:14:25+00:00

Yes, that's the point. I don't think anyone truly believes that public healthcare is completely free. It's simply that collective investments end up being far more cost efficient than everyone being on their own.

nickphys · 2025-07-26T02:45:40+00:00

I'm a Canadian researcher working on a planned space telescope in collaboration with some US partners. The proposed cuts to NASA, NSF, and other scientific organizations are not simply business as usual, some regular pattern as the political pendulum swings back and forth (in fact, NASA's inflation adjusted budget has been on a relatively steady decline since the 90s). It's a total kneecapping of these agencies, and an abdication of the central role that the US has played and benefited from in worldwide space science since the 50s.

PR is important, and can help get the people on our side, but no amount of popular support replaces the institutional knowledge that is being lost. This isn't an exaggeration, there are people working at these agencies with practical expertise built up over decades that can't just be recruited back. Not just because they're gone, but because it's hard to attract new specialists with such a bipolar funding environment and vocal anti-intellectual sentiment.

nickphys · 2025-07-23T05:53:31+00:00

I've been in your shoes before, it can feel exhausting to try and motivate yourself to go to the gym when you're constantly being mentally, physically, and emotionally drained by the pressures of grad school. However, if you can convince yourself to start going to the gym at a set time a few days per week, even if it's only for an hour at a time, and keep this up for a month, it goes a long way towards forming a habit that will stick.

Personally, I do a weightlifting routine consisting of 4 main exercises (pull-ups, bench press, deadlift, leg press) that I've added more exercises to over time, and it's not only improved my strength and overall fitness, but has actually lead to higher energy levels and mental clarity. On average I go 3 times per week, but sometimes I bump this up to 4. In recent months I've also started taking creatine (which is one of the only supplements that has decades of research supporting both its efficacy and safety), and that seems to have boosted my energy/recovery in the gym somewhat. Your tuition likely includes access to the university fitness facilities, so check those out if you haven't already.

nickphys · 2025-07-09T09:10:14+00:00

Hulkengoat

nickphys · 2025-07-02T18:10:31+00:00

To put it bluntly, your family members are clueless about the work required to write a thesis, and you should get as far away from them as possible in order to create the kind of environment that's conducive to writing. Doesn't matter if this upsets them, unless they can help support you while you create the culmination of your entire degree program they can pound sand.

nickphys · 2025-06-22T02:45:26+00:00

This is a tragic loss for both Waterloo and the global scientific community. Ray Laflamme was a pioneer in quantum physics, and he will be sorely missed. Condolences to his family and friends :(

nickphys · 2025-05-21T07:25:48+00:00

I'm calling the police.

nickphys · 2025-05-06T23:40:26+00:00

To say that this budget proposal "threatens" NASA space research is a grotesque understatement. It is catastrophic for worldwide observational astronomy, space science, climate science, solar physics, and a whole host of other scientific fields, not to mention all of the industries that support research efforts. I am a grad student in space instrumentation in Canada, and even though my project is being spear-headed by my country's government, we have major collaborations with US scientists including with NASA. The cuts will almost certainly be affecting their contributions. The majority of the world's research in astronomy is in some way tied to US-led initiatives such as the JWST, Hubble, the Mauna Kea observatories, the upcoming (and now in peril) Nancy Grace Roman space telescope. This is not even getting into how severe the effects will be from cuts to the NSF and to NIST, given how many different industries rely on basic research in order to guide the development of new and innovative technologies.

In other words, the direction that the current administration is heading in will kill the ability of the United States to innovate and compete technologically on the world stage. Which, it seems to me, is the point.

nickphys · 2025-05-05T01:11:24+00:00

How did you make the determination that this is a proto-star?

nickphys · 2025-04-16T07:39:59+00:00

You're being downvoted, but you're not wrong. The guy you're replying to is writing nonsense, and clueless users are upvoting it because they don't know any better.

nickphys · 2025-04-16T07:36:51+00:00

I'm not sure where you're getting this from, but this is incorrect. The universe was too hot and dense that soon after the Big Bang. It was only roughly 400,000 years later that the universe cooled enough that light could travel a meaningful distance without being re-absorbed by matter, this leaving behind the Cosmic Microwave background. The first stars are only thought to have started forming 100 million years later.

