Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / July 2008

======== Welcome! to the Physics Newsgroups ==========

The sci.physics.* and alt.sci.physics.* newsgroups are
forums devoted to the discussion of physics and
physics-related topics.

The contributors to these newsgroups constitute a
diverse group of laypeople, students, engineers, and
other professionals in addition to professional
physicists.  All are united by an interest in physics,
and all are welcome to contribute postings here.

The Physics Newsgroup FAQ is available from a number of
Web sites listed later in this welcome message.  Some
of the more narrowly focused physics newsgroups have
their own FAQs, which are regularly posted in the
appropriate newsgroups.  The Physics Newsgroup FAQ is
available only as a web document since it is too big
and uses images and equations that cannot be
transformed into text.

Some of the newsgroups have their charter residing in
the Faq archive.  To read these, see
http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dkoks/Faq/Administrivia/newsgroup...

- Newsgroups for General Physics Discussions -

sci.physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to
 the discussion of mainstream physics (except
 relativity), news from the physics community, and
 physics-related social issues.

sci.physics.relativity is an open forum for discussions
 about the theory of relativity, from elementary level
 to research level discussions, from dissemination of
 new theoretical ideas to speculative attacks on the
 foundations of relativity.  In general, threads in
 this group should -not- be crossposted to
 sci.physics, unless they involve quantum physics or
 grand unification schemes that lie outside the topics
 suggested above.  The charter is held in the
 Newsgroup FAQ (see above for url).

alt.sci.physics.new-theories is an open forum for
 discussion of any topics related to conventional or
 unconventional physics.  In this context,
 "unconventional physics" includes any ideas on
 physical science, whether or not they are widely
 accepted by the mainstream physics community.

sci.physics.research is a moderated newsgroup designed
 to offer an environment with less traffic and more
 opportunity for discussion of serious topics in
 physics among experts and beginners alike.  The
 charter for this group is in the Newsgroup FAQ (see
 above for url).

- Specialized Physics Newsgroups -

sci.physics.particle is an unmoderated newsgroup
 dedicated to the discussion of all aspects of
 particle physics by people with all levels of
 expertise.  The charter for this group may be read in
 the Newsgroup FAQ (see above for url).

sci.physics.accelerators is an unmoderated newsgroup
 for issues relating to particle accelerators and the
 physics of beams. The charter for this group is in
 the Newsgroup FAQ (see above for url).

alt.sci.physics.acoustics is an unmoderated newsgroup
 for issues relating to sound and acoustics.  Its FAQ
 and a set of informal rules are held in the Newsgroup
 FAQ (see above for url).

sci.physics.cond-matter is an unmoderated newsgroup
 dedicated to the discussion of the physics of
 condensed matter.  The charter for this group may be
 read in the Newsgroup FAQ (see above for url).

sci.physics.computational.fluid-dynamics is an
 unmoderated newsgroup for discussion of computational
 fluid dynamics with a charter at the Newsgroup FAQ
 (see above for url).

sci.physics.electromag is an unmoderated newsgroup with
 its own FAQ dedicated to the discussion of topics
 pertaining to electromagnetics.  The FAQ and charter
 are held in the Newsgroup FAQ (see above for url).

sci.physics.fusion is an unmoderated newsgroup with its
 own FAQ dedicated to the discussion of nuclear
 fusion; refer to the Newsgroup FAQ (see above for
 url).

sci.physics.plasma is a moderated newsgroup serving the
 plasma science and technologies community.  The
 charter for this group may be read in the Newsgroup
 FAQ (see above for url).

sci.physics.strings is a moderated newsgroup covering
 whatever aspects of string theory that people want to
 discuss.  The charter for this group is at
 http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~sps

sci.physics.foundations is a moderated group designed
 to discuss any issue of the foundations of physics or
 philosophy of physics, and in particular posts on
 unresolved or controversial issues. The charter is
 held at
http://vacuum-physics.com/spf

There are several other alt.sci.physics.* groups.

- Other Languages -

de.sci.physik is the German language group for physics
discussions.

fj.sci.physics is the Japanese language group for
physics discussions.

================ Posting Guidelines ==================

- All Are Welcome -

We welcome contributions from newcomers, including
questions at all levels of expertise.  However, we do
ask that "newbies" always check the FAQ (see the next
section) -before- posting any questions, because
experience has shown that chances are very good that a
very similar question is answered there.  (The word FAQ
is, after all, an acronym for "Frequently Asked
Questions".)

"Wild and crazy ideas" are also acceptable in the
appropriate newsgroups, alt.sci.physics.new-theories
and sci.physics.relativity) but please be sure to check
the available FAQs before posting to avoid the
embarrassment of posting something based on a VCM (very
common misconception).

- Crossposting is Discouraged -

Cross-posting from one physics newsgroup to another
newsgroup is, in general, strongly discouraged.  It is
almost always best to post a question in the one group
which seems best suited rather than cross-posting it to
several groups.

If you respond to a message which is cross-posted to
irrelevant groups, please remove the other groups from
the Newsgroup line in the header of your response, or
use the Followup line in the header to direct further
followups to just one or two groups.  Cross-posting is
-sometimes- acceptable if it is limited to at most two
or three other newsgroups, in each of which the topic
is clearly acceptable and is not considered overly
speculative.

For example, discussions about black holes and
cosmology can be cross-posted to sci.astro, but
discussion of faster-than-light travel or the twin
paradox should be posted only to
sci.physics.relativity.  Likewise, theories intended to
topple the Standard Model should be posted only to
alt.sci.physics.new-theories.

