--------- #1283 - Astronomer’s most Famous Diagram
- One of the most famous diagrams and most useful in astronomy is the Hertzsprung -Russell Diagram. ( HR Diagram ). It was created from a simple idea. Plot the characteristics of stars in brightness versus their color. Brightness is a measure of luminosity, or intensity of radiation. Color is the surface temperature of the star.
- Published in 1908 and in 1911 the HR Diagram reveals the lifetime of stars. Each star has a predetermin
ed lifetime and evolution depending on its mass. The diagram successfully grouped the stars according to their stage in life.
- The plot displayed a distinct diagonal line of dots (stars ) from the upper right (hot and blue stars ) to the lower left ( cold and red stars ). The diagram plotted descending temperatures on the x-axis from 31,000 Kelvin (blue) to 2,200 Kelvin (red) And, plotted ascending brightness on the y-axis from 1/100,000 Sun’s brightness to 100,000 Sun’s brightness.
- The diagonal line became known as the “ Main Sequence” line for star evolution. All stars generate electromagnetic energy, the light spectrum from radio waves to Gamma Rays. All stars do this be converting Hydrogen into Helium in nuclear fusion at the core of the star.
- The more massive the star, the stronger the gravity, and the hotter the core, the faster the nuclear reaction, the brighter the star, and the shorter its lifetime.
- There are some groups of stars that are off this Main Sequence diagonal line. The stars in the upper right corner are stars that are cooler yet brighter than our Sun. Our Sun is on the Main Sequence line and about in the middle at 6000 Kelvin. How can a cooler star be brighter, 100 to 1,000 times brighter than our Sun?
- Answer: These stars are enormous. Supergiants. They are so big they produce less light for every square inch of their surface.
- There is another group of stars off the diagonal line in the lower left corner that are dimmer and hotter. These stars are tiny. The are called White Dwarfs. White hot and tiny. This is what our Sun will be in 5,000,000,000 years from now.
- The Pleiades Cluster is a group of stars that include bright blue stars. The cluster is in the Constellation Taurus the Bull and is often called the “ Seven Sisters”. In Japan it is called “ Subaru”. The Hyades Cluster , also in the Constellation Taurus, is missing blue stars. Therefore, the Hyades Cluster must be older stars. The bright blue stars in the Hyades Cluster have all exploded as supernovae and died off.
- The bottom-right of the diagonal line are the dimmest, reddest, and least massive stars. the smallest is about 8% the mass of the Sun. These are called Brown Dwarfs and are too lightweight to sustain nuclear fusion. They are 1/100,000 the Sun’s brightness and 3,000 Kelvin.
- The upper-left of the diagonal line are the brightest, hottest and most massive stars. Up to 100,000 the Sun’s brightness and 30,000 Kelvin. The bright stars are the rarest because they do not live long, maybe only a few million years before they explode in a supernova. The largest star might be 150 times the Sun’s mass. However, some astronomers claim they have found stars up to 320 times the Sun’s mass. The very first stars in the Universe may have been this massive.
- Early evolution stars were made of only Hydrogen and Helium. Second and third generation stars contain Carbon and Oxygen that were created in the earlier supernovae explosions. Carbon and Oxygen emit infrared light (heat energy). This allows them to cool faster. Today’s stars are second and third generation stars and likely not as massive , only 100 times the Sun’s mass. Any star that is greater than 8 Solar Mass will end its life exploding as a supernova. Smaller stars like our Sun will die as Planetary Nebulae and then White Dwarfs. They will not explode as supernovae.
- In our Milky Way Galaxy, out to 20,000 lightyears away, there are only a few stars that might explode as supernovae. 1604 was the year of the last one recorded. It is now know as Kepler’s Supernova. Betelgeuse and Antares are the nearest and brightest stars likely to explode next. They are 640 and 550 lightyears away respectively. When they explode they will be as bright as the Full Moon in the sky, but, they are far enough away that the explosion itself will not reach us.
- The 1987 Supernova explosion occurred in our sister galaxy, the Large Megellanic Cloud galaxy, But, it was not a red super giant star, it was a blue star that went supernova. Two stars that are similar in this way in our galaxy are Deneb and Rigel.
- Other types of supernovae come from binary stars. One star steals mass from its orbiting companion star until it reaches 1.4 Solar Mass and explodes. Unfortunatly these exploding White Dwarfs are so dim before they go supernova it is hard to predict how many are out there as binary stars. Almost 60% of all stars are binaries.
- Can you believe all this was learned from a simple diagram invented in 1908. There is still more to learn, an announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 31, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
How Quantum Mechanics makes up your reality?
--------- #1280 - Is Quantum Mechanics Controlling Our Reality?
- This review discuss the strange world of Quantum Mechanics and suggests that it is really controlling our reality below the surface. Quantum behavior may be what allows birds to fly thousands of miles with precise navigation. It may be what allows plants to synthesize sunlight. It may be what links your brain to eyesight.
- Attachment - a collage
- A measured atom is described much differently than an unmeasured atom. At the atomic level the process of measurement changes the unmeasured attributes. So, once we know what something is it isn’t that anymore. When you remove information the thing changes. Reality always exists with uncertainty as to what is really there.
- The measured attributes are the ones we learn and know about. We think that is reality.
- There is a totally unreasonable effectiveness of how mathematics describes the reality we observe. We get answers and predictions from math that are totally accurate to what nature does. It is like math is something we have discovered, not something we have invented to explain things.
- Light is a special oscillation, it oscillates only sideways. It does not have back and forth vibrations. Sound waves on the other hand vibrate back and forth. Seismic waves from earthquakes vibrate in all directions. Electromagnetic radiation only vibrates sideways and only moves forward at one speed, 670,633,500 miles per hour.
- Motion can only be defined in relative terms. There is no way to identify absolute motion. It is always relative to something else. Motion is distance ( space ) over duration of time. Both distance and time only exist if you have a start and stop in both time and place. Motion is the change in space-time. Velocity = delta x / delta t
- However, space and time appear different for each observer. Space and time themselves change in combination with motion and velocity to keep physics the same for every observer. Space and time modify themselves so the reality of physics remains the same everywhere regardless of where you are or how you are moving.
- There is no reality in the absence of observation. Observation always removes information.
- Gravity links everything in the Universe. However, the strength of gravity diminishes with separation. Quantum Mechanics links everything in the Universe. But, Quantum Mechanics is undiminished with separations in space or time.
- Gravity is not a force but a curvature of 4 dimensions of space-time.
- Quantum Mechanics is a theory of the probability of occurrences and not representing the things themselves.
- Consciousness creates reality. Without consciousness there is no reality.
- Physics is composed of the laws of nature and the laws of fields. Electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak nuclear fields. We call them forces but fields is how forces exist. Gravity is referred to as both a field of potential energy and a geometry of space-time.
- Light is created by the motion of electrons. Photons are massless particles that are emitted when electrons change energy levels. It could be in the energy levels orbiting an atom, or, it could be the kinetic energy of an acceleration electron.
- All energy comes in bunches called quantums.
----------------------------- Light energy = n*h*f
-------------------“n” is the number of bunches, or quantums.
--------------------“h” is Planck’s Constant of Action which is the action energy of one bunch, or one photon.
------------------ h = 6.625 * 10^-34 kilograms * meters^2 / second
------------------- h = 4.136 * 10^-15 electron volts * seconds / cycle
- Seconds / cycle is the time of one wavelength. Cycles / second is the frequency of vibration , or the frequency of oscillation.
“f” is the frequency of oscillation of the radiation. Frequency is cycles per second. Wavelength is meters per cycle. Frequency * wavelength is the speed of light ,”c”, in meters per second.
--------------------- f * w = c
- The frequency of light is also the color. Wavelengths of light is the color:
---------------------- red = 700 nanometers per cycle
---------------------- yellow = 600 nanometers per cycle
---------------------- blue = 400 nanometers per cycle
- Frequency of colors:
---------------------- red = 429,000,000,000,000 cycle per second
---------------------- yellow = 500,000,000,000,000 cycles per second
---------------------- blue = 750,000,000,000,000 cycles per second
- Color and frequency are also the temperature of whatever is emitting the light:
---------------------- red = 4,143Kelvin
---------------------- yellow = 4,833 Kelvin
---------------------- blue = 7,250 Kelvin
- Our Sun is 6,000 Kelvin and blue-green in color. Our atmosphere takes out the blue making the Sun look yellow.
- Momentum is mass * velocity ( p = m* v ) , but , for a massless particle like light momentum is Planck’s Constant of Action * wavelength
----------------- E = h * f -------- photon energy
------------------ p = h * w --------- photon momentum
- Physics is the science that matches mathematics to measurement results.
- There exist paired relationships in reality that restrict the precision of mutual measurements. These pairs include position and momentum, since momentum is mass * velocity it is position and velocity, and energy and time. The formula for the precision the mutual measurement can obtain is:
------------------- delta p * delta x must be greater than “h”
------------------ change in momentum * change in position > Planck’s constant of action
------------------ We freeze time to get a wave’s position in space.
------------------ We freeze space to get a wave’s picture in time.
----------------- The trade-off is the better we know position the less we know velocity and vice versa.
- Intensity is proportional to a wave’s amplitude squared. Amplitude squared is a measurement of probability. Probability is the relative number of ways a particular event can occur. Quantum randomness can cause identical situations to give different results. It all depends on their probabilities.
- Any wave can be written as a unique sum of sine waves. This is Fourier Analysis.
- An atom is 1,000 times smaller than the wavelength of green light. 0.5 nanometers versus 500 nanometers. A nucleus is `10,000 ties smaller than an atom 0.00005 nanometers versus 0.5 nanometers.
- A confined wave can be made to vibrate only at certain resonant frequencies or wavelengths. This is how the klystron or magnetron works in a microwave oven.
- We tend to thing of Quantum Mechanics as another world. A strange world, unfamiliar, counter intuitive, not the reality of classical physics. It only applies to small things like atoms and classical physics works for everything we can see and touch, our reality. However, once we understand the quantum rules we learn they are working on all scales.
- Quantum Mechanics is operating in each cell in our body. It is used by your brain to make pictures of what your eyes receive. It allows birds to navigate thousands of miles using the Earth’s magnetic field to guide them. We have to start thinking of Quantum Mechanics as our world of reality
- Classical physics hides Quantum Mechanics because it becomes a combination of many things, many events. Classical physics can always be broken down into a sum of its parts. Quantum effects like entanglement binds individual particles together into an indivisible whole. They can not be broken apart. Even when separated far apart entangle particles operate as a single whole. Entangled electrons will always spin in the opposite direction, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise no matter which way you measure them.
- Entanglement may be the secret nature uses for photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert sunlight into chemical energy. In classical physics we see one particle in one place and one time. In Quantum physics a particle can be in many places simultaneously. It is counterintuitive. Space and time somehow emerges from fundamentally spaceless and timeless physics.
- Gravity may be the residual noise that emerges from the quantum fuzziness of the Quantum Universe we live in. If so, gravity may not even exist at the quantum level. Entanglement may be what causes all this confusion and wonderment that nobody understands. It may be what creates consciousness. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 27, 2011
- This review discuss the strange world of Quantum Mechanics and suggests that it is really controlling our reality below the surface. Quantum behavior may be what allows birds to fly thousands of miles with precise navigation. It may be what allows plants to synthesize sunlight. It may be what links your brain to eyesight.
- Attachment - a collage
- A measured atom is described much differently than an unmeasured atom. At the atomic level the process of measurement changes the unmeasured attributes. So, once we know what something is it isn’t that anymore. When you remove information the thing changes. Reality always exists with uncertainty as to what is really there.
- The measured attributes are the ones we learn and know about. We think that is reality.
- There is a totally unreasonable effectiveness of how mathematics describes the reality we observe. We get answers and predictions from math that are totally accurate to what nature does. It is like math is something we have discovered, not something we have invented to explain things.
- Light is a special oscillation, it oscillates only sideways. It does not have back and forth vibrations. Sound waves on the other hand vibrate back and forth. Seismic waves from earthquakes vibrate in all directions. Electromagnetic radiation only vibrates sideways and only moves forward at one speed, 670,633,500 miles per hour.
- Motion can only be defined in relative terms. There is no way to identify absolute motion. It is always relative to something else. Motion is distance ( space ) over duration of time. Both distance and time only exist if you have a start and stop in both time and place. Motion is the change in space-time. Velocity = delta x / delta t
- However, space and time appear different for each observer. Space and time themselves change in combination with motion and velocity to keep physics the same for every observer. Space and time modify themselves so the reality of physics remains the same everywhere regardless of where you are or how you are moving.
- There is no reality in the absence of observation. Observation always removes information.
- Gravity links everything in the Universe. However, the strength of gravity diminishes with separation. Quantum Mechanics links everything in the Universe. But, Quantum Mechanics is undiminished with separations in space or time.
- Gravity is not a force but a curvature of 4 dimensions of space-time.
- Quantum Mechanics is a theory of the probability of occurrences and not representing the things themselves.
- Consciousness creates reality. Without consciousness there is no reality.
- Physics is composed of the laws of nature and the laws of fields. Electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak nuclear fields. We call them forces but fields is how forces exist. Gravity is referred to as both a field of potential energy and a geometry of space-time.
- Light is created by the motion of electrons. Photons are massless particles that are emitted when electrons change energy levels. It could be in the energy levels orbiting an atom, or, it could be the kinetic energy of an acceleration electron.
- All energy comes in bunches called quantums.
----------------------------- Light energy = n*h*f
-------------------“n” is the number of bunches, or quantums.
--------------------“h” is Planck’s Constant of Action which is the action energy of one bunch, or one photon.
------------------ h = 6.625 * 10^-34 kilograms * meters^2 / second
------------------- h = 4.136 * 10^-15 electron volts * seconds / cycle
- Seconds / cycle is the time of one wavelength. Cycles / second is the frequency of vibration , or the frequency of oscillation.
“f” is the frequency of oscillation of the radiation. Frequency is cycles per second. Wavelength is meters per cycle. Frequency * wavelength is the speed of light ,”c”, in meters per second.
--------------------- f * w = c
- The frequency of light is also the color. Wavelengths of light is the color:
---------------------- red = 700 nanometers per cycle
---------------------- yellow = 600 nanometers per cycle
---------------------- blue = 400 nanometers per cycle
- Frequency of colors:
---------------------- red = 429,000,000,000,000 cycle per second
---------------------- yellow = 500,000,000,000,000 cycles per second
---------------------- blue = 750,000,000,000,000 cycles per second
- Color and frequency are also the temperature of whatever is emitting the light:
---------------------- red = 4,143Kelvin
---------------------- yellow = 4,833 Kelvin
---------------------- blue = 7,250 Kelvin
- Our Sun is 6,000 Kelvin and blue-green in color. Our atmosphere takes out the blue making the Sun look yellow.
- Momentum is mass * velocity ( p = m* v ) , but , for a massless particle like light momentum is Planck’s Constant of Action * wavelength
----------------- E = h * f -------- photon energy
------------------ p = h * w --------- photon momentum
- Physics is the science that matches mathematics to measurement results.
- There exist paired relationships in reality that restrict the precision of mutual measurements. These pairs include position and momentum, since momentum is mass * velocity it is position and velocity, and energy and time. The formula for the precision the mutual measurement can obtain is:
------------------- delta p * delta x must be greater than “h”
------------------ change in momentum * change in position > Planck’s constant of action
------------------ We freeze time to get a wave’s position in space.
------------------ We freeze space to get a wave’s picture in time.
----------------- The trade-off is the better we know position the less we know velocity and vice versa.
- Intensity is proportional to a wave’s amplitude squared. Amplitude squared is a measurement of probability. Probability is the relative number of ways a particular event can occur. Quantum randomness can cause identical situations to give different results. It all depends on their probabilities.
- Any wave can be written as a unique sum of sine waves. This is Fourier Analysis.
- An atom is 1,000 times smaller than the wavelength of green light. 0.5 nanometers versus 500 nanometers. A nucleus is `10,000 ties smaller than an atom 0.00005 nanometers versus 0.5 nanometers.
- A confined wave can be made to vibrate only at certain resonant frequencies or wavelengths. This is how the klystron or magnetron works in a microwave oven.
- We tend to thing of Quantum Mechanics as another world. A strange world, unfamiliar, counter intuitive, not the reality of classical physics. It only applies to small things like atoms and classical physics works for everything we can see and touch, our reality. However, once we understand the quantum rules we learn they are working on all scales.
- Quantum Mechanics is operating in each cell in our body. It is used by your brain to make pictures of what your eyes receive. It allows birds to navigate thousands of miles using the Earth’s magnetic field to guide them. We have to start thinking of Quantum Mechanics as our world of reality
- Classical physics hides Quantum Mechanics because it becomes a combination of many things, many events. Classical physics can always be broken down into a sum of its parts. Quantum effects like entanglement binds individual particles together into an indivisible whole. They can not be broken apart. Even when separated far apart entangle particles operate as a single whole. Entangled electrons will always spin in the opposite direction, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise no matter which way you measure them.
