Milky Way Galaxy - our home in the cosmos

-   2411 -  Our Milky  Way, the Galaxy that is  our home.  It is an awe-inspiring place full of stars, supernovas, nebulae, energy and dark matter.  But, many aspects of it remain mysterious, even to scientists.   Here is some of what we think we know:
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-------------------------- 2411  -  Milky Way Galaxy  -  our home in the cosmos
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-   How big is our galaxy?  Counting stars is a tedious business. Even astronomers argue over the best way to do it. Their telescopes see only the brightest stars in our galaxy, and many are hidden by obscuring gas and dust.
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-  One technique to estimate the stellar population of the Milky Way is to look at how fast stars are orbiting within it, which gives an indication of the gravitational pull, and therefore the mass of the galaxy. Divide the galactic mass by the average size of a star and you should have your answer.
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-   Well, not exactly.  These numbers are all approximations. Stars vary widely in size, and many assumptions go into estimating the number of stars residing in the Milky Way. The Gaia satellite has mapped the location of 1 billion stars in our galaxy, and its scientists believe this represents 1 percent of the total, so perhaps the Milky Way contains about 100 billion stars.
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-  So, how big is our galaxy?  Astronomers are still unsure exactly how much our galaxy weighs, with estimates ranging from 700 billion to 2 trillion times the mass of our Sun.   Most of the Milky Way's mass, perhaps 85 percent, is in the form of dark matter, which gives off no light and so is impossible to directly observe.
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-  The estimate of the Milky Way's mass is 960 billion times the mass of the Sun.  That is  960,000,000,000 which would correspond to that many stars if they were all the same size as our Sun. 
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-  Our Milky Ways is part of a whole of interconnected strings of galaxies.  The large-scale structure of the universe looks like a colossal cosmic web, with string-like filaments connecting dense regions separated by enormous, mostly empty voids. And, our neighborhood is floating in one of these big, empty areas.
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-  Lurking in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy is a gigantic blackhole with the weight of 4,000,000  suns. Scientists know that it's there because they can trace the paths of stars in the Milky Way's center and see that they seem to orbit a supermassive object that can't be seen, but gravity knows it is there.
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-  In recent years, astronomers have been combining observations from multiple radio telescopes to try and get a glimpse of the environment surrounding this blackhole, which is packed with gas and dust spinning around the blackhole.  So far we have only been able to estimate the size and conclude that it is relatively inactive.
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-   In between this massive web of interconnected galaxies is “empty” space.   And, swirling through this mostly empty space between stars in our own galaxy is a bunch of dirty grease. Oily organic molecules known as “aliphatic carbon compounds” are produced in certain types of stars and then are leaked out into interstellar space.
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-  A recent study found that these grease-like substances could account for between a quarter and one-half of the Milky Way's interstellar carbon. The findings are cause for optimism. Because carbon is an essential building block of living things, finding it in abundance throughout the space in our galaxy could suggest that other star systems harbor life.
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-  Our galaxy isn't going to be here forever. Astronomers know that we are currently speeding toward our neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, at around 250,000 mph. When the crash comes, in about 4 billion years, most research has suggested that the more massive Andromeda galaxy would swallow up our own and survive.
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-   But in a recent study there emerges a counter view.  Other astronomers reweighed Andromeda and found that it was roughly equivalent to 800 billion suns, or about on par with the Milky Way's mass. That means that exactly which galaxy will emerge less scathed from the future galactic crash remains an open question.  We will have to wait and see.
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-   There are other surprises;  Scientists in 2010 uncovered gigantic, never-before-seen structures stretching for 25,000 light-years above and below our galaxy. Named 'Fermi bubbles' after the telescope that found them, these gamma-ray-emitting objects have defied astronomers' explanations ever since.  We could not “see” them until we had orbiting gamma-ray telescopes. 
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-  In 2018,  a team gathered evidence suggesting that these bubbles were the aftermath of an energetic event that happened 6 million to 9 million years ago, when the supermassive blackhole in the galactic center swallowed a huge clump of gas and dust and burped out these giant, gamma-ray glowing clouds.
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-  There are other mysteries that are being uncovered.   Over the last decade, astronomers keep detecting odd flashes of light coming at them from the distant cosmos. Known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), these mysterious signals have no agreed-upon explanation. Despite knowing about them for more than 10 years, researchers had until recently captured only 30 or so examples of these FRBs.
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-   In a recent study, Australian scientists managed to find 20 more FRBs, nearly doubling the number of known objects. While they still don't know the odd flashes' origin, the team was able to determine that the light had traveled through several billion light-years of gas and dust, which imparted telltale signs on the signal, suggesting that the FRBs were coming from a long way off, billions of lightyears.
-  Our home in the Universe still resides in many more mysteries to be uncovered.  We are like someone on the beach picking up pebbles of knowledge with a whole ocean of the unknown extending out over the horizon.
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-  June 30, 2019                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
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 ---------------------               Sunday, June 30, 2019--------------------
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PLANETS - a new look at our solar System

-   2410  -  PLANETS  -  a new look at our solar System.   Here is a new map of the solar system showing the precise orbital paths of more than 18,000 near celestial objects. 
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----------------------  2410  -  PLANETS  -  a new look at our solar System 
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-  Most of us picture our Solar System as we learned it in grade school science class.  Nine planets in organized circles neatly stretching in radii from Mercury to Pluto. 
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-  Here is a new map of the solar system showing the precise orbital paths of more than 18,000 near celestial objects.  Can you even find Mars on this map?
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-  https://www.livescience.com/65761-eleanor-lutz-solar-system-map.html
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This map shows the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune in chaotic detail.
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-  It shows each asteroid at its exact position on New Years' Eve 1999.  It includes everything we know of that's over 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter totaling about 10,000 asteroids.   It also includes some 8,000 randomized objects of unknown size.
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-  This is our solar system in macro with as accurate data as we have to date.
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- Note the Kuiper Belt (the outermost ring of green asteroids) on the bottom of the map.
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-  Also notice that Pluto is shown inside Neptune's orbit.  It turns out that about 10% of the time, Pluto is actually closer to the Sun than Neptune.
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-  June 29, 2019.                                                                                                                                                               
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 ---------------------   Saturday, June 29, 2019  -------------------------
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ASTRONOMERS - Write like an astronomer.

-   2409  -  ASTRONOMERS  -  Write like an astronomer.  To be a good writer you need to be more like an astronomer and less like a physicists.  The previous Reviews 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 hedgy or equivocal then it becomes hard to understand.
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---------------------  2409  -   ASTRONOMERS  -  Write like an astronomer. 
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-  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?
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-  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.
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-   But, 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.
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-  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. 
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-  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. (Gravitational Lensing).
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-    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“.
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-  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. 
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-  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. 
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-  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).
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-  Many of my 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.
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-    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.
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-   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.
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-  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.  They are neutral and barely interact with other matter. 
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-  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.
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-  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.
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-   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.
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-  Gamma Ray Bursters are sending energy rays and photons at us daily, arriving from random directions across the sky.  Astronomers think these busters originate in exploding supernova or colliding neutron stars.  But, it is all new science to explain how this happens.
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-   At the extreme temperatures 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?
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-  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.
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-   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?
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-  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.
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-   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.
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-  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.
