Be Thankful for your brain.

-1610  -  Be Thankful for your Brain?  It took 1.5 million years of evolution.  How did it get to be as good as it gets.  You may be surprised at the answer.
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-----------------------  # 1610  -  Be Thankful for your Brain
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-  The human brain is amazing?  How did it get that way?  The answer may surprise you and make you appreciate your Thanksgiving Celebration even more.
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-  Why are our brains better?  First guess, our human brains are bigger.  Someone estimated the average human brain has 100 billion neurons.  About the same number as the number of stars in the Galaxy.  About the same numbers as the number of planets in the Galaxy.  If all brains are made the same the more neurons you have the bigger the brain the smarter you are.
-
-  But, that proportionality does not hold true:
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-  Cows and chimpanzees have the size brains.  We eat cows.  There is no comparison.
-  Human brains are --- 2.5 to 3.3 pounds
-  Elephant brains ---     8.5 to 11
-  Whale brains   ------       20
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-  The size of your brain does not mean that you have more neurons!
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-  Gorillas have much bigger bodies but their brains are 1/3 that of humans, about 30 billion neurons.  Humans have 100 billion neurons.  But, where did this number come from?  Who actually counted the number of neurons?  Suzana Herculano-Houzel from Ted-Talk actually did count them.
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-  She reduced a brain to soup using detergents.  The volume of the soup could be accurately measured.  Then a measured drop could be put under a microscope.  The number of neurons accurately counted.  Do the math and she got 86 billion neurons in the average brain.  16 billion neurons were in the cerebral cortex.
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-  Then there was the idea that all brains were made the same.  But, when counting neurons was done on a rodent’s brain it was discovered to have larger neurons.  So for the same brain size it has fewer actual neurons.  A primate has much smaller neurons for the same mass.
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-  A primate needs only a 3 pound brain to hold 86 billion neurons.  That with a body size of 145 pounds.
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-  A rodent would have an 80 pound brain and a body size of 89 tons to have 86 billion neurons.  Obviously rodents and primates have different brains.
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-  All primate brains are the same.  It is just that humans have 16 billion neurons in their cerebral cortex which we use to do studies on other animals that they can’t do on us.
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-  How much energy does our brain power take.  It takes 25% of all the energy our body consumes.  We primates need 6 calories of energy per billion neurons per day.  Neurons are expensive to operate.
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-  For gorillas to support their 30 billion neurons they must eat food 8 hours per day.
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-  For humans to support their 86 billion neuron brains they would have to eat 9 hours per day of the same food.  We don’t!  How do we get away with 3 small meals per day?
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-  ANSWER:  We cook our food.
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-  Cooking predigests the food.  We get more energy out of every bite of the same food.  Our ancestors invented this process 1,500,000 years ago.  By cooking food, and 1.5 million years of evolution we got to have human brains.  Now we do not have to eat 9 hours per day and we can spend our time for other purposes, like writing this review.
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-  PROBLEM:  Now that we have large brains we are not using them to keep from getting fat.  We need to reverse the process and start eating more raw food like gorillas.
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-  Cooking made us human.
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-  No other brain cooks its food.
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-  Happy Thanksgiving  -  be thankful for your brains and the calories to power it.
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(1)  Came from Suzana’s Ted-Talk.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions and corrections. An index of all reviews is available.    Some reviews are at:  --------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com  
,or: email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net
or: ----  “Jim Detrick” ------- www.facebook.com, --------- www.twitter.com
or cell:  707-536-3272    --------------------------   Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Asteroids and Comets visit Earth

-1609  -  Asteroids and Comets visit Earth and Earth orbit on a routine basis.  They come from different places in the Solar System.  This Review summarizes some of what we have learned from our encounters and from 7 spacecraft that have visited them since 1995.
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-----------------------  # 1609  -  Asteroids and Comets
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-  The oldest astronomical records of comets is dated 300 years before the birth of Christ.  The records were unearthed in China.  They were Chinese drawings of 29 comets observed in the heavens over a period of 100’s of years.
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-  It was not until 1950 that astronomers first proposed that comets were actually “ dirty snowballs”, a chunk of dust and ice.  As the gravity of the Sun pulls a comet closer it heats up.  Gas and dust evaporate from the surface of the nucleus.  A head of escaping gas called the “ Coma” creates the Head of the comet.  A trail of diffuse gas and dust gets strung out by the solar wind and creates a Tail for the comet.
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-  Since 1995 spacecraft have visited 7 comets.  We have learned that the comet nucleus is darker than coal.  It has a density of ½ that of water, 500 kilograms per cubic meter.  They typically have irregular shapes and are far from perfectly spherical.
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-  All types of gas are evaporated off the comet surface:  water, methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.
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-  Comets contain a substantial amount of water.  Therefore, we know that their formation occurred away from the Sun at orbits beyond the “ frost line”.  This distance is at least 5 Astronomical Units ( 5 AU  =  5 times the Earth-Sun distance.)  This is about the distances of Jupiter and Pluto in today’s Solar System.
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-  The theories for the formation of the early Solar System have the giant planets, particularly Jupiter, migrating outward in their orbits around the Sun.  The gravitational interactions caused smaller comets to get flung into the inner Solar System.  This is what caused all the crater impacts found on Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and our Moon.  These impacts are dated to be 3.8 to 4.1 billion years ago.
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-  Other comets were flung outward beyond the orbit of Neptune.  Action equals reaction.  So, the masses kicked into smaller orbits were matched by masses kicked into longer orbits.  These outer comets are orbiting between 30 ad 50 Astronomical Units, known as the Kuiper Belt of Comets.
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-  Some of the comets were flung so far as to escape the gravity of the Sun and to drift between the stars as interstellar comets.  Trillion of icy comets remain 2,000 to 100,000 Astronomical Units from the Sun barely being held in orbit with the Sun’s gravity.  The periods of orbits span 1,000’s to 1,000,000’s of years.  These are called the Oort Cloud of Comets.
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-  Trillions of these icy bodies populate the Solar System.  When collisions, or near flybys , disturb their stable orbits they can get nudged into lower orbits and get pulled towards the Sun.  When the Solar Wind and radiation heat up the icy snowball it can become bright with a Coma and a Tail that we can see in the night sky.
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-  Asteroids and Comets are much the same.  Except Asteroids have lost the water and gaseous composition and remain mostly a clump of rocks.  Many asteroids can be viewed as dead or dormant comets.
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-  The last good sized comet to strike Earth occurred February 2013 over Chelyabinsk, Russia.  This one entered the atmosphere initially 60 feet wide. ( See Footnote 1 ).  Compare this with the comet that hit us 65,000,000 years ago that was 6 miles wide.  That one is credited for causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
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-  Every time you see a “ shooting star” in the night sky it is either space debris, or a comet, some as small as grains of dust.
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-  We tend to view comets as a threat to life on  Earth.  And, they are.  But, they are likely also what allowed the creation of life on Earth.  When Earth first formed it was far too hot to retain any water on its surface.  It was some time later when it cooled significantly and was bombarded by icy comets that water was brought to the surface of Earth.
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-  Comets carried not only water but also many of the other elements needed for life.  Comets contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, the seeds of life.
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-  (1)  The comet that flew over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 was 14.5 miles high traveling 41,600 miles per hour.  The main fireball released 90 kilotons of energy.  The atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima released 15 kilotons of energy.
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-  The comet, also referred to as an asteroid, slowed during its travel through the atmosphere releasing energy in heat and ionization compressing a giant shockwave.  The total energy release over the entire entry was 440 kilotons of energy.
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-  A comet that resides inside the orbit of Jupiter is referred to as an asteroid because the Solar winds have long since evaporated its gas and liquids leaving only the rocky core.
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-  The Tunguska asteroid in 1908 leveled 770 square miles of forest and released 4,000 kilotons of energy.
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-  The small fragments that reached the ground in Chelyabinsk had a density of 3.6 grams/ cm^3.  Hard rock.  In order to deliver 440 kilotons of energy the asteroid needed to be 60 feet in diameter weighing 11,000 tons.
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-  During that very event over Russia an even bigger asteroid passed within 17,200 miles of Earth on its way to the Sun.  We have some geocentric communication satellites orbiting that are 23,000 miles in altitude.  This asteroid that missed us was 100 feet in diameter and weighed 40,000 tons.  The two asteroids appear to not be related.
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-  The Chelyabinsk asteroid was composed of Chondrites rich in silicates.  80% of all meteorites have this same composition.  The larger Tunguska 1908 asteroid had chondrite  composition of carbon, calcium, and aluminum.  This evidence says these two asteroids were also not related.