- Entanglement may be the secret nature uses for photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert sunlight into chemical energy. In classical physics we see one particle in one place and one time. In Quantum physics a particle can be in many places simultaneously. It is counterintuitive. Space and time somehow emerges from fundamentally spaceless and timeless physics.
- Gravity may be the residual noise that emerges from the quantum fuzziness of the Quantum Universe we live in. If so, gravity may not even exist at the quantum level. Entanglement may be what causes all this confusion and wonderment that nobody understands. It may be what creates consciousness. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Learn how radioactive decay is heating the Earth
--------- #1278 - Hot Lava from the Center of Earth?
- Volcanoes spew hot lava from the interior of the Earth. The ocean floor spreads apart and has the power to move continents. The iron core that produces the Earth’s magnetic field remains liquid and rotates like a dynamo. Where does this huge amount of energy come from that can melt the interior of the Earth? This review looks at radioactivity as the source.
- Attachments - none
- Geologist have sunk over 20,000 bore holes deep into the Earth’s crust to try to estimate how much heat energy is being generated inside the Earth’s interior. The answer they get is that the Earth is producing about 44,000,000,000,000 watts, (44 trillion watts) , of heat energy and dissipating it into space. Where does all this energy come from?
- The answer is that about half comes from radioactive decay of Uranium, Thorium and Potassium in the Earth’s crust and the Earth’s mantel. The rest of the heat may be primordial heat left over from the original formation of the planet. Or, it may be fission reactions going on deep inside the Earth. Or, it may be something else we have not yet figured out.
- The conclusion about the radioactive decay comes from detecting neutrinos coming from inside the Earth and passing through detectors on the surface. Physics understands radioactive decay very well and the finger print of neutrino and anti-neutrinos in our detectors is hard evidence as to what is going on deep inside the Earth.
------------------------------ 8 terawatts from Uranium 238
------------------------------ 8 terawatts from Thorium 232
------------------------------ 4 terawatts from Potassium 40
---------------------------- 20 terawatts total from radioactive decay.
- Neutrinos are neutral particles and are very small, near zero mass. They react only with the Weak Nuclear Force and are almost not affected by the force of Gravity. Neutrinos pass through the Earth as if it were transparent. Obviously these little guys are going to be very hard to detect. The KamLAND detector in Japan is a giant sphere filled with 1,000 tons of scintillating mineral oil. The sphere is surrounded by over 1,800 photomultipliers. When a neutrino collides with a proton in this tank a flash of light is recorded.
- When an anti-neutrino collides with a proton to create a neutron and an anti-electron the anti-electron quickly annihilates with a normal electron in the hydrogen rich mineral oil. The annihilation creates a flash of electromagnetic radiation, a flash of light. A couple hundred millionths of a second later the neutron is captured by a proton in this hydrogen rich environment. This capture results in a flash of Gamma Rays. The total light curve is a tell tale signature of an anti-neutrino arriving from the Earth‘s interior.
- After years of study the data concluded that 20 terawatts of radioactive decay is occurring inside the Earth. Another 3 terawatts comes from isotope decay, when an isotope looses a neutron that converts back to a proton. The rest of the heat energy is most likely left over from the Earth’s creation as a planet. It is still cooling off.
- Radioactive decay is a type of nuclear fission. However, we usually refer to “nuclear fission” when a nuclei splits into more or less equal pieces. There could be natural nuclear fission occurring deep inside the Earth. These fission reactors have actually been discovered in deep mines in Africa. It is inconclusive as to how common true nuclear fission could be occurring. The more common type of fission is “radioactive decay” when a nucleus emit’s particles from a parent particle and is converted into a daughter particle.
- There are 3 different types of radioactive decay depending on the particle that is emitted from the nucleus:
----------------- Alpha Particle -- which is 2 protons and 2 neutrons bound together as the nucleus of helium (4).
----------------- Beta Particle -- electrons or anti-electrons emitted plus a neutrino. This decay is due to the Weak Nuclear Force interaction. The mass remains the same but the atomic number is reduced.
----------------- Gamma Particle - is actually not a particle but a photon, a Gamma Ray of electromagnetic energy is emitted.
- Different laws of physics govern each type of decay and there are different probabilities of each event of decay occurring. Each particular element will have a constant decay rate. This is normally referred to an element’s “half-life”. A half-life is half of the amount of time it takes for 100% of the atoms to decay. Take a sample Uranium 238 for example. 238 refers to the atomic number, or the number of protons in the nucleus. When 69.3% of it decays to Uranium 235 it takes 704,000,000 years for that to happen.
------------- The half-life of Uranium 238 is 704,000,000 years. The total lifetime is It takes that long for ½ of the sample of U238 to decay to U235.
------------ The half-life is actually half the life time it takes for 100% of the U238 to decay to U235.
Because the decay is an exponential function, it does not decay at a linear rate. When you reach the half life, 704,000,000 years, actually 69.3% of the Uranium has decayed.
- The half-life for U 238: t½ = 7.04*10^8 years. The total lifetime is 1.016*10^9 years
------------------ t½ = 0.693T
--------------- where T is the total lifetime of the element before it is 100% decayed.
- The math for change is calculus. The decay rate is a constant rate of change for the creation of the number of atoms of U235. The constant decay rate, “X”, for U238 to U235 is 930,000 decays per second. ( X = 9.3*10^5 decays / sec). When the sample of U238 was pulled up from the borehole 0.72% of it had decayed to U235. How much U 238 was in the ore that was sampled? And, therefore how much energy is created from nuclear fission to heat up the Earth?
----------------- T = t½ / 0.693
----------------- T = 1,016,000,000 years which is the total lifetime for the U238.
------------ The decay rate equation = dN / dt = - X No e^-xt = - X* N
-------------by differentiating this exponential equation we get the
------------ decay rate = - X*N
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some Calculus: If you plot “N”, the number of U238 atoms on the vertical axis and time ,”t”, on the horizontal axis the decay equation is an exponentially curved line falling down and to the right. The slope of his curved line is the rate of change and it is the exponent in the equation, “-x*t” . The slope falls faster in the beginning because you have more U238 atoms. There are chain reactions that exponentially accelerate the decay process. As there are fewer and fewer atoms the decay process slows down. When you get to the half way point on the time line, “t½” you find that not 50% but 69.3% of the atoms have decayed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- where: X is the constant decay rate = 9.3^10^5 decays / second
- -------- N is the number of U235 atoms created over the time (dt)
---------- No is the number of atoms at time zero
--------- dt is the duration of time.
---------- dN / dt is the rate of change in the number of U238 decays over the time “dt”.
---------- e^-xt is the exponential decay function of the number of atoms decaying over time. The negative sigh means a decaying rather than growing number.
------------- The constant decay rate ,“X”, is the reciprocal of the lifetime ,”T“.:
--------------------------- X = 1 / T
---------------------------- decays / second = 1 / seconds / decay
---------- Solving the decay rate equation for the number of U235 atoms, or in other words, the number of U238 atoms that have decayed.
--------------- N = - 1/X * dN / dt = - T * dN / dt
-------------- Substituting t½ /0.693 for T
----------- The rate of decay in years = 930,000 decays / sec * 31,600,000 sec / year
----------- The rate of decay in years = 29.39 * 10^12 decays / year
-------------- The number of atoms = N = -T*dN/dt = 10.16*10^8 years * 29.39 * 10^12 decays / year
-------------- The number of atoms = N = 3 *10^22 atoms of U235 created.
------------ Avogadro’s number is the number of atoms in a mole of any element. A mole is the atomic number of element in grams Therefore, a mole of U235 is 235 grams.
------------- Avogadro’s Number for any element = 6.02^10^23 atoms per mole.
--------- 3 * 10^22 atoms * 1 mole / 6.02*10^23 atoms * 235 grams / mole = 12 grams.
-------------- Percentage of U235 in the U238 sampled = 0.72%
------------ 12 grams / 0.0072 = 1.6 kilograms of U 238 and 12 grams had decayed to U235.
------------ These decay formulas are very accurate in predicting how a large sample of Uranium will behave. Each decay results in the release of neutrinos. Detecting these neutrinos tells geologists how much Uranium is decaying deep inside the Earth. The decay process releases radiation and energy that heats up the Earth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) We should mention that the detectors in Japan also detect all the nuclear fission occurring in all the power generation plants located in Japan. These power planet neutrinos have different finger prints and have to be removed from the data. There are also neutrinos arriving from the nuclear fusion going on in the Sun. These too have to be analyzed and removed from the data.
(2) To learn more about the calculus see reviews:
------------ #745 The calculus of a circle
------------ #737 Everyday Calculus
----------- #734 Spacetime, energy, and calculus.
---------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Saturday, July 23, 2011
- Volcanoes spew hot lava from the interior of the Earth. The ocean floor spreads apart and has the power to move continents. The iron core that produces the Earth’s magnetic field remains liquid and rotates like a dynamo. Where does this huge amount of energy come from that can melt the interior of the Earth? This review looks at radioactivity as the source.
- Attachments - none
- Geologist have sunk over 20,000 bore holes deep into the Earth’s crust to try to estimate how much heat energy is being generated inside the Earth’s interior. The answer they get is that the Earth is producing about 44,000,000,000,000 watts, (44 trillion watts) , of heat energy and dissipating it into space. Where does all this energy come from?
- The answer is that about half comes from radioactive decay of Uranium, Thorium and Potassium in the Earth’s crust and the Earth’s mantel. The rest of the heat may be primordial heat left over from the original formation of the planet. Or, it may be fission reactions going on deep inside the Earth. Or, it may be something else we have not yet figured out.
- The conclusion about the radioactive decay comes from detecting neutrinos coming from inside the Earth and passing through detectors on the surface. Physics understands radioactive decay very well and the finger print of neutrino and anti-neutrinos in our detectors is hard evidence as to what is going on deep inside the Earth.
------------------------------ 8 terawatts from Uranium 238
------------------------------ 8 terawatts from Thorium 232
------------------------------ 4 terawatts from Potassium 40
---------------------------- 20 terawatts total from radioactive decay.
- Neutrinos are neutral particles and are very small, near zero mass. They react only with the Weak Nuclear Force and are almost not affected by the force of Gravity. Neutrinos pass through the Earth as if it were transparent. Obviously these little guys are going to be very hard to detect. The KamLAND detector in Japan is a giant sphere filled with 1,000 tons of scintillating mineral oil. The sphere is surrounded by over 1,800 photomultipliers. When a neutrino collides with a proton in this tank a flash of light is recorded.
- When an anti-neutrino collides with a proton to create a neutron and an anti-electron the anti-electron quickly annihilates with a normal electron in the hydrogen rich mineral oil. The annihilation creates a flash of electromagnetic radiation, a flash of light. A couple hundred millionths of a second later the neutron is captured by a proton in this hydrogen rich environment. This capture results in a flash of Gamma Rays. The total light curve is a tell tale signature of an anti-neutrino arriving from the Earth‘s interior.
- After years of study the data concluded that 20 terawatts of radioactive decay is occurring inside the Earth. Another 3 terawatts comes from isotope decay, when an isotope looses a neutron that converts back to a proton. The rest of the heat energy is most likely left over from the Earth’s creation as a planet. It is still cooling off.
- Radioactive decay is a type of nuclear fission. However, we usually refer to “nuclear fission” when a nuclei splits into more or less equal pieces. There could be natural nuclear fission occurring deep inside the Earth. These fission reactors have actually been discovered in deep mines in Africa. It is inconclusive as to how common true nuclear fission could be occurring. The more common type of fission is “radioactive decay” when a nucleus emit’s particles from a parent particle and is converted into a daughter particle.
- There are 3 different types of radioactive decay depending on the particle that is emitted from the nucleus:
----------------- Alpha Particle -- which is 2 protons and 2 neutrons bound together as the nucleus of helium (4).
----------------- Beta Particle -- electrons or anti-electrons emitted plus a neutrino. This decay is due to the Weak Nuclear Force interaction. The mass remains the same but the atomic number is reduced.
----------------- Gamma Particle - is actually not a particle but a photon, a Gamma Ray of electromagnetic energy is emitted.
- Different laws of physics govern each type of decay and there are different probabilities of each event of decay occurring. Each particular element will have a constant decay rate. This is normally referred to an element’s “half-life”. A half-life is half of the amount of time it takes for 100% of the atoms to decay. Take a sample Uranium 238 for example. 238 refers to the atomic number, or the number of protons in the nucleus. When 69.3% of it decays to Uranium 235 it takes 704,000,000 years for that to happen.
------------- The half-life of Uranium 238 is 704,000,000 years. The total lifetime is It takes that long for ½ of the sample of U238 to decay to U235.
------------ The half-life is actually half the life time it takes for 100% of the U238 to decay to U235.
Because the decay is an exponential function, it does not decay at a linear rate. When you reach the half life, 704,000,000 years, actually 69.3% of the Uranium has decayed.
- The half-life for U 238: t½ = 7.04*10^8 years. The total lifetime is 1.016*10^9 years
------------------ t½ = 0.693T
--------------- where T is the total lifetime of the element before it is 100% decayed.
- The math for change is calculus. The decay rate is a constant rate of change for the creation of the number of atoms of U235. The constant decay rate, “X”, for U238 to U235 is 930,000 decays per second. ( X = 9.3*10^5 decays / sec). When the sample of U238 was pulled up from the borehole 0.72% of it had decayed to U235. How much U 238 was in the ore that was sampled? And, therefore how much energy is created from nuclear fission to heat up the Earth?
----------------- T = t½ / 0.693
----------------- T = 1,016,000,000 years which is the total lifetime for the U238.
------------ The decay rate equation = dN / dt = - X No e^-xt = - X* N
-------------by differentiating this exponential equation we get the
------------ decay rate = - X*N
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some Calculus: If you plot “N”, the number of U238 atoms on the vertical axis and time ,”t”, on the horizontal axis the decay equation is an exponentially curved line falling down and to the right. The slope of his curved line is the rate of change and it is the exponent in the equation, “-x*t” . The slope falls faster in the beginning because you have more U238 atoms. There are chain reactions that exponentially accelerate the decay process. As there are fewer and fewer atoms the decay process slows down. When you get to the half way point on the time line, “t½” you find that not 50% but 69.3% of the atoms have decayed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- where: X is the constant decay rate = 9.3^10^5 decays / second
- -------- N is the number of U235 atoms created over the time (dt)
---------- No is the number of atoms at time zero
--------- dt is the duration of time.
---------- dN / dt is the rate of change in the number of U238 decays over the time “dt”.
---------- e^-xt is the exponential decay function of the number of atoms decaying over time. The negative sigh means a decaying rather than growing number.
------------- The constant decay rate ,“X”, is the reciprocal of the lifetime ,”T“.:
--------------------------- X = 1 / T
---------------------------- decays / second = 1 / seconds / decay
---------- Solving the decay rate equation for the number of U235 atoms, or in other words, the number of U238 atoms that have decayed.
--------------- N = - 1/X * dN / dt = - T * dN / dt
-------------- Substituting t½ /0.693 for T
----------- The rate of decay in years = 930,000 decays / sec * 31,600,000 sec / year
----------- The rate of decay in years = 29.39 * 10^12 decays / year
-------------- The number of atoms = N = -T*dN/dt = 10.16*10^8 years * 29.39 * 10^12 decays / year
-------------- The number of atoms = N = 3 *10^22 atoms of U235 created.
------------ Avogadro’s number is the number of atoms in a mole of any element. A mole is the atomic number of element in grams Therefore, a mole of U235 is 235 grams.
------------- Avogadro’s Number for any element = 6.02^10^23 atoms per mole.
--------- 3 * 10^22 atoms * 1 mole / 6.02*10^23 atoms * 235 grams / mole = 12 grams.
-------------- Percentage of U235 in the U238 sampled = 0.72%
------------ 12 grams / 0.0072 = 1.6 kilograms of U 238 and 12 grams had decayed to U235.
------------ These decay formulas are very accurate in predicting how a large sample of Uranium will behave. Each decay results in the release of neutrinos. Detecting these neutrinos tells geologists how much Uranium is decaying deep inside the Earth. The decay process releases radiation and energy that heats up the Earth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) We should mention that the detectors in Japan also detect all the nuclear fission occurring in all the power generation plants located in Japan. These power planet neutrinos have different finger prints and have to be removed from the data. There are also neutrinos arriving from the nuclear fusion going on in the Sun. These too have to be analyzed and removed from the data.
(2) To learn more about the calculus see reviews:
------------ #745 The calculus of a circle
------------ #737 Everyday Calculus
----------- #734 Spacetime, energy, and calculus.
---------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Saturday, July 23, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Evolution of the Universe, most humbling we are only 0.03%
--------- #1275 - The Universe is Born in Billion Year Steps?
- This review summarizes what science thinks is the way the Universe evolved after its birth 13,750,000,000 years ago. The most astounding part is that what we know is only a very small percentage of what is out there. The mass-energy of the Universe is huge. We are made of heavy elements that are like 0.03% of it. And, we have been recycled several times. If you do not know the answer it must be science.
- Attachments - none
- The Hubble Ultra Deep Field image was obtained staring at one spot in the sky for months. The image gathered after that long exposure contained over 10,000 galaxies. The area in the sky was 1/100 the size of the Full Moon. If you scale that up to the full sky there are at least 200,000,000,000 galaxies out there within the range of the Hubble Space Telescope, if we pointed it in every direction.
- However, 96% of the total mass-energy of the Universe is not made of galaxies. Only 4% of the entire Cosmos is what we know as “normal matter”, or baryons. Baryons are atoms that are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. One conclusion you could make from this proportion is that galaxy formation is very inefficient.
------------------------ 70% is Dark Energy, we do not know what that is.
------------------------ 25% is Dark Matter, we do not know what that is either.
------------------------ 4% is neutrons and protons, mostly hydrogen and helium
------------------------ 1 % is the stars and galaxies.
------------------------ 0.3% is neutrinos.
------------------------ 0.005 % is radiation of all types except Dark Energy.
------------------------- 0.03 % is the heavy elements, oxygen, carbon, neon, iron, the stuff we are made of and everything around us is made of.
- This is humbling. The more we learn about the Universe the more mysterious it becomes.
- Most of our conclusions have come from study of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. This mostly uniform radiation that is all around us has small variations in temperature that reflect the matter density that existed before the galaxies first formed.
- Another source of knowledge comes from study of nuclear fusion. How the first elements were formed in the Big Bang. The proportions of helium, deuterium and lithium give the same answers as the Cosmic Microwave Background. This was the matter that formed in the first few minutes of the Universe and the radiation that was released after 380,000 years of the Big Bang.
- Most of the galaxies we see today began forming 9,000,000,000 years ago. The clusters of galaxies are just the high-density nodes of the Cosmic web of Dark Matter. The initial distribution of matter in the early Universe grew in density due to gravity gradually forming a more massive system. The gas clouds of hydrogen and helium would loose energy and cool because they radiated light. The clouds would fall into the centers of these Dark Matter systems and begin to form stars.
- 8,000,000,000 years ago the birth rate of stars was 10 to 20 times higher than what we see today. Galaxies grew with these massive halos of Dark Matter. The gas within galaxies cooled and collapsed into clouds that allowed molecular hydrogen to form Under the continuous compression of gravity these clouds eventually reached a density needed to start nuclear fusion and form stars. It is the radiation of the nuclear fusion that counteracted the compression of gravity. This balance between the two forces, gravity and radiation, is what holds stars together.
- Bigger galaxies grew from the collisions and mergers of smaller galaxies. However, today galaxies exist in a limited range of masses. There must be a counter acting force that stops the compression of gravity that works in galaxies as well as it works in stars. One such force might be the stellar winds from supernovae explosions. Another might come from the energy created by massive Blackholes that are in the centers of most large galaxies.
- Most of the baryonic normal matter in the Universe is gaseous and not galactic. Most of this gas exists in the form of the intergalactic medium that has escaped the galaxies or has yet to form galaxies. In another 5,000,000,000 years our Solar System will join the interstellar medium. Our Sun will balloon into a Planetary Nebulae as its hydrogen fuel runs out. The inner planets will evaporate into the heavy elements and join the interstellar medium. The baryons of matter repeat these cycles over and over again.
- The material that make up our lives and our daily lives came from these recycled elements. From stars forming and dying in galactic disks. The calcium in your fingernail may have come from a supernova explosion that occurred 12,000,000,000 years ago. That calcium atom is still working fine as old as it is. However, your warrantee is about up and the cycle will continue as the Universe evolves.
- It was Isaac Newton, one of the most brilliant humans to occupy the planet, who said, I am but a seashore scavenger, roaming the beach picking up shells of knowledge here and there, when there is a whole ocean of knowledge unknown that lies in front of me.
- If you do not know the answer it must be science. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Thursday, July 21, 2011
- This review summarizes what science thinks is the way the Universe evolved after its birth 13,750,000,000 years ago. The most astounding part is that what we know is only a very small percentage of what is out there. The mass-energy of the Universe is huge. We are made of heavy elements that are like 0.03% of it. And, we have been recycled several times. If you do not know the answer it must be science.
- Attachments - none
- The Hubble Ultra Deep Field image was obtained staring at one spot in the sky for months. The image gathered after that long exposure contained over 10,000 galaxies. The area in the sky was 1/100 the size of the Full Moon. If you scale that up to the full sky there are at least 200,000,000,000 galaxies out there within the range of the Hubble Space Telescope, if we pointed it in every direction.
- However, 96% of the total mass-energy of the Universe is not made of galaxies. Only 4% of the entire Cosmos is what we know as “normal matter”, or baryons. Baryons are atoms that are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. One conclusion you could make from this proportion is that galaxy formation is very inefficient.
------------------------ 70% is Dark Energy, we do not know what that is.
------------------------ 25% is Dark Matter, we do not know what that is either.
------------------------ 4% is neutrons and protons, mostly hydrogen and helium
------------------------ 1 % is the stars and galaxies.
------------------------ 0.3% is neutrinos.
------------------------ 0.005 % is radiation of all types except Dark Energy.
------------------------- 0.03 % is the heavy elements, oxygen, carbon, neon, iron, the stuff we are made of and everything around us is made of.
- This is humbling. The more we learn about the Universe the more mysterious it becomes.
- Most of our conclusions have come from study of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. This mostly uniform radiation that is all around us has small variations in temperature that reflect the matter density that existed before the galaxies first formed.
- Another source of knowledge comes from study of nuclear fusion. How the first elements were formed in the Big Bang. The proportions of helium, deuterium and lithium give the same answers as the Cosmic Microwave Background. This was the matter that formed in the first few minutes of the Universe and the radiation that was released after 380,000 years of the Big Bang.
- Most of the galaxies we see today began forming 9,000,000,000 years ago. The clusters of galaxies are just the high-density nodes of the Cosmic web of Dark Matter. The initial distribution of matter in the early Universe grew in density due to gravity gradually forming a more massive system. The gas clouds of hydrogen and helium would loose energy and cool because they radiated light. The clouds would fall into the centers of these Dark Matter systems and begin to form stars.
- 8,000,000,000 years ago the birth rate of stars was 10 to 20 times higher than what we see today. Galaxies grew with these massive halos of Dark Matter. The gas within galaxies cooled and collapsed into clouds that allowed molecular hydrogen to form Under the continuous compression of gravity these clouds eventually reached a density needed to start nuclear fusion and form stars. It is the radiation of the nuclear fusion that counteracted the compression of gravity. This balance between the two forces, gravity and radiation, is what holds stars together.
- Bigger galaxies grew from the collisions and mergers of smaller galaxies. However, today galaxies exist in a limited range of masses. There must be a counter acting force that stops the compression of gravity that works in galaxies as well as it works in stars. One such force might be the stellar winds from supernovae explosions. Another might come from the energy created by massive Blackholes that are in the centers of most large galaxies.
- Most of the baryonic normal matter in the Universe is gaseous and not galactic. Most of this gas exists in the form of the intergalactic medium that has escaped the galaxies or has yet to form galaxies. In another 5,000,000,000 years our Solar System will join the interstellar medium. Our Sun will balloon into a Planetary Nebulae as its hydrogen fuel runs out. The inner planets will evaporate into the heavy elements and join the interstellar medium. The baryons of matter repeat these cycles over and over again.
- The material that make up our lives and our daily lives came from these recycled elements. From stars forming and dying in galactic disks. The calcium in your fingernail may have come from a supernova explosion that occurred 12,000,000,000 years ago. That calcium atom is still working fine as old as it is. However, your warrantee is about up and the cycle will continue as the Universe evolves.
- It was Isaac Newton, one of the most brilliant humans to occupy the planet, who said, I am but a seashore scavenger, roaming the beach picking up shells of knowledge here and there, when there is a whole ocean of knowledge unknown that lies in front of me.
- If you do not know the answer it must be science. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Over 1000 planets discovered is there one like ours?
--------- #1274 - In 1000 Planets is there One Like Ours?
- New Space Telescopes have located over a 1,000 planets orbiting stars in other solar systems. Are any of these solar systems like ours? Are there terrestrial planets like Earth in these far off solar systems? This review brings you up to speed with these questions.
- Attachments - Kepler Space Telescope
- Astronomers were arguing for several years as to whether there were 8 or 9 planets in our Solar System. Finally, a decision was made and Pluto got butted out of the Solar System and put into the Kuiper Belt with several other Dwarf Planets. Some of these other Dwarf Planets are larger than Pluto.
- While these astronomers were loosing planets in our Solar System there were other astronomers adding planets, exoplanet, that they have found in other solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy. Out of over a thousand candidates, there are over 500 that have been identified as planets orbiting other stars.
- The Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitors over 156,000 stars in a single spot in the sky. It has discovered to date 1,235 new planet candidates. In each case careful study is needed to confirm a planet candidate is actually a planet.
- Prior to 1995 there were no known planets outside our own Solar System. Kepler is staring at 0.0001% of the sky and has found 1,235 to date. This turns out to be an exotic assortment of planets. In fact, there are an exotic assortment of other solar systems. There are rocky planets like our Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and there are gaseous planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus , and Neptune.
------------------- 67 ----- exoplanet are Earth-size
------------------ 288 ---- are about double Earth-size
----------------- 662 ---- are Neptune-size
----------------- 184 ---- are Jupiter-size
- By measuring the distance of the planet’s orbit about the star, astronomers can calculate the temperature of the planet and predict if the planet could contain liquid water. 53 or the 1,200 candidates could likely have liquid water.
- The Neptune-size and Jupiter-size planets are likely gaseous planets. Astronomers used to think that no like could exist there. However, after discovering moons around our own Jupiter and Saturn that have the possibility for life means that life around the other giant gaseous planets can still exist.
- Our own galaxy contains over 200,000,000,000 stars. Even if we ignore the life on moons the number of possible planets with life potential is staggering If 30% of solar systems have an Earth-size planet then there are over 60,000,000,000 Earth-size planets n our one galaxy alone.
- The technology that has made the difference for planet-hunting telescopes is to put them in space with extremely sensitive light detectors. These detectors can record the slightest dip in a star’s brightness as a planet passes in front of the star. These detectors are the same charge-coupled devices, CCD’s that are used in digital cameras. Kepler uses a 95 mega pixel camera that is so sensitive it can detect a 0.01% change in brightness..
- In 1995 the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered. It is a Jupiter-size planet orbiting just 5 million miles form the star ( We orbit 93 million miles from our star.) Our Jupiter is 480 million miles from the Sun and takes 480 years to complete a single orbit. 51 Pegasi was discovered using a different technology. Its discovery used the Doppler effect measuring the wobble of the star caused by the gravitational tug of the plane, or planets, orbiting it
- The Doppler method only works well for large planets, Jupiter-size planets, that have enough gravity to move the star they are orbiting. To find smaller planets, Earth-size planets, a new method was needed. Kepler’s “photometry transit” method was the next leap in technology.
- Kepler’s spacecraft trails behind Earth’s orbit with a 55 inch telescope. The sensitivity of the CCD’s could measure light changes down to 20 parts in a million. Launched in March 2009 the 2,320 pound spacecraft contains 22,000 separate parts. The CCD array was 11 inches square, 95 mega pixels, kept at -120 F temperature to detect very low light levels. It is called an Orthogonal Parallel Transfer Imaging camera. It can detect a moth in fron of a lit window 1,000 miles away.
- The telescope stares at one spot in the sky that has over 4,000.000 stars in its field of view. but, it concentrates on only 156,000 selected stars. These stars were chosen for their relative stability in brightness. The small spot in the sky is between the Constellations Cynus the Swan and Lyra the Harp. The field of view extends from 600 to 3,000 light years. The diameter of the field of view is equivalent to 27 full moon diameters.
- When a star dips in brightness it could be caused by sunspots, a sun flare, or even eclipsing binary stars. Planets move across the face of a star in a few hours. Sunspots rotate with the star and normally take days or weeks to change in brightness. If more than one planet is orbiting the star the timing of the orbits can be used to calculate the masses of the planets. Once masses are known the density of the planets can be calculated. The next step is to measure the chemistry in the planet’s atmosphere.
- With a light spectrum through a planet’s atmosphere a chemical signatures for life can be found. Astronomers are looking for oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. So far planet densities are all over the map. The data displays astounding diversity. Every 2 months Kepler telescope download 60terabytes of data. Anyone can get to this data on the Kepler web site. ( Keplergo.arc.nasa.gov/ ). Even us amateurs can recover light curves of a star we are interested in.
- The detected light curves are proving so sensitive they can detect sound waves flowing through the star. This is like ultrasound looking at the fetus of a baby about tot be born.
- One star, KIC10195926, was found to pulsate on two axes of symmetry at once. The northern and southern hemispheres of the star spin at different rates and trade rates back and forth.
- Another star appears to be orbiting a Blackhole. The intense gravity is lensing he starlight into a beam the briefly sweeps by Earth once every orbit.
- There are binary stars orbiting so closely heat white-hot plasma flows between them.
- There are stars with immense sunspots that indicate strange rotations.
- There are White Dwarf stars in eclipsing orbits.
- Transient planet WASP-10b was detected only 6% larger than Jupiter yet 3 times more massive. Therefore, as a gaseous planet it has 3 times more density than Jupiter.
- Planet Kepler 10b is 1.4 times the diameter of Earth. However, temperatures reach 3,000K. Hot enough to melt iron.
- Kepler 11 is a 6 planet solar system. The outer planets are gaseous and tin inner planets appear to be denser. But, 5 of the 6 planets orbit their sun in orbits smaller than Mercury’s.
- Planet GJ1214b is 3 times Earth-size and 300F hotter but contains liquid water because it atmosphere is so dense. It orbits 1,300,000 miles from its sun.
- Planet HD80606b is Jupiter-size and has an elongated orbit. It swings within 3,000,000 miles of the sun and out to 81,000,000 miles. The temperature changes from 1,000F to 2,200 F n 6 hours. Winds reach 10,800 miles per hour.
- There is so much to learn. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 17, 2011
- New Space Telescopes have located over a 1,000 planets orbiting stars in other solar systems. Are any of these solar systems like ours? Are there terrestrial planets like Earth in these far off solar systems? This review brings you up to speed with these questions.
- Attachments - Kepler Space Telescope
- Astronomers were arguing for several years as to whether there were 8 or 9 planets in our Solar System. Finally, a decision was made and Pluto got butted out of the Solar System and put into the Kuiper Belt with several other Dwarf Planets. Some of these other Dwarf Planets are larger than Pluto.
- While these astronomers were loosing planets in our Solar System there were other astronomers adding planets, exoplanet, that they have found in other solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy. Out of over a thousand candidates, there are over 500 that have been identified as planets orbiting other stars.
- The Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitors over 156,000 stars in a single spot in the sky. It has discovered to date 1,235 new planet candidates. In each case careful study is needed to confirm a planet candidate is actually a planet.
- Prior to 1995 there were no known planets outside our own Solar System. Kepler is staring at 0.0001% of the sky and has found 1,235 to date. This turns out to be an exotic assortment of planets. In fact, there are an exotic assortment of other solar systems. There are rocky planets like our Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and there are gaseous planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus , and Neptune.
------------------- 67 ----- exoplanet are Earth-size
------------------ 288 ---- are about double Earth-size
----------------- 662 ---- are Neptune-size
----------------- 184 ---- are Jupiter-size
- By measuring the distance of the planet’s orbit about the star, astronomers can calculate the temperature of the planet and predict if the planet could contain liquid water. 53 or the 1,200 candidates could likely have liquid water.
- The Neptune-size and Jupiter-size planets are likely gaseous planets. Astronomers used to think that no like could exist there. However, after discovering moons around our own Jupiter and Saturn that have the possibility for life means that life around the other giant gaseous planets can still exist.
- Our own galaxy contains over 200,000,000,000 stars. Even if we ignore the life on moons the number of possible planets with life potential is staggering If 30% of solar systems have an Earth-size planet then there are over 60,000,000,000 Earth-size planets n our one galaxy alone.