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- 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“.
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-  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.
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-    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.
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-   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.
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-   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. 
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-  Somehow the physicists and astronomers have got to get there heads together to explain all this.
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-  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 can not tell if something has moved.
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-   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.
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-  June 24, 2019.                                                                                   641                                                                           
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 ---------------------   Monday, June 24, 2019  -------------------------
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Fine Structure Constant

-   2407 -  FINE  STRUCTURE CONSTANT -  is this one of the fundamental constants in the Universe?  The fine structure constant number was discovered in 1916 by Arnold Sommerfeld and has remained a mystery ever since.  Fifty years after Sommerfeld Richard Feynman said, “ it is one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics.” 
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--------------------------------- 2407  -  Fine Structure  Constant
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-  There are four fundamental forces in the Universe, gravity, strong, weak  nuclear, and electromagnetic.  The strength of the electromagnetic force is determined by a number called the fine structure constant.  This number can be measured with a high degree of accuracy.  Scientists wonder, has it truly remained constant since the Big Bang?
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-  After a 5 year study of 40,000 galaxies formed up to 8,000,000,000 years ago scientists have determined that the fine structure constant has remained constant over time.  The light from these galaxies has been stretched out, redshifted, to nearly double its original wavelength by the expansion of the Universe. 
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-  The measurements were made of the emission and absorption lines of the spectrum of the elements in the galaxies.  The emission lines of oxygen 3 were measured for 300 individual galaxies from 4,000,000,000 years to 8,000,000,000 years ago ( redshifts from 0.4 to 0.8) and the measured fine structure constant was no different from today’s value.
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-  For over 4,000,000,000 years there is no trend line upward or downward in the data. Oxygen 3 is ionized oxygen that has lost 2 of its electrons.  The spectral lines were measured to great precision, within 0.1 nanometers out of 50,000 nanometers.
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-  The fine structure constant number was discovered in 1916 by Arnold Sommerfeld and has remained a mystery ever since.  Fifty years after Sommerfeld Richard Feynman said, “ it is one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics. 
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-  You might say the hand of God wrote the number, and we don’t know how He pushed the pencil.  We know what kind of dance to do experimentally to measure the number, but we don’t know what kind of dance to do on the computer to make this number come out.”  In other words, we do not know how to calculate the fine structure constant from theory to this day.
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----------------------------------  The number is 1/137.
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-----------------  The designation for the number is the Greek letter Alpha.
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-  Alpha is a pure dimensionless number that pops up in almost all equations dealing with electricity and magnetism.  The constant represents the strength of the electromagnetic force that holds atoms together. 
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-  Electrons are negative charges, proton nuclei are positive charges.  The electromagnetic force is the attractive force that holds atomic electrons and protons together.  If the constant has not changed than scientists conclude that atoms have not changed since they were first formed after the Big Bang.
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-------------------  Alpha = (electron charge)^2/ 2 * (Planck constant) * (speed of light * (electric constant permittivity of space)
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----------------------------  Alpha = 0.007297352568
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---------------------------  Alpha = 1/137.03599976
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--------------------------  Most scientist use Alpha^-1 = 137
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-  Alpha sets the energy levels for the electrons that are orbiting the nucleus of every atom.  The spectral lines of emission and absorption are set by these same energy levels.  Atoms emit and absorb electrons according to the interaction between orbital angular momentum and spin angular momentum.
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-   The fine structure constant is the ratio of two energies, the energy to bring two electrons from infinity to a specific distance against their electrostatic repulsion, and the energy of single photon of wavelength 2/pi* that distance. 
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-  A third definition has Alpha equal to the relativistic velocity of an electron in orbit about the nucleus / the speed of light.  All these produce a number that has been the same since time began.  But, we still do not have the theory to back it up.
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--------------------------  Alpha = fine structure constant
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--------------------------  Alpha = 2*pi*Ke*e^2 / h * c
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--------------------------  Ke = coulomb’s electric constant = 8.99*10^9 newton * m^2/coulomb^2
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--------------------------   e = electron charge = 1.6*10^-19 coulomb
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--------------------------   h = Planck’s constant = 6.625*10^-34 Kg*m^2/sec
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--------------------------  c = speed of light = 2.998*10^8 m/sec
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--------------------------  Alpha = 6.28*(8.99*10^9 newton*m^2/coulomb^2) * (1.6*10^-19 coulomb)^2 /  (6.625*10^-34 Kg*m^2/sec) * (2.998*10^8 m/sec)
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--------------------------  Alpha = 56.46 * 2.536 * 10^-29 newton*m^2 / 19.86 * 10^-26 kg*m^3/sec^2
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--------------------------  Alpha =  144.7 *10^-29 kg*m^3/sec^2 / 19.86 * 10^-26 kg*m^3/sec^2
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--------------------------  Alpha = .00729  =   1/137.03598561
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--------------------------  Alpha = 1/137
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-  Alpha is the measure of electromagnetic interaction and it is .007
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-  To make the equivalent measure of the strong force it is 1.
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-  (Roger Penrose says it is 10.  But we are dealing with orders of magnitude here.)
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-  The equivalent measure for the weak force is .0000000000001
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-  The equivalent measure for gravity is .00000000000000000000000000000000001
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-  There is enormous differences between the strengths of the forces with the electromagnetic and strong force holding atoms together being the strongest.  The electromagnetic force between electron and proton is attractive.  If by itself the atom would collapse.  The strong nuclear force is repulsive over very short distances it keeps the electrons from collapsing into the nucleus.
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-  The value of this electromagnetic constant of interaction is 1/137 but we do not know why that is the number.  We do know that if it were 0.4% larger or smaller then carbon could not form in the stars supernovae.  If it were 4% larger or smaller than oxygen could not form in the stars either.  Without carbon and oxygen there would be no life as we know it.
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-  At the same time the measurements were made for Alpha, with great precision, astronomers were also measuring the expansion of the Universe in the redshifts of these spectra.
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-   There calculations agree with others that the Universe is full of 70% Dark Energy.  Is Dark Energy Einstein’s cosmological constant or is it something else?  Something is creating space, repulsing matter, and accelerating the expansion of the Universe and we do not know what.
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-  I leave that mystery for you to solve.
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-  Other Reviews available about mysterious Alpha.
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-  1473  -  The math that makes an atom work.
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-  1336  -  The mystery of the fine structure constant.  Alpha  =  0.0072973531 
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-  June 23, 2019                                                                                    599                                                                                                                                                             
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-----  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
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 ---------------------               June 23, 2019                          --------------------
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Recent index of Astronomy Reviews

-   2390 -  MATH  - The Greeks Invented Numbers.  -   Pythagoras, 580 - 500 B.C., Greek mathematician credited with developing the theory of functions, the significance of numbers, and the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles, the square of the hypotenuse = the sum of the squares of the other two sides.  None of his works survived, only his lore.
-   2391  -  ENVIRONMENT  -  We are living in the Garden of Eden.  But, we do not seem to respect it enough.    Our consumption is piling up in our garbage and the waste that is polluting our garden environment.  Here is what it was like in our country when the Indians had it.
