Thought experiments in physics

thought experiment in special relativity

thought experiment

contradicting time travel of one’s biological parent’s death/separation

1632 book by Galileo Galilei

thermodynamic ratio of isobaric to isochoric specific heat capacities

theoretical paradox resulting from time travel

characters used in cryptography and science literature

branch of philosophy relating to spatiality and temporality

principle that inertia is determined by the large-scale distribution of matter

concept that distant simultaneity is not absolute, but depends on the observer's reference frame

in thermodynamics, the principle that any heat engine operating between the same two thermal reservoirs cannot have an efficiency greater than a reversible heat engine operating between the same reservoirs

thought experiment in special relativity

irreversible thermodynamic process in which a volume of gas expands into a vacuum

theory stating that external physical reality is a mathematical structure

thought experiment and instance of a perpetual motion machine of the second kind

thought experiment

thought experiment in special relativity: “a string hangs between two spaceships that start accelerating simultaneously equally in an inertial frame; will the string break?”

equation that describes the change in vapour pressure due to a curved liquid–vapor interface

celebrated demonstration of the uniform acceleration of Earth surface gravity

1960 article by theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Eugene Wigner

hypothetical device in theoretical physics that could be used to send signals into one's own past

physics thought experiment

nondeterministic Newtonian mechanical system

set of Experiments concerning the Earth's rotation

ethical and physical thought experiment

thought experiment in physics

exact solution of the Einstein field equation with dust rotating about an axis of cylindrical symmetry

physics thought experiment popularized by Richard Feynman, consisting of a sprinkler-like device which is submerged in a tank and made to suck in the surrounding fluid

argument demonstrating that rotational motion cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies

experiment proposed by Karl Popper to put to the test different interpretations of quantum mechanics

interaction of a multi-turn inductor with the magnetic flux