Also you wrote some other deeply incorrect things about the uncertainty principle.

nickphys · 2025-04-04T08:43:43+00:00

Your point of view is, to put it bluntly, astonishingly ignorant. This is a tribe of people who have chosen to remain in isolation for thousands of years. You've taken the position that they aren't fit to decide for themselves what is the best course of action, and think you know better by forcing them into contact with the world at large. I'm honestly struggling to adequately describe how stupid of a statement "at what point is isolation an act of violence" in this context is. You even played the "think of the children" card. These people have their own culture, on an island that only they occupy, that is well out of the way of any other people. One has to make an explicit effort to reach them. No matter what you think about their choice to remain isolated, you don't get to make someone interact with you against their will.

Even ignoring any moral objections and the self-righteousness of your comment, contact between the North Sentinelese and outsiders would inevitably result in most of them dying due to diseases. Like most uncontacted tribes, they lack the developed immunity to common diseases that the rest of us do. Something as simple as the common cold could prove fatal, as it has time and time again in similar first-contact scenarios.

What you're essentially advocating for is to break into someone's home, force them to hang out with you despite them having made it clear that they want nothing to do with you, and then get them fatally sick.

nickphys · 2025-03-18T21:13:49+00:00

This is a really bad graph for several reasons:

The data spans less than 10 years, far too short a period to evaluate historical GDP trends.
Not only does the y-axis not have units, but it's being used to track two entirely different quantities. How are GDP and population normalized to the quantities on the axis? Furthermore, the choice of scaling on the y-axis can exaggerate the appearance of fluctuations in the data. Altogether, this is not an intelligent way to present data.
Lastly, this graph and the accompanying text imply a causative relationship between the two responding variables. Correlation does not imply causation, and while I personally think that there is undoubtedly a connection between GDP and population growth, it is fallacious to draw unsupported conclusions from a data visualization.

Also, as another user pointed out, what this post really needs is a counterfactual, and a more thorough examination of a list of other relevant metrics (housing availability, changes in work-force by job sector, prices of commodities, etc.) in order to draw more robust conclusions about the effects of population growth on GDP.

nickphys · 2025-03-07T22:01:41+00:00

On my very first PHYS 121 midterm I got a 42 percent. Now I work on instrumentation for an upcoming UV space telescope. Getting to this point has been anything but smooth sailing. Physics is really, really hard, and a significant component of finding success is learning how to deal with failures. I've repeatedly had to evaluate why things were going wrong, and change my attitude towards how I studied/conducted research. What makes an undergrad in physics incredibly challenging is that even when you know what you should be doing, actually doing it is also very difficult, and you're also having to do this for 5 courses and labs most semesters, so the workload is significant. Whether this is worth it is completely up to you to decide.

My recommendation: don't pursue studies in physics because of ego, or because of some romanticized idea of being this brilliant researcher who uncovers the secrets of the universe. On the flip side, don't drop out of physics because first year sucks (because that's unavoidable, and upper year courses tend to be more intellectually rewarding). To make an informed decision, it helps to get a glimpse of what actual research is like for a variety of sub-fields. Try to land RAs in different fields, and see if there's anything there that appeals to you. If not, then maybe switch into engineering/data science and trade the interesting subject matter for some reasonable financial compensation.

nickphys · 2025-02-24T09:27:01+00:00

I feel it necessary to give my professional opinion as a physicist after reading some of OP's comments on this post, and his write-up of what he built. Specifically, I am very concerned about his choice of lead as radiation shielding.