-   2392 -  -  BIG BANG  -  The Origins of Existence.  -  All radiation, stars, neutrinos, baryons are round off error in the summation of all mass and energy up to 100% of the Universe.  For 95% of this energy in the Universe, we do not know what it is.  We must leave something for you younger students to work on
.-   2393 -  UNIVERSE  -  The Age of the Universe.    The age of the Universe is 13,700,000,000 years, maybe.   Astronomers think that the Big Bang occurred 13,700,000,000 years ago and that the Universe has been expanding ever since.
-   2394  UNIVERSE  - The Universe is much different that what we see.  It is like a rainbow that we create in our minds.  The Universe is expanding at 47,000 miles per hour for every million lightyears distance.  Therefore the galaxies are no longer located where we see them. -  We create the Universe in our heads.  It is similar to how we create “rainbows’ in our heads.  Rainbows are not objects that really exist.-
-   2395 - HIGGS  BOSON  -  creator of all mass.  The Higgs Boson could seal the fate of the Universe.  It has been tagged in the media as the "God particle" when in 2012 it was discovered as a subatomic particle in the Large Hadron Collider.  The Higgs boson is part of the Higgs Field that permeates all of space-time.  It interacts with many particles, like electrons and quarks, providing those particles with mass.
-   2396 - PLANCK  -  the smallest things.  The answer to the enduring question of the smallest thing in the universe has evolved along with humanity. People once thought grains of sand were the building blocks of what we see around us.  Then the atom was discovered, and it was thought indivisible.
 -   2398 -  STRING  THEORY  - the Universe’s hidden dimensions.  -  It is the mathematics used to probe these small distances.  In order for this math to work it must use multiple dimensions.  The formulas work well with 10 dimensions of space and one of time.  The math works but are the dimensions real?  Could rolled up dimensions actually exist in space?   How many dimensions is the world we live in?  Lord only knows.
-   2399 -  RED DWARF STARS  -  Red dwarf stars make up the largest population of stars in the galaxy, but they hide in the shadows, too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth. Their limited radiance helps to extend their lifetimes, which are far greater than that of the sun.
-   2400 -   MATH - Equations are Sentences in Short Hand.   Equations are no different than text messaging.  You simply have to learn the short cuts in describing stuff in a different language.  Math is a language used to describe things.  Numbers are used to describe quantities.  The verb in most equations is simply “ is equal to”.
 -   2401 -  -  DARK  MATTER  -  absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  To date, the direct detection efforts having to do with dark matter have come up empty. There are no interaction signals we’ve observed that require dark matter to explain them, or that aren’t consistent with Standard Model-only particles in our Universe.
-   2402  -  LIGHT  -  There is not enough light.  We can never understand the Universe by studying starlight.  There is just not enough of it.  Starlight comes from the energy, or radiation, from ordinary matter and ordinary matter comprises less than 5% of the Universe.  30% more is Dark Matter and 65% more is Dark Energy.  We need a telescope that can see in the ”Dark”. 
-  2403  -  The Periodic Table of Elements.  The elements are arranged in ascending atomic weight and later atomic number and arranged in columns for those having similar properties. The elements start with hydrogen, the simplest, with one proton in its nucleus and one electron in the orbit shells. As the elements get heavier more protons are in the nucleus and more electrons orbiting in the outer shells. 
-   2404 -  SPACE  -  vacuum of space?  Somehow the vacuum fluctuations in space are the source of the Dark Energy that is expanding the Universe at an every faster rate.  The cosmic vacuum can be viewed as a sea of elementary particles and their anti-particles that are continually appearing and disappearing, annihilating each other according to E=mc^2.  But, their lifetimes are so short as to never exceed Planck’s Uncertainty limit of Planck’s constant/2*pi.
-   2405 -  ABSOLUTE  ZERO  -  is not nothing.  Absolute Zero is the unattainable lower limit to temperature.  It is -273.15 degrees Centigrade, or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.  Heat itself is imponderable and not directly observable.  You have to measure its effect indirectly.
-   2406 -  ASTRONOMY  -  The Strange History of Astronomy.  The Universe is the way we see it because if it were any different we would not be here to observe it.  In order to explain black holes and exploding supernova in the most distant reaches of space we need to use quantum mechanics and particle physics.  From the very largest scale to the very smallest scale in the Universe.

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 -------------------------   Sunday, June 23, 2019   --------------------------------
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ABSOLUTE ZERO - is not nothing

-   2405 -  ABSOLUTE  ZERO  -  is not nothing.  Absolute Zero is the unattainable lower limit to temperature.  It is -273.15 degrees Centigrade, or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit.  Heat itself is imponderable and not directly observable.  You have to measure its effect indirectly.
- 
-

-
---------------- 2405 -  ABSOLUTE  ZERO  -  is not nothing
-
-  Zero is Nothing, but Absolute Zero is Something Else!
-
-  Heat is another form of the universe’s energy.  It is defined as the measure of the total kinetic energy of all the molecules in a system.  Temperature, on the other hand, is defined as the average kinetic energy of the molecules in a system.  Kinetic energy is simply the energy of motion.
-
-  Absolute Zero is that temperature where there is no molecular motion, no heat exists.  Heat can be described more simply as the motion of atoms.  At 98.6 F all our bodies’ atoms are jiggling at 1,000 miles per hour.  If you exercise or run a fever they will jiggle even faster.  They do not stop jiggling even when you die.  They do slow down a bit however.
-
-  The coldest place on Earth is in the Antarctica, south of New Zealand, where it reached -129 F in 1983.  There is still plenty of atomic motion even at that cold Antarctic temperature.  You will have to get down to -459.67 F before the atoms stop jiggling.  Since nothing can move any slower than stopped that must be the coldest temperature, zero degrees Kelvin, or absolute zero.
-
-  Astronomers in the 1960’s  believed the vacuum of space, far from any stars, must be as cold as absolute zero.  The discovery of the Microwave Background Radiation changed that idea. 
-
-  The Big Bang started out as hot as can be 13,700,000,000 years ago.  The Universe has been expanding and cooling ever since.  Today the space in the Universe has cooled down to 5 F above absolute zero, or 2.73 Kelvin.
-
-  Believe it or not there are places in the Universe colder than that.  2.73 Kelvin is the “average” temperature of the Microwave Background Radiation.  In a dusty gas cloud 5,000 lightyears away in the Boomerang Nebula in the constellation Centaurus astronomers have confirmed temperatures of 1 Kelvin, one degree above absolute zero.
-
-  We have gotten things even colder here on Earth.  National Institute of Science and Technology has cooled 2,000 atoms down to 20 billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
-
-   How do you get things this cold?  Essentially, the goal is to take energy out of the material in order to cool it.  The common first step works like your refrigerator with the liquefaction of gas.  When a liquid, like liquid helium, evaporates into a gas it removes heat from its surroundings.  This works down to the boiling point of liquid helium, 4.2 Kelvin.
-
-   If the helium vapor is constantly pumped away you can cool material down to 1 Kelvin.  The next step is to use successive magnetization and demagnetization to remove more energy and cool things further.  Lasers are another method used to remove energy and get down to 20 billionth degree Kelvin.
-
-   Absolute Zero temperature is thought to be “ unattainable” because, like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the measurement of such temperatures changes the temperature.  The molecular motion may cease, but the atomic particles still vibrate and measuring them changes this vibration, thus changes the temperature.
-
-  What happens when material is cooled to these super low temperatures?