- The technology that has made the difference for planet-hunting telescopes is to put them in space with extremely sensitive light detectors. These detectors can record the slightest dip in a star’s brightness as a planet passes in front of the star. These detectors are the same charge-coupled devices, CCD’s that are used in digital cameras. Kepler uses a 95 mega pixel camera that is so sensitive it can detect a 0.01% change in brightness..
- In 1995 the first exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, was discovered. It is a Jupiter-size planet orbiting just 5 million miles form the star ( We orbit 93 million miles from our star.) Our Jupiter is 480 million miles from the Sun and takes 480 years to complete a single orbit. 51 Pegasi was discovered using a different technology. Its discovery used the Doppler effect measuring the wobble of the star caused by the gravitational tug of the plane, or planets, orbiting it
- The Doppler method only works well for large planets, Jupiter-size planets, that have enough gravity to move the star they are orbiting. To find smaller planets, Earth-size planets, a new method was needed. Kepler’s “photometry transit” method was the next leap in technology.
- Kepler’s spacecraft trails behind Earth’s orbit with a 55 inch telescope. The sensitivity of the CCD’s could measure light changes down to 20 parts in a million. Launched in March 2009 the 2,320 pound spacecraft contains 22,000 separate parts. The CCD array was 11 inches square, 95 mega pixels, kept at -120 F temperature to detect very low light levels. It is called an Orthogonal Parallel Transfer Imaging camera. It can detect a moth in fron of a lit window 1,000 miles away.
- The telescope stares at one spot in the sky that has over 4,000.000 stars in its field of view. but, it concentrates on only 156,000 selected stars. These stars were chosen for their relative stability in brightness. The small spot in the sky is between the Constellations Cynus the Swan and Lyra the Harp. The field of view extends from 600 to 3,000 light years. The diameter of the field of view is equivalent to 27 full moon diameters.
- When a star dips in brightness it could be caused by sunspots, a sun flare, or even eclipsing binary stars. Planets move across the face of a star in a few hours. Sunspots rotate with the star and normally take days or weeks to change in brightness. If more than one planet is orbiting the star the timing of the orbits can be used to calculate the masses of the planets. Once masses are known the density of the planets can be calculated. The next step is to measure the chemistry in the planet’s atmosphere.
- With a light spectrum through a planet’s atmosphere a chemical signatures for life can be found. Astronomers are looking for oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. So far planet densities are all over the map. The data displays astounding diversity. Every 2 months Kepler telescope download 60terabytes of data. Anyone can get to this data on the Kepler web site. ( Keplergo.arc.nasa.gov/ ). Even us amateurs can recover light curves of a star we are interested in.
- The detected light curves are proving so sensitive they can detect sound waves flowing through the star. This is like ultrasound looking at the fetus of a baby about tot be born.
- One star, KIC10195926, was found to pulsate on two axes of symmetry at once. The northern and southern hemispheres of the star spin at different rates and trade rates back and forth.
- Another star appears to be orbiting a Blackhole. The intense gravity is lensing he starlight into a beam the briefly sweeps by Earth once every orbit.
- There are binary stars orbiting so closely heat white-hot plasma flows between them.
- There are stars with immense sunspots that indicate strange rotations.
- There are White Dwarf stars in eclipsing orbits.
- Transient planet WASP-10b was detected only 6% larger than Jupiter yet 3 times more massive. Therefore, as a gaseous planet it has 3 times more density than Jupiter.
- Planet Kepler 10b is 1.4 times the diameter of Earth. However, temperatures reach 3,000K. Hot enough to melt iron.
- Kepler 11 is a 6 planet solar system. The outer planets are gaseous and tin inner planets appear to be denser. But, 5 of the 6 planets orbit their sun in orbits smaller than Mercury’s.
- Planet GJ1214b is 3 times Earth-size and 300F hotter but contains liquid water because it atmosphere is so dense. It orbits 1,300,000 miles from its sun.
- Planet HD80606b is Jupiter-size and has an elongated orbit. It swings within 3,000,000 miles of the sun and out to 81,000,000 miles. The temperature changes from 1,000F to 2,200 F n 6 hours. Winds reach 10,800 miles per hour.
- There is so much to learn. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Are star mergers in our future?
--------- #1273 - Are Astronomical Mergers in our Future?
- Mergers are going on all the time in our Universe. Some are large, some are relatively small. Our galaxy is relatively quiet right now. We should use this time to study what might happen when these mergers do occur?
- Attachments - Neutron Stars Merging
- A supercomputer is used to program the laws of physics and simulate what would happen if two orbiting Neutron Stars merged together. The computer create 6 frames of time as the merger progresses.
------------------- Frame ----------- Time ----------------- Width of Image
------------------- 1 ----------- 0.0 seconds ---------
------------------- 2 ----------- 0.007 seconds --------- 0.0 millimeters
------------------- 3 ----------- 0.014 seconds --------- 18 millimeters
------------------- 4 ----------- 0.015 seconds ---------
------------------- 5 ----------- 0.021 seconds ---------
------------------- 6 ----------- 0.026 seconds --------- 20 millimeters
- The width of each frame corresponds to 48 kilometers and is 48 millimeters wide. Therefore the scale is 1 kilometer per millimeter.
- Each Neutron Star is 1.4 Solar Mass.
- To determine how fast the stars are approaching each other measure the distance of separation between frames 0.007 seconds and 0.014 seconds. It is 18 millimeters or 18 kilometers in 0.007 seconds. That corresponds to a velocity of 18 kilometers per 0.007 seconds = 2,600 kilometers / second. 1 km/sec = 2,237 mph. Therefore, the stars are approaching each other in a descending spiral at 5,816,200 miles per hour.
- The last image shows the merger of the two Neutron Stars to be 20 millimeters across. Will it become a Blackhole?
- The radius of a Blackhole is directly proportional to its mass:
----------------- r = constant * M
- A proportionality can be changed in to an equality with the proper constant of proportionality. In this case the constant is:
---------------- r = (2 * G / c^2 ) * M
---------------- where G = Gravitational Constant
---------------- G = 6.67*10^-11 m^3 / ( kg*sec^2)
--------------- c = speed of light
-------------- c = 3*10^8 meters per second
--------------- c^2 = 9 * 10^16 m^2 / sec^2
-------------- r = 1.48 * 10^-27 m * M / kg
-------------- Converting this result in terms of Solar Mass, where Solar Mass = 1.98*10^30 kilograms
-------------- r = 2,930 m * M Solar Mass
- This formula is usually shown as --------------- r = 3* M
where: “r” is kilometers and “M” is in Solar Mass.
- The Neutron Stars each have a mass of 1.4 Solar Mass, so, the total is 2.8 Solar Mass after they merge.
-------------- r = 2.930 km * 2.8 Solar Mass
---------------- r = 8.2 kilometers for the Blackhole.
- The actual diameter of the merger is 20 kilometers, or a radius of 10 kilometers, therefore, the radius is too large to form a Blackhole. The merger will remain a bigger Neutron Star and go supernova. It will not collapse into a Blackhole.
- Exiting from the image of the last frame is a beam of radiation exiting the rotational poles. A protractor is used to measure the width of the beam and it is 30 degrees. What would the width of the beam be when it gets to us? We are 5,000,000 lightyears away. The circumference of the circle at that distance is 2*pi *r = 31.4* 10^9 lightyears. 30 degrees is 1/12th of the circumference. Therefore, the width of the beam when it reaches us is 2.6 billion lightyears.
- The above scenario was a computer model for the merger of two Neutron Stars. Astronomers are currently monitoring the actual merger of two White Dwarf stars. White Dwarfs are remnants of a supernova that are low mass, less than 1.4 Solar Mass. If they were larger they could collapse into a Neutron Star. A White Dwarf with the mass of the Sun is compressed into a volume the size of the Earth. A Neutron Star with the mass of the Sun is compressed into a volume a few kilometers in radius. The reason the star collapsed is the gravity was so intense the electrons collapsed into the nuclei of the atoms forming neutrons. The neutrons are so dense a penny of this material on Earth would weigh 1,000 pounds.
- Because the two stars are orbiting so close together their mutual gravity pulls the equator out of the lower mass star by 3%. If that were the Earth the tides would be 120 miles high. However, at this point the stars are not close enough to each other to begin exchanging material.
- The White Dwarfs complete their orbits in 13 minutes, eclipsing each other every 6 minutes. The orbits are so repetitive, they make an excellent clock. The White Dwarfs are traveling at 370 kilometers per second, which is 1,332,000 miles per hour. At their current rate of descent they will collide in about 900,000 years from now.
- The brighter White Dwarf contains 25 % Solar Mass compressed into the volume the size of Neptune. The companion, dimmer, White Dwarf is 50% Solar Mass compressed into the volume the size of the Earth. The density of these stars is so great a penny of this material on Earth would weigh 1,000 pounds.
- The reason these two stars will not orbit each other forever is because they are loosing energy in the form of gravitational waves. This has not been conclusively proven because we have yet to detect gravity waves. However, General Relativity equations predict that these large rotating masses would create ripples in the fabric of space-time. These ripples, or waves, carry away energy causing the stars to loose angular momentum energy and to spiral into each other on descending orbits. That is what will cause them to collide in 900,000 years from now.
- Neutron Stars merge, White Dwarfs merge, even galaxies are merging. When galaxies merge they create massive Blackholes at their core that are billion of Solar Mass. So far, the Blackhole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, named Sagittarius A, is quiet. It is about 4,000,000 Solar Mass with a volume the size of our Solar System. We do not see any mergers in its near future. Nor, do we see the Sun merging with another star in the near future. But, you never know, things could change. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Friday, July 15, 2011
- Mergers are going on all the time in our Universe. Some are large, some are relatively small. Our galaxy is relatively quiet right now. We should use this time to study what might happen when these mergers do occur?
- Attachments - Neutron Stars Merging
- A supercomputer is used to program the laws of physics and simulate what would happen if two orbiting Neutron Stars merged together. The computer create 6 frames of time as the merger progresses.
------------------- Frame ----------- Time ----------------- Width of Image
------------------- 1 ----------- 0.0 seconds ---------
------------------- 2 ----------- 0.007 seconds --------- 0.0 millimeters
------------------- 3 ----------- 0.014 seconds --------- 18 millimeters
------------------- 4 ----------- 0.015 seconds ---------
------------------- 5 ----------- 0.021 seconds ---------
------------------- 6 ----------- 0.026 seconds --------- 20 millimeters
- The width of each frame corresponds to 48 kilometers and is 48 millimeters wide. Therefore the scale is 1 kilometer per millimeter.
- Each Neutron Star is 1.4 Solar Mass.
- To determine how fast the stars are approaching each other measure the distance of separation between frames 0.007 seconds and 0.014 seconds. It is 18 millimeters or 18 kilometers in 0.007 seconds. That corresponds to a velocity of 18 kilometers per 0.007 seconds = 2,600 kilometers / second. 1 km/sec = 2,237 mph. Therefore, the stars are approaching each other in a descending spiral at 5,816,200 miles per hour.
- The last image shows the merger of the two Neutron Stars to be 20 millimeters across. Will it become a Blackhole?
- The radius of a Blackhole is directly proportional to its mass:
----------------- r = constant * M
- A proportionality can be changed in to an equality with the proper constant of proportionality. In this case the constant is:
---------------- r = (2 * G / c^2 ) * M
---------------- where G = Gravitational Constant
---------------- G = 6.67*10^-11 m^3 / ( kg*sec^2)
--------------- c = speed of light
-------------- c = 3*10^8 meters per second
--------------- c^2 = 9 * 10^16 m^2 / sec^2
-------------- r = 1.48 * 10^-27 m * M / kg
-------------- Converting this result in terms of Solar Mass, where Solar Mass = 1.98*10^30 kilograms
-------------- r = 2,930 m * M Solar Mass
- This formula is usually shown as --------------- r = 3* M
where: “r” is kilometers and “M” is in Solar Mass.
- The Neutron Stars each have a mass of 1.4 Solar Mass, so, the total is 2.8 Solar Mass after they merge.
-------------- r = 2.930 km * 2.8 Solar Mass
---------------- r = 8.2 kilometers for the Blackhole.
- The actual diameter of the merger is 20 kilometers, or a radius of 10 kilometers, therefore, the radius is too large to form a Blackhole. The merger will remain a bigger Neutron Star and go supernova. It will not collapse into a Blackhole.
- Exiting from the image of the last frame is a beam of radiation exiting the rotational poles. A protractor is used to measure the width of the beam and it is 30 degrees. What would the width of the beam be when it gets to us? We are 5,000,000 lightyears away. The circumference of the circle at that distance is 2*pi *r = 31.4* 10^9 lightyears. 30 degrees is 1/12th of the circumference. Therefore, the width of the beam when it reaches us is 2.6 billion lightyears.
- The above scenario was a computer model for the merger of two Neutron Stars. Astronomers are currently monitoring the actual merger of two White Dwarf stars. White Dwarfs are remnants of a supernova that are low mass, less than 1.4 Solar Mass. If they were larger they could collapse into a Neutron Star. A White Dwarf with the mass of the Sun is compressed into a volume the size of the Earth. A Neutron Star with the mass of the Sun is compressed into a volume a few kilometers in radius. The reason the star collapsed is the gravity was so intense the electrons collapsed into the nuclei of the atoms forming neutrons. The neutrons are so dense a penny of this material on Earth would weigh 1,000 pounds.
- Because the two stars are orbiting so close together their mutual gravity pulls the equator out of the lower mass star by 3%. If that were the Earth the tides would be 120 miles high. However, at this point the stars are not close enough to each other to begin exchanging material.
- The White Dwarfs complete their orbits in 13 minutes, eclipsing each other every 6 minutes. The orbits are so repetitive, they make an excellent clock. The White Dwarfs are traveling at 370 kilometers per second, which is 1,332,000 miles per hour. At their current rate of descent they will collide in about 900,000 years from now.
- The brighter White Dwarf contains 25 % Solar Mass compressed into the volume the size of Neptune. The companion, dimmer, White Dwarf is 50% Solar Mass compressed into the volume the size of the Earth. The density of these stars is so great a penny of this material on Earth would weigh 1,000 pounds.
- The reason these two stars will not orbit each other forever is because they are loosing energy in the form of gravitational waves. This has not been conclusively proven because we have yet to detect gravity waves. However, General Relativity equations predict that these large rotating masses would create ripples in the fabric of space-time. These ripples, or waves, carry away energy causing the stars to loose angular momentum energy and to spiral into each other on descending orbits. That is what will cause them to collide in 900,000 years from now.
- Neutron Stars merge, White Dwarfs merge, even galaxies are merging. When galaxies merge they create massive Blackholes at their core that are billion of Solar Mass. So far, the Blackhole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, named Sagittarius A, is quiet. It is about 4,000,000 Solar Mass with a volume the size of our Solar System. We do not see any mergers in its near future. Nor, do we see the Sun merging with another star in the near future. But, you never know, things could change. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Teaching the Science of Anti-matter
--------- #1272 - Teaching the Science of Anti-matter
- In the United States we have grown a generation of teachers and professors that teach kids beliefs not facts. Science is a method to answer questions about nature. A Gallup Poll found the 21% of the people did not know that the Earth revolved around the Sun. 32% of the adults think astrology is a scientific method. This review discusses the science of anti-matter.
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- If you do not know the answer it must be science. Science is a process. When you are curious about something, you observe its characteristics, you form a hypothesis, and then confirm it right or wrong with objective means.
- The Big Bang Theory contains the assumption that the Universe leaped out of nothing. For this assumption to by true there must be equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, positive and negative charges, north and south poles, space and anti-space, time and anti-time, energy and anti-energy, so, if you add it all up you get back to nothing again.
- When matter and anti-matter come together they annihilate each other in to photons of Gamma Rays. Anti-matter is exactly the same as matter except it has the opposite charge. It appears as a mirror image of matter. A negative electron has a mirror anti-matter positive electron (called a positron).
- Everything in our Universe today is matter. Somehow our matter survived the Big Bang and did not get annihilated. Is there another Universe of equal size out there that is made up of entirely anti-matter? A galaxy of anti-matter could exist in space and we could not tell. We have no evidence for or against this possibility. However, if the galaxy encountered matter it would explode in a burst of Gamma Rays. Somehow, the matter and anti-matter must have separated far enough and fast enough that this is not happening.
- In 1897 the electron was discovered as an elementary particle that carries a negative charge. In 1898 the electron was predicted to have a counter part, named a positron. 30 years later Paul Dirac came up with the mathematics that made the same prediction. Dirac extended this prediction to all the elementary particles. There are 16 particles so there must be 16 antiparticles that make up the Universe. ( 6 quarks, 6 leptons and 4 bosons).
- In 1931 Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron in a cloud chamber while studying the fall out from Cosmic Rays. The anti-proton was discovered in 1955. Symmetry in anti-matter requires that it react the exact same as matter. Anti-water would freeze and boil at the same temperature. The spectrum of light coming from an anti-matter galaxy would look exactly the same as a matter galaxy.
