-
--------------------- #1501 - Redshifting Back In Time
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- Since 1676 astronomers have known that light travels at a finite speed. Using the moons of Jupiter as a pendulum clock, astronomers measured the difference in time for the moons to pass Jupiter’s horizon at six month intervals of the year. In six months the Earth orbits at a point closest to Jupiter to a point furthest from Jupiter. That distance being the diameter of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The time difference measured divided by that distance calculated the speed of light.
-
- 336 years later our measurements put the speed of light at 186,282 miles per second.
-
----------------------- 670,633,500 miles per hour
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---------------------- 5,880,000,000,000 miles per year
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- 5.88 trillion miles is the distance light travels in one year.
-
- If astronomers observe a galaxy 1 million lightyears away, they are looking at that galaxy as it was 1 million years ago. That is how long it took for the galaxy’s light to reach us.
-
- Through these observations astronomers have learned that the Universe in the past appeared much different than the Universe we see today.
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- In the beginning the Universe was only primordial gas, hydrogen and helium. It was only after the first stars formed out of this gas that nuclear fusion created the heavier elements. The first stars were giants, 300 to 400 Solar Mass. Our Sun is 1 Solar Mass. These giant stars had short lives due to their immense gravity and rapid fusion of their hydrogen and helium fuel. When they ran out of fuel they collapsed and exploded into a supernova with immense heat and pressure that fused the lighter elements into heavier elements. Stars that formed later out of the interstellar medium created from the first stars contained these heavier elements.
-
- Each element is different. The light spectrum from stars contains absorption lines that are fingerprints for each element. Each absorption line pattern represents specific wavelengths of energy absorbed by an electron as it jumps to higher excited orbits. Every element has its own unique set of electrons in orbit. Elements can be identified in the light spectrum using these “fingerprints” of absorption lines.
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- In 1950 Quasars were first discovered. “Qausi-Stellar Objects” had spectral absorption and emission lines that were unlike any known elements found on Earth. At first they were thought to be newly discovered elements. It was not until 1960 that Caltech in Pasadena discovered that these fingerprints were really known elements that had their wavelengths redshifted to longer wavelengths due to the expanding space.
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- By 1980 Quasars were understood to be the central regions of galaxies that contained massive Blackholes. Billion Solar Mass Blackholes consume vast quantities of gas. The gas forms in an accretion disk orbiting just outside the Event Horizon. The rotating gas heats up and emits intense energy that astronomers see as a point source of light from a Quasar.
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- The earliest Quasar discovered so far has a redshift of 7.085 times, which means it exists just 770,000,000 years after the Big Bang. This tells us that galaxies first formed before this time.
-
- Astronomers started using the fingerprints of neutral hydrogen to look even further back in time. Neutral hydrogen emits photons at a wavelength of 21 centimeters. The redshifts for these longer wavelengths require telescopes using low-frequency radio waves. Using this technique the most distant galaxy was found at 480,000,000 years after the Big Bang.
-
- The table that follows lists some of these most distant discoveries:
-
-------------------------------------------------------- Redshift ----- Years after BB
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--------- 1960 ------------- Galaxy --------------- 0.461 --------- 8.9 billion
--------- 1965 ------------- Quasar --------------- 2.018 --------- 3.3 billion
--------- 1974 ------------- Quasar --------------- 3.53------------ 1.8 billion
--------- 1987 ------------- Quasar --------------- 4.01 ---------- 1.6 billion
--------- 1997 ------------- Galaxy --------------- 4.92 ----------- 1.2 billion
--------- 1998 ------------- Supernova ----------- 0.83 ----------- 6.7billion
--------- 2001 ------------- Quasar --------------- 6.28 ----------- 0.9 billion
--------- 2009 ------------- Supernova ---------- 2.357 ---------- 2.8 billion
--------- 2010 ------------- Galaxy --------------- 8.56 ----------- 0.6billion
--------- 2011 ------------- Quasar --------------- 7.085 ---------- 0.77 billion
--------- 2011 ------------- Galaxy Cluster ------ 2.07 ---------- 3.2 billion
--------- 2011 ------------- Gamma Ray Burst -- 9.4 ----------- 0.52 billion
--------- 2011 ------------- Galaxy ---------------- 10 ------------ 0.48 billion
--------- 2012 ------------- Supernova Type 1a -- 1.55 ---------- 4.2 billion
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- From the table Gamma Ray Bursts have been discovered occurring 520,000,000 years after the Big Bang.