-
-  Strange things.  It becomes another world.  Materials lose all resistance to electric current flow and they become superconductive.  Electricity can flow freely without generating any heat.
-
-  So with superconductors we can design super magnets that could levitate bullet trains.  Well, Maybe.  However, another property shows up.  When a substance becomes super conductive it becomes diamagnetic, having a negative magnetic susceptibility.  Scientists are researching materials that will go super conductive without losing their magnetic properties.
-
-  Another strange property is super fluidity. Helium is the only known substance that can not be frozen, even at absolute zero.  But, its atoms become extremely non-sticky in the liquid form.  If you put this cold liquid helium in to a glass it will defy friction and gravity crawling up the side of the glass and over the rim in order to spread evenly across the glass.
-
-  The strangest property still is the Bose-Einstein Condensation.  When the 2,000 atoms were cooled to within 20 billionths of a degree of absolute zero they suddenly merged into a super atom never before encountered.  The 2,000 atoms merged into a single quantum state.  It was not a solid, a liquid, a gas, or a plasma.  It was something totally different.
-
-   In 1924 Albert Einstein predicted this using the statistics worked out by Satyendra Nath Bose, and Indian physicist, to show that atoms can be thought of as waves and the waves expand in inverse proportion to their momentum until they fall into the same quantum state and finally overlap, essentially behaving like a single atom.  So, we have now cooled atoms down from 1000 miles per hour chaotic movement to become a choreographed smooth little wave.
-
-  This Bose-Einstein Condensation material has such high optical density it can slow light beams down to 70 miles per hour.  And, under certain conditions can stop, or freeze, light entirely.  This material is a totally new and unknown state of matter.
-
-  Many scientists are studying these phenomena today having no idea where there investigations are leading.  It is another world.  If we could master this world we could design atomic clocks the size of a glove box so accurate they make the global positioning system accurate to within a blade of grass.
-
-    They could make lasers so precise they could etch integrated circuits to the next generation micro technology.  Absolute Zero is truly something else!
-
-  Satyendra Nath Bose 1894 - 1974 was a physicist in Calcutta.  He created a paper that Albert Einstein took a fancy to.  Einstein went further and generalized Bose’s paper for a quantum statistics that describes the behavior of subatomic particles now called bosons, named after Bose.
-
-  Fermi used Diracs exclusion principle to derive another set of quantum statistics that describe fermions.  Subatomic particles, depending on which set of statistics their behavior matches, are called bosons or fermions.  Photons are bosons, for example.
-
-  June 22, 2019                                                                          46        406                                                                                                                                                             
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-----  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”  -----------
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 ---------------------               June 22, 2019               --------------------
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SPACE - vacuum of space?

-   2404 -  SPACE  -  vacuum of space?  Somehow the vacuum fluctuations in space are the source of the Dark Energy that is expanding the Universe at an every faster rate.  The cosmic vacuum can be viewed as a sea of elementary particles and their anti-particles that are continually appearing and disappearing, annihilating each other according to E=mc^2.  But, their lifetimes are so short as to never exceed Planck’s Uncertainty limit of Planck’s constant/2*pi.
- 
-

-
---------------------------------- 2404 -  SPACE  -  vacuum of space?
-
- What is in the Vacuum of Space?  To create a vacuum we take a known volume, say a glass jar, and pump all the atoms out of the jar.  What is left is a vacuum.  However, those atoms are hard to remove. 
-
-  The best vacuum we can create here on Earth still contains about 1,000,000,000,000 atoms per cubic meter, 10^12 atoms/m^3.  The average density of the Sun is 10^30 atoms per cubic meter.  The average density of our Galaxy is 10^6 atoms per cubic meter.  The average density of our Universe is 1 atom per cubic meter.  That is about as close to pure vacuum as you are going to get.  But, what is left?  Is it truly empty space?
-
-  There still is energy in empty space.  The average density of photons in the Universe is 10^9 per cubic meter.  So, for every atom there is 1,000,000,000 photons in the Universe.  The energy in space that we measure as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is at a temperature of 2.7 degrees Kelvin. 
-
-  This means that there are 411,000,000 photons per cubic meter in the Cosmic Microwave Background.  We can say that most of our Universe is a vacuum of a little mass and a little more energy.  To understand this vacuum we have to go back to Einstein’s equations of Relativity
-
-  Einstein abandoned the idea that motion was absolute.  He concluded that all motion was relative.  If that were true, then change in space / change in time, which defines motion, or velocity, is also relative. 
-
-  But, for light to remain constant for all observers, the change in space / change in time must be adjusted according to the observer’s relative motion.  Making these adjustments Einstein derived all new laws for space, mass, energy and time.  Space is also length and distance, and mass is also energy.  So, his new laws affected almost everything.
-
-  Einstein’s new laws of motion reduce to be the same as Newton’s laws of motion at slower velocities.  But, as the velocities approach the speed of light in empty space the equations of Relativity must be used.
-
-   It remains to be seen but Einstein’s laws may also be limited to cases of low energy.  A far deeper and wider set of equations may be needed for the highest energies.  However, these new equations have yet to be discovered.
-
-  Newton’s laws were simple, that the force of gravity between two masses falls off in proportion to the square of the distance between them.  Einstein’s laws are complicated field equations. 
-
-  His laws state that the presence of mass and energy curve space and slow time.  Bodies in motion in curved space-time simply take the quickest path.  Much like an airplane flying from Chicago to London takes a Great Circle route over the polar region to get the fastest transit time over the curved surface of Earth.
-
-  The complexity comes in when every solution to Einstein’s field equations describes an entirely different Universe.  Each solution depends on the distribution of matter-energy and the space-time geometry in which it lies.  We do not know which solution matches exactly the Universe we are trying to observe.  Each field equation is extremely difficult to solve.
-
- To simplify them as much as possible three assumptions are often made.  That the Universe is homogenous - the density of matter is the same everywhere, and the Universe is isotropic - the density of matter is the same in every direction, and the Universe is Static - the density of matter is unchanging over time.
-
-  There is one more complication in Einstein’s field equations - gravity acts upon itself. Gravity interacts with itself in a way that light does not.  As gravity waves spread out, rippling the curvature of space-time, carrying energy, that energy acts as a source for its own gravitational field.
-
-  Science has just began to detect these gravity waves that are traveling at the speed of light.  We are using new (LIGO) instruments to detect them and we know they exist by observing their effect on binary stars.
-
-  After years of observing binary neutron stars (pulsars) spiraling in toward each other, we measure the slowing or decaying of their orbits to exactly match the rate predicted if gravity waves were radiating away carrying energy.
-
-   Gravity waves are not waves in the traditional sense they are more like a traveling geometry of space and time.

-  If we make the conclusion that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic it turns out that it can not be static. The equations require that either has to be expanding or contracting.  If it were static gravity would over time contract the Universe and matter would pile up in a cosmic implosion. 
-
-  Hubble’s evidence showed the Universe was expanding and Einstein had to add a constant to his equations to account for an expanding Universe.  His equations had the form:
-
---------------------  Geometry of space-time = distribution of mass-energy.
-
-  In order to maintain a conservation of energy and momentum in his equations he had to add a force between all the masses that increased in proportion to the distance between them.