- In 1957 it was discovered that neutrinos spin only left-handedly and anti-neutrinos spin only right-handedly. In 1964 it was discovered that the particle K-Meson did not decay into Pions at the same rate as anti-K-Mesons. A Meson is a particle that contains one quark and one anti-quark. Pions and Mesons are affected by the Strong Nuclear Force and the force carriers, Gluons.
- This symmetry breaking, or charge-parity breaking, indicated that matter and anti-matter would not annihilate each other in equal proportions. Today this data has the confidence of 0.005% accuracy. Science is cautious and requires a high level of certainty before claiming a discovery. They are looking for 0.00005 % certainty from these experiments. This could explain why the Universe contains a preponderance of matter over anti-matter.
- In 2001 it was discovered that the B-Meson followed the same pattern of different decay rates. In 2010 the same charge-parity violation or symmetry breaking was found in Muons and anti-Muons. Muons are heavy electrons, or high energy electrons.
- Small amounts of anti-matter occur naturally in the decay of radioactive isotopes. Recent discoveries have detected anti-matter production in lighting strikes and high thunder clouds. High energy Cosmic Rays impacting the Earth’s atmosphere produce minute quantities of anti-particles. The same thing must be happening in other solar systems and in other galaxies.
- Anti-matter radiation has been detected coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. When electrons and anti-electrons annihilate each other in a flash of Gamma Rays the energy level is exactly 511,000 electron volts. This is calculated from E = m*c^2 for 2 electrons. Astronomers speculate that ordinary matter gains tremendous energy when falling into stars and Blackholes near the galaxy core. This energy produces electron-anti-electron pairs that exist then annihilate each other producing the Gamma Rays at 511,000 electron volts.
- Small amounts of anti-matter are produced unnaturally in our laboratories. In 2008 anti-electrons were produced by firing ultra-intense lasers and millimeter -thick gold targets. In 1995 anti-hydrogen was first produced and in April 2011 CERN successfully trapped 309 anti-hydrogen atoms for 1000 seconds ( 17 minutes ). They also detected the production of anti-helium atoms.
- There is a problem in how to contain anti-matter once it is produced. It has to be contained in some form of magnetic, electric, or laser trap. If it touches any material “pooofff “ its gone. Therefore it is very expensive to make, about $250,000,000 for 10 milligrams of anti-electrons.
- These anti-electrons are needed to run the medical PET scans. PET is Positron Emission Tomography that allows doctors to see inside the body similar to X-rays.
- Anti-matter and matter collisions would be a great source of energy if we could harness them. It is 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, 3 orders greater than nuclear fission reactions, and 2 orders of magnitude greater than fusion reactions. A kilogram of each would produce an equivalent to 43 megatons of TNT.
- America’s education and main-media system is a failure. The result of a good liberal education is that you can communicate anti-science very convincingly. Students have lost the power of critical thinking. They confuse the right to an opinion with the fictitious right to be right. Journalists think that balance is the same as fairness. In science only the right answer and the truth matters. Evolution, global warming, vaccinations do not need a “balanced” report, they need good science. Television portrays science as “Punkin Chunkin”, “Mantracker“, “Nostradamus Effect“, or “Ancient Aliens“. Like homeopathic medicine this is no better than plain water and sweet-talk and not true science.
- Anti-matter and anti-science annihilate matter and what matters. We can do better.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Review #1149 “ Why does matter outnumber anti-matter?”
(2) Review # 971 “ Anti-matter”
(3) Review # 891 “ Living with anti-matter”
(4) Review #730 “ Antimatter”
(5) Review # 607 “ Antimatter is all around us”
(6) Review # 880 “ Antimatter and Blackholes”
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 13, 2011
- In the United States we have grown a generation of teachers and professors that teach kids beliefs not facts. Science is a method to answer questions about nature. A Gallup Poll found the 21% of the people did not know that the Earth revolved around the Sun. 32% of the adults think astrology is a scientific method. This review discusses the science of anti-matter.
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- If you do not know the answer it must be science. Science is a process. When you are curious about something, you observe its characteristics, you form a hypothesis, and then confirm it right or wrong with objective means.
- The Big Bang Theory contains the assumption that the Universe leaped out of nothing. For this assumption to by true there must be equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, positive and negative charges, north and south poles, space and anti-space, time and anti-time, energy and anti-energy, so, if you add it all up you get back to nothing again.
- When matter and anti-matter come together they annihilate each other in to photons of Gamma Rays. Anti-matter is exactly the same as matter except it has the opposite charge. It appears as a mirror image of matter. A negative electron has a mirror anti-matter positive electron (called a positron).
- Everything in our Universe today is matter. Somehow our matter survived the Big Bang and did not get annihilated. Is there another Universe of equal size out there that is made up of entirely anti-matter? A galaxy of anti-matter could exist in space and we could not tell. We have no evidence for or against this possibility. However, if the galaxy encountered matter it would explode in a burst of Gamma Rays. Somehow, the matter and anti-matter must have separated far enough and fast enough that this is not happening.
- In 1897 the electron was discovered as an elementary particle that carries a negative charge. In 1898 the electron was predicted to have a counter part, named a positron. 30 years later Paul Dirac came up with the mathematics that made the same prediction. Dirac extended this prediction to all the elementary particles. There are 16 particles so there must be 16 antiparticles that make up the Universe. ( 6 quarks, 6 leptons and 4 bosons).
- In 1931 Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron in a cloud chamber while studying the fall out from Cosmic Rays. The anti-proton was discovered in 1955. Symmetry in anti-matter requires that it react the exact same as matter. Anti-water would freeze and boil at the same temperature. The spectrum of light coming from an anti-matter galaxy would look exactly the same as a matter galaxy.
- In 1957 it was discovered that neutrinos spin only left-handedly and anti-neutrinos spin only right-handedly. In 1964 it was discovered that the particle K-Meson did not decay into Pions at the same rate as anti-K-Mesons. A Meson is a particle that contains one quark and one anti-quark. Pions and Mesons are affected by the Strong Nuclear Force and the force carriers, Gluons.
- This symmetry breaking, or charge-parity breaking, indicated that matter and anti-matter would not annihilate each other in equal proportions. Today this data has the confidence of 0.005% accuracy. Science is cautious and requires a high level of certainty before claiming a discovery. They are looking for 0.00005 % certainty from these experiments. This could explain why the Universe contains a preponderance of matter over anti-matter.
- In 2001 it was discovered that the B-Meson followed the same pattern of different decay rates. In 2010 the same charge-parity violation or symmetry breaking was found in Muons and anti-Muons. Muons are heavy electrons, or high energy electrons.
- Small amounts of anti-matter occur naturally in the decay of radioactive isotopes. Recent discoveries have detected anti-matter production in lighting strikes and high thunder clouds. High energy Cosmic Rays impacting the Earth’s atmosphere produce minute quantities of anti-particles. The same thing must be happening in other solar systems and in other galaxies.
- Anti-matter radiation has been detected coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. When electrons and anti-electrons annihilate each other in a flash of Gamma Rays the energy level is exactly 511,000 electron volts. This is calculated from E = m*c^2 for 2 electrons. Astronomers speculate that ordinary matter gains tremendous energy when falling into stars and Blackholes near the galaxy core. This energy produces electron-anti-electron pairs that exist then annihilate each other producing the Gamma Rays at 511,000 electron volts.
- Small amounts of anti-matter are produced unnaturally in our laboratories. In 2008 anti-electrons were produced by firing ultra-intense lasers and millimeter -thick gold targets. In 1995 anti-hydrogen was first produced and in April 2011 CERN successfully trapped 309 anti-hydrogen atoms for 1000 seconds ( 17 minutes ). They also detected the production of anti-helium atoms.
- There is a problem in how to contain anti-matter once it is produced. It has to be contained in some form of magnetic, electric, or laser trap. If it touches any material “pooofff “ its gone. Therefore it is very expensive to make, about $250,000,000 for 10 milligrams of anti-electrons.
- These anti-electrons are needed to run the medical PET scans. PET is Positron Emission Tomography that allows doctors to see inside the body similar to X-rays.
- Anti-matter and matter collisions would be a great source of energy if we could harness them. It is 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, 3 orders greater than nuclear fission reactions, and 2 orders of magnitude greater than fusion reactions. A kilogram of each would produce an equivalent to 43 megatons of TNT.
- America’s education and main-media system is a failure. The result of a good liberal education is that you can communicate anti-science very convincingly. Students have lost the power of critical thinking. They confuse the right to an opinion with the fictitious right to be right. Journalists think that balance is the same as fairness. In science only the right answer and the truth matters. Evolution, global warming, vaccinations do not need a “balanced” report, they need good science. Television portrays science as “Punkin Chunkin”, “Mantracker“, “Nostradamus Effect“, or “Ancient Aliens“. Like homeopathic medicine this is no better than plain water and sweet-talk and not true science.
- Anti-matter and anti-science annihilate matter and what matters. We can do better.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Review #1149 “ Why does matter outnumber anti-matter?”
(2) Review # 971 “ Anti-matter”
(3) Review # 891 “ Living with anti-matter”
(4) Review #730 “ Antimatter”
(5) Review # 607 “ Antimatter is all around us”
(6) Review # 880 “ Antimatter and Blackholes”
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
There is a thunderstorm on Saturn.
--------- #1271 - There is a Thunderstorm on Saturn
- There is a thunderstorm on Saturn that is so big you can see it with your backyard telescope. The size of the storm is the size of the Earth. It is called The Great White Spot, very similar to The Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Our technology is helping astronomers to become space weathermen for the planets and moons outside our own.
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- Terrestrial storms on the rocky planets like ours can last for days or weeks. However, thunderstorms on the gaseous planets can last for decades. This one on Saturn was first discovered on December 5, 2010. It is already lasted for 8 months. The lightning in the storm is 10,000 more powerful flashing at 10 times per second. We can not see the lightning but we can hear it as radio signals detected by the Cassini Spacecraft.
- Five of the Big White Spots have been observed on Saturn over the past 130 years. The last storm occurred in 1990. The planet Saturn is comprised of layers of thick, rolling gases. These giant thunder storms appear about once a year, but, a Saturn year is 29.5 Earth years. During Saturn’s summer solstice, when it is closest to the Sun. The gas heats up and starts to move.
- The fundamental physics behind the storm, and weather in general, is that hot air rises and cold air sinks. Warmer air leaves the equator and drifts toward the poles where it cools , descends and migrates back toward the equator. The cycle continues.
- The Earth’s 24 hour spin cycle causes clouds to twist into spirals making our weather much more dynamic but not as intense. There is more chaos, but, not enough time for weather to build into giant Spots our planet.
- Venus has a 243 day rotation and hardly any air circulation. The carbon dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere traps the heat and creates a runaway greenhouse effect. The Sun’s ultraviolet radiation breaks down the carbon dioxide which combines with sulfur dioxide and produces sulfuric acid in the atmosphere. Venus still generates hurricane -force winds in this thick atmosphere.
- The storm on Saturn has ballooned into a system 6,000 miles across in the northern hemisphere at 35 degree north. The Spot is a cluster of super- storms each caused by an upwelling of heat , moisture and ammonia from water clouds that are lower down in the atmosphere where the pressure is greater. As the water cloud rises it runs bright, and white with ammonia gas.
- On the gaseous planets, Jupiter and Saturn, the highest clouds consist of ammonia. On Neptune and Uranus the high clouds consist of methane
- Mar’s atmosphere is 1/100 as dense as Earth’s . Carbon dioxide freezes at the poles and then evaporates when it faces the Sun. The atmospheric pressure goes up by 30% when the poles evaporate.
- It is not just the planets that have weather. Some of the moons have an atmosphere worth studying Saturn’s moon Titan has a methane atmosphere At 75 mile altitude above Titan the winds are blowing 250 miles per hour. The surface temperature is -290 F and the pressure is 47% greater than Earth’s at sea level.
- Neptune’s moon Triton has a nitrogen and methane atmosphere. The weather there freezes out during the winter and returns during the summer.
- Space weathermen have quite a fascinating job. The more they learn about weather on other planets the better we understand what controls the weather on our own planet.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Monday, July 11, 2011
- There is a thunderstorm on Saturn that is so big you can see it with your backyard telescope. The size of the storm is the size of the Earth. It is called The Great White Spot, very similar to The Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Our technology is helping astronomers to become space weathermen for the planets and moons outside our own.
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- Terrestrial storms on the rocky planets like ours can last for days or weeks. However, thunderstorms on the gaseous planets can last for decades. This one on Saturn was first discovered on December 5, 2010. It is already lasted for 8 months. The lightning in the storm is 10,000 more powerful flashing at 10 times per second. We can not see the lightning but we can hear it as radio signals detected by the Cassini Spacecraft.
- Five of the Big White Spots have been observed on Saturn over the past 130 years. The last storm occurred in 1990. The planet Saturn is comprised of layers of thick, rolling gases. These giant thunder storms appear about once a year, but, a Saturn year is 29.5 Earth years. During Saturn’s summer solstice, when it is closest to the Sun. The gas heats up and starts to move.
- The fundamental physics behind the storm, and weather in general, is that hot air rises and cold air sinks. Warmer air leaves the equator and drifts toward the poles where it cools , descends and migrates back toward the equator. The cycle continues.
- The Earth’s 24 hour spin cycle causes clouds to twist into spirals making our weather much more dynamic but not as intense. There is more chaos, but, not enough time for weather to build into giant Spots our planet.
- Venus has a 243 day rotation and hardly any air circulation. The carbon dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere traps the heat and creates a runaway greenhouse effect. The Sun’s ultraviolet radiation breaks down the carbon dioxide which combines with sulfur dioxide and produces sulfuric acid in the atmosphere. Venus still generates hurricane -force winds in this thick atmosphere.
- The storm on Saturn has ballooned into a system 6,000 miles across in the northern hemisphere at 35 degree north. The Spot is a cluster of super- storms each caused by an upwelling of heat , moisture and ammonia from water clouds that are lower down in the atmosphere where the pressure is greater. As the water cloud rises it runs bright, and white with ammonia gas.
- On the gaseous planets, Jupiter and Saturn, the highest clouds consist of ammonia. On Neptune and Uranus the high clouds consist of methane
- Mar’s atmosphere is 1/100 as dense as Earth’s . Carbon dioxide freezes at the poles and then evaporates when it faces the Sun. The atmospheric pressure goes up by 30% when the poles evaporate.
- It is not just the planets that have weather. Some of the moons have an atmosphere worth studying Saturn’s moon Titan has a methane atmosphere At 75 mile altitude above Titan the winds are blowing 250 miles per hour. The surface temperature is -290 F and the pressure is 47% greater than Earth’s at sea level.
- Neptune’s moon Triton has a nitrogen and methane atmosphere. The weather there freezes out during the winter and returns during the summer.
- Space weathermen have quite a fascinating job. The more they learn about weather on other planets the better we understand what controls the weather on our own planet.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Some math to commenorate the Shuttle's last flight.
--------- #1270 - The Space Shuttle’s Last Flight
- The Space Shuttle is taking its last flight today, July 8, 2011. Why don’t we take it to the Moon?
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- The answer: It would not make it there. Not enough fuel at maximum payload. The maximum payload the Shuttle can carry is 55,000 pounds. It would need 65,000 pounds of fuel to make a one way trip to the Moon.
- When the Space Shuttle is in orbit 236 miles up it is traveling 17,180 miles per hour.
- If it moved out to geostationary orbit at 22,236 miles it orbiting speed would only need to be 6,870 miles per hour. You would think that all the Shuttle would have to do would be to put on the brakes, slow down and drift right out there. When you get out to the Moon the orbiting speed is only 2,237 miles per hour. So, the speed change needed to slow down is 15,000 mph change to get from the Shuttle orbit to the Moon’s orbit.
- Unfortunately, your intuition is wrong. Each higher orbit requires more kinetic energy to reach. More burn time for the rockets. More fuel in bigger rockets.
- The Shuttle can accomplish a speed change of 0.6 meters / second / second at full burn. To get the orbit speed change of 15,000 mph how much time do we need of rocket burn? 15,000 mph is 6,680 meters / second. At the Shuttle burn rate it needs 11,000 seconds which is 3 hours of burn.
- The Shuttle consumes 9,700 pounds of fuel to change speeds by 2,337 mph. To change 15,000 mph we need 65,000 pounds of fuel. But, the maximum we can carry is 55,000 pounds. We are 20% short for a one way trip. The Moon is 239,000 miles away and we only made it to 191,000 miles. Maybe the Moon’s gravity will pull us the rest of the way?
- Orbits are the balance between the Kinetic Energy of motion and the Potential Energy of Gravity.
--------------------- Potential Energy of Gravity = G * m * M / r
----------------------- where “M” is the mass of the Earth and “r” is the radius from its center, and “G” is the gravitational constant of proportionality for the units used.
--------------------- Kinetic Energy = ½ m * v^2
--------------------- where “m” is the mass of the Shuttle, and “v” is the velocity of the Shuttle. Mass times velocity is momentum. So, this formula is the Shuttle’s momentum times its velocity.
--------------------- v^2 = 2 * G * M / r
---------------------v^2 = 2 * 6.67*10^-11 m^3/ (kg*sec^2) * 5.97 *10^24 kg /6.76 * 10^6 meters
-------------- v = 17,169 miles per hour ( 7,670 m/sec)
---------------- The total energy is just ½ the potential energy for a circular orbit.
---------------- April 12, 1981 ------------- Columbia space Shuttle launched
---------------- April 4, 1983 -------------- Challenger launched
---------------- August 30, 1984 ---------- Discovery launched
---------------- October 3, 1985 ---------- Atlantis launched
---------------- January 28, 1986 ---------- Challenger explodes
---------------- May 4, 1989---------------- Atlantis launched Venus Spacecraft
---------------- October 18, 1989 -------- Atlantis launched Jupiter Spacecraft
---------------- April 24, 1990 ------------ Discovery launched Hubble Space Telescope
---------------- May 7, 1992 -------------- Endeavour launched
---------------- February 1, 2003 ---------- Columbia explodes
---------------- July 8, 2011 -------------- Atlantis launched for last Shuttle flight.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 10, 2011
- The Space Shuttle is taking its last flight today, July 8, 2011. Why don’t we take it to the Moon?
- Attachments - Astronauts on the Moon
- The answer: It would not make it there. Not enough fuel at maximum payload. The maximum payload the Shuttle can carry is 55,000 pounds. It would need 65,000 pounds of fuel to make a one way trip to the Moon.
- When the Space Shuttle is in orbit 236 miles up it is traveling 17,180 miles per hour.
- If it moved out to geostationary orbit at 22,236 miles it orbiting speed would only need to be 6,870 miles per hour. You would think that all the Shuttle would have to do would be to put on the brakes, slow down and drift right out there. When you get out to the Moon the orbiting speed is only 2,237 miles per hour. So, the speed change needed to slow down is 15,000 mph change to get from the Shuttle orbit to the Moon’s orbit.
- Unfortunately, your intuition is wrong. Each higher orbit requires more kinetic energy to reach. More burn time for the rockets. More fuel in bigger rockets.
- The Shuttle can accomplish a speed change of 0.6 meters / second / second at full burn. To get the orbit speed change of 15,000 mph how much time do we need of rocket burn? 15,000 mph is 6,680 meters / second. At the Shuttle burn rate it needs 11,000 seconds which is 3 hours of burn.
- The Shuttle consumes 9,700 pounds of fuel to change speeds by 2,337 mph. To change 15,000 mph we need 65,000 pounds of fuel. But, the maximum we can carry is 55,000 pounds. We are 20% short for a one way trip. The Moon is 239,000 miles away and we only made it to 191,000 miles. Maybe the Moon’s gravity will pull us the rest of the way?
- Orbits are the balance between the Kinetic Energy of motion and the Potential Energy of Gravity.
--------------------- Potential Energy of Gravity = G * m * M / r
----------------------- where “M” is the mass of the Earth and “r” is the radius from its center, and “G” is the gravitational constant of proportionality for the units used.
--------------------- Kinetic Energy = ½ m * v^2
--------------------- where “m” is the mass of the Shuttle, and “v” is the velocity of the Shuttle. Mass times velocity is momentum. So, this formula is the Shuttle’s momentum times its velocity.
--------------------- v^2 = 2 * G * M / r
---------------------v^2 = 2 * 6.67*10^-11 m^3/ (kg*sec^2) * 5.97 *10^24 kg /6.76 * 10^6 meters
-------------- v = 17,169 miles per hour ( 7,670 m/sec)
---------------- The total energy is just ½ the potential energy for a circular orbit.
---------------- April 12, 1981 ------------- Columbia space Shuttle launched
---------------- April 4, 1983 -------------- Challenger launched
---------------- August 30, 1984 ---------- Discovery launched
---------------- October 3, 1985 ---------- Atlantis launched
---------------- January 28, 1986 ---------- Challenger explodes
---------------- May 4, 1989---------------- Atlantis launched Venus Spacecraft
---------------- October 18, 1989 -------- Atlantis launched Jupiter Spacecraft
---------------- April 24, 1990 ------------ Discovery launched Hubble Space Telescope
---------------- May 7, 1992 -------------- Endeavour launched
---------------- February 1, 2003 ---------- Columbia explodes
---------------- July 8, 2011 -------------- Atlantis launched for last Shuttle flight.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sharing the Planet with other Humans?
--------- #1269 - Sharing Earth with Other Human Species
- Most of us think that there is only one human species on the planet Earth. However, at one time in our evolution we shared the planet with other human species. These different species were in competition with each other, and, like love and war, they were interbreeding. The genes of these multiple species are still in us today.
- Attachments - I’m thinking
- The Earth has experienced many variations of humans. There were multiple migrations of humans out of Africa at different times. Extinctions have wiped out all hominid species except the one we have today Homo Sapiens.
- Unexpected fossil finds keep showing up giving us an ever-expanding variety of human and pre-human species. The more we learn the more we know that we were not alone.
- Arpidithecus Ramidus, “ Ardi”, is a case in point. Ardi climbed trees and walked upright 4,400,000 years ago. (See Review # 1148 “ What We Can Learn from a 4,400,000 Year Old Human”). Ardi was a quadrupe in the trees and a biped on the ground. She had small canine teeth and was a woodland omnivore living in East Africa.
- Another species was the “Hobbits”, Homo Floresiensis, found on an island in Indonesia. These Hobbits existed at the same time as Homo Sapiens.
- A third story discovered with DNA sequencing is that modern humans interbred with Homo Neanderthalensis around 60,000 years ago. I think I have met some of these Neanderthals recently, judging by their mental evolvement. The Neanderthals left the Middle East and settled in Europe and Asia. Today up to 4% of the modern population outside Africa share the Neanderthal genome.
- There was a 4th discovery in New Guinea, the Denisova species.
- Human fossil remains have been uncovered that date back 5,700,000 years.
- Australopitheus Afarensis was the famous “ Lucy” that is the earliest truly bipedal hominid found to date. She was a striding terrestrial biped with a wide environmental range in east Africa.
- Ardi lived at least 3,000,000 years after the common ancestor of humans and chimps existed.
- It is believed that the Hobbit species left Africa ( Ardi’s home) for Southeast Asia on foot 2,000,000 years ago. Their fossils were found on the island Flores. Their brain size was 1/3 that of modern humans. However, they fashioned stone tools, hunted as a team, cooked with an open fire. The Hobbits lived on Flores from 90,000 years ago up until 14,000 years ago.
- The fossil Hobbit named “ Flo” was 3.3 feet tall and weighed 60 pounds. Flo walked upright with big feet, had a prominent brow, primitive teeth, no chin, short legs and long arms. Stone tools have been found on Flores dating back 1,000,000 years. Fire pits suggested that hobbits barbequed baby elephants, huge rats, and Komodo dragons for their meals.
- So, the conclusion is that rather than having a family tree, us humans have a family bush going back 6,000,000 years. Humans separated from chimps 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 years ago, from gorillas 8,000,000 to 11,000,000 years ago, and from orangutans 14,000,000 to 20,000,000 years ago.
- 5,000,000 years ago the branch was A. Africanus.
- 3,000,000 years ago it was P. Aethiopicus
- 2,000,000 years ago there was Homo Erectus
-------------------------------------- Homo Habilis
-------------------------------------- Homo Rudofensis
-- 1,000,000 years ago ---------- Homo Floesiensis
-------------------------------------- Neanderthals
-------------------------------------- Densovaus
-------------------------------------- Homo Sapiens
-------------------------------------- Homo Heidelbergensis
- All of these branches were occupied by a human like species. Today only Homo Sapiens have survived. But, Homo Sapiens carry some of the same genes that evolved in these other species. Some were living at the same time competing for survival and even inter breeding is a shared planet. Homo Sapiens only took over about 30,000 years ago. Amazing. And, just look what we have done to the planet since then?
----------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 10, 2011
- Most of us think that there is only one human species on the planet Earth. However, at one time in our evolution we shared the planet with other human species. These different species were in competition with each other, and, like love and war, they were interbreeding. The genes of these multiple species are still in us today.
- Attachments - I’m thinking
- The Earth has experienced many variations of humans. There were multiple migrations of humans out of Africa at different times. Extinctions have wiped out all hominid species except the one we have today Homo Sapiens.
- Unexpected fossil finds keep showing up giving us an ever-expanding variety of human and pre-human species. The more we learn the more we know that we were not alone.
- Arpidithecus Ramidus, “ Ardi”, is a case in point. Ardi climbed trees and walked upright 4,400,000 years ago. (See Review # 1148 “ What We Can Learn from a 4,400,000 Year Old Human”). Ardi was a quadrupe in the trees and a biped on the ground. She had small canine teeth and was a woodland omnivore living in East Africa.
- Another species was the “Hobbits”, Homo Floresiensis, found on an island in Indonesia. These Hobbits existed at the same time as Homo Sapiens.
- A third story discovered with DNA sequencing is that modern humans interbred with Homo Neanderthalensis around 60,000 years ago. I think I have met some of these Neanderthals recently, judging by their mental evolvement. The Neanderthals left the Middle East and settled in Europe and Asia. Today up to 4% of the modern population outside Africa share the Neanderthal genome.
- There was a 4th discovery in New Guinea, the Denisova species.
- Human fossil remains have been uncovered that date back 5,700,000 years.
- Australopitheus Afarensis was the famous “ Lucy” that is the earliest truly bipedal hominid found to date. She was a striding terrestrial biped with a wide environmental range in east Africa.
- Ardi lived at least 3,000,000 years after the common ancestor of humans and chimps existed.
- It is believed that the Hobbit species left Africa ( Ardi’s home) for Southeast Asia on foot 2,000,000 years ago. Their fossils were found on the island Flores. Their brain size was 1/3 that of modern humans. However, they fashioned stone tools, hunted as a team, cooked with an open fire. The Hobbits lived on Flores from 90,000 years ago up until 14,000 years ago.
- The fossil Hobbit named “ Flo” was 3.3 feet tall and weighed 60 pounds. Flo walked upright with big feet, had a prominent brow, primitive teeth, no chin, short legs and long arms. Stone tools have been found on Flores dating back 1,000,000 years. Fire pits suggested that hobbits barbequed baby elephants, huge rats, and Komodo dragons for their meals.
- So, the conclusion is that rather than having a family tree, us humans have a family bush going back 6,000,000 years. Humans separated from chimps 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 years ago, from gorillas 8,000,000 to 11,000,000 years ago, and from orangutans 14,000,000 to 20,000,000 years ago.
- 5,000,000 years ago the branch was A. Africanus.
- 3,000,000 years ago it was P. Aethiopicus
- 2,000,000 years ago there was Homo Erectus
-------------------------------------- Homo Habilis
-------------------------------------- Homo Rudofensis
-- 1,000,000 years ago ---------- Homo Floesiensis
-------------------------------------- Neanderthals
-------------------------------------- Densovaus
-------------------------------------- Homo Sapiens
-------------------------------------- Homo Heidelbergensis
- All of these branches were occupied by a human like species. Today only Homo Sapiens have survived. But, Homo Sapiens carry some of the same genes that evolved in these other species. Some were living at the same time competing for survival and even inter breeding is a shared planet. Homo Sapiens only took over about 30,000 years ago. Amazing. And, just look what we have done to the planet since then?
----------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Index of reviews available upon request
If you like these reviews and want to read some others here is an index to choose from. I will post these upon request, or send an individual e-mail. The main purpose of reviews is the productivity of learning. You can read in 10 minutes what it took 10 hours to research, write, type, edit and post, which is a hobby of mine.
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-803 - Transcendental Numbers : “e” and “pi”. - Transcendental numbers and Irrational numbers have a unique place in our language of mathematics. Math somehow is as much discovered as it is invented. Much of what we find in math is inherent in the natural world. Nature obviously got there first. Here is some interesting stuff about these numbers if you like this sort of thing:
-1023 - The Number Pi - Our history tells us that the number “Pi” was first approximated in 1,900 years before the birth of Christ. “Pi” was known to be the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter. The calculation was done to the base 60 not to the base 10. To the base 10 their calculation was a little greater than 3. Pi has a long history of discovery. It was not until ---1761 that Pi was recognized as an Irrational Number. There are so many equations used to describe nature and natural laws that have this unique number included.
-1072 - Avogadro’s Number. - This review tries to calculate the number of atoms in the air using Avogadro’s Number and the number of breaths available in the Earth’s atmosphere. Enter if you like to play with numbers.
----------------------------------------------------------------
-1241 - How Can Space and Time be Related?. - Space and time seem to be absolute quantities to us. It is hard to see their interrelationship until you take their ratio as velocity and extend that ratio to its limits. In order for the speed of light to be a constant physical law in the Universe, regardless of the relative motion of all observers everywhere, then space and time must change in a compensating way to keep the velocity constant.
-1242 - How Does Spacetime Change at the Micro-level?. - Space and time change at the macro-level to keep the velocity of communications a constant. At the micro-level space and time become lumpy with uncertainties and seem to avoid this limitation all together. We live in the middle of these extremes and only recognize them at the frontiers of physics and astronomy.
-1243 - What is Behind the Man in the Moon? - After U.S. astronauts have landed on the Moon 6 times and 9 more robotic missions have completed more measurements on the Moon, what more have we learned? Using lasers and seismographs science has formulated how the Moon likely formed and what its interior is like below the surface. That surface is what we see today and it has not changed much over the past 3 billion years.
-1244 - Blackholes Explained? - The attached picture is of 2 merging galaxies and the resulting creation of Blackholes in the massive star formations that came out of the collision. What are the conditions that create these astronomical mysteries?
-1245 - Can Dust in Outer Space contain Life? - What creates the dust we find in space throughout our Solar System? Could life have started in the dust of outer space? Once life got started in space how did it survive the radiation that destroys life? Regardless of how we got here aren’t you glad you landed on Mother Earth?
-1246 - Radiation in Space and Dangers to Life? - Space may have the ingredients for the start of life but, it also has the radiation to destroy life. See Review #1245 - Dust in Space Ingredients for Life. We do not know when chemistry became biology, but, when life leaves the protection of Earth it enters a space bathed in radiation that can destroy life.
-1247 - The Solar Wind Dangerous, or, a new Form of Energy? - The Solar Wind gets captured by the Earth’s magnetic field creating a powerful source of electricity high above out heads. Is there a way to tap into all this energy that the Sun sends us.
-1248 - How Does the Magnetic Field Protect Us from the Solar Wind? - This review has the physics and math to explain how the Solar Wind of charged particles are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. The charges bounce between the North and South magnetic poles and create the Van Allen Radiation Belts that are far above our heads and shielding us from the Sun’s more dangerous radiation.
-1249 - How Does Fusion Work in the Stars? - The fusion in the core of stars can be analyzed as simple hydrogen nuclei, which are protons, fusing together to create heavier elements. Each fusion process up to the element Iron releases some amount of energy. Knowing how much energy our Sun puts out we can estimate the lifetime of our star, how long it will take to “burn up” all of this proton fuel.
-1251 - Did You Realize the Your Are 1 in a Million? - Kepler Space Telescope has discovered planets orbiting other stars. Based on this find astronomers conservative estimate is that over 1 million other Earth-size and habitable planets reside in our Milky Way Galaxy. Here is how the discoveries were made:
1252 - New Worlds Discovered when Cassini Visits Saturn. - The Cassini spacecraft has made some amazing new discoveries visiting the planet Saturn, its rings, and its moons. This review is a short summary of these discoveries.
-1253 - Japan’s Tsunami Moves the Earth. - This review illustrates the power of the Japan earthquake and the resulting tsunami wave that occurred March 11 this year. It uses some math and physics lessons to show how the Earth can change its speed of rotation, the length of a day, and a shift on its axis of rotation.
-1254 - What Happens When You Cool an Atom? - Getting to the very small enters the Quantum World where physics takes on strange behavior. But, also, getting to the very cold enters the same unusual world of Quantum Mechanics. Today science is exploring more of this world near temperatures of Absolute Zero, (-273 degrees Centigrade).
-1255 - What Have We Learned about the Electron? This review covers the many things we have learned about the electron. It is a fundamental particle in our Universe that is responsible for electricity, electronics, chemistry, biology, and the neurological thinking that goes on in your brain. So, in a way, in reading this review your electrons are studying themselves.
