-
2159 - Good
writers are like astronomers. If what you
write or think is hedging or equivocal then it becomes hard to understand. Astronomers are seldom in doubt, but often in
error. Physicists, on the other hand,
won’t say for sure until they find the value 40 places to the right of the
decimal point. This review will try to
set the record straight. What do
astronomers and physicists really know?
-
-
-
---------------------------------- 2159 - To
Be a Good Writer
-
To be a good writer you need to be more like an
astronomer and less like a physicists.
The 2,158 previous articles before this one tried to take the facts as
facts and make common, easy to understand, sense out of things. This seems to me to be an essential element
of learning.
-
- If what you write or think is hedging or equivocal
then it becomes hard to understand.
Astronomers are seldom in doubt, but often in error. Physicists, on the other hand, won’t say for
sure until they find the value 40 places to the right of the decimal
point. This review will try to set the
record straight. What do astronomers
and physicists really know?
-
- One of
today’s ironies is that particle physicists and astronomers are coming together
to study the same thing. Astronomer
thought they were learning the macro world, the Universe, infinite distances
and light speeds. The physicists thought
they were learning the micro world, the atomic world, the uncertain world of
Quantum Mechanics.
-
- Today,
astronomers are using neutrino telescopes that are more like the physicist’s
particle accelerators than telescopes.
Astronomers are studying far outside the visible light spectrum that
they started with. Now, they use
Ultraviolet, Infrared, X-rays, and Gamma Rays, a whole new spectrum that uses
technologies in the realm of physics.
For each to learn more these two sciences have had to come together.
-
- Already these
two sciences are recognizing that what we have known about the Universe is at
best only 5% of what is there. It is
hard for scientists to admit that they do not know 95% of what they are
studying. They are studying a 100 page
textbook and only the first 5 pages have print, the remainder of the book is
blank.
-
- When they calculate how much mass it takes to
hold a galaxy or cluster of galaxies together they get a number 95% larger than
what they see. When they calculate the
gravity needed to bend light from distant objects they require a mass 95%
bigger than what they can see is there. Gravity bending light is called
Gravitational Lensing.
-
- When they calculate the nuclear reactions that
occurred after the Big Bang and compare that with the results we see today
there should be 95% more mass than all the protons and neutrons that we think
the Universe is made of. Something else
is out there. Physicists are considering
neutrinos, neutralinos, axions, something electrically neutral and unable to
absorb or reflect light. But what is
it? We will just call it Dark Matter.
-
- Einstein’s
equations show that all matter alters the shape of space and time. Therefore, the overall shape of the Universe
is governed by the total mass within it.
Recent studies of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation have
determined that the shape of the Universe is “flat”.
-
- If the
Universe is “flat” it must have a certain total mass density that they can
calculate. The total mass density we
calculate requires another 30% more mass than all the ordinary matter (protons
and neutrons) and the Dark Matter we can come up with.
-
- Another
recent observation is that Supernova Type 1A in distant galaxies are
accelerating in their rate of expansion away from each other. If the pace of the expansion of the Universe
is increasing in this manner there must be some unknown, pervasive energy,
repulsive force that is accelerating the expansion of space and time.
-
- The vacuum of space appears to contain some
low-grade energy responsible for this acceleration. The acceleration of a mass requires a
force. What causes this force of anti-gravity? We will just call this remaining 30% of the
unknown Universe, Dark Energy. (Remember Mass is the same as Energy according
to E = m * 90,000,000,000,000,000).
-
- Many of
previous Reviews were on Supernova, nuclear energy, the Big Bang, the periodic
table of elements. These reviews defined
how the simplest elements, hydrogen and helium, were formed in the Big Bang. Then heavier elements were formed in the
center of stars, then the heaviest, highest level elements were formed in
Supernova explosions of massive stars.
-
- Fusion in the
center of stars created all the elements up to iron then in the explosive
shockwave outside the supernova center protons and neutrons were smashed together
to make the elements heavier than iron, all the way up to uranium.
-
- We think this
is how it happened but we really do not know for sure. Maybe, gold and lead, required a different
process like colliding neutron stars.
Or, maybe there is something even more powerful in the Universe like
magnetars and gamma ray busters that create the heavier elements. We really do not know for sure.
-
- At the other
end of the particle spectrum we have the lightest sub-atomic neutrinos. They
were thought to be massless like photons but new theories give them a tiny
mass. Neutrinos are neutral and barely
interact with other matter. Photons are
massless and interact in a major way with other matter. Most everything we see and know we learned
with photons.
-
- If astronomers could “see” with neutrinos like
we see with photons then much more could be learned about our Universe. Astronomers and physicists are working
together to begin seeing using neutrino telescopes.
