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41 votes
12 answers
1k views

Folks, we need to talk about the surface-area-of-a-chicken question

This question How do I find the approximate surface area of a chicken? underwent a severe close/reopen yo-yo cycle. It was closed once by a moderator, then reopened by community members, then re-...
29 votes
5 answers
576 views

Little tolerance with mathematical-physics questions

I progressively feel that a typical user interested in the mathematical-physics tag, like me, is not welcomed in the community; not to mention, that at least as I can tell, the community is not ...
23 votes
4 answers
351 views

Allowance of Computational Physics questions

I know this is a frequently discussed topic but I am not happy with the current stance of treating Computational Physics related questions as "Off Topic". A couple days ago I asked this question (...
22 votes
4 answers
690 views

Is an asker's age relevant?

In Why does Newton's Third Law actually work?, the asker states their age in the question. (They are 10 years old.) On the one hand, their age does not have anything to do with Newton's Third ...
  • 198
21 votes
5 answers
380 views

Are questions about the identification of physical phenomena on-topic?

This question was just closed as off-topic. It is a well presented question, which was well-received, and it got a good, canonical answer. The stated reason for closing was that "it doesn't ...
  • 3,564
20 votes
3 answers
483 views

Is it encouraged to write an answer to your own question if it is just a summary of the comments?

I recently asked a question on how the uncertainity principle applies to a situation described there. There have been some comments, which, I think are at least partial answers. I commented that and ...
  • 3,573
20 votes
3 answers
645 views

How can "torus shape" planet be "non-mainstream" physics?

Refer to this question: How would the rotational and orbital mechanics differ on a torus-shaped planet as compared to a spherical planet? This is asking about torus-shaped planet rotational and ...
  • 2,456
19 votes
3 answers
485 views

Was this plagiarism flag correctly handled?

In a recent question, a user complained that one of their answers (10k+ link at the moment; screenshot answer now undeleted, see the answer timeline for more details) was unfairly flagged as ...
18 votes
1 answer
302 views

Which of several disagreeing answers to accept?

Last week, I asked a question about an everyday physical phenomenon (In aluminum, how does electricity travel through the surface oxide layer?). I was fortunate enough to get two answers and some ...
  • 3,978
18 votes
5 answers
535 views

Is error-analysis not a physics topic?

I have a question about my Physics Stack Exchange post: How to incorporate the uncertainty of the model coefficients in the prediction interval of a multiple linear regression I am dealing with a ...
17 votes
1 answer
1k views

The intro-to-QM books question: reopen?

We have several questions asking for recommendations of books for beginner-level quantum mechanics. Many of them are closed as duplicates of this one: What is a good introductory book on quantum ...
17 votes
1 answer
268 views

Fusion related questions almost always closed as "opinion-based"

I don't drop into this sub too often because my interest is mostly in fusion as a power source, and questions on the topic typically come up about every month or so. By the time I see them, questions ...
16 votes
2 answers
364 views

Is this considered bad attitude?

In my post Imagine I'm on a spacecraft that was accelerated to 1.0$c$ could I only move backwards?, I asked something that came into my mind and I wasn't able to find an answer for it here. After ...
  • 1,259
15 votes
1 answer
392 views

Is the question 'explaining gravity to a six-year-old' off-topic?

I recently asked this question about explaining gravity to a 6 year old and it made it into the "Hot Network Questions" list. It generated a lot of discussion and has some very good answers. ...
  • 1,531
14 votes
2 answers
463 views

The role of good mechanics problems

Today I saw that this question Applying energy and momentum conservation to the problem of pulling a bent carpet at a constant speed about pulling a bent carpet was closed for being a homework ...
  • 98.1k
14 votes
0 answers
348 views

How is this question "about engineering"?

Why was this question Why is the ground warm during winter and vice-versa? deemed to be "about engineering" and closed, when the OP clearly stated he was not asking about how to employ the ...
  • 631
13 votes
5 answers
674 views

Should this question have been deleted?

