Questions tagged [specific-question]
Use this tag for Meta discussions about a specific question on the main site.
247
questions
41
votes
12answers
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
5answers
522 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
4answers
343 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 (...
21
votes
4answers
669 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 ...
21
votes
5answers
367 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 ...
20
votes
3answers
474 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 ...
20
votes
3answers
626 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 ...
19
votes
3answers
476 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
1answer
297 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 ...
18
votes
5answers
518 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
1answer
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 ...
16
votes
2answers
355 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 ...
15
votes
1answer
391 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.
...
13
votes
5answers
670 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
1answer
380 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 ...
13
votes
1answer
189 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
1answer
389 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,...
13
votes
2answers
453 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 ...
11
votes
2answers
569 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 ...
11
votes
1answer
363 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
5answers
526 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".
...
10
votes
3answers
430 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 ...
10
votes
1answer
182 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
0answers
432 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
2answers
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 ...
9
votes
2answers
307 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 ...
8
votes
1answer
225 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. ...
8
votes
1answer
267 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 ...
8
votes
1answer
144 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
2answers
251 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 ...
8
votes
2answers
166 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 ...
8
votes
0answers
351 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?
8
votes
0answers
172 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 ...
7
votes
1answer
196 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 ...
7
votes
0answers
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 ...
7
votes
0answers
291 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
6answers
421 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 ...
6
votes
2answers
283 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
1answer
147 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 ...
6
votes
2answers
295 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 ...
6
votes
4answers
238 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
719 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
269 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
0answers
176 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'...
5
votes
3answers
343 views
My question got closed saying that it was opinion based
I cannot wrap my head around how can you not have a wrong answer in physics. It's not philosophy that we are talking about...
How can I improve my question to open it again?
The question: Can 0 ...
5
votes
1answer
298 views
Careless mistakes in formulas shouldn't be treated the same as non-mainstream physics
In this question,
What is the Schrödinger equation in position velocity space?
I originally made a careless mistake when writing the Schrödinger equation in velocity space, as I had originally ...
5
votes
1answer
281 views
Answering own question: "work" of the question in own answer
After reading the links provided by the mods in a question I recently posted with an answer, I believe that my question conforms in spirit the criteria that the moderators have tried to infuse in our ...
5
votes
2answers
211 views
How is this question about a black hole passing through the solar system non-mainstream?
A question of mine was closed on the grounds of being non-mainstream. Mainstream is defined below:
Mainstream physics is physics which has been accepted by a significant portion of the physics ...
5
votes
1answer
171 views
Why was my comment deleted?
I had a comment on this answer to my question which both clarified that one of my definitions was correct (F = m * a is correct, but not super helpful in this ...
5
votes
1answer
429 views
Why shouldn't a question be on hold? (no, really, I'm curious)
A little while ago this question was posted to Meta, highlighting an apparent inconsistency between the handling of these two main site questions:
(A) How is the method of Lagrange multipliers used ...