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- A Galaxy Cluster existed 3,200,000,000 years after.
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- The most distant Quasar at a redshift of 7 at 770,000,000 years after.
-
- The most distant galaxy at a redshift of 10 at 480,000,000 years after.
-
- Of course the greatest redshift object is the CMB at 1,100 redshift and 380,000 after the Big Bang. This object is the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation that was emitted in the infrared wavelengths when hydrogen atoms first lost ionization and became neutral allowing the photons to escape. Today we detect their redshifted light in the microwave end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
-
- To see backwards in time even further astronomers need to detect even longer wavelengths. This requires even bigger telescopes. A telescope planned for Chile is 24.5 meters in diameter. One planned for Mauna Kea, Hawaii is 30 meters. A European telescope also planned for Chile is 39.3 meters.
-
- It is race to ever higher redshifts to see farther back in time. Only in astronomy do you get to do this sort of thing. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) More about redshifts #925 Hydrogen Radio Signal.
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(2) #835 The Redshift Explained.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, October 21, 2012
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--------------------- #1500 - The Infinite Universe
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- See Review #1499 “ Using Supernovae to Measure Dark Energy”. These measurements conclude that the Universe is 30% Matter and 70% Dark Energy. The 70% is vacuum energy that is expanding the Universe at an ever accelerating rate. The expansion of the Universe is gaining speed.
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- OK, but, what is the Universe expanding into?
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- There is evidence to suggest that the answer is simply more Universe. That the Universe is infinite in size. This is an idea totally inconsistent with logic. However, the idea is consistent with measurements made of sound waves in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, with redshifts in Type 1a Supernovae, with calculations of the Hubble Constant, and with the conclusion that space has a flat topology. So an infinite Universe is not contrary to evidence so far.
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- The Hubble Constant measures how fast galaxies are moving away from us. The more distant the galaxy the faster the recession velocity. It may not be a constant over time, or distance, but, in our neighborhood of the Universe the Hubble Constant is 47,000 miles per hour for every million lightyears distance. That is 13 miles per second per million light years of space.
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- If space never ends there is no limit to the number of galaxies, stars, planets, and energy in the Universe. The constant does remain with the speed of light. So, we can only see over the space of so many lightyears distance. Called our “ Observable Universe” it contains at least 200,000,000,000 galaxies. If the Universe is infinite then this is a very small fraction that we can see. In fact, it is essentially zero.
-
- Where did this infinite Universe come from? Well, it came from nothing. You take all the mass and gravity and balance that against the negative repulsive force of Dark Energy and the balance equals zero.
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- I told you that it was inconsistent with logic.---------------
-
- With these assumptions of the mass being zero and the volume being infinite the density of the Universe is zero/infinity. That ratio would drive a mathematician nuts.
-
- We certainly live in a special part of the Universe where the density of things make up our natural world . Take the density of the air we breath for example. The total volume of the Earth’s atmosphere is 4.2 * 10^18 cubic meters. The total mass is 5.1*10^18 kilograms. The average density is 1.214 kilograms per cubic meter. That is equivalent to the average being 0.000044 pounds per cubic inch.
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- But, all that atmosphere is over our head. It is sitting on our shoulders with an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch.
-
- An interesting way to compare the densities in the Universe is to use the units of the number of hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. A hydrogen atom weighs 1.6*10^-27 kilograms. The Earth’s atmosphere then has an average density of 7.5*10^26 hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. That is a lot of atoms weighing down on us.
-
- That is an average. If you go up in elevation from 600 miles to 4,000 miles you can measure density at 53 hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. That region is called the Van Allen Radiation Belt, or more recently simply the “magnetosphere“. It is the magnetic shield around the Earth that protects us from the Solar Wind.
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- The Solar Wind coming at us from the Sun has a volume of 1.4 * 10^34 cubic meters. It has a total mass of 4.5*10^14 kilograms. So the average density of the Solar Wind between us and the Sun is 20,000,000 hydrogen atoms per cubic meter.
-
- The average density of the total Milky Way Galaxy is the ratio of 1.6 *10^60 cubic meters divided by 2*10^39 kilograms. The gives us an average density of 81,000 atoms per cubic meter.
-
- Here is a table of densities measured in the number of hydrogen atoms:
-
------------------------- Earth’s atmosphere ------------------- 7.5*10^26 atoms
------------------------- Sun’s atmosphere -------------------- 6.2*10^13 atoms
------------------------- Sun’s surface ------------------------ 1.3*10^23 atoms
------------------------- Orion Nebula ------------------------ 1.5*10^8 atoms
------------------------- Milky Way Galaxy ------------------- 8.1*10^4 atoms
------------------------- The Universe ------------------------- 0 atoms / infinite volume = nothing. I like our part of the Universe the best.
-
- An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Tuesday, October 16, 2012
-
--------------------- #1499 - Using Supernovae to Measure Dark Energy.
-
- Astronomers find about one new supernova explosion each night. These are stars that explode at end-of-life when they run out of nuclear fuel, violently collapse, bounce off their core in a tremendous explosion back into space. These supernovae are from all sizes of stars and all distances of space.
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- Astronomers are looking for a particular type of supernova. Called Type 1a Supernova it is believed to be the explosion of a White Dwarf Star. Its core is almost entirely made of carbon and oxygen. It is about the size of the Earth in volume. The core is what is left behind after a star sheds its outer hydrogen/helium shell.
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- The theory is that all White Dwarf supernova occur in the same way. The White Dwarf dead star’s gravity accrues additional mass by siphoning off mass from a companion star. The companion could be a normal star ( main-sequence star), a Red Giant Star, or another White Dwarf Star. If the White Dwarf accumulates mass that reaches 140% the mass of our Sun an uncontrolled thermonuclear fusion explosion occurs. The explosion becomes 10,000,000,000 times brighter that our Sun.
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- At 1.4 Solar Mass the amount of gravity pressure inward is greater that the electron pressure of atoms outward. The atoms can not hold up. Electrons collapse into the nuclei creating neutrons. A fusion explosion occurs that is equivalent to 100,000,000,000,000 trillion hydrogen bombs. The explosion consumes all of the core’s carbon and oxygen fuel in seconds. The mass converts into energy. The amount of energy is calculated to be 10^36 watts. If true, that consistent wattage becomes a “standard candle” for astronomers.
-
- If you know how bright a light source is and you measure how dim it becomes due to its distance away from you, you can calculate its distance based on that measured luminosity. ( See note 1 for the calculation).
-
- Also, if astronomers measure the spectrum of the light they can measure how much redshift has occurred due to the speed the galaxy is moving away from us. Or, more accurately, how much the space has expanded between us and the galaxy containing the supernova.
-
- If the wavelength of the peak color of the spectrum has gotten bigger, the wavelength shifts towards the red end of the spectrum, it indicates that the Universe has expanded during the journey, during the time it takes the light to reach us. The greater the expansion , the greater the redshift of wavelength, the greater the distance, the longer the time of light travel.
-
- By measuring Type 1a Supernovae explosions over distances of 1 billion, 3 billion, and 5 billion light years the redshift tells how fast the Universe has expanded over those time periods.
-
- If the expansion were constant and the Universe were empty the plot of the redshift with time would be a flat line. If the Universe were composed of 100% matter (gravity) and no Dark Energy of repulsion the plot would decay rapidly with greater redshifts and greater distances. A plot of actual measured supernovae data with a best fit line occurs if we assume 30% matter and 70% Dark Energy for the composition of the Universe.
-
- To astronomers surprise the data also showed that the Universe was not only expanding with this ratio of mass to energy, it was accelerating in its expansion. The Universe continues to become less dense, more rarefied. Galaxies keep moving away from each other faster. Eventually astronomers will not see any galaxies outside our local group that is still held together with gravity. ( See Review #1500 “ The Infinite Universe”, to learn more thoughts on what comes next.)
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Tuesday, October 16, 2012
--------------------- #1498 - What is the Higgs Boson?
--
- What is the Higgs Boson?
-
- The “Higgs Boson” is a fundamental particle that permeates the “Higgs Field” that, in turn, creates the property of mass for the other fundamental particles. In other words, fundamentally the Higgs Boson is where mass and inertia come from.
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- A more familiar analogy might by the electron which is another fundamental particle. It creates an electric field where opposite charges experience an attractive force and like electric charges experience a repelling force. The “Boson” that permeates this electric field is called the “photon“. The photon is the force carrier for light and all the other electromagnetic radiation. It is a quantum particle that permeates all electromagnetic energy in our Universe.
-
- There is a lot of particle physics background needed to get a better handle on all this. So, hang in there.
-
- Our natural world that we are familiar with is made up of fundamental particles at their lowest energy level. That is what makes them stable particles. These are electrons, (protons and neutrons), and photons. Protons and neutrons, that make up the nucleus of all atoms, were thought to be fundamental particles but it turns out that they are made up of lighter fundamental particles called Quarks.
-
- Protons are comprised of two “Up Quarks” and one “Down Quark” and have a positive electric charge. Neutrons are comprised of two Down Quarks and one Up Quark and have a neutral charge, or said in another way, carry no charge at all.
-
- The fundamental particles that make up our natural world are:
-
------------ Electrons, Up Quarks, Down Quarks and Photons.
-
- There are not just 4 fundamental particles however. The Universe has higher energy particles to bring this total to 12 fundamental particles. Then, we have anti-matter outside our natural world that brings the total to the Universe having 24 fundamental particles. Then, there are additional force carrier particles that bring us the Weak and Strong Nuclear Forces, and Inertia Mass. So, hang in there we have a ways to go.
-
- If you add energy to an electron it transforms into another fundamental particle called a “Muon“. If you add more energy to a Muon it transforms into a third fundamental particle called the Tau. The higher energy particles are always seeking the lowest energy level and they quickly decay to the lowest energy state. In this case, to become an electron. Here are the energy levels of these three fundamental particles:
-
--------------------------- Electron ======== 0.000511 billion electron volts
--------------------------- Muon ======== 0.106 billion electron volts
--------------------------- Tau ======== 1.777 billion electron volts
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- The Quarks have similar higher energy counterparts:
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-------------- Electron ---------- Up Quark ----------- Down Quark
-------------- Muon --------- Charm Quark -------- Strange Quark
-------------- Tau -------------- Top Quark ----------- Bottom Quark
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- That is 9 of the fundamental particles. Together they are called “Fermions“. The Top Quark was the latest Fermion to be discovered. The Top Quark has an energy level of 173 billion electron volts. As we shall see, Higgs Boson has an energy level of 125 billion electron volts.