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-  The Comet ISON ( See Review #1600) is passing Earth orbit this month, November 2013, rounding the Sun, and again in December passing Earth orbit on its way back into space.  It will miss Earth by 40,000,000 miles.  We are getting better at spotting these visiting comets.  Someday we will spot one that is on target to collide with Earth.  Then, what will be do?  An announcement will be made shortly , stay tuned.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Friday, November 15, 2013

The laws of physics, and life.

-1607  -  Grandpa’s Laws  -  there are 4 ways to analyze the situation.  Either they are what they appear to be, or they are not what they appear to be, or, they neither are nor appear to be, or they are not, yet appear to be. Have you ever thought what it would be like if there were not hypothetical situations?
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-Grandpa’s Laws:
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-  1.  The law of conversation of energy  -  you get out of something what you put into it.
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-  2.  Entropy - the second law of thermodynamics  -  things will always tend to disorder and get worse.  You only get so many heartbeats in life and eventually you get to the last one and you’re done.  So, enjoy the good times whenever you can find them.  Work at finding them.
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-  3.  Law of Inertia  -  never give up.  Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion.  80% of success is in showing up.
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-  4.  The law of Truth  -  Always tell the truth , that way you will have less to remember.
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-  5.  Evolution  -  you gradually become as your thoughts.
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-  6.  Law of Education  -  the biggest return on investment in education is the ability to make yourself do what needs to be done, when you ought to do it, whether you like it or not.  Otherwise you tend to do what you like to do, instead of liking to do what needs to be done….. If you think education is difficult, trying being stupid.
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-  7.  The law of Attraction  -  you can never be lonely if you like the person you are alone with.
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-  8.  The law of Experience  -  experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards.
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-  9.  Action equals reaction  -  love thy neighbor.  You reap what you sew.
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-  10.  Resistance  =  Potential  /  Current  =  The path of least resistance is only paved in the beginning.  You can never have a brand new start , but, you can start now and have a brand new ending.
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-  11.  The laws of Probability  -  the harder you work the luckier you get.
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- 12.  The law of Effectiveness  -  It is more important to do the right things than to do things right.  Effectiveness is more important than efficiency.
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-  13.  The law of Efficiency  -  It is not what you got that counts, it is what you do with what you got, that counts.
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-  14.  The law of Volume  -  If you want to put rocks in a jar put the big rocks in first.  Is it full?  Now you can add sand.  Is it full?  Now add water.  If you do it backwards you can never get the big rocks in the jar. Do the important things first, then you can always find time for the small rocks.
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-  15.  The law of Goals - A goal is a dream with a deadline.  Obstacles are those intimidating things you see when your eyes are hot focused on  to the goal.  You always miss 100% of the shots you do not take.
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-  16.  The law of Elasticity -   A mind once stretched by an idea never again regains its original dimensions.
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-  17.  The law of Christmas  -  We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
……………………………….............  Merry Christmas,  Grandpa’s laws.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Thursday, November 14, 2013

What are neutrinos and why are they important?

-1608  -  Neutrinos -  What are they and why are they important.  While you were reading this 5,000,000 of them passed through your thumb nail.  They come from the Earth’s crust, the Sun, the Big Bang, Supernovae and your body.
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-----------------------  # 1608  -  Neutrinos
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-  In 1930 Wolfgang Pauli said,.   “ I have done a terrible thing. “  “ I have postulated a particle that an not be detected.”  He postulated the particle because his equations describing radioactivity were missing a small packet of energy of neutral charge.  It became known as the “neutrino”,  a little neutral one.  It was not detected as a real particle until 1956.
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-  In 2013 neutrinos can be routinely detected.
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-  Neutrinos are created in radioactive decay.
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-  They are neutral charge.  Not influenced by electric or magnetic forces.
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-  Neutrinos do not make up atoms.
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-  Their mass is less than 1/ 1,000,000 that of an electron.  The exact mass is unknown.
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-  They can transform themselves between 3 different “flavors“.  Electron, Muon, and Tau.
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-  Neutrinos are called “ left-handed” in ½ spin.
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-  Handedness is a variant of electric charge.  It determines how a particle interacts with the Weak Nuclear Force, the force responsible for radioactive decay.