This question recently came up in chat, because a user lost reputation when their upvoted answer went overboard as collateral damage when its question was deleted: Don't get me wrong, I think ...
13 votes
1 answer
395 views

Very disappointed by my experiment on this site

I am very disappointed by my experiment on this site. Four days ago, I posted this question: Numerical simulation of the double-slit experiment including watching the electrons . After less that 24 ...
user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
197 views

Are questions marked as homework-like too easily?

I asked a question: Formula to calculate round-trip travel time based on current distance to far-away galaxy. In my opinion, it was very well and clearly defined and answerable. In fact, it received ...
13 votes
1 answer
390 views

Why was my recent answer deleted, and was it really an appropriate action?

I recently asked and answered a question on the main site: What are the Energy eigenstates for a modified quantum harmonic oscillator? First of all, this question ended up being re-tagged as homework,...
  • 4,749
11 votes
2 answers
644 views

Should this "homework-like" question about the AKLT Hamiltonian be reopened, or remain deleted?

It's been suggested via a flag that this question, which was deleted by Community after being closed for ten days, has value to other users asking similar questions. I personally don't understand the ...
  • 80.1k
11 votes
1 answer
379 views

Why was this entanglement-harvesting question closed as off-topic?

I just noticed that the question What happens to the vacuum when entanglement is harvested? was closed as off-topic a couple of months ago, and I don't understand why. The topic is basic quantum ...
10 votes
5 answers
531 views

Why were well-known, valid solutions of the GR "off-topic" or "non-mainstream"? (suggestion)

I've found multiple times the closing of questions about the topic of general relativity/solutions of the einstein field equations. Examples are here and here. These judgement was: "not mainstream". ...
  • 7,959
10 votes
3 answers
437 views

Downvotes without explanation

Recently I have posted the question Einstein-Hilbert action as an effective field theory. I have received a lot of downvotes and it's ok because it was unclear: in order to repair I tried to close it ...
  • 413
10 votes
1 answer
187 views

How are these two questions duplicates?

I recently saw that this question has been closed as a duplicate, and I couldn't disagree more, but for some reason it has passed review with a Leave Closed outcome. The currently-closed question ...
10 votes
0 answers
454 views

The gamma^5 question

The question Can one show that ${\gamma^5}^\dagger = \gamma^5$ directly from the anticommutation relations? was recently closed as homework-like. I agree that this is in somewhat of a grey area as far ...
9 votes
2 answers
337 views

I don't understand what is "unclear" with my question

I have a question about my Physics Stack Exchange post: Possible reactionless drive My question is [on hold] as "unclear what you're asking". From my analysis the system should work and start to ...
  • 13
9 votes
2 answers
313 views

Why was this question closed as "non-mainstream" when it asked about mainstream physics?

Is this an adequate resolution of the "paradox" of the arrow of time? This question was closed on the grounds that it is not "mainstream physics", and I was referred to this page. That ...
9 votes
1 answer
159 views

Question for reopening

This question is of the form "Here is a striking empirical fact. Is there an explanation for it?". It's been closed, with comments suggesting that questions of this form are "science ...
  • 13.4k
8 votes
4 answers
493 views

Why was a question manually removed from hot network questions?

Yesterday I’ve run into a post and decided to give a pretty long answer to it. My purpose was to post a thorough answer that could attract attention of many people who are not otherwise generally ...
  • 1,988
8 votes
1 answer
233 views

Why was this question on fiber switches closed?

Yesterday the question How do non-mechanical solid-state optical switches work? was closed as off-topic. I don't quite understand why, as questions about physics lab equipment are considered on-topic. ...
  • 2,839
8 votes
1 answer
273 views

Confused over site policy regarding similar questions

I asked the question Confusion over QM Free Particle Propagator - Shankar 5.1 last night and it was closed as a duplicate earlier today, because it is similar to the question Free particle ...
  • 3,994
8 votes
1 answer
146 views

How to ask a practice book question and apology?