-1256 - Why Do I Have Earthquake Insurance? - The Pacific Tectonic plate has been moving lately. Chile received an 8.8 Magnitude in February, Christchurch, New Zealand a 6.3 in February, Japan a 9.0 in March. Earthquakes appear to occur in bunches since 1900. Here is a review of record and predictions for the future.
-1257 - Are the Natural Forces Combined into a Single Equivalency? - The forces of nature, we take for granted in our natural world. They may have come from a single universal force. And, they may not be forces at all but a warped geometry in space and time. What we perceive as forces may be movements in space and movements in time. Not only could all the forces be combined into this fabric of distorted space, but, everything in our natural world could be interconnected in this geometric fabric of space - time.
-1258 - How Much Space is in our Solar System? - The Universe is a very big place with lots of space. We really do not know what space is, or, what’s it made of. To visualize how much space is in the Solar System let’s scale the Sun down to the size of a grapefruit, 4 inches in diameter. With everything at this scale how much space is in our Solar System?
-1259 - Distant Quasars and the Early Universe? - Quasars are distant galaxies that are extremely active because they have massive Blackholes at their centers. The spinning Blackholes have rotating accretion disks of high energy material that emits enormous amounts of radiation energy. These active galaxies are so bright they can be seen over astronomical distances. Astronomers are using them to see the early evolution of the Universe.
-1260 - Measuring the Space-Time Warp of Earth’s Gravity? - Einstein’s Theory of Relativity predicted that gravity would warp the geometry of space-time just like acceleration would. If a satellite orbits the Earth it would follow the least energy path through this modified space-time. This would in turn cause the plane of the satellite’s orbit to wobble, or precess. The effect of precession is very small, one part in a few trillion. This review tries to learn how the calculations were made and what the measurement results have been to prove Einstein is right.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-803 - Transcendental Numbers : “e” and “pi”. - Transcendental numbers and Irrational numbers have a unique place in our language of mathematics. Math somehow is as much discovered as it is invented. Much of what we find in math is inherent in the natural world. Nature obviously got there first. Here is some interesting stuff about these numbers if you like this sort of thing:
-1023 - The Number Pi - Our history tells us that the number “Pi” was first approximated in 1,900 years before the birth of Christ. “Pi” was known to be the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter. The calculation was done to the base 60 not to the base 10. To the base 10 their calculation was a little greater than 3. Pi has a long history of discovery. It was not until ---1761 that Pi was recognized as an Irrational Number. There are so many equations used to describe nature and natural laws that have this unique number included.
-1072 - Avogadro’s Number. - This review tries to calculate the number of atoms in the air using Avogadro’s Number and the number of breaths available in the Earth’s atmosphere. Enter if you like to play with numbers.
----------------------------------------------------------------
-1241 - How Can Space and Time be Related?. - Space and time seem to be absolute quantities to us. It is hard to see their interrelationship until you take their ratio as velocity and extend that ratio to its limits. In order for the speed of light to be a constant physical law in the Universe, regardless of the relative motion of all observers everywhere, then space and time must change in a compensating way to keep the velocity constant.
-1242 - How Does Spacetime Change at the Micro-level?. - Space and time change at the macro-level to keep the velocity of communications a constant. At the micro-level space and time become lumpy with uncertainties and seem to avoid this limitation all together. We live in the middle of these extremes and only recognize them at the frontiers of physics and astronomy.
-1243 - What is Behind the Man in the Moon? - After U.S. astronauts have landed on the Moon 6 times and 9 more robotic missions have completed more measurements on the Moon, what more have we learned? Using lasers and seismographs science has formulated how the Moon likely formed and what its interior is like below the surface. That surface is what we see today and it has not changed much over the past 3 billion years.
-1244 - Blackholes Explained? - The attached picture is of 2 merging galaxies and the resulting creation of Blackholes in the massive star formations that came out of the collision. What are the conditions that create these astronomical mysteries?
-1245 - Can Dust in Outer Space contain Life? - What creates the dust we find in space throughout our Solar System? Could life have started in the dust of outer space? Once life got started in space how did it survive the radiation that destroys life? Regardless of how we got here aren’t you glad you landed on Mother Earth?
-1246 - Radiation in Space and Dangers to Life? - Space may have the ingredients for the start of life but, it also has the radiation to destroy life. See Review #1245 - Dust in Space Ingredients for Life. We do not know when chemistry became biology, but, when life leaves the protection of Earth it enters a space bathed in radiation that can destroy life.
-1247 - The Solar Wind Dangerous, or, a new Form of Energy? - The Solar Wind gets captured by the Earth’s magnetic field creating a powerful source of electricity high above out heads. Is there a way to tap into all this energy that the Sun sends us.
-1248 - How Does the Magnetic Field Protect Us from the Solar Wind? - This review has the physics and math to explain how the Solar Wind of charged particles are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. The charges bounce between the North and South magnetic poles and create the Van Allen Radiation Belts that are far above our heads and shielding us from the Sun’s more dangerous radiation.
-1249 - How Does Fusion Work in the Stars? - The fusion in the core of stars can be analyzed as simple hydrogen nuclei, which are protons, fusing together to create heavier elements. Each fusion process up to the element Iron releases some amount of energy. Knowing how much energy our Sun puts out we can estimate the lifetime of our star, how long it will take to “burn up” all of this proton fuel.
-1251 - Did You Realize the Your Are 1 in a Million? - Kepler Space Telescope has discovered planets orbiting other stars. Based on this find astronomers conservative estimate is that over 1 million other Earth-size and habitable planets reside in our Milky Way Galaxy. Here is how the discoveries were made:
1252 - New Worlds Discovered when Cassini Visits Saturn. - The Cassini spacecraft has made some amazing new discoveries visiting the planet Saturn, its rings, and its moons. This review is a short summary of these discoveries.
-1253 - Japan’s Tsunami Moves the Earth. - This review illustrates the power of the Japan earthquake and the resulting tsunami wave that occurred March 11 this year. It uses some math and physics lessons to show how the Earth can change its speed of rotation, the length of a day, and a shift on its axis of rotation.
-1254 - What Happens When You Cool an Atom? - Getting to the very small enters the Quantum World where physics takes on strange behavior. But, also, getting to the very cold enters the same unusual world of Quantum Mechanics. Today science is exploring more of this world near temperatures of Absolute Zero, (-273 degrees Centigrade).
-1255 - What Have We Learned about the Electron? This review covers the many things we have learned about the electron. It is a fundamental particle in our Universe that is responsible for electricity, electronics, chemistry, biology, and the neurological thinking that goes on in your brain. So, in a way, in reading this review your electrons are studying themselves.
-1256 - Why Do I Have Earthquake Insurance? - The Pacific Tectonic plate has been moving lately. Chile received an 8.8 Magnitude in February, Christchurch, New Zealand a 6.3 in February, Japan a 9.0 in March. Earthquakes appear to occur in bunches since 1900. Here is a review of record and predictions for the future.
-1257 - Are the Natural Forces Combined into a Single Equivalency? - The forces of nature, we take for granted in our natural world. They may have come from a single universal force. And, they may not be forces at all but a warped geometry in space and time. What we perceive as forces may be movements in space and movements in time. Not only could all the forces be combined into this fabric of distorted space, but, everything in our natural world could be interconnected in this geometric fabric of space - time.
-1258 - How Much Space is in our Solar System? - The Universe is a very big place with lots of space. We really do not know what space is, or, what’s it made of. To visualize how much space is in the Solar System let’s scale the Sun down to the size of a grapefruit, 4 inches in diameter. With everything at this scale how much space is in our Solar System?
-1259 - Distant Quasars and the Early Universe? - Quasars are distant galaxies that are extremely active because they have massive Blackholes at their centers. The spinning Blackholes have rotating accretion disks of high energy material that emits enormous amounts of radiation energy. These active galaxies are so bright they can be seen over astronomical distances. Astronomers are using them to see the early evolution of the Universe.
-1260 - Measuring the Space-Time Warp of Earth’s Gravity? - Einstein’s Theory of Relativity predicted that gravity would warp the geometry of space-time just like acceleration would. If a satellite orbits the Earth it would follow the least energy path through this modified space-time. This would in turn cause the plane of the satellite’s orbit to wobble, or precess. The effect of precession is very small, one part in a few trillion. This review tries to learn how the calculations were made and what the measurement results have been to prove Einstein is right.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Where did the Universe come from and where is it going?
--------- #1268 - How to Explain Our Universe?
- The purpose of this review is to explain the Universe. It is a big task, I agree. It spans over 13,700,000,000 years of time and lightyears of distance. It is the beginning of space and time and those need to be explained as well. This is difficult. The Universe is big and complicated and we do not know what we do not know. This is one shot at it, contrary opinions are welcome.
- Let’s start with the town of Santa Rosa that is about 8 miles across.
- Multiply by 1,000 and you can view the entire Earth that is about 8,000 miles across.
- Multiply, or expand, by 10,000 and you can view the entire Solar System which about 600,000,000 miles from the Sun to the planet Saturn.
- Expand by 1,000,000,000 ( 1 billion ) and you can view our Milky Way Galaxy that is about 6,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across. (6*10^18 miles)
- Expand beyond our Galaxy by 100 and you can view 4*10^20 miles across the Cluster of Galaxies.
- Expand by another 100 and the view is a structure of galaxies with filaments and voids nestled in a sea of Dark Matter.
- Now expand by only a factor of 10 and the entire Observable Universe comes into view, 250,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across. ( 2.5*10^23 miles)
- This uniform sphere of the Observable Universe is itself expanding at 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears distance. It is been doing this expansion for 13,700,000,000 years. This is called Hubble’s constant of expansion. The reciprocal of Hubble’s Constant is the age of the Universe. ( time = distance / velocity and velocity is the speed of light.)
- Because the Universe has been expanding during the time light has traveled to reach us the actual Universe today is 90 billion lightyears across. We can only see about 13 billion lightyears from our point of view because that is the light that has reached us. The furthest things we can see are Quasars, or Accretion Disks around Blackholes, at the center of the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang. These beams of light originally left their gallaxy some ½ to 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
- Everything we see in the Universe comes to us in electromagnetic radiation. (“see” can have several interpretations. We can also see” with gravity and gravity waves. ). The electromagnetic spectrum spreads from radio waves to Gamma Rays.
--------------- Wavelengths of the radiation from <0.1 meters to < 10^-11 meters.
-------------- Frequencies range from <3*10^9 cycles per second to > 3*10^19 cycles per second. w*f = c , wavelength * frequency = speed of light.
------------- Energy = Planck’s Constant * frequency ( E = h * f ) ranges from <2*10^-24 Joules to > 2*10^-14 Joules.
- A Joule is a unit of energy. Or, a unit of work that moves one Newton of force through one meter of distance ( a Newton-meter ). A Joule is also one watt - second of electrical energy. It has replaced the calorie as a measure of heat energy. One calorie = 4.1868 Joules. One Joule = 252 calories. A calorie is the heat energy needed to raise one gram of water one degree Centigrade. One Joule is also equal to 16,000,000 Ergs of energy. A Joule is mass * (velocity)^2. A joule is a kilogram * meter^2 / second^2.
- All the energy in the Universe started at one point in time. If the Universe rose from nothing there must have been equal amounts of positive energy and negative energy, matter and anti-matter. Since 1929 we call this event the Big Bang. Since then energy has been transformed or converted into many different forms, including matter, but it can never be created nor destroyed. It is still the same today as it was in the Big Bang.
- The four forces rose from the Big Bang as well. It started out as one force then Gravity froze out, then the Strong Nuclear Force, then the Weak Nuclear Force, then the Electromagnetic Force. This all happened in the first 10^-35 to 10^-12 seconds and temperatures cooling from 10^29 degrees Kelvin to 10^15 degrees Kelvin.
- Because the Universe we see today is uniform in all directions and appears geometrically flat, i.e. not spherical nor saddle shaped, it has to be explained as caused by Cosmic Inflation. In 1981 the idea that the universe went through a brief faster - than - light expansion explains why it appears uniform and flat. The every expanding bubble of space and time slowed down to its present pace and is now accelerating again.
- Like the Sun is one of a billion stars, the Universe could be one of billions of Universes. We do not know what we do not know. Also, it appears that everything we do know and can see is only 5% of the “Observable Universe.” A complete mystery exits because gravity and the math of the expansion dictates that there is 95% of the Universe made of Dark Matter and Dark Energy that we can not see and have no concrete clue as to what it is. It is Dark because it does not interact with electromagnetic energy. It only interacts with Gravity. We have to learn to communicate with gravity waves the same way we communicate with electromagnetic waves.
- Dark Matter was first observed in 1933 as it affected the rotational velocities of galaxies. It was confirmed in 1970 as it affected the orbital velocity of stars within a galaxy. It is most recently confirmed in gravitational lensing and the collision of galaxies.
- Dark Energy was first observed in 1917 as it fell out of Albert Einstein’s equations. Einstein that the Universe was static, not expanding, and invented a Cosmological Constant to insert in the equations to get the answer he observed. In 1929 Edwin Hubble observed that the Universe was not static, but expanding. The further galaxies were away from us the faster they were receding. The Cosmological Constant changed signs to allow for expansion.
- In 1998 it was observed that the Universe was not only expanding it was growing at an every increasing acceleration. This became explained as the effect of Dark Energy. Science does not have a concrete clue of what this stuff is. They are just convinced that it does exist in order to explain the space time scenario we observe today. However, there are two sciences involved that we have not been successful in uniting. Relativity explains the very big stuff and Quantum Mechanics explains the very small stuff. The two math’s do not overlap, yet.
- String Theory is one of the attempted models to get the math to work for everything. But, it requires 11 dimensions that somehow split apart when you go to 4 dimensions, 3 dimensions plus time. Einstein’s equations showed that mass and motion warp space and alter the flow of time. But, our best minds in the 21st Century still can not explain space and time and where it came from.
- The theory for Blackholes requires all the information that flows past the Event Horizon lies at the surface in 2 dimensions and gets projected into the interior of the Blackhole as 3 dimensions. This would be like a hologram where a 3-D image is projected from a 2-D screen. Maybe space and time emerge in this way. Space and time may not be fundamental properties. They may emerge from something else.
- Space and time may be lumpy, or exist as quantum bundles. There may be a smallest scale beyond which space does not exist. Max Planck defined this smallest length to be 1.616*10^-35 meters. He derived this from Newton’s Gravitational Constant (G) , the speed of light “c“, and his own Constant (h).
-------------------- (length)^2 = G * h / 2*pi* c^3 = 1.616 * 10^-35 meters.
Then he divided by the smallest time to get Planck length / Planck time = the speed of light.
-------------------- (time)^2 = G * h / 2*pi * c^5 = 10^-43 seconds.
- After all this science over the past 100 years can not predict whether the Universe will continue to expand, getting thinner and cooler, until it dies as a Big Freeze. Or, if the expansion decays and gravity becomes dominate reversing the expansion running the Universe backwards into a Big Crunch. Or, if the vacuum energy continues to expand everywhere in the Universe tearing everything apart into a Big Rip. Lord only knows.
- We do not know what we do not know. Opinions are like belly buttons everybody has one. Contrary opinions are welcome. As we learn more, things will become clear. Once we understand it it will be simple.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 6, 2011m
- The purpose of this review is to explain the Universe. It is a big task, I agree. It spans over 13,700,000,000 years of time and lightyears of distance. It is the beginning of space and time and those need to be explained as well. This is difficult. The Universe is big and complicated and we do not know what we do not know. This is one shot at it, contrary opinions are welcome.
- Let’s start with the town of Santa Rosa that is about 8 miles across.
- Multiply by 1,000 and you can view the entire Earth that is about 8,000 miles across.
- Multiply, or expand, by 10,000 and you can view the entire Solar System which about 600,000,000 miles from the Sun to the planet Saturn.
- Expand by 1,000,000,000 ( 1 billion ) and you can view our Milky Way Galaxy that is about 6,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across. (6*10^18 miles)
- Expand beyond our Galaxy by 100 and you can view 4*10^20 miles across the Cluster of Galaxies.
- Expand by another 100 and the view is a structure of galaxies with filaments and voids nestled in a sea of Dark Matter.
- Now expand by only a factor of 10 and the entire Observable Universe comes into view, 250,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles across. ( 2.5*10^23 miles)
- This uniform sphere of the Observable Universe is itself expanding at 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears distance. It is been doing this expansion for 13,700,000,000 years. This is called Hubble’s constant of expansion. The reciprocal of Hubble’s Constant is the age of the Universe. ( time = distance / velocity and velocity is the speed of light.)