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-  Only left-handed particles interact with the Weak Nuclear Force.
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-  All neutrinos are put in the classification of “ leptons because of their ½ spin in their angular momentum.  Electrons also have ½ spin and are also leptons.
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-  Neutrinos do not interact wit the Strong Nuclear Force that holds the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of atoms.
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-  Because neutrinos do not carry an electric charge they do not interact with the Electromagnetic Force that holds electrons in atoms.
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-  Left-handed neutrinos interact with Gravity and the Weak Nuclear Force.  Right-handed neutrinos do not interact with the Weak Nuclear Force.  But, we do not know if right-handed ones exist.  Because the Weak Nuclear force is limited in range to the size of the nucleus of an atom neutrinos can pass through matter with very little, to no effects.
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-  Anti-matter is the same as matter but with the opposite electric charge.  Electrons have a -1 charge, anti-electrons ( positrons), are the same particle with a +1 charge.  Neutrinos are neutral charge so they could be particles that are their own anti-matter.  This fact could have something to do with why the Universe has matter dominated over anti-matter.  Works for us, or we would not be here, but, no theory has foretold how this might work.
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-  Neutrinos come in 3 flavors: Electron Neutrinos, Muon Neutrinos , and Tau Neutrinos.  There may be more, a 4th flavor, in theory, but, not yet discovered, called the Sterile Neutrino.  Presently physicists know only that at least two of these neutrino species have non-zero mass.  (Remember photons have zero mass and anything that has zero mass must travel at the speed of light, where time is zero.)
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-  The 4th flavor of neutrino that comes out of the  math but not yet detected, the Sterile Neutrino, would interact with Gravity and none of the other forces.  This may be the source of Dark Matter in the Universe.  85% of the matter in the Universe is Dark Matter.
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-  Although neutrinos are virtually massless, and nearly invisible, their sheer numbers could make them consequential players in the Universe.  There is expected to be 10^89 neutrinos in the Universe.  That is a large number, 1 followed by 89 zeros.  I won’t do it here.
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-  By measuring how matter is distributed in the Universe physics may be able to infer how massive neutrinos are.  Examining gravitational lensing in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation may be a way to do this.
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-  If the distribution of Dark Matter is confined to sharp-edged structures separated by voids then neutrino masses are small.
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-  If the edges are blurred than neutrino masses are large.
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-  We know about the neutrinos that are created in the fusion furnace of our Sun.  The Sun produces 65 billion neutrinos per second that reach the surface of the Sun is 3 seconds.  Photons reach the surface in 2 million years , then, reach the Earth in 8 minutes.  Photons get bounced around by charged particles.  Neutrinos are neutral and are unaffected.  Neutrinos reach the Earth just slightly slower than photons.
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-  A sugar cube is 1 cubic centimeter.  Picture 5,000,000 neutrinos passing through the cube every second.  Think of photons and how the space fills with light.  Think of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation that is nearly uniform with photons at 2.725 Kelvin.  The Neutrino Background radiation should be a uniform 1.95 Kelvin.  The wavelength of 1,064,220 nanometers, ( red light is 700 nanometers wavelength).  A frequency of 281,701,582,380 cycles per second oscillation.  Space should be filled on average with 300 neutrinos per cubic centimeter.
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-  Your body contains 20 milligrams of Potassium 40, a natural radioactive element.  As a result your body is emitting 340,000,000 neutrinos every day.  Please don’t stand too close.  An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned
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-  See other Reviews about neutrinos.  #1219 is about Icecube Neutrinos.  Also there are reviews #1589,  #1139, #732 and # 630 available upon request.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Thursday, November 14, 2013

The loss of moral leadership:

- 1468    -  The decline in  moral management
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-  Management morals:
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 Management in the broadest sense, anyone responsible for people or money.  Morals in the narrowest sense.  Do good to others as you would do for yourself.
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In my 40 years observing and being part of management I have witnessed a decay in moral management.  You can substitute politics for management but I did not pay much attention to politics in my early years.  I did see the cultural decay in business first hand.
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To make my point I will polarize my statements, call yesterday my first 20 years and call today my last 20 years.
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--  Yesterday trust and integrity were thought to be essential for business success.
--   Today trust and integrity are hard to find in Big Business, or politics.
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-- Yesterday managers said what they would do and did what they said.
