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--------------------- - 1848 - Particle Physics, a history lesson.
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- In 1900 Max Planck trying to explain the spectral characteristic of a hot glowing object came up with a relations between light and matter. Why does a poker turn red when it is stuck into the fire? He came up with the assumption atoms only emit ( and absorb) energy in discrete amounts called quanta ( later called photons). This was the opposite of the electromagnetic wave theory at the time requiring spectral emissions to be “continuous waves”.
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- 25 years later (1925) Quantum Mechanics was born and causes were no longer linked to effects. Electrons could be at 2 places simultaneously. Light could be a wave or a particle. In 1905 Albert Einstein had proposed that light itself was composed of little energy bundles.
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- In 1913 Neils Bohr proposed a model for the atom to be a miniature solar system with the electrons maintaining specific orbits about the nucleus. As electrons changed orbits they emitted ( or absorbed) light at characteristic wavelengths.
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----------------------------- E = h * f
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----------------------------- c = w * f
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----------------------------- E = c * h / w
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---------------Energy = speed of light * Planck’s Constant of Action / wavelength
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- The wavelengths were rings on an energy ladder. The energy released or absorbed were at specific quanta represented the energy between each ring of the ladder.
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- Werner Heisenberg in 1925 proposed the “Uncertainty Principle” claiming it was impossible to know both the position and velocity of a particle an any one instant. The better you measured one the less you could know about the other.
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- Louis de Broglie in 1923 proposed that if light could be a particle why not a particle could be a wave? In 1925 Erin Schrodinger derived an equation for a wave function that extended through space and described the “probability” of a particle being in a likely place ( position).
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- The motion of particles follows probability laws but the probability itself propagates according to the law of “ causality”.
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- In 1928 Paul Dirac married Quantum mechanics math and Special Relativity math to predict the existence of “anti-matter”. Carl Anderson discovered the positron, the anti-electron, in 1932, just 4 years later.
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- In 1935 the idea surfaced that particles could be linked in their properties even while separated by enormous distances. Called, “ Entanglement”.
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- Erwin Schrodinger’s explanation was that the act of observation (exchanging a photon) collapsed the wave function freezing it into one particular state ( location and velocity). Until that instant all possible states coexisted like overlapping waves ( called Quantum Superposition).
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- Quantum effects are not confined to the sub-atomic. The “Uncertainty Principle” dictates that the energy in a field, or an empty space, is not constant but continuously fluctuating These quantum fluctuations during the Big Bang are the origin of today’s galaxies. After, 13.8 billion years of expansion.
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- When an observation is made it implies the exchange of photons which contain information that has been extracted from the object being observed. It is this loss of information that collapses the wave function.
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- Quantum Mechanics describes all the phenomena in nature save one, Gravity. Gravity is described by the General Theory of Relativity relying on a smooth curving space-time continuum. Quantum mechanics is described in math that is discontinuous and quantized. The two mathematical models remain incompatible to this day.
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- Theories to reconcile the two theories abound. For 100 years no one has broke through the math. Here are some theories: There is space-time broken down in a space-time foam of Gravitons, particles that carry the force of gravity. There is Super-String Theory vibrating in 10 dimensions of space. To name just two theories. Maybe God is the only game in town?
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- Stay tuned, an announcement will be made shortly.
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- Request these Reviews to learn more:
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- #1799 - A primer on particle physics.
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- #1693 - Quarks are fundamental particles.
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- #1512 and #1573 - The standard model of particle physics.
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- #1511 Sterile neutrinos
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- #1136 - The whole world in only 6 particles.
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- #1097 - Nature’s constants.
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- Max Planck - (1858 - 1947) At the age of 22 he joined the faculty in Munich, Germany. His doctoral work was in thermodynamics. He later worked on the problem of blackbody radiation. In 1900 his equations assumed that light came in particles (quanta). The quanta became “h”, Planck’s Constant of Action = 6.625 joule-seconds. Max was rescued by American forces from Nazism in 1945.
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- Neils Bohr - (1885 - 1962) At age 18 he entered the University of Copenhagen. Got his doctorate at age 26. Bohr studied spectral lines in order to explain how substances emitted and absorbed radiant energy. Radiation was emitted when an electron changed its orbit to a lower energy level. His model explained the internal structure of the atom. He came to the U.S. in 1945 after escaping Nazi, Germany and worked on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. He organized the Atoms of Peach Conference in 1955. He died at age 77.
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- Weiner Heisenberg - (1901 - 1976) In 1923 he got his PhD at University of Munich. In 1927 he used matrix algebra to calculate the wavelengths of spectral lines. He proposed the “Uncertainty Principle” in 1927. The multiplication of the uncertainties of position and velocity equal Planck’s Constant, “h”. He became director of Max Planck Institute for Physics after WWII.
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- Louis De Broglie - (1892 - ?) He entered the French army in WWI working with radio communications. In 1923 he proposed particle-wave dualism for the electron. He received the Nobel Prize in 1929. In 1945 he became an adviser to the French atomic energy commission.
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- Erin Schrodinger - (1887 - 1961) In 1910 he got his PhD at the University of Vienna. He proposed that the electron orbits were in standing waves, explaining why the electron did not loose acceleration through radiation while orbiting the nucleus. This accounted for the discrete orbits. In 1933 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his wave mechanics theories. He left Germany in 1933 for Austria to avoid Hitler. In 1938 he escaped to England.
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- Paul Dirac - ( 1902 - ?) Got his PhD at Cambridge in 1926. In 1930 he proposed the positive twin to the electron, the anti-electron. Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron 2 years later. He got the Novel Prize in 1933. He became a professor of physics at Florida State University.
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- Carl Anderson - (1905 - ?) Got his PhD at Cal in 1930. Became a professor of physics in 1939 and Chairman in 1962. He devised the cloud chamber to study cosmic rays. He discovered the anti-electron. He later discovered the meson. He won the Nobel Prize in 1936
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------- Wednesday, March 30, 2016 -----
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