-
--------------  Geometry of space-time  + Unknown Force = distribution of mass-energy
-
-  If this force is positive it is a repulsive force counteracting gravity which would be an opposite attractive force.  This would create a steady-state or static Universe.  It would cause distant masses to repel one another.  The force would not be noticed on Earth because the force increases with distance and only becomes effective at astronomical dimensions.
-
-  If the force value was chosen just right it would exactly counter balance the gravitational attractive inverse square law.  The force could be positive or negative allowing a static Universe, an expanding Universe, or a Collapsing Universe. 
-
-  As mentioned earlier starting in 1965 evidence was accepted that the Universe is expanding.  By 2006 astronomers had found that Type 1A Supernova with known intrinsic brightness to have an apparent brightness 9 times fainter, or 3 times further distant than expected.  This evidence along with the Cosmic Background Radiation has convinced astronomers not only is the Universe expanding it is accelerating in its expansion.
-
-  The unknown force became known as the Cosmological Constant, and later Dark Energy, or vacuum energy.  To try to understand this vacuum energy astronomers have had to learn particle physics and quantum mechanics.
-
-   A great frustration quickly set in.  Einstein’s equations do not work at quantum dimensions.  Infinities turn up in the equations that can not be resolved.  Quantum Mechanics equations work well.
-
-  In the quantum world energy is quantified by Max Planck’s Constant of Action and all particles behave both as point particles and as waves.  Quantum bundles of energy were necessary to explain the black body curve and the light curves of supernova.
-
-  The black body curve is the spectrum of energy versus wavelength and the temperature of a radiating body.  It always has the same shape.  The Cosmic Background Radiation fit’s the black body curve exactly at a temperature of 2.73 Kelvin.
-
-  Somehow the vacuum fluctuations in space are the source of the Dark Energy that is expanding the Universe at an every faster rate.  The cosmic vacuum can be viewed as a sea of elementary particles and their anti-particles that are continually appearing and disappearing, annihilating each other according to E=mc^2.  But, their lifetimes are so short as to never exceed Planck’s Uncertainty limit of Planck’s constant/2*pi.
-
-  The uncertainty of energy * the uncertainty in lifetime is always greater than Planck’s Constant/ 2*pi.  Planck’s Constant = 6.625*10^-34 kilogram * meters^2/second.  This is called the Werner Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.  It certainly applies to the vacuum of space because a lot is uncertain and remains to be discovered.
-
-  Other Reviews available to learn more:
-
-  2243  -  What is space really?
-
-  2074  -  Space is much todo about nothing.  There is much more nothing in his world than there is something. 
-
-  2049   -  The expanding universe?
-
-  2019  -  You need to expand your mind to keep up with astronomy.
-
-  1831  -  From blackholes to empty space?
-
-  1773  -  Space is what separates things?
-
-  1407  -  Space is in constant motion?  It is anything but empty.
-
-  1241  -  At the smallest level things remain connected even though they are separated in space?
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-    June 22, 2019                                                                             660                                                                                                                                                             
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-----  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”  -----------
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 ---------------------               June 22, 2019               --------------------
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PERIODIC TABLE - The Periodic Table of Elements

 -  2403  -  The Periodic Table of Elements.  The elements are arranged in ascending atomic weight and later atomic number and arranged in columns for those having similar properties. The elements start with hydrogen, the simplest, with one proton in its nucleus and one electron in the orbit shells. As the elements get heavier more protons are in the nucleus and more electrons orbiting in the outer shells. 
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-

-
---------------------  2403  -  PERIODIC TABLE - The Periodic Table of Elements
-
-  Previous astronomy reviews have talked about the higher level elements being manufactured in the stars.  The Big Bang, as big as it was, was limited to creating the lower level elements mostly hydrogen and helium, some lithium and very little beryllium.
-
-   The rest of the elements were  created in the hearts of stars and in their violent deaths as supernovae.  The extreme heats and pressures created by a giant stars massive explosion created and scattered the higher level elements all over the Universe.
-
-   What are these higher level elements and exactly how are they created?
-
-   To learn this people have been trying to identify and categorize the elements since antiquity.  A tool that was developed in 1869 was the periodic table.  It started out as a deck of cards, each card with the element and its atomic weight.  The cards were arranged so similar elements were grouped together.  The result was the Mendeleev periodic table
-
-  The scientist who created this table was Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, 1834 - 1907.  Dmitri was born in Tobolsk, Siberia the youngest of 17 children.  His mother was Mongol.  His father was the high school principal who brought the first printing press to Siberia and published its first newspaper. 
-
-  Dmitri got his first science lessons from a political prisoner who had been sent to Siberia.  He finished college in 1855 at the top of his class.  He published a chemistry textbook in Russian that had more footnotes than text, considered the best ever written in Russia.
-
-   He published the periodic table March 6, 1869.  The table had holes and Dmitri boldly stated that these were missing elements that needed to be found.  In his lifetime three were found and named after their founder’s countries, galliun ( France ), scandium, germanium.
-
-   Dmitri was a liberal who spoke out against the government and resigned his academic post in protest over the oppression of students.  Element number 101 was named mendelevium in belated recognition of his importance in the study of the elements.
-
-  The elements are arranged in ascending atomic weight and later atomic number and arranged in columns for those having similar properties.  A recent format for this same matrix depicts the periodic table in a polar format rather than the conventional rectangular table we are used to seeing.  The circle gets divided into 18 sectors that group the elements into families.
-
-   The elements start with hydrogen, the simplest, with one proton in its nucleus and one electron in the orbit shells. As the elements get heavier more protons are in the nucleus and more electrons orbiting in the outer shells. 
-
-  Most of the atom is a vacuum.  The nucleus that holds most of the weight is only 1/100,000 the diameter of the atom.  The tiny nucleus is surrounded by a froth of electrons taking up nearly all the volume and containing practically none of the mass.
-
-   However, it is the electrons , in fact the electrons in the outer shells, that determine the chemical behavior of every element.
-
-  The atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus.  If the atom is neutral in charge it will have the same number of electrons, negative charge, as the number of protons, positive charge.
-
-  The chemical properties of each of the elements depends on the number of electrons in its outer shell, because that is what reacts with other atoms to form molecules.  So family groupings are those elements that  have the same number of electrons in their outer shells.
-
-  The first family is the alkali metals family, starting with hydrogen.  All of these elements have only one electron in their outer shell.
-
-------  Group 1  -  hydrogen - although one electron in the outer shell, the inner most shell wants two electrons to form resonance and stability.  So most hydrogen is found as H2, with two hydrogen atoms combined to form the hydrogen molecule, hydrogen gas.  If you separate the atoms and blow the gas through an electric arc the atoms will recombine producing a temperature of 3,400 Centigrade.
-
-  The second shell wants 8 electrons to form a resonance and stability. 
The table below shows Group 1 elements with the sequence of electrons in the outer shells.  The total number of electrons is the atomic number.
-
-  Hydrogen  -  ( 1 = the atomic number )  -was discovered as a lightweight gas in 1766.  Its name means, water forming, “hydro” “gen”.  Hydrogen burns in air to form water.  This is the basic fuel of fuel cells that will someday power our automobiles, laptops and cell phones.  90% of all atoms in the Universe are hydrogen.
 -
-  Lithium  -  ( 2+1 = 3 ) -  discovered in 1817, it is the lightest metal, half the density of water.  It’s salts are used to treat mental illness bipolar disorder ( manic depression) and it is used in rechargeable electric batteries.
-
-  Sodium  - ( 2+8+1 = 11 ) - discovered in 1807, named after caustic soda, or lye.  Sodium is lighter than water and ignites in the presence of water.  Sodium /chloride is common table salt.  It is also in baking soda, borax, and used in developing photographs.
-
-  Potassium  - ( 2+8+8+1 = 19 ) - ( 2 electrons in the inner shell + 8 electrons in the second shell + 8 electrons in the third shell + 1 electron in the outer shell = the atomic number 19 ) -  discovered in 1807 through electrolysis.  It is a fertilizer, necessary for plant growth.  The isotope potassium 40 is used in fossil dating.
-
-  Rubidium  -  ( 2+8+18+8+1 = 37 ) -  is slightly radioactive, discovered in 1861, named for its red-line in a spectrogram ( rubidus = red ).  Used to create the first Bose-Einstein Condensation ( See Review 406  - “ Zero is Nothing, but Absolute Zero is Something Else”)
-
-  Cesium  -  ( 2+8+18+18+8+1 = 55 )  -  discovered in 1860,means “ sky blue”.  Used in photoelectric cells and atomic clocks.
-
-  Radon - ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+6 = 86 ) -  discovered in 1900, it is a radioactive noble gas.  It is a health hazard because decay products are long-lived decay products of radioactive metals.  It is released by common rocks, such as granite that contains uranium, an accumulate inside buildings.
-
-----------  Group 2 -  Alkaline earth metals , elements that have 2 electrons in their outer shells:
-
- Atomic Number Atomic Weight
-  Beryllium 4 9.0122
-  Magnesium 12 24.312
-  Calcium 20 40.08
-  Strontium 38 87.62
-  Barium 56 137.34
-
-  Beryllium - ( 2+2 = 4 )  discovered in 1798 is a light, stiff, and stable metal.  Despite its sweet taste most of its compounds are extremely poisonous.
-
-  Magnesium  -  ( 2+8+2 = 12 )discovered in 1808 combined with water to form milk of magnesia.  Its low atomic number, 12, make its light weight alloys useful in building airplanes.  It burns very brightly and is used in fireworks.  It is an essential element for most plants.
-
-   Calcium  -  ( 2+8+8+2 = 20 )discovered in 1808 named after limestone.  Heating limestone, CaCo3 produces carbon dioxide leaving calcium oxide which combines with water to form lime, which is used in plaster.  It is the basis for cement.  It is the most abundant metal in the human body and biochemically is the messenger between the cells.
-
-  Strontium  - ( 2+8+8+8+2 = 38 ) -  discovered in 1808, named for a town in Scotland, Strontian.  Strontium-90 is produced in nuclear explosions.  It is extremely dangerous because it easily replaces calcium since it has the same number of electrons in its outer shell.  It is an important additive to glass used in cathode ray tubes (TV tubes) because it blocks radiation and improves clarity and brightness.
-
-  Barium -  ( 2+8+18+18+8+2 = 56 ) -  is a soft, silvery, white metal discovered in 1808.  Alkaline earth metals are mostly insoluble compounds found in the Earth’s crust.  Barium is a key ingredient in a chalky liquid used to make the digestive system visible on X rays.
-
------------------  Group 3  -  elements that have 2 and 3 electrons in their outer shells
-
-  Scandium  - ( 2+8+8+1+2 = 21 )  -   a soft silvery metal discovered in 1876, named after Scandinavia.  A pure compound was not found until 1960.  It is used in high intensity lamps because its spectrum is like that of sunlight.
-
-  Yttrium  -  ( 2+8+18+8+1+2 = 39 )  -  discovered in 1843, named for a village in Sweden, Ytterby.  Yttrium provides the red color in your television.  It is used to filter microwaves, catalyze plastics, and high temperature superconductor ceramics.
-
-  Lanthanium -  ( 2+8+18+18+8+1+2 = 57 )  -  discovered in 1839, named from lanthanein which means concealed in Greek.  So named because lanthanum was hidden in cerium ore.  It oxidizes rapidly in air.  It is used in bright carbon-arc lights in the motion picture industry.
-
---------------  Group 4  -  metals, elements that have 2 and 4 electrons in their outer shells.
-
-  Titanium  -  ( 2+8+8+2+2 = 22 )a dense gray hard metal discovered in 1802.  Named for the ore, tantalite.  It can be immersed in most acids and remain unaffected.  Its low reactivity make it useful in surgical instruments and implants.
-
-  Zirconium  - ( 2+8+18+8+2+2 = 40 ) - discovered in 1789, named after the gem zircon.  90% of the metal zircon is used in the nuclear power industry because it is corrosion resistant and does not absorb neutrons easily.  Cubic zirconium is zirconium oxide treated to resemble diamonds.
-
-  Hafnium  - ( 2+8+18+32+8+2+2 = 72 ) -  discovered in 1923, named after Hafnia, which the ancient name for Copenhagen.  Similar to zirconium it resists corrosion and withstands high temperatures.  Used in control rods in nuclear reactors.
-
-------------  Group 5  -  metals, elements that have 1 to 5 electrons in their outer shells.
-
-  Vanadium  - ( 2+8+8+3+2 = 23 ) - discovered in 1801, its primary use is in making specialty steels.
-
-  Niobium  -  ( 2+8+18+8+4+1 = 41 ) - discovered in 1801 but not produced in pure form till 1864, named columbium after the United States, but later renamed after Niobe, daughter of Tantalus.  It is superconductive in magnetic fields and used on powerful electromagnets.  Also, used in alloys of specialty steels.
-
-  Tantalum -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+3+2 = 73 ) - discovered in 1802, named for the ore, tantalite, in turn after that same mythical king, Tantalus. Its low reactivity make it useful in surgical instruments and implants.
-
--------------   Group 6  -  metals, elements that have 1 to 6 electrons in their outer shells.
-
-  Chromium - ( 2+8+8+5+1 = 24 ) -   Highly reflective metal when polished, discovered in 1797.  Named for the Greek word for color.  Lead chromate is chrome yellow, Chrome glass is emerald green.
-
-  Molybdenum  - ( 2+8+18+8+5+1 = 42 ) - discovered in 1778, named for the Greek word for lead, the ore in which it is found.  Used in metal alloys for toughness.  An important element for plant growth.
-
-  Tungsten  -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+4+2 = 74 )  -  discovered in 1783 named from Swedish “tung sten”, heavy stone.  Best known as a lamp filament, it has the  highest melting point of the metals, 3,422 degrees C.
-
---------------  Group 7  -  metals, elements that have 2 to 7 electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Manganese  -  ( 2+8+8+5+2 = 25 ) -  discovered in 1775, named for the Latin for magnet, mistakenly thought to be magnetic because its presence produces alloys with strong magnetic properties.  Essential for bone and nerve formation in the body.
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-  Tellurium  -  ( 2+8+18+18+2+4 = 52 ) -  discovered in 1782, it lies at the boundary between a metel and a  non-metal.  Named after tellus, Latin for Earth.  It is a semiconductor and has promising electronic applications.