--  Today managers say one thing and do another.  They say what ever you want to hear.  They are careful to say what is politically correct, regardless of true intentions.
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--  Yesterday managers always had 2 decisions, what to do, then how to do it.  Both what and how were equally important.
--  Today managers think the end justifies the means.
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--  Yesterday managers were so conservative with money they chose accounting rules that were almost worst case.
-- Today managers choose anything within the stretch of rules to make things look good (often breaking the rules).  It is better to look good than to do good.
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--  Yesterday managers were in it for the long term, generations.
--  Today managers are in it for their next pay check, the next quarter, the next bonus.
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--  Yesterday managers viewed employees, stockholders, and customers as their most important business assets.
--  Today managers view them and the voters as simpletons that are more easily manipulated than educated.
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Of course, things are not this black like I have written, but they are gray and American culture has decayed in moral management.  Leaders like yourself, directors, teachers, and all managers need to police themselves and their fellow managers.  Ultimately, people deserve the government they get.  Policy makers, governors, need to regain trust and integrity.  We must do better for a better America.  Culture is hard to change but show me you are on the right road for change.
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-  The loss of moral leadership.
-  We always have 2 decisions to make: What to do and How to do it.
-  Obamacare has a nation’s support as to what to do.  What needs to be done for the betterment of all its citizens.
-  Obamacare has not made good decisions on how to do it..
-  One is effectiveness - do the right things.  The other is efficiency - do things right.
-  We would not have smart phones today if the government had broken up the phone company and replaced it with a government run bureaucracy.
-  A politician eventually swears to uphold the Constitution.  I think we should amend the Constitution to include the 10 Commandments.  Then, maybe, politicians would learn what swearing means.
- Lying, cheating, and stealing is a loss of moral leadership.
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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:   “Jim Detrick”       www.facebook.com,    or ,      www.twitter.com.
         707-536-3272,                                   Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Quantum Mechanics is Weird Science.

-1606  -  Quantum Mechanics has weird attributes.  This review tries to summarize the weirdness.   However, engineers design lasers, computers, cell phones, televisions, using these same attributes.  It is not weird if it always works.
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-----------------------  # 1606  -  Weird Science   -  Real Science?
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-  We should be able to explain “ reality”  -  the world we observe and perceive  -  by summing all the smallest constituent parts.  The whole ought to be the sum of the parts.
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-  This idea does not seem to work in the Quantum World.  For the smallest parts weird science happens.  Particles do not have a definite position in space.  The particle can be in several places at once with different probabilities of finding it at any one place.  Weird?
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-  Particles in different locations can somehow be connected.  Called “ entanglement”.  These particles could have opposite spins and be entangled.  They could be separated by galactic distances and still be entangled.  Say one electron is spinning clockwise then the other entangled electron is spinning counter-clockwise.  Called spin up and spin down.  Reverse the spin on either one and the other entangled electron reverses its spin, instantaneously.
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-  Instantaneously means faster than the speed of light.  This happens all the time inside an atom.  If two electrons share the same energy level.  The Exclusion Principle prohibits them from sharing the same “quantum state“.  So one spins up and the other spins down.  If one reverses the other reverses instantly.  They are entangled, connected.  Not so weird inside an atom.  But, separate these two entangled electrons over any distance and they remain instantaneously connected.  Weird?
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-  How can particles not physically connected somehow reach other particles?  Called “ non-locality”.
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-  An Irish physicist, John S. Bell, in 1964 took the position that non-locality was real.  Nearly all of the physics community disagreed with him at the time.  In fact, the accepted Theory of Relativity postulated that it was impossible to transmit information faster than the speed of light.  “ Instantaneously” in non-locality therefore could not possibly occur.
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-  Erin Schrodinger introduced the “ wave function” into quantum thinking.  All particles are waves, or become waves.  All waves can become particles.  Wave functions can infer the possibility of entanglement and particles having indefinite position at various places.  Waves can extend across space and be continuously connected.
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-  Today the question still exists.  Is the wave function for particles a concrete physical object.  Or, is it simply mathematics that describes relationships among spatial points?
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-  Maybe 3-dimensional space is our locality.  And, higher dimensions exist allowing non-locality to exist that we can never see?  Maybe?
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-  Some physics even proposes a myriad of unseen parallel universes to exist allowing non-locality to be present  -  instant action at a distance through a parallel universe.