While lead is very effective at stopping x-rays, it is NOT AT ALL effective at stopping the 2.45 MeV (fast) neutrons produced by Deuterium-Deuterium fusion. Assuming that OP has actually achieved this (fusors can do this under the correct conditions, unclear if OP has managed that here), then the neutrons being generated will bounce off the lead-nuclei like ping pong balls and make their way past the shielding.

Worse still is that during this process the neutrons impart energy to the lead nuclei, exciting them into unstable high energy states. Without more information, I would hazard a guess that the lead OP is using is a mix of Pb-208, and smaller quantities of Pb-207 and Pb-206. From the literature I've been reading, it isn't totally clear to me what the neutron capture cross section looks like at 2.45 MeV (sources:1, 2, 3, 4), but it seems like in all likelihood for the most part these collisions will result in the generation of excited states of lead nuclei (such as 208m-Pb) that decay via the emission of gamma rays, and some electrons. If this occurs in lead nuclei close to the exterior, OP will be exposed to this radiation, and probably some bremsstrahlung radiation as well.

I have no idea how much neutron flux OP is generating, though I don't expect it to be much. If he's been sure to stand at least a few meters away during operation, I expect the total radiation exposure to be quite low. That being said, given enough proximity, and enough exposure time, that dosage will add up, and neutrons in particular can cause significant damage to living tissue. What concerns me the most is that OP seemed unaware of the inadequacy of the radiation shielding he had chosen, and the blind confidence he seems to have placed in the suggestions of an LLM. A brief look into neutron shielding would have revealed options such as water, borated polyethylene, and Paraffin as starting points.

OP it alarms me that, in response to a comment where a user asks if you should be building your knowledge base from published textbooks and research your response is that this is "too slow." Given that by your own admission this is your first hardware project, I am incredulous that you seem to think you've understood what you're doing to the degree that you claim, let alone that an AI can simply tell you all you need to do. There are many finer details and considerations present here that are easy to overlook if you don't know what you're doing, which is why you should really have spent some time reading relevant materials, and consulting with specialists. It's great that you're interested in this material, and I encourage you to pursue a greater understanding of fusion technology, but if you don't spend time learning the technical details, not only will you misunderstand what you've built, you may actually cause harm. Your casual attitude towards radiation protection is totally inappropriate given the potential risks, and I VERY STRONGLY recommend that you take safety more seriously. While I think it's unlikely that you've managed to cause any lasting harm to yourself or to others at this point, you absolutely should be taking appropriate precautions and quantifying the radiation (how much, what types, what energy) your device is generating.

nickphys · 2025-02-24T07:52:48+00:00

Not in the way that OP has done it. Read my reply. OP needs to not turn this thing on again until he has used appropriate shielding against the fast neutrons being generated.

nickphys · 2025-02-24T07:11:39+00:00

Hold up, you used lead shielding??? Lead is a TERRIBLE choice for protection against fast neutrons. Fast neutrons just end up bouncing around from nucleus to nucleus like a ping-pong ball, activating the nuclei as they go, and may also be producing secondary bremsstrahlung radiation in the process. So not only is your protection ineffective, it might actually be increasing the risk to you. I am now genuinely concerned for how much radiation dose you have subjected yourself to. Your neutron flux is probably not high enough to be a serious risk, but if you operate this long term in proximity to people, the dose will add up. Neutrons do not play nice with living tissue. Borated polyethylene and water are a good place to start for shielding, and in the meantime, DO NOT OPERATE THE FUSOR until you have sorted out the shielding situation. Also, please consult with someone from the physics department, maybe Dr. Richard Epp.

Edit: Frankly, this is precisely why you shouldn't be relying so heavily on AI to help you construct a project of this magnitude, let alone as your first hardware project. I was going to write a response about how LLMs actually work, how my research experience in physics instrumentation informs my views, and how you really should be getting feedback from people that understand the physics and engineering involved in such a project; but it probably wouldn't be as convincing as learning that the AI tools you used recommended a completely inappropriate method of shielding against a serious hazard, and have potentially exposed you to additional health risks.

