The energy gain in a fusion reaction is denoted by a variable, Q. Go figure..
(www.cnet.com)
🤔💭 InQdasting 😲💡
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (15)
sorted by:
Actually, it is not just for fusion reactions. Q is used everywhere in engineering when it comes to things that need to be fine tuned for maximum gain. For example, Q is the quality factor or "measure of goodness" in an electronic resonance circuit. A high Q means a very fine tuned resonator. You couldn't even listen to a radio without Q.
Off the top of my head, it also stands for Heat in thermodynamics, Charge in electromagnetism, and Flow Rate in fluid mechanics.
Physics is starved for variables, and thus reuses them all the time. Every single letter, both greek and latin, are used multiple times in physics. There is no special significance that it is used in this instance as it is speaking about gain, just like other uses of Q as you mention.
Sometimes a Qigar is just a Qigar.
Thanks for noting this. We even reuse Greek letters because the amount of different variables in all of the different fields is vast. It’s not even a coincidence at all that Q is used as a variable multiple times for various fields of study, it’s an absolute inevitability. A-Z, Alpha-Omega, each and every single character, upper case and lower case, has multiple and different uses in every cryptic representation.
Let's start using cyrillic in physics to trigger leftists more
hah! I'm down for that.
I know, I know. But I got a chuckle out of it nonetheless.