-
- There are 3 other Fermions that we have not been mentioned yet. These fundamental particles are the “Neutrinos“. They are in the family of the electrons, but, they have on charge, have almost zero mass, and are very difficult to detect. Together with the electron family they are called “Leptons“. The 6 Leptons are:
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--------------- Electron -------- Electron Neutrino
-------------- Muon --------- Muon Neutrino
-------------- Tau --------------- Tau Neutrino
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- That brings the total to 12 fundamental particles, 6 Leptons and 6 Quarks. What we are building here is called the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We are on the way to the Higgs Boson, so, hang in there:
-
- We finished the Fermions, let’s move on to the Bosons. The photon is the familiar Boson that permeates the electromagnetic field. The photon force carrier is what holds the electrons in orbit about the nucleus of all the atoms. The number of electrons in orbit and protons in the nucleus determine each of the elements in the Periodic Table. There are 92 elements , ranging from Hydrogen to Uranium. The photon is responsible for all electromagnetic energy.
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- The protons are positive like -charges and they should be repelled from the nucleus of the atoms by the electromagnetic force. The force that overpowers the electromagnetic force and holds the nucleus of atoms together is called the “Strong Force“. Actually, it is the Quarks that are held together in the nucleus. And, the Boson that is the force carrier for the Strong Nuclear Force is called the “Gluon“ which holds the nucleus together.
-
- There is another Nuclear Force that holds the neutrons together and it is called the “Weak Nuclear Force“. The force carriers for the Weak Nuclear Force responsible for radioactive decay are the “W and Z Bosons“. The family of 4 Bosons responsible for these three forces of nature are :
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------------------- Photons ----------- Electromagnetic Force
------------------- Gluons ------------ Strong Nuclear Force
------------------- W- Bosons ------- Weak Nuclear Force
------------------- Z- Bosons -------- Weak Nuclear Force.
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- So far you have learned that the Standard Model of particle physics describes:
-
----------------- 12 Fermions --------------- 4 Bosons
-
- And, that the 12 Fermions are made up of:
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----------------- 6 Leptons ---------------- 6 Quarks
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- As mentioned earlier, to complicate things further, each of these particles has an equivalent “anti-particle“. Anti-particles are the same in every way except the opposite charge. Electrons have a negative charge. The anti-electron , or “positron” as it is called, has a positive charge. When particles and anti-particles of opposite charges come together they annihilate each other into a burst of Gamma Rays. All their mass is annihilated into equivalent amounts of energy. Neutral particles can become their own anti-particles.
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- Fortunately, anti-matter does not occupy our natural world in any stable form. However, we can easily produce anti-matter in the laboratory. And, it is readily made in the nuclear reactions in the stars. A great mystery in physics is why equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, produced in the Big Bang, have not annihilated the entire Universe long before now. Somehow, there was a balance tipped in one direction that allowed matter to outnumber anti-matter. What is left is the natural world made up of the fundamental particles of matter and energy.
-
- Now we get to add one more fundamental particle, the Higgs Boson. It was discovered this summer in CERN , Switzerland, in the Large Hadron Collider. This particle accelerator smashes beams of protons and anti-protons together at tremendous energies, trillions of electron volts. The debris of particles that exit the collision are detected and analyzed to determine what fundamental particles were involved. The Higgs Boson was discovered at 125 billion electron volts.
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- “Higgs” comes from Peter Higgs, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who in 1964 wrote 2 papers, each 2 pages long, explaining how a new fundamental particle added to the Standard Model could explain the property of inertia and mass. ( Actually several physicists worked out the theory but Peter was the one who got is name attached to it.)
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- 48 years later in Switzerland physicists finally discovered the particle that matched the theory.
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- The Higgs Boson permeates the Higgs Field. The Field offers resistance to motion of fundamental particles depending on how strongly each interacts with the Field. This creates the property of inertia which is the defining quality of mass.
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- This discovery expands the Standard Model of Particle Physics. There is still more to learn. Gravity is not part of the Standard Model. Its fundamental particle is called the “Graviton”, but, it has never been discovered. There may be Supersymetry that adds higher energy particles to each of these fundamental particles. But, that is only another theory. The Higgs Boson theory took nearly 50 years to be discovered. Let’s hope new discoveries can come a little faster for today’s generation. Today you know, what is a Higgs Boson!