- Newsgroups Devoted to Speculative Physics -

Please note that sci.physics is -not- considered an
appropriate forum for the discussion of unconventional
physics.

The newsgroup specifically dedicated to the discussion
of "alternative" physics is
alt.sci.physics.new-theories, and is the appropriate
forum for discussion of physics ideas which are not
widely accepted by the physics community.  The charter
for sci.physics.relativity also allows for speculative
subjects.

- Posting Netiquette -

If you are replying to another post, please be sure to
cut out all irrelevant text, and to make every effort
to ensure that it is clear who said what.  It may be
advisable to lurk here for a while to see how
experienced posters accomplish this.  Realise too that
if another poster has placed

X-No-archive: yes

as the first line of their message, then it means that
they are instructing well-behaved retrieval engines not
to archive the text.  So please do likewise: don't copy
their message into yours.

While many people post through Google at
http://groups.google.com, be aware that Google only
archives messages: it doesn't display messages marked
as above for no archiving.

The most effective posts are concise, clearly
expressed, and focus on a very specific point.  It is
always a good idea to re-read what you have written
(and to employ a spell checker!) -before- posting your
message.  It is also wise to make sure that your
subject line concisely and accurately describes the
content of the message.

Don't post textbook problems in the hope that someone
will do your homework for you.  Do your own homework;
it's good for you.  On the other hand, questions, even
about elementary physics, are always welcome.  So if
you want to discuss the physics which is relevant to
your homework, feel free to do so.  Be warned that you
may still have plenty of work to do, trying to figure
out which of the many answers you get are correct.

Your postings will be read by thousands of people so it
is worth taking a minute to read it back and check the
spelling, grammar and punctuation before posting.  If
your browser has the capability, previewing your post
to check how it would actually look online is a wise
precaution.

- No Flames, Please! -

Be prepared for heated discussion.  People have strong
opinions about the issues, and discussions can get a
little "loud" at times.  Don't take it personally if
someone seems to always jump all over everything you
say.  Everyone was jumping all over everybody long
before you got there! You can keep the discussion at a
low boil by trying to stick to the facts.  Clearly
separate facts from opinion -- don't let people think
you are confusing your opinions with scientific truth.
And keep the focus of discussion on the ideas, not the
people who post them.

Tolerate everyone.  People of many different points of
view, and widely varying educational backgrounds from
around the world participate in these newsgroups.
Respect for others will be returned in kind.  Personal
criticism is usually not welcome.

Finally, it is important to always bear in mind that
some behavior is decidedly -unwelcome- at any time in
this newsgroup, including:

* spamming of any kind,
* cross-posting to large numbers of unrelated
 newsgroups,
* posting on wildly irrelevant topics,
* repeated postings of identical messages,
* abusive flaming.

Bottom line: if you wouldn't say it in front of your
mother or your boss, please don't say it here.

If you respond to a message which is cross-posted to
irrelevant groups, please remove the other groups from
the Newsgroup line in the header of your response, or
use the Followup line in the header to direct further
followups to just one or two groups.  Cross-posting is
-sometimes- acceptable if it is limited to at most two
or three other newsgroups, in each of which the topic
is clearly acceptable and is not considered overly
speculative.  For example, discussions about black
holes and cosmology can be cross-posted to sci.astro,
but discussion of faster-than-light travel or the twin
paradox should be posted only to
sci.physics.relativity.

=== The Physics Newsgroup FAQ and Where to Find It ===

The Physics Newsgroup FAQ is available at a number of
web sites.  You can obtain the FAQ at

Australia:
http://hermes.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dkoks/Faq

Canada:
http://www.stillmoving.ca/physics/faq

Germany:
http://www.desy.de/pub/www/projects/Physics

Netherlands:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~johanw/PhysFAQ

Taiwan:
http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/mirrors/physicsfaq

USA:
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics
http://scope.joemirando.net/faqs
http://www.obscure.org/physics-faq
http://www.edu-observatory.org/physics-faq
http://www.ronen.net/physics
http://members.cox.net/dlzc1/Faq/

The current editor of the Physics Newsgroup FAQ is Don
Koks, who may be reached by *plain text* email at
username: dkoks
rest of address: physics.adelaide.edu.au

Note that Mr. Koks uses spam-deleting software set
to delete email at the merest hint of spam-like
behaviour, so if an email to me receives no reply in
a few days, please try sending it again with *no* html,
as well as a subject line that clearly indicates it
relates to physics.

=================== Related FAQs =====================

There are many other places where you may find answers
to your questions.  This is a partial list of other
FAQs and answer archives that are related to physics.
A more complete list may be found in the Physics
Newsgroup FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions in Astronomy
http://sciastro.astronomy.net

Ask the Astronomer
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu.

Relativity on the World Wide Web
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/RelWWW/

alt.sci.physics.acoustics FAQ
http://www.campanellaacoustics.com/faq.html#basic

Sci/chem FAQ
http://isc.faqs.org/faqs/sci/chem-faq

Space
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/space

============= This Welcome Message ===================

This welcome message is periodically posted in some of
the sci.physics.* newsgroups.  Currently, the welcome
editor is David A. Smith, while the editor of the
Physics Newsgroup FAQ is Don Koks.

We hope that you will find your participation in these
groups to be enjoyable, informative, and productive!

======================================Rev. 2008mar17