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-  Rhenium  -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+5+2 = 75 )  -  discovered in 1925, named after Rhenus for Rhine.  It is used in lamp filaments.
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---------  Group 8  -  triad metals, elements that have 1 to 8  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Iron   - ( 2+8+8+8 = 26 ) -  known since antiquity, named after ferrum in Latin.  It was extracted from ore some 5,500 years ago. Earth’s most abundant metal.  It is the heaviest element created by fusion in the stars. 
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-  Above iron more energy is required for fusion than is released.  Supernovas are needed to create higher level elements.  Cast iron and steel are different alloys of iron.  It is essential to vertebrate life and a main element of hemoglobin.
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-  Ruthenium  -  ( 2+8+18+8+7+1 = 44 ) -  discovered in 1844, named after Ruthenia in the Urals where the ore was first found.  Used in alloys with platinum, palladium, and titanium to improve hardness and resist corrosion.
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-  Osmium  -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+6+2 = 76 ) -  discovered in 1803, named for Greek, osme, meaning smell.  It combines with oxygen to produce a toxic odor. It is considered the hardest metal, along with iridium.  It is the least compressible element, along with carbon.  Its extreme hardness is used in pens, photograph needles, instrument pivots, and electrical contacts.
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----------  Group 9  -  platinum group triad metals, elements that have 1 to 9  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Cobalt  -  ( 2+8+16+7+2 = 27 ) -  discovered in 1735, named after German cobalt meaning goblin, what miners called the deep blue cobalt ore.  Basis for bright blue dyes.  Used in iron based alloys.  Essential for health as part of Vitamin B12.  Cobalt 60 used as source of radiation in medicine.
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-  Rhodium -  ( 2+8+18+8+8+1 = 45 ) -  discovered in 1803, named for Greek “rhodon” meaning rose.  Produced for hardening platinum and palladium.
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-  Iridium -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+7+2 = 77 )  -  discovered 1803, named after Greek iris, meaning rainbow.  A thin layer of iridium found worldwide is the sign or an asteroid impact 65,000,000 years ago thought to have caused the extinction of the last dinosaurs.
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----------  Group 10  -  platinum group triad metals, elements that have 1 to 10  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Nickel  -  ( 2+8+8+8+2 = 28 )  -  discovered in 1751 named for German kupfernickel, what miners called Old Nick’s copper.  Nickel forms 5 to 20% or iron meteorites.  Used in Iron and copper alloys.
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-  Palladium  -  ( 2+8+18+8+10+2 = 46 )  -  discovered in 1803,named for second known asteroid.  Palladium alloyed with gold is the white gold of jewelry.  Because in absorbs hydrogen easily it was thought it might be source for cold fusion in palladium electrodes, but has not been convincingly demonstrated.
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-  Platinum  - ( 2+8+18+32+8+9+1 = 78 )  -  discovered in 1735 by pre-Columbian inhabitants of America.  Named for Spanish, “platina“, meaning little silver.  Popular for jewelry.  A vital catalyst used in many industries, cracking petroleum and catalytic converters in cars.
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-----------  Group 11  -  platinum group metals, elements that have 1 to 11  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Copper - ( 2+8+8+10+1 = 29 )  -  soft, malleable reddish metal known to ancients.  Named for Cyprus.  Conducts heat and electricity well.  Resists corrosion.  Strong alloys with tin (bronze) and zinc ( brass).
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-  Silver  -  ( 2+8+18+8+10+1 = 47 )  -  Soft metal also known to the ancients.  Named from Latin argentums.  Silver compounds react to visible light essential for photography.  Best reflector of light, best conductor of heat and electricity.
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-  Gold  -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+10+1 = 79 )  -  Yellow metal known to the ancients. Named from Latin aurum.  It is the most malleable and ductile element.   It reflects infrared and is used to cover satellites.  Melts at 1,064 Centigrade.
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----------  Group 12  -  platinum group metals, elements that have 2 to 12  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Zinc  -  ( 2+8+8+10+2 = 30 )Bluish white metal known to the ancients.  The earliest use was in brass.  Used in solder, melts at 420 Centigrade.  Essential element for all animal health.  Used to galvanize metal. Zinc oxide is white ointment used to block sunlight completely.
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-  Cadmium -  ( 2+8+18+8+10+2 = 48 )  -  toxic metal discovered in 1817.  Named after “cadmia“, a zinc ore.  Used in solders, bearing alloys, electroplating, batteries and control rods for nuclear reactors.  It is a major problem for industrial waste.
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-  Mercury  -  ( 2+8+18+32+8+10+2 = 80 )  -  heavy silver liquid known since ancient times.  Named after Roman messenger god and the swiftest planet.  Latin “hydrargyrum“, meaning liquid silver.  The only liquid metal below 27 C, melts at -39 C.
-
-  Density is great compared to surface tension so it does not wet objects, but rolls around in little spheres.  Used in thermometers due to its constant coefficient of expansion with heat.  Mercury vapor used in electric lamps.  Mercury is used in paints, pesticides, switches, electric batteries, but is always poisonous.  It is a major environmental problem, particularly its concentration in fish.
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---------   Group 13  -  boron group, elements that have 1 to 3  electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Boron  -  ( 2+3=5 ) -  non metal discovered in 1808, named after borax, an common compound in ancient lake beds.  Used in soaps and cleaning powders.  Makes boric acid.  Some boron compounds are among the hardest substances known.
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-  Aluminum ( 2+8+3=13 ) -   discovered in 1825, is strong, lightweight and conducts electricity.  Tarnishes to silver color instead of black as silver does, making it useful for reflecting material and for beer cans.
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-  Gallium  -  ( 2+8+8+8+3 = 31 ) -  liquid metal discovered in 1875, named for ancient France.  Arsenide of gallium is used to change electric current directly into coherent light.  Neutrino telescopes consist of tons of gallium in underground tanks.  Melts at 30 C.
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-  Indium  -   2+8+18+18+2+1 = 49 )  -  discovered in 1863 a soft highly lustrous, white metal.  A good backing for mirrors.  Also used in displays and semiconductors.
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-  Thallium  -  ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+1 = 81 )  -  toxic metal discovered in 1861, named after Greek “thallos” meaning green twig, after its bright green line in its spectrum.  Thalluim sulfate is a common pesticide.  Used in photoelectric cells.
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----------  Group 14  -  carbon group, elements that have 4 to 6 electrons in their outer shells.
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-  Carbon - ( 2+4=6 ) -  Nonmetal found as diamond, graphite, and nanotubes.  Known since prehistoric times and is the basis for millions of compounds, such as carbon dioxide, limestone, organics.  Most combustion relies on the reaction between carbon and oxygen producing heat and carbon dioxide.  Carbon 14 is used in radiocarbon dating.  It goes directly from a solid to a gas at 3,825 C.
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-  Silicon  -  ( 2+8+4= 14 ) -  Chemically resembles carbon discovered in 1824, named after Latin “silex” for flint, since silicon dioxide is found in quartz or flint and is the main compound of sand.  After Oxygen it is the most abundant element on Earth.  For 3000 years used from glass to computer chips.
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-  Germanium  -  ( 2+8+8+8+6=32 ) -  semiconductor discovered in 1886, named after Germany.  Used in first transistors, now optical switches and making glass for wide-angle lenses.
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-  Tin  -   2+8+18+18+2+2 = 50 )  -  Used in prehistoric times with copper to produce bronze.  Widely used metal in alloys from solder, pewter, to bearings.  It is plated over steel to produce tin cans.
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-  Lead  - ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+2 = 82 )  -   known to the ancients, from Latin name “plumbum“.  Hippocrates first recognized lead poisoning caused illness in miners.  Lead is used in paint and gasoline but is generally toxic. Main use has been in storage batteries.  Also used in high quality glass and as a shield against radiation.
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--------  Group 15  -  nitrogen group, elements that have 3 to 5 electrons in their outer shells:
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-  Nitrogen -  ( 2+2+3 = 7 ) -  gas discovered in 1772 from Latin nitre, for salt-peter, a compound of nitrogen.  80% of air is nitrogen, making ith the most available element on Earth.  Nitrogen compounds include all proteins which are essential for life.  Animals obtain nitrogen from plants not from air.  Ammonia is a nitrate fertilizer, nitric oxide is important as a messenger between the cells, but nitrogen-oxygen compounds are the main forms of air pollution.
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-  Phosphorus - ( 2+8+2+3 = 15 )  -  glowing white nonmetal discovered in 1669 named from Greek  phosphorus meaning light bringer, an ancient name for Venus as the Morning Star.  It glows because it oxidizes in air, in effect slowly burning.  Red phosphorus is used to start matches burning.  Phosphorus is essential for life and phosphate are used in most fertilizers.
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-  Arsenic  -  ( 2+8+8+8+2+3 = 33 )  -  non-metal first isolated in 1250.  Best known as a poison.  Used in advanced computer chips.  Goes directly from solid to gas at 603C.
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-  Antimony  -  ( 2+8+18+18+2+3 = 51 )  -  brittle, hard, metal known since Middle Ages.  Used  with lead for bearing housings, in paints and ceramics.
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-  Bismuth  -  ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+3 = 83 )  -  White metal tinged with pink, discovered in 1753, named from German Weisse masse, white mass.  Element most repelled by a magnetic field.  Like water it expands upon solidification.  Alloys melt at low temperature so it is used in devices to detect fires.  It is the “bis” in Pepto Bismol
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-----------  Group 16  -  oxygen group, elements that have 4 to 6  electrons in their
outer shells:
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-  Oxygen -  ( 2+2+4 = 8 )  -   Gas discovered in 1771, named from Greek for “acid forming”, because Antoine Lavoisier incorrectly believed all acids contain oxygen.  Oxygen is essential to all organisms and nearly have the Earth’s crust is oxygen.  It is so reactive that no free oxygen existed before photosynthesis began 500,000,000 years ago.  Oxygen is used in gas furnaces for steel making.  It is used to enrich air for persons with impaired breathing.  Liquid oxygen is rocket fuel.
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-  Sulfur  -  ( 2+8+2+4 = 16 )  -  a yellow nonmetal known to the ancients.  Minerals containing sulfur, iron pyrites, gypsum.  It is one of the original ingredients of gunpowder.  Today it is used in vulcanized rubber.  Sulfuric acid is used in many manufacturing processes.  Sulfur dioxide is a common air pollutant and the main source of acid rain.
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-  Selenium  -  ( 2+8+18+2+4 = 34 )  -  a red, gray, or black  nonmetal discovered in 1818  named from Greek “selene”, Moon.  Selenium converts light into electric current and decreased in electrical resistance in response to light.  It is the key to xerography.  Some of its compounds are poisonous although small dietary amounts are used to reduce free radicals of oxygen in the body.
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-  Tellurium  -  ( 2+8+18+18+2+4 = 52 )  -  discovered in 1782 it is a silvery like metal, but brittle.  Named for the Latin “tellus” , Earth.  It is a semiconductor, mostly used in alloys of iron, copper and lead to improve specific properties.
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-  Polonium  -  ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+4 = 84 )  -  discovered in 1898, named for Poland.  Metal properties similar to Tellurium.  Polonium 210 is used as a source of alpha particles.
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-------------  Group 17  -  halogen group, elements that have 5 and 7  electrons in their outer shells
 -
-  Flourine  -  ( 2+2+5 = 9 )  -  Yellowish gas first isolated in 1886.  It is the  most reactive of all the elements and is used to produce Teflon and fluorides that aid in making teeth and bones strong.  Flourine is so reactive it even combines with several noble gases.
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-  Chlorine  -  ( 2+8+2+5 = 17 )  -  discovered in 1810, named after Greek “ chloros”, yellow-green.  Used as a poisonous gas in times of war.  Lead chromate is chrome yellow, chrome glass is emerald green.
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-  Bromine  -  ( 2+8+18+2+5 = 35 )  -  brown liquid discovered in 1826.  Named from Greek “bromos”, stench because it smells awful.  Potassium bromide is a sedative.
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-  Iodine  -  ( 2+8+18+18+2+5 = 53 )  -  solid halogen discovered in 1811.  Named from Greek “iodes” violet, the color of its vapor. It is essential to thyroid hormones.  Iodized salt is our main source.
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-  Astatine  -  ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+5 = 85 )  -  discovered in 1940, it is a radioactive halogen with an 8 hour half life.  About one ounce may exist naturally on Earth.  None have been found in the stars to date.
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-----------  Group 18  -  inert gases, elements that have 2 and 6, or 8  electrons in their outer shells, making these inert gases.
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-  Helium ( 2 )  -  gas observed on Sun’s atmosphere in 1868, named for “helios“, Sun.  Formed with the Big Bang and also produced through radioactive decay.  Second most abundant element in the Universe.  Remains liquid to absolute zero.  Resists dissolving in blood therefore replaces nitrogen in  high-pressure diving.  Less dense than air, inert, and safe for lifting balloons.
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-  Neon  ( 2+2+6 = 10 )  -  discovered in 1898, Greek “ neo” meaning “new” produces reddish orange glow in electric current in gas discharge signs.  Used in lasers and as a coolant.
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-  Argon  ( 2+8+2+6 = 18 )  -  discovered in 1894, Greek “ argus” meaning neutral.  About 1% of dry air at sea level is argon.
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-  Krypton  ( 2+8+18+2+6 = 36 )  -  discovered in 1898, named “kryptos” for “hidden“.  Used in flash lamps in high speed photography.
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-  Xenon  ( 2+8+18+18+2+6 = 54 )  -  discovered in 1898, Greek name for “stranger”.  Used in vacuum tubes and lasers, melts at -112C boils at -108C.
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-  Radon  -  ( 2+8+18+32+18+2+6 = 86 )  -  radioactive gas discovered in 1900.  Gas is a health hazard because decay products of long-lived radioactive metals lodge in the lungs.  Radon is released from common rocks, such as granite that contains uranium, allowing it to accumulate in buildings.
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-  We owe a lot to Mendeleev for organizing the elements.  We began to understand the atomic structures and how elements are what construct our lives and our total environment.  To learn more see these Reviews:
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-  2258  -    Today astronomers are studying this same chemistry in outer space.
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-  1613  -  Why is gold yellow?  An interesting Review.  It is more complicated than you think. 
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-  1436  -  How the elements were created?
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-  June 21, 2019.                                                                                   47                                                                           
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