I wanted to know how to ask the question from my practice book I add the homework tag and obviously I myself want to know only the concept part and I also give information about what I did and how I ...
8 votes
2 answers
253 views

Request for further clarification on question on hold

This question was put on hold recently (and answered in the comments). I do not question the decision but would appreciate further guidance about the particular reason so I can adjust future ...
  • 590
8 votes
2 answers
173 views

What should I do when a question is made duplicate to a not really relevant other question?

This question How can photons destructively interfere?, definitely and clearly a question about photons, was made duplicate to a general waves question: What happens to the energy when waves perfectly ...
  • 229k
8 votes
0 answers
357 views

Can you help me to make question 483886 more specific?

I did this question but they say it's too broad, I modified but I think they consider it still to broad. I don't understand why, can you help me? What is the approach to the mathematical modeling?
  • 1,680
8 votes
0 answers
178 views

Prematurely closed "duplicate"

This question, asking why oceans look blue but rivers don't, was closed as a duplicate of another question, which was answered with a good explanation of why large masses of water, including oceans ...
  • 13.4k
7 votes
1 answer
154 views

Question marked as duplicate older than supposed duplicate

The question 450511 Does a physical interpretation of density matrix cross-terms exist? of which I recently updated my answer, has been marked as duplicate of question 536038 Non-diagonal matrix ...
  • 1,618
7 votes
1 answer
202 views

Should this question really be marked as duplicate like this? They seem fundamentally different

The excellent answers to the question Why do metals only glow red, yellow and white and not through the full range of the spectrum? are valuable and helpful. I'm not sure why this question should be ...
  • 6,578
7 votes
0 answers
220 views

Reopening a question about the recent LIGO event

My recent question about the significance of further LIGO events was appreciated, it appears, by all but five people. I'm lobbying for reopening. This question is not too broad--it's exactly ...
  • 3,564
7 votes
0 answers
306 views

Yet another quantum-entanglement-gives-faster-than-light-communication question

I recently misread this question and wrote a nice answer for what turned out not to be the question at all. I then proceeded to look quite carefully for the question I had actually answered, and I ...
6 votes
6 answers
447 views

Why was my question about the Devil's problem deemed a homework question?

My recent question was manually removed from Hot Network Questions and later closed as a homework question, but it eludes me why. According to the FAQ on homework questions, the definition of ...
  • 1,441
6 votes
2 answers
184 views

How can I make my question on-topic?

I posted the following question several hours ago: Electric field inside sphere - Griffiths Problem 2.14. In doing so, I showed my attempt in detail and provided my thought process behind it. Within ...
  • 137
6 votes
2 answers
292 views

Cross posting a question

Is it possible that this question about teaching torque is crossposted to the science educators Stack Exchange site? As a question I think it's great, just not fit for this particular site. The ...
6 votes
1 answer
148 views

A question erroneously labeled as duplicate

A question was submitted by user929304 titled: Balance of a spinning coin This question is about the case of rolling motion, as in, for instance, rolling down an incline. So you see a coin rolling ...
  • 18.1k
6 votes
2 answers
315 views

Please re-examine this question

I'd like to strongly suggest the Phys.SE community to carefully re-examine the following question and the reasons it was put on hold or regarded as not a good enough question: Finding the period of ...
  • 1,643
6 votes
4 answers
239 views

Is this question about the meaning of derivations on topic?

Are derivations of physical laws less important than the laws themselves? This question is attracting a lot of attention, but there is a significant disagreement about whether it's on topic. I want ...
  • 74.8k
6 votes
1 answer
726 views

Why was this question hated by the community?

I was digging into my old posts to see if I could improve them. There was a question: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/82449/. Though it is deleted but the high rep users might be able to read ...
  • 1,523
6 votes
1 answer
272 views

Question with broad application closed as homework question

I just asked a question about how to figure out how fast a room will cool, and what the name for this type of problem is, so I can do more research, and potentially find the answer to it in the ...
6 votes
0 answers
177 views

Wrongly marked duplicate about why decay is random

I am not sure how to raise this issue, but I was looking for an answer to the question How do we know that nuclear decay is truly random and spontaneous?. This is an important question because we don'...
  • 101

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