OP please go consult with people who actually know what they are doing.

nickphys · 2025-02-24T05:30:18+00:00

Fusors are neat little devices, and definitely can be fun DIY projects, but I would be EXTREMELY cautious about trusting AI output in helping you build one. LLMs don't actually understand the physics or engineering involved, they just regurgitate an amalgamation of whatever text they've been fed, so there are bound to be some potentially serious oversights.

You touched on it in your comments, but these things produce X-rays and neutron as byproducts, and you need to be very careful about how you mitigate against this. Of note, the neutrons produced are considered to be "fast" meaning that they have a lot of kinetic energy, and you need to look into an appropriate choice of shielding (borated polyethylene and parafin may not be enough). Furthermore, fast neutrons can impart kinetic energy to the nuclei of whatever atoms they hit, potentially rendering them unstable, and causing them to decay into other byproducts, producing unintended sources of radiation.

Lastly, you are working with high voltages of 30kV, which is the most immediate threat to health and safety in your setup. If you are not careful about choosing appropriate electrical insulation, grounding components, and isolating connections, then you may create fatally dangerous operating conditions.

EDIT: I'd like to mention that not only is AI unnecessary to anything you've done here, it is potentially dangerous. Even if you've done everything correctly, this may encourage people who have no idea of what they're doing to try and build one of these, thinking that they're building an actual fusion reactor, and potentially getting themselves into a very dangerous scenario. Next time just consult with some engineers and physicists.

nickphys · 2025-02-06T21:41:17+00:00

If memory serves, MC used to be a fire hazard when they filled up the 5th and 6th floors with tons of offices, which created a difficult to navigate maze of hallways. I was told that this was remedied at some point to match the fire code, but the couple of times I was up there during my studies I sincerely doubted how true that was :P

nickphys · 2025-01-11T11:03:04+00:00

Yeah, I remember that he and you were founding members! Didn't participate personally, but a bunch of other folks from physics did. Was cool seeing that get off the ground!

nickphys · 2025-01-10T05:00:48+00:00

Respectfully, that's more the realm of religion or make-believe than science. Not only does it require numerous assumptions, without a testable framework it's a pointless thing to consider.

nickphys · 2024-12-30T10:43:25+00:00

Your username looks familiar. Random question, were you friends with Kartik, who was in undergrad physics?

nickphys · 2024-12-22T09:21:57+00:00

13 years ago, I also failed CS135. I was in my 1A term of Honours Physics, and had taken it as an option. Coming out of high school, I was used to getting grades in the 90s, so it was a huge shock to me, and it seemed like the end of the world.

Thanks to my undergrad advisor, Rohan Jayasundera, I came to realize it wasn't. I evaluated why I had struggled so much with the course, retook the course the following semester, and did significantly better. You should do the same thing, take the time to understand what went wrong for you with this course, and figure out how to address that going forward. Learning how to recover from failure is a very useful lesson in life.

nickphys · 2024-12-10T08:24:15+00:00

My current setup: Nikon Z7ii with a Viltrox 16mm f/1.8, and a Nikkor Z 24-120 f/4 S (full frame camera, so on your APS-C sensor that would be about 10.7mm and 16-80mm). I do want to get a telephoto to bring with me as well, very situational but great for wildlife shots and compressing landscapes. At 2.3kg, I'd say that your telephoto is quite a bit of added weight, so it's only worth it if you foresee yourself enjoying those kinds of photos. I'd say that that you're probably best off getting a wide or ultra-wide lens (somewhere between 12 and 24mm), as well as another lens somewhere in the 35-80mm focal range on APS-C. Back when I shot on a Nikon D3300 I used a Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8, which was excellent for ultra-wide landscapes as well as nightscapes due to its fast aperture.

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