-
- An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
-
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, October 14, 2012
--------------------- 1497 - Lightning Still has some Surprises!
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- In 1991 NASA launched the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory to study Gamma Ray Bursts that were coming from outer space. Astronomers were looking for Neutron Stars and Supernovae explosions in distant galaxies. You can imagine the astronomer’s surprise when the detectors located Gamma Ray Bursts coming from the Earth below, in the opposite direction.
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- Physicists know that fast moving charged particles coming from solar flares, Blackholes, supernovae explosions, and even atomic bomb blasts can create bursts of Gamma Rays. But, what on Earth was creating these bursts in the atmosphere of the Earth? Charged particles could not possibly be moving in the atmosphere and attain the energy levels necessary to emit Gamma Rays.
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- After much study of the data the source of these Gamma Rays were found to be coming from thunder clouds. Could it be that lightning bolts could create enough energy to emit Gamma Rays?
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- Lightning is an electrically conducting channel the temporarily opens through the air. The bolt carries electrons between regions in the thunder cloud and the ground that have generated differing electrostatic charges. The electric potential difference between the two regions can exceed 100,000,000 volts.
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- Inside a lightning bolt electrons might attain speeds near the speed of light and cover miles in distance. At these speeds maybe charged particles could emit X-ray and Gamma Ray radiation. Here are some of the measurements made on lightning bolts:
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- A lightning flash has the illumination intensity of 8*10^10 candelas/meter^2. That is roughly equivalent to 80 billion candles located in a square meter and lit all at once. The illumination is about the same as the surface of the Sun which is 2.3*10^10 candelas.
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- The length of a channel of lightning is 3.1 miles on average.
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- The duration of the flash is 0.01 to 0.002 seconds. A flash of 0.001 seconds over 3.1 miles is 11,160,000 miles per hour. Some flashes have been measured to have speeds of 31,320,000 miles per hour.
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- The amount of energy released annually on Earth by lightning bolts is 3.2*10^18 Joules. For comparison the largest hydrogen nuclear bomb releases 2.4 *10^17 Joules of energy. And, a typical hurricane releases 38*10^18 Joules.
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- The temperature of a lightning flash reaches 30,000 C. The surface of the Sun is 5,727 C.
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- The electric current in a lightning bolt is 20,000 amperes.
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- Using this data on lightning physicists still come up short for runaway electrons having the energies to create Gamma Rays. Something else must be involved?
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- One theory has the Gamma Rays interacting with atomic nuclei to produce anti-matter With the production of anti-electrons as well as additional electrons the runaway cascade of charged particles could occur in both directions. The electrons moving toward the positive electric field and the anti-electrons, or positrons as they are called, moving towards the negative electric field.
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- This same effect could result in a secondary cascade of electrons and positrons. One avalanche of charged particles could lead to another. Making these assumptions physicists can come up with Gamma Ray energies that fit the measured data. But, we obviously have much more to learn about lightning. How is terrestrial Gamma Ray flashes actually working?
-
- In the meantime, this is yet another reason why airplanes need to stay away from thunder storms. Getting hit with Gamma Ray radiation is not what you expect.
-
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(1) To see a video of lightning phenomena see “ScientificAmerican.com/aug2012/bursts”.
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(2) In the darkness rub two blankets together and you may see electrostatic sparks. Lighting is created rubbing air masses together. It becomes a massive electrostatic spark.
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- The Sun heats the Earth and hot air rises. Cold air sinks. Moister in the air condenses into rain drops, or freezes into ice crystals as it reaches higher elevations. The rain and ice crystals tend to fall downward through the rising hot air. The two air masses pass each other and the rubbing separates off charged electrons just like rubbing the blankets together. The electric charges accumulate forming a giant capacitor of stored electric energy. Air is an insulator preventing a electric current. But, when the electric potential exceeds the dielectric strength of the air a massive electric current jumps between the clouds. 75% of the time the spark is between the clouds and 25% of the time the spark is from the clouds to the ground.