-
- Photons span
a wide range of energies. For centuries
astronomers have been using photons in the energy range between 400 and 750
wavelengths, visible light, from blue light to red light. New technologies from physics is allowing
astronomers to see the Universe using higher energies, shorter wavelengths,
Ultraviolet, X-rays, Gamma Rays.
-
- Cosmic Rays
are actually particles that come to us traveling at very nearly the speed of
light. They carry enormous
energies. Astronomers are just beginning
to develop telescopes to see and better understand how and where these enormous
energies are created in the Universe.
These high energy photons and particles must originate somewhere. We would love to learn where and how.
-
- Gamma Ray
Bursters are sending energy rays and photons at us daily, arriving from random
directions across the sky. Astronomers
think these bursters originate in exploding supernova or colliding neutron
stars. But, it is all new science to
explain how this happens.
-
- At the
extreme temperatures the generated radiation and mass interact in unfamiliar
ways. Photons can create matter and
matter can create photons. The
distinction between matter and energy becomes blurred. Magnetism plays a part too, but how remains a
mystery. Something out there is creating
enormous amounts of energy? God only
knows?
-
- Under the
most extreme high temperatures matter breaks down in to Quarks and Gluons,
electrons and photons. These
constituents of matter can become completely unglued from one another. They become a plasma, a whole new state of
matter, not solid, not liquid, not gas, but plasma.
-
- The phase
transitions of Quark-Gluon Plasma to energy is beyond today’s
comprehension. The 3 forces, Strong
Nuclear, Weak Nuclear, Electromagnetic, are thought to be 3 manifestations of
the same force. Where does the force of
Gravity fit into this? Can Quarks change
into other particles? Can protons decay
into other particles? Calculations show
that protons must be stable particles for trillions of years before they
decay. But, what about after that?
-
- What is the
force of gravity anyway? Einstein’s
theory of relativity does a good job of describing gravity for the very big and
the very fast. He describes gravity as a
curvature of space-time and the force as simply falling to the bottom of the
curve or taking the easiest path in the curved space dimensions.
-
- However, Einstein’s equations do not work for
the very small. Quantum Mechanics
equations work very well for the very small, but there is no link yet found
between the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
-
- Where these
two disciplines really come together is at a Black Hole. Here is where gravity becomes very powerful
at very, very tiny distances. The Big
Bang itself can be viewed as the heart of a Black Hole.
-
- To illustrate Quantum Mechanics is used to
explain how a Black Hole can evaporate over time. The concept requires virtual particles near
the Event Horizon of a Black Hole forming pairs of particles and
anti-particles. Before they can
recombine and annihilate each other one gets sucked into the Hole and the other
escapes beyond the Event Horizon. This
process gets too far out for theories to explain. Stephen Hawking is simply saying “trust me,
it happens“.
-
- Everything I
know was taught to me in 4 dimensions, 3 in space and 1 in time. But, to explain how gravity can be a continuous
phenomenon while the other 3 forces come in discrete packets, physicists and
mathematicians are adding 7 more dimensions.
They need 11 dimensions to make the equations work out. This is called String Theory and the 7 new
dimensions are unimaginably small and wrapped up in tiny strings, instead of
being point like particles.
-
- Physicists
believe there must be a way to connect the 3 atomic forces with the force of
gravity. Astronomers believe that there
was only one force at the start of the Big Bang. Each of the 4 forces starting with gravity
coalesced out as the Universe expanded and cooled. Matter and anti-matter coalesced out as well.
-
- But, it in equal amounts the anti-matter and
matter should have eventually annihilated each other leaving only energy
behind. Somehow, this process got out of
balance and more matter than anti-matter was left behind. This gets back to the random quantum
fluctuations of Quantum Mechanics to explain this.
-
- These quantum
fluctuations were what created minuscule variations in the expanding space
which later coalesced into lumps of matter and the seeds of creation of
galaxies and clusters of galaxies we see today.
Somehow the infinite Universe all started at the sub-atomic level. Somehow we got from the infinitesimal to the
infinite. Somehow the physicists and astronomers
have got to get their heads together to explain all this.
-
- This review
is full of questions. Unless there are
some answers you have not learned anything.
Even if the answers are wrong, you can always change them later when you
learn more. Unless you have a stake in
the ground you cannot tell if something has moved. So, my reviews will go back to portray this
stuff like the astronomer who is seldom in doubt. But, the truth be known we really do not know
that much. Learning is the fun part
anyway. The good news ……………… there remains a lot to learn.
-
- November 10, 2018. 641
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Comments appreciated and Pass it on to
whomever is interested. ----
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for
copies or Index of all reviews
--- to:
------ jamesdetrick@comcast.net ------
“Jim Detrick” -----------
- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ -- www.facebook.com -- www.twitter.com
--------------------- Saturday, November 10, 2018 -------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment