01-26-2008, 05:25 PM
I'm sure that physicists and chemists are a little on the geeky side so they probably hang out on the internet somewhere. I'd suggest finding that place and asking there. There might be a few people on the forum who could answer that question, but I doubt it. I'm curious about the answer though. I remember asking the same question in my physics class (though I was older than your student) and received about the same answer. Through college it was never answered. I just figured that the answer to that question was the part of difference between being an engineer and being a physicist/chemist.