- Because the Universe has been expanding during the time light has traveled to reach us the actual Universe today is 90 billion lightyears across. We can only see about 13 billion lightyears from our point of view because that is the light that has reached us. The furthest things we can see are Quasars, or Accretion Disks around Blackholes, at the center of the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang. These beams of light originally left their gallaxy some ½ to 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
- Everything we see in the Universe comes to us in electromagnetic radiation. (“see” can have several interpretations. We can also see” with gravity and gravity waves. ). The electromagnetic spectrum spreads from radio waves to Gamma Rays.
--------------- Wavelengths of the radiation from <0.1 meters to < 10^-11 meters.
-------------- Frequencies range from <3*10^9 cycles per second to > 3*10^19 cycles per second. w*f = c , wavelength * frequency = speed of light.
------------- Energy = Planck’s Constant * frequency ( E = h * f ) ranges from <2*10^-24 Joules to > 2*10^-14 Joules.
- A Joule is a unit of energy. Or, a unit of work that moves one Newton of force through one meter of distance ( a Newton-meter ). A Joule is also one watt - second of electrical energy. It has replaced the calorie as a measure of heat energy. One calorie = 4.1868 Joules. One Joule = 252 calories. A calorie is the heat energy needed to raise one gram of water one degree Centigrade. One Joule is also equal to 16,000,000 Ergs of energy. A Joule is mass * (velocity)^2. A joule is a kilogram * meter^2 / second^2.
- All the energy in the Universe started at one point in time. If the Universe rose from nothing there must have been equal amounts of positive energy and negative energy, matter and anti-matter. Since 1929 we call this event the Big Bang. Since then energy has been transformed or converted into many different forms, including matter, but it can never be created nor destroyed. It is still the same today as it was in the Big Bang.
- The four forces rose from the Big Bang as well. It started out as one force then Gravity froze out, then the Strong Nuclear Force, then the Weak Nuclear Force, then the Electromagnetic Force. This all happened in the first 10^-35 to 10^-12 seconds and temperatures cooling from 10^29 degrees Kelvin to 10^15 degrees Kelvin.
- Because the Universe we see today is uniform in all directions and appears geometrically flat, i.e. not spherical nor saddle shaped, it has to be explained as caused by Cosmic Inflation. In 1981 the idea that the universe went through a brief faster - than - light expansion explains why it appears uniform and flat. The every expanding bubble of space and time slowed down to its present pace and is now accelerating again.
- Like the Sun is one of a billion stars, the Universe could be one of billions of Universes. We do not know what we do not know. Also, it appears that everything we do know and can see is only 5% of the “Observable Universe.” A complete mystery exits because gravity and the math of the expansion dictates that there is 95% of the Universe made of Dark Matter and Dark Energy that we can not see and have no concrete clue as to what it is. It is Dark because it does not interact with electromagnetic energy. It only interacts with Gravity. We have to learn to communicate with gravity waves the same way we communicate with electromagnetic waves.
- Dark Matter was first observed in 1933 as it affected the rotational velocities of galaxies. It was confirmed in 1970 as it affected the orbital velocity of stars within a galaxy. It is most recently confirmed in gravitational lensing and the collision of galaxies.
- Dark Energy was first observed in 1917 as it fell out of Albert Einstein’s equations. Einstein that the Universe was static, not expanding, and invented a Cosmological Constant to insert in the equations to get the answer he observed. In 1929 Edwin Hubble observed that the Universe was not static, but expanding. The further galaxies were away from us the faster they were receding. The Cosmological Constant changed signs to allow for expansion.
- In 1998 it was observed that the Universe was not only expanding it was growing at an every increasing acceleration. This became explained as the effect of Dark Energy. Science does not have a concrete clue of what this stuff is. They are just convinced that it does exist in order to explain the space time scenario we observe today. However, there are two sciences involved that we have not been successful in uniting. Relativity explains the very big stuff and Quantum Mechanics explains the very small stuff. The two math’s do not overlap, yet.
- String Theory is one of the attempted models to get the math to work for everything. But, it requires 11 dimensions that somehow split apart when you go to 4 dimensions, 3 dimensions plus time. Einstein’s equations showed that mass and motion warp space and alter the flow of time. But, our best minds in the 21st Century still can not explain space and time and where it came from.
- The theory for Blackholes requires all the information that flows past the Event Horizon lies at the surface in 2 dimensions and gets projected into the interior of the Blackhole as 3 dimensions. This would be like a hologram where a 3-D image is projected from a 2-D screen. Maybe space and time emerge in this way. Space and time may not be fundamental properties. They may emerge from something else.
- Space and time may be lumpy, or exist as quantum bundles. There may be a smallest scale beyond which space does not exist. Max Planck defined this smallest length to be 1.616*10^-35 meters. He derived this from Newton’s Gravitational Constant (G) , the speed of light “c“, and his own Constant (h).
-------------------- (length)^2 = G * h / 2*pi* c^3 = 1.616 * 10^-35 meters.
Then he divided by the smallest time to get Planck length / Planck time = the speed of light.
-------------------- (time)^2 = G * h / 2*pi * c^5 = 10^-43 seconds.
- After all this science over the past 100 years can not predict whether the Universe will continue to expand, getting thinner and cooler, until it dies as a Big Freeze. Or, if the expansion decays and gravity becomes dominate reversing the expansion running the Universe backwards into a Big Crunch. Or, if the vacuum energy continues to expand everywhere in the Universe tearing everything apart into a Big Rip. Lord only knows.
- We do not know what we do not know. Opinions are like belly buttons everybody has one. Contrary opinions are welcome. As we learn more, things will become clear. Once we understand it it will be simple.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 6, 2011m
Monday, July 4, 2011
New Gamma Ray Bursts learn about the source
--------- #1267 - Gamma Ray Bursts in Caught in Action?
- In recent months astronomers have used the newest space telescopes to catch Gamma Ray Bursts in action. They are beginning to confirm some theories as to what causes this enormous release of energy. This review does the math for two such events. The first burst occurred March 28, 2011.
- Attachments - none
- The Swift Gamma Burst Mission spacecraft first detected the Gamma Ray flash in the Constellation Draco the Dragon. (Sw1644+57). The source of the explosion was the center of a galaxy 3,800,000,000 lightyears away. The flash was of long duration, in fact, it is still occurring 2 ½ months later. Astronomers explain this as a star falling into a Blackhole that is a million times more massive. The star is spiraling into the Blackhole and is getting ripped apart as it descends. The Blackhole’s immense gravity puts tidal forces on the star that tear away clumps of gas. Intense radiation in the form of X-rays and Gamma Rays orbit the Blackhole and then escape out the rotational axis as high speed jets. These jets just happen to be pointed at us.
- If a Gamma Ray Burst is observed at an angle it is viewed as a “active galactic nuclei”. When the same event is viewed down the barrel of the jet it is called a “ Blazer.”
- Blackholes are at the core of most all galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy. They can appear dormant until a star randomly wanders too close and gets shredded in the Blackhole’s Event Horizon. This could happen in our galaxy. Our Blackhole is relatively quiet, but, events can change.
- How do astronomers measure the size of the Blackhole, that they can not see?
- When the light curve is plotted the X-ray flares occur about 3 times in 24 hours. So the average flare duration is about 8 hours. If a flare starts in one region and then extends to another region in the Event Horizon the distance traveled can be calculated for the duration of the flare.
- A Blackhole with the mass of the Sun has an Event Horizon radius of about 3 kilometers ( less than 2 miles). The formula to calculate the radius of the Event Horizon is:
------------------------------- R = 2 * G * M / c^2
------------------------------- where: R is the radius in kilometers
------------------------- G is the Gravitational Constant = 6.67*10^-11 m^3/(kg*sec^2)
------------------------- c is the speed of light
------------------------- c^2 = 9 *10^16 meters^2 / second^2
-------------------------- M = the mass of the Blackhole in Solar Mass.
------------------------- Solar Mass = 1.99*10^30 kilograms
- Performing this calculation, the radius of the Event Horizon in kilometers is equal to 3 times the mass of the Blackhole in Solar Mass.
-------------------------- R = 3 * M
- The radius is estimated by the duration of the flare that is traveling at the speed of light across the Event Horizon. Distance = velocity * time. The velocity is the speed of light = 3 * 10^8 meters / second. The time duration is 8 hours. Therefore the distance traveled is 8.64 * 10^12 meters. This is about the distance of our Solar System, 58 Astronomical Units. One Astronomical Unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun which is 1.5 * 10^8 kilometers. ( 93 million miles)
- The distance of 8.64 * 10^9 kilometers represents the diameter of the Event Horizon, so the radius is 4.32 * 10^9 kilometers.
-------------------- Mass = Radius / 3
-------------------- Mass = 1.44 * 10^9 Solar Mass
------------------- Mass of the Blackhole is 1,440,000,000 Solar Mass.
- This calculation is very rough. It only applies to a non-rotating Blackhole and it does not take into account the Theory of Relativity. As velocities approach the speed of light time slows and distances shrink. This math is above my pay grade, but, if it were done then we need to reduce our answer for the mass of the Blackhole by a factor of 100.
--------------- Mass of the Blackhole is 14,400,000 Solar Mass.
--------------- The Blackhole is 14 million times more massive than our Sun.
- The redshift of the X-ray light is 0.3534. This means that the galaxy is 3,800,000,000 lightyears away. So, the space expansion over that distance makes the galaxy appear to be traveling away from us at 35% the speed of light. That is how much the wavelengths of light have expanded or “redshifted”.
- Gamma Ray Bursts are so bright they can be seen with binoculars even though the galaxy is billions of lightyears away. It took that long for the light to get here. That is how old the event is when we see it. And, that is how far the light traveled to reach us.
- When astronomers measure the amount of energy in the radiation they know that it must be focused in a narrow beam. If it were a supernova explosion it would be radiating in a sphere in all directions. So, this scenario is ruled out. But, if the burst is channeled into a narrow beam exiting the rotating body at the poles then the calculations make more sense.
- There are two types of Gamma Ray Bursts, long duration and short duration bursts. A short duration burst could be a supernova that forms a Neutron Star. Or, a supernova that forms a Blackhole where even more matter crushes into an even smaller radius releasing many times more gravitational potential energy. Long duration Gamma Ray Bursts could come from the collision of two Neutron Stars, or one Neutron Star and a Blackhole. The two stars orbit each other and produce gravitational waves that radiate energy way from the system. This loss of energy causes the two stars to spiral in toward each other until they collide.
- There was a second X-ray flare that was recorded in the last few months that lasted 4 hours with the X-ray emissions increasing to over 10,000 times its normal brightness. This was a binary star system with one of the stars being a Neutron Star only 6 miles in diameter. The Neutron Star is so dense, totally collapsed atoms into packed neutrons, that it has an enormous gravitational field.
- A large clump of matter was pulled from the blue supergiant companion star. This huge bullet of gas hit the Neutron star releasing the X-ray flare that was recorded. The size of the clump of gas was calculate to be 10,000,000 miles across. Its volume was 100,000,000,000 the volume of our Moon. It’s total mass was only 1/1000 the mass of the Moon. But, when it hit the Neutron Star an enormous amount of energy was released.
- Gamma Ray Bursts occur somewhere in the sky on average once per day. There is some significant violence happening out there and we are just beginning to understand what causes it. An announcement will be made shortly. Stay tuned.
---------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Monday, July 4, 2011
- In recent months astronomers have used the newest space telescopes to catch Gamma Ray Bursts in action. They are beginning to confirm some theories as to what causes this enormous release of energy. This review does the math for two such events. The first burst occurred March 28, 2011.
- Attachments - none
- The Swift Gamma Burst Mission spacecraft first detected the Gamma Ray flash in the Constellation Draco the Dragon. (Sw1644+57). The source of the explosion was the center of a galaxy 3,800,000,000 lightyears away. The flash was of long duration, in fact, it is still occurring 2 ½ months later. Astronomers explain this as a star falling into a Blackhole that is a million times more massive. The star is spiraling into the Blackhole and is getting ripped apart as it descends. The Blackhole’s immense gravity puts tidal forces on the star that tear away clumps of gas. Intense radiation in the form of X-rays and Gamma Rays orbit the Blackhole and then escape out the rotational axis as high speed jets. These jets just happen to be pointed at us.
- If a Gamma Ray Burst is observed at an angle it is viewed as a “active galactic nuclei”. When the same event is viewed down the barrel of the jet it is called a “ Blazer.”
- Blackholes are at the core of most all galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy. They can appear dormant until a star randomly wanders too close and gets shredded in the Blackhole’s Event Horizon. This could happen in our galaxy. Our Blackhole is relatively quiet, but, events can change.
- How do astronomers measure the size of the Blackhole, that they can not see?
- When the light curve is plotted the X-ray flares occur about 3 times in 24 hours. So the average flare duration is about 8 hours. If a flare starts in one region and then extends to another region in the Event Horizon the distance traveled can be calculated for the duration of the flare.
- A Blackhole with the mass of the Sun has an Event Horizon radius of about 3 kilometers ( less than 2 miles). The formula to calculate the radius of the Event Horizon is:
------------------------------- R = 2 * G * M / c^2
------------------------------- where: R is the radius in kilometers
------------------------- G is the Gravitational Constant = 6.67*10^-11 m^3/(kg*sec^2)
------------------------- c is the speed of light
------------------------- c^2 = 9 *10^16 meters^2 / second^2
-------------------------- M = the mass of the Blackhole in Solar Mass.
------------------------- Solar Mass = 1.99*10^30 kilograms
- Performing this calculation, the radius of the Event Horizon in kilometers is equal to 3 times the mass of the Blackhole in Solar Mass.
-------------------------- R = 3 * M
- The radius is estimated by the duration of the flare that is traveling at the speed of light across the Event Horizon. Distance = velocity * time. The velocity is the speed of light = 3 * 10^8 meters / second. The time duration is 8 hours. Therefore the distance traveled is 8.64 * 10^12 meters. This is about the distance of our Solar System, 58 Astronomical Units. One Astronomical Unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun which is 1.5 * 10^8 kilometers. ( 93 million miles)
- The distance of 8.64 * 10^9 kilometers represents the diameter of the Event Horizon, so the radius is 4.32 * 10^9 kilometers.
-------------------- Mass = Radius / 3
-------------------- Mass = 1.44 * 10^9 Solar Mass
------------------- Mass of the Blackhole is 1,440,000,000 Solar Mass.
- This calculation is very rough. It only applies to a non-rotating Blackhole and it does not take into account the Theory of Relativity. As velocities approach the speed of light time slows and distances shrink. This math is above my pay grade, but, if it were done then we need to reduce our answer for the mass of the Blackhole by a factor of 100.
--------------- Mass of the Blackhole is 14,400,000 Solar Mass.
--------------- The Blackhole is 14 million times more massive than our Sun.
- The redshift of the X-ray light is 0.3534. This means that the galaxy is 3,800,000,000 lightyears away. So, the space expansion over that distance makes the galaxy appear to be traveling away from us at 35% the speed of light. That is how much the wavelengths of light have expanded or “redshifted”.
- Gamma Ray Bursts are so bright they can be seen with binoculars even though the galaxy is billions of lightyears away. It took that long for the light to get here. That is how old the event is when we see it. And, that is how far the light traveled to reach us.
- When astronomers measure the amount of energy in the radiation they know that it must be focused in a narrow beam. If it were a supernova explosion it would be radiating in a sphere in all directions. So, this scenario is ruled out. But, if the burst is channeled into a narrow beam exiting the rotating body at the poles then the calculations make more sense.
- There are two types of Gamma Ray Bursts, long duration and short duration bursts. A short duration burst could be a supernova that forms a Neutron Star. Or, a supernova that forms a Blackhole where even more matter crushes into an even smaller radius releasing many times more gravitational potential energy. Long duration Gamma Ray Bursts could come from the collision of two Neutron Stars, or one Neutron Star and a Blackhole. The two stars orbit each other and produce gravitational waves that radiate energy way from the system. This loss of energy causes the two stars to spiral in toward each other until they collide.
- There was a second X-ray flare that was recorded in the last few months that lasted 4 hours with the X-ray emissions increasing to over 10,000 times its normal brightness. This was a binary star system with one of the stars being a Neutron Star only 6 miles in diameter. The Neutron Star is so dense, totally collapsed atoms into packed neutrons, that it has an enormous gravitational field.
- A large clump of matter was pulled from the blue supergiant companion star. This huge bullet of gas hit the Neutron star releasing the X-ray flare that was recorded. The size of the clump of gas was calculate to be 10,000,000 miles across. Its volume was 100,000,000,000 the volume of our Moon. It’s total mass was only 1/1000 the mass of the Moon. But, when it hit the Neutron Star an enormous amount of energy was released.
- Gamma Ray Bursts occur somewhere in the sky on average once per day. There is some significant violence happening out there and we are just beginning to understand what causes it. An announcement will be made shortly. Stay tuned.
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707-536-3272, Monday, July 4, 2011
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