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- The excess of electrons in one area and the absence of electrons in another area can create an electric charge of 3,000,000 volts per meter. You see the flash of light traveling at 186,000 miles per second and you hear the clap of thunder traveling at 1 mile in 5 seconds, ( 700 miles per hour). See the flash and count the seconds, divide by 5 and that is the number of miles away the flash occurred.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, September 26, 2012
--------------------- #1496 - The Mystery of Cosmic Rays
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- In 1912 science concluded that charged particles, called Cosmic Rays, were coming from outer space and not from the Earth below. They were called rays , but, they were not any form of radiation. They were charged atomic particles.
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-------------------- 90% of Cosmic Rays reaching Earth are protons, the positive nucleus of the hydrogen atom.
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-------------------- 1 % are electrons that carry a negative charge.
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-------------------- 9% are atomic nuclei heavier than hydrogen. Positive charges with masses ranging from helium nuclei to iron nuclei.
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- Because any charged particle moving through a magnetic field feels the electromagnetic force at right angles to its direction of travel, it does not travel in a straight line. ( This is why an electric motor works.) Cosmic Rays will spiral along their path of travel hiding any indication of the direction in which they originated. One hundred years later and astronomers are still not sure of the source, or sources, of Cosmic Rays. The candidates range from Gamma Ray Bursts, to Supernovae, to Blackholes.
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- Some Cosmic Rays originate from our Sun’s Solar Flares. These charged particles, protons and electrons, reach our upper atmosphere traveling at 1,000,000 miles per hour (300 miles per second). The Kinetic Energy of these fast moving particles is 0.01 billion electron-volts. We call this the Solar Wind and we give the name Cosmic Rays to much higher energy particles.
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- Most Cosmic Rays have energy levels ranging form 10 million to 10 billion electron-volts. ( 10^7 to 10^10 eV). And, most Cosmic Rays originate in a source inside our Milky Way Galaxy.
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- Galactic Cosmic Rays are so common about 10 of them pass through your thumb every minute.
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- If you are above the Earth’s atmosphere about 500 Cosmic Rays would pass through your thumb every minute.
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- Galactic Cosmic Rays can have energies as great as 10^18 electron volts, ( a billion, billion eV). These charged particles are heavier and are traveling very near the speed of light.
-
- Supernovae explosions in our Galaxy could be a likely sources of high energy Cosmic Rays.
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- A few Cosmic Rays coming from outside our Galaxy have been detected with energies up to 100,000,000,000 billion electron volts, ( 10^20 eV). This amount of energy is equivalent to being hit by a tennis ball traveling at 100 miles per hour. However, the mass of these subatomic particles is exceedingly small. To have this amount of energy the are traveling 699,000,000 miles per hour. Kinetic Energy is equal to mass times velocity squared. ( KE = ½*m*v^2)
-
- When a Cosmic Ray enters our atmosphere it collides with gas atoms and produces a shower of subatomic particles that reach the surface of Earth.
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- A Cosmic Ray proton collides with a nitrogen nucleus producing a neutron, a positive pion, a negative pion, and a neutral pion. Pions and Mesons are collective names given to elementary particles that have strong interactions with other particles. The negative pion splits into an anti-neutrino and a negative Muon. A Muon is a high energy electron. The positive pion splits into a neutrino and a positive Muon. A neutral pion releases Gamma Rays and produces electrons and anti-electrons. All of these subatomic particles comprise a shower of particles that reach the surface of Earth. The shower can be spread out over an area of 30 square kilometers.
-
- The highest energy Cosmic Rays ( > 10^18 eV) are most likely heavier nuclei. An iron nuclei has 26 protons. 26 times the mass of a single proton and also 26 times as much positive charge making it accelerate even faster in a magnetic field.
