October 2017 – Collected Thoughts

Physics, American, Richard Feynman, Non-Fiction Quotes, The Character of Physical Law

Which End is Closer to God?

October 31, 2017 at 9:21 PM February 14, 2019 at 2:41 PM itemprop="discussionURL"0

We have a way of discussing the world, when we talk of it at various hierarchies, or levels. Now I do not mean to be very precise, dividing the world into definite levels, but I will indicate, by describing a set of ideas, what I mean by hierarchies of ideas. For example, at one end we have the fundamental laws of physics. Then we invent other terms for concepts which are approximate, which have, we believe, their ultimate explanation in terms of the fundamental laws. For instance, “heat”. Heat is supposed to be jiggling, and the word for a hot …

Physics, American, Richard Feynman, The Meaning of It All : Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist, Non-Fiction Quotes

You Use the Boogie Man As Follows

October 31, 2017 at 9:04 PM February 14, 2019 at 2:24 PM itemprop="discussionURL"0

It starts out all right, with the good, and love, and Christ, and so on, and it builds itself up until it’s afraid of an enemy. And then it forgets its original idea. It turns itself inside out and becomes absolutely contrary to the beginning. I believe that the people who start some of these things, especially the volunteer ladies of Altadena, have a good heart and understand a little bit that it’s good, the Constitution, and so on, but they are lead astray in the system of the thing. How, I can’t exactly get at, and what to do …

Physics, Dark Sun : The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, American, Richard Rhodes, Non-Fiction Quotes

A Nuclear Hammer

October 29, 2017 at 10:14 PM February 14, 2019 at 3:05 PM itemprop="discussionURL"0

Regarding the design of a nuclear fission trigger that ignites a fusion bomb. Levitation gave the imploding shell time to acquire momentum before it hit the core. Nuclear-weapons designer Theodore B. Taylor explained the principle to the writer John McPhee once without naming it: “The way to get more energy into the middle was to hit the core harder. When you hammer a nail, what do you do? Do you put the hammer on the nail and push?” The solid Fat Man core had been pushed; levitation hammered. And because it increased efficiency, levitation also made it possible to design …