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-  Does science continually transcend the familiar and reveal a new horizon?  An new reality?
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-  Engineers today routinely exert control over the quantum world.  It is not a mystery, if it always works.  They disregard the barriers of superposition, entanglement , randomness, deciphered, non-locality and quantum uncertainty.  All the weirdness in the quantum is part of our real world.  ( See footnotes for descriptions of each of these weird attributes).
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-  Transistors in computers, give way to integrated circuits, and these will give way to individual atoms that will do the job of calculating bits and controlling software applications.  A computer logic bit can be represented by an electron in the ground state or in the first higher energy state.  A “ zero”  or a “ one”.  A laser pulse of the exact energy level can change the electrons energy state.   It can be in one state or the other state or weirder still in both states at once.
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-  The electron in an atom can be delocalized in position and velocity, but, at the same time have a well-defined energy state.  Each energy state can be defined as a “ Quantum Bit”.  It is not weird if it works.
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-  Schrodinger’s equations described the different histories of a particle as alternatives, but, as all really happening simultaneously.  Physical quantities really do take on more than one value at one time.
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-  Science is like the Theory of “Relativity”.   No two observers can agree on when simultaneous events occur.  To every observer it is all relative.  Weird science or Real science?
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-  “ Weird starts with the “ wave-particle duality”..  All particles are waves.  A baseball traveling at 90 miles per hour is a wave.  The wavelength is equal to :
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----------------------  Wavelength  =  Planck’s Constant of Action  /  Momentum
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-  Momentum is mass times velocity.  The massive particle baseball has a wavelength the width of a proton.  A good batter would not be too distracted to where he can not still hit it.
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-------------------------    w  =  h  /  p
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-  The wavelength of an electron is much, much large compared to the size of the electron as a particle.  Its position or its velocity can not be precisely known.  The exact properties in space and momentum are values collapsed  upon observation according to a distribution of probabilities.
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-  Quantum Superposition states that a physical particle exists partly in all of its possible states simultaneously.  When observed it collapses, decoherence, into only one of those possible states.
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-  Schrodinger equation is a partial differential equation that descries how quantum energy states can change with time.  The equation describes a wave function.  The wave function will collapse to a sharply peaked function at some location upon observation.
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-  The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that the more certain we are of position of a particle the less certain we can be of the velocity ( momentum) of the particle, and vise-versa.  The product of the two probability values will always be greater than the Planck’s Constant of Action / 2 * pi.  Observers can measure one property accurately or the other but never both simultaneously.  Planck’s Constant of Action is a very small number, 6.6*10^-34  joule-seconds.
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-  We do not get a description of objective reality but only probabilities of observing ,or measuring , various aspects of energy in quantum packets.  Energy quanta do not fit our ideas of particles, now our ideas of waves.  It’s both.  It’s weird.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Monday, November 11, 2013

Physics wants a theory for everything.

-1605  -  Physics wants a theory for everything.  Most physicists believe that there is an “objective reality” out there.  An external world that has definite characteristics independent of the observer who perceives them.
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-----------------------  #  1605  -  Physics wants a theory for everything
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-  Physicists have long sought after the “ Theory of Everything”.  Today we have the General Theory of Relativity that provides the physics and math for big things: the Cosmos, light speed, the bending of space-time, gravity,…..  We have another Theory of Quantum Mechanics.  It works for all the small things:  particle physics, the Uncertainty Principle, atoms, the Periodic Table of Elements, …
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-  These two theories can not trade places.  Neither theory works in the other’s realm.
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-  Physicists would like to discover one set of fundamental laws that explain both aspects of our perceived reality.  Most believe that there is an “objective reality” out there.  An external world that has definite characteristics independent of the observer who perceives them.  Actually, there is no way to remove the observer from our perceptions of the world.
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-  Since the 1800’s the physics of Isaac Newton accurately describes our everyday natural world.  Most all of it is in harmony with our commonsense.  The math works.
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-  However, when science obtained the resolution of our world in the 1900’s we got to the level of atoms and electrons.  Newton’s theories no longer applied in explaining observations.  Definite positions and definite velocities for particles could not be calculated.  Our own observations altered events.  Quantum Physics stated that the past, present, and future only in terms of a spectrum of possibilities.
