20
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Materials:

  • CV
  • step-up transformer with coil ratio 1:5

Method:

Apply the CV to the primary coil and spin it.

Result: A physicist is output. Who?

Hint 1:

$\Omega$

Hint 2:

$\Large\sim$

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Should this have the knowledge tag? $\endgroup$
    – maxathousand
    Aug 30, 2018 at 18:35
  • $\begingroup$ @maxathousand - I think the Physics tag covers the needed knowledge (school level). This physicist has been awarded the highest honours. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Aug 30, 2018 at 18:39
  • $\begingroup$ Spin it just means it needs to be changing, maybe a better wording would be update it. (This was understood by earlier answers.) $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Aug 31, 2018 at 18:29

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
10
+100
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The physicist is:

Paul Dirac.

Let's go though this step by step:

  • CV means 100 V when we interpret C as Roman numeral.

  • 100 V at the primary coil yield 500 V at the secondary coil.
    (Jafe had already done this calculation much earlier.)

  • This is alternating current, so the 500 V are 500 VAC.
    (The tilde in the second hint is a symbol for AC.)

  • Now for the masterstroke: V can mean both volts and voltage and everyone is familiar with Ohm's law: V = I·R, right? We now have 500 IRAC. (Groan at will. And don't do this in your physics assignments, kids!)

  • Finally, convert the number to Roman again. What's the word? DIRAC!

Now, isn't physics fun? :)

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5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Groooooooan (also great answer!) :D (+1) from me! $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Sep 30, 2018 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ @M Oehm please tell me your username is pronounced the same way as Ω (ohm) :) $\endgroup$
    – nikki
    Sep 30, 2018 at 22:05
  • $\begingroup$ @nikki: No,it isn't. The oe is equivalent to the umlaut ö, which is pronounced differently. The similarity of the names was noted before. (I'm probably better at obscure wordplay than at electronics, so that's where the similarities end.) $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Oct 1, 2018 at 6:36
  • $\begingroup$ Aww that's too bad! :) $\endgroup$
    – nikki
    Oct 1, 2018 at 7:09
  • $\begingroup$ Well, the pronunciation is close enough, and since there is no representation of oe/ö in English, you can pronounce them the same if you like. (But I think I have heard most of the Oehm/Ohm puns already.) $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Oct 1, 2018 at 7:15
22
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I'm going to go with

D. V. Nanopoulos

because...

A step-up transformer outputs a larger voltage than it receives. With coil ratio 1:5, this amounts to five times the input voltage (methinks?).

C is the Roman numeral for 100, so CV is a 100 volts. Output is then 500 volts, or DV.

D.V. Nanopoulos is a physicist whose initials are DV.

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2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It was interesting reading about Professor Nanopoulos for the first time. This answer stepped-up well. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Aug 30, 2018 at 8:54
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This answer is distingushed, but some extra physics will lead to a famous physicist. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Aug 30, 2018 at 18:33
5
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Is the answer

Nikola Tesla? That looks a lot like a recipe for a tesla coil

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3
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Every neuron in my brain is telling me this is wrong, but as a desperation guess are you talking about

Albert Einstein?

Reasoning:

CV in Roman numerals is 105. If you divide this by 5 (even though you ought to multiply I think? I don’t know transformers very well) you get 21. 1921 is the year in which Einstein won the Nobel Prize (top honours for a Physicist) for the Photoelectric Effect.

Hints:

The $\Omega$ might refer to $\Omega_{\Lambda}$, which is related to Einstein’s cosmological constant. The $\large\sim$ might refer to $E = \tilde{h}v$, found in the Planck-Einstein relation.

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2
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After the newly added hint I am going to guess the Physicist is...

Edwin Hall

Reference

You mention the symbol Ω which is the symbol for an ohm which was first conceptualized by the german physicist Georg Ohm. But I thought this was too easy and I learned that, "today the definition of the ohm is expressed from the Quantum Hall effect." This pointed me to the man who first discovered this effect Edwin Hall.

Just a guess though as my physics knowledge doesn't extend past high school

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1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ +1 for the education. It may shock some that I once taught high school Physics (not my main subject). I didn't know this though vaguely remember hearing of the Hall effect. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Aug 31, 2018 at 18:52
2
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Is the answer

James Prescott Joule

Because

CV is the 3rd letter and the 22 letter
322 on the primary coil will result in 1610 on the secondary coil
16 and 10 are P and J
the PJ or Pico Joule is named after James Joule

Hint 1

Joule's first law, is about Ohmic heating

Hint 2

don't know

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Great answer!! Isn’t 16 P rather than K, though? $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Sep 30, 2018 at 3:23
  • $\begingroup$ @El-Guest oops, i stopped 5 too early. well maybe that still works $\endgroup$
    – SteveV
    Sep 30, 2018 at 3:25
  • $\begingroup$ that’s a solid replacement answer, +1 from me!! $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Sep 30, 2018 at 3:28
1
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El Guest has already come up with Albert Einstein. I would like to provide a better reasoning. As C = 3, CV = 3 Volts and the step-up transformer outputs 15 Volts. 1 = A and 5 = E. There you have Albert Einstein.
The explanation of the hints are as same as that of El Guest.

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