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-  We form scientific laws because they agree with our observations.  Back in Ptolemy’s day the laws worked will having the Earth as the center of the Solar System.  Although the math was complicated.  It all worked until Copernicus was able to define elliptical orbits for the planets with the Sun at the center of the Solar System.  The math got simpler.  We adopted a new frame of reference with the Sun at the center.
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-  Our brains can only interpret 2-dimensional data on our retina’s imaging 3-dimensional space.  In our quest to discover more our brains are struggling today with 11-dimensions space time.  Today’s approach to discover a “ Theory of Everything” has invented “String Theory”.  The attempt is to bring the force of gravity into the domain of quantum physics.
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-  One unusual  problem occurred when physicists invented 5 different string theories.  Which was right?  In 1990’s they began to see that each theory was working only under a certain range of conditions.  They invented “ M-Theory” to allow 5 different approximations to exist inside a more fundamental theory.  M-Theory is more a network of theories, like a map.
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-  Whenever we develop a model that is successful in matching our observations we tend to attribute the model to represent “ reality”.
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-  Isaac Newton changed reality when he postulated that motion does not depend on mass.  Gravity will force everything to fall to the surface of a flat Earth at the same acceleration.  The acceleration of gravity, “g”,  is always 10 meters per second per second.  Everything falls together -  free fall can not be detected.  Under uniform motion there is no acceleration.
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----------------  Force  =  mass  *  acceleration
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-------------------  F  = m*a
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-  If gravity is the accelerator:  F  =  m*g
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-  Newton took the law of the Force of Gravity being a proportionality to the product of the masses and inversely to the square of the distance between them to an equality by adding a Gravitational Constant, “G”.
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--------------------  Force  =  m * M  * G  /  r^2
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--------------------  G  =  6.7 10*-11 meters^3 per ( kilograms* seconds^2)
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-  Einstein’s Theories changed the force of gravity to the bending of space-time.  He further concluded that a particle that is massless has to move at the speed of light, through space at 671,000,000 miles per hour.  For everything moving at the speed of light time stops.  Space shrinks.
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-  We now think that the energy of empty space-time is 3 times greater than the energy of matter-gravity.  As the Universe expands matter gets diluted.  Today there is 10^-29 grams per cubic centimeter, about 1 proton per cubic foot of space.  We think that the energy that is expanding the Universe, Dark Energy, is 73% of the total mass-energy out there.
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-  String Theory has 6 extra dimensions of space that are curled up and only 10^-33 centimeters in length.  You see the struggle continues.  We have the Universe expanding at an ever accelerating rate at one end.  At the other end we have curled up strings 10^-33 centimeters long.  Both ends are trying to explain our observed reality.  The more we observe the more interesting it gets.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Finding the farthest galaxy.

-1603 -  Finding the farthest galaxy. How spectroscopy is used to measure the distance to the farthest galaxy.
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-----------------------  # 1603  -  Finding the Farthest Galaxy
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-  Astronomers have discovered the most distant galaxy that can share enough light with us to get a spectroscopy signature.  Analyzing the signature can tell us how far away the galaxy is from us and how far its light has traveled.  The light has taken 13,100,000,000 years to reach us.  That is how old the image is that we are viewing.  It existed just 700,000,000 years after the Universe started.
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-  The distance to this galaxy reaches 77,028,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles as the crow flies, or as the light travels.
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-  The spectrogram uses the Redshift of the element hydrogen to measure the distance.  (See Review 1594 to learn how other Redshift measurements are made.)
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-  The amount of star formation in this galaxy is amazing.  The galaxy produces 300 times the mass of our Sun each year.  Compare this with the Milky Way Galaxy that produces only 1 or 2 Solar Masses per year in new stars.
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-  The light from the galaxy traveled 13.1 billion lightyears distance.  Traveling through that much expanding space has stretched out the wavelength of the traveling photons.  When light waves get longer they get shifted towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum.  When the light left this galaxy it was in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.  When it arrived Earth it was in the infrared part of the spectrum.  The amount of Redshift tells astronomers how far the light has traveled and how fast the galaxy is receding from us due to the expanding space in between us.
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-  The light emission line that the astronomers identify is hydrogen’s Lyman - alpha line, wavelength of 121 nanometers.  Over the distance of expanding space it was stretched out to a wavelength of 1,029 nanometers.
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-  The amount the wavelength was stretched was 1029  -  121  =  908 nanometers.  The Redshift is the ratio of this amount of shift to the original wavelength at the source.
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---------------------  Redshift  =  908  /  121  =  7.5
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-  The distance or time in lightyears can be calculated using the equation:
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--------------------  Time  =  12.65  +  0.06 (  Redshift )
--------------------  Time  =  12.65  +  0.06  ( 7.5 )
--------------------  Time  =  13.1  billion years.
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-  The Big Bang occurred at 13.82 billion years, so, the image of the galaxy depicted what it was like just 720 million years after the Universe started.
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-  The hydrogen atom is the simplest atom composed of only a proton  nucleus and one electron.  That single electron can exist at several different energy levels in the atom.  The electron has a ground state and it can be visualized as having higher energy level orbits above the ground state.  The electron can jump between energy states only by absorbing or emitting the exact amount of energy separating the unique energy levels.  Every atom has its own unique set of energy levels and number of electrons.  When an electron falls from the first energy level to the ground state it emit’s a photon with that unique energy equivalent to the difference in the two energy levels.  The unique energy states for hydrogen are known as the “Lyman Series“.
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-  The energy of a photon is directly dependent on the frequency.  Therefore, ( E1 -  E0)  is directly proportional to frequency, “f“.  To change a proportionality into an equality we need only add a Constant.  In this case it is Planck’s Constant, “h”,  which is 6.63*10^-34 joule*seconds.
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------------------------  E1  -  E0  =  h  *  f
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-  The frequency of light is equal to the speed of light, “c”,   divided by the  wavelength of the light ,”w“.
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-------------------------  E1  -  E0  =  h  *  c  /  w
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-  For the hydrogen atom the energy level of the ground state, “E0”, is -13.6 electron volts.
-  The energy level of the first higher energy is “E1”,  -3.4 electron volts.
-  The difference energy levels , “  E1  -  E0”,  is 10.2 electron volts.
-  The speed of light is 3*10^8 meters per second.  An electron volt is equal to 1.6022*10^-19 joules.  Putting these values back in the equation above:
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--------------------   10.2   =  (6.63*10^-34)  *  (3*10^8)  /  1.6022*10^-19  *  w
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--------------------   w  =  121.6 nanometers.
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-  Therefore astronomers know that when the photon left the hydrogen atom in the distant galaxy it left with a wavelength of 121 nanometers.  The photons arrive with wavelengths of 1,029 nanometers.  The Redshift of the stretched wavelength is 750%  The distance it traveled in order to be stretched 750% was 13.1 billion lightyears.
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-  With that much space expanding between us the galaxy appears to have a receding velocity 7.5 times faster than the speed of light, 5,332,500,000 miles per hour.  Light travels 670,633,500 miles per hour.  So, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.  Right?.  But, the galaxies are not traveling that fast in space.  It is just that there is that much space that is expanding between us.  A Redshift of “ 1”  or 100% , corresponds to a distance of 12.71 billion lightyears.
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-  Redshifts:  --------1---------2--------- 3---------4---------5---------6----------7----------8
-  BLY:  ----------12.71----12.77----12.83----12.89----12.99----13.01---- 13.07 ---- 13.13
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-  If the galaxy was actually receding through space at the speed of light then the Theory of Relativity says that time would stop, and the distance would shrink to zero.
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--------------------  Time at light speed  =  time ( 1 - v^2  /  c^2 )^½
--------------------  If:   v^2  =  c^2
--------------------  then:  time  =  zero
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-  Let’s say our spaceship is traveling towards our nearest star, Alpha Centauri, 4.37 lightyears away.  We are traveling at 99.995% the speed of light.
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------------------  Distance  =  4.37 lightyears *  ( 1 - v^2  /  c^2 )^½
------------------   Distance  =  4.37  *  ( 1 - (0.99995) )^½
-----------------  Distance  =  0.0437 lightyears
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- The spaceship has shrunk by a factory of 100 and the distance to the star has shrunk to 0.0437 lightyears.  Traveling at the speed of light has its advantages.  But, that is not what is happening with galaxies in the expanding Universe.  Seeing backwards in time is strange enough without getting in to the Theory of Relativity.
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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 upon request.  Some reviews are at       http://jdetrick.blogspot.com           Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to:    jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ----  “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, --   707-536-3272                                   Friday, November 1, 2013