-
- 100 years of study and science is still trying to learn where Cosmic Rays come from? What effects do they have on Earth and on life? Theories are that they may be responsible for DNA mutations that have created the diversity of life we find on Earth? Other theories are that they are responsible for creation of the cloud formations in Earth’s atmosphere. There is nothing like a 100 year old mystery to keep you thinking. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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(1) To learn more about Cosmic Rays request Reviews # 1377, #810, #763, #687, #541 to get an e-mail copy.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
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707-536-3272, Saturday, July 21, 2012
--------- ----------------- 1495 - The Higgs Particle
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- December 9, 2006 Fermilab’s particle accelerator physicists may have detected the Higgs particle. The Higgs Boson is the particle expected to give every other fundamental particle its mass. They saw the particle at 160 GeV ( 160,000,000,000 electron volts, 6^10^11 eV, ), which is close to the theoretical mass of the Higgs.
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- When you got up this morning and hopped on the bathroom scales hoping that you had lost weight the number you get is determined by your mass, the mass and radius of Earth and the force of gravity. The last three probably did not change. So, your weight is determined by your mass, but what determines your mass, besides dieting? Physicists have been pursuing that question for hundreds of years.
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- We know mass as inertia that resists a force trying to accelerate it. The Higgs Boson may be the particle that causes that resistance. Bosons are photons, W-Z bosons, Gluons and now Higgs Bosons. Photons carry the electromagnetic force and have no mass. W-Z bosons carry the nuclear Weak Force but they have a huge mass. The theoretical Higgs Boson would explain the difference between these two forces. Its discovery could unleash an explanation for mass and inertia. It could be one of the fundamental building blocks of nature.
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- Particle accelerators have verified the existence of 12 fundamental particles of matter and 3 fundamental particles of force carriers, but the Higgs has not been found to date. The Higgs is a quantum particle of the Higgs Field that permeates empty space, just as the photon is a quantum particle that permeates an Electric Field. The Higgs Field has a value of 246 GeV. It is a scalar field giving the Higgs Boson a spin of zero, no intrinsic angular momentum. It permeates all of empty space and carries the force that gives the other particles their mass. Theories predict the mass of the Higgs to be between 130 - 190 GeV. This particle discovered at 160 GeV is a good candidate.
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- Particle accelerators need tremendous energies to detect these high mass particles. Why are such high energies necessary. It is because E = h*f, E = h*c/w. “h” is Planck’s Constant. “c” is speed of light. “f“ is frequency. “w” is the wavelength.
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The Energy = 6.6 * 10^-34 kg*m^2/sec * 3*10^8 m/sec / wavelength.
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E = 2*10^-25 / wavelength
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- Wavelength is inversely proportional to Energy. In order to “see” with shorter wavelengths we need to use higher and higher energies.
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The particle accelerator is a type of microscope. Like the electron microscope can see smaller objects than the photon microscope. Larger energies correspond to smaller distances. (See footnote (2) to learn how mass is shown in electron volts.)
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-------------- Energy, or Mass ------------ Length
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---------------- 10^28 eV ------------------ --------------------- Planck scale mass
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-35 meters - Planck scale length
---------------- 10^27 eV ------------------
---------------- 10^25 eV ------------------ 10^-33 - Three Forces come together
---------------- 10^24 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ---------------------- 10^-30 meters
---------------- 10^21 eV ------------------
---------------------------- -------------------- 10^-27meters
---------------- 10^18 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ----------------------- 10^-24 meters
---------------- 10^15 eV ------------------
--------------------------- ------------------ --- 10^-21 meters - Energy to find the Higgs
---------------- 10^12 eV ----------------------------------- Weak Force scale
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-18 meters
---------------- 10^9 eV -------------------------------------- proton mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-15 meters
---------------- 10^6 eV ------------------------------------ electron mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-12 meters -
---------------- 1,000 eV ---------------- --- 10^-10 meters - size of atom
---------------------------------------------- --- 10^-9 meters
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- Note that larger energies correspond to smaller distances. The large Planck Scale Energy 10^28 electron volts means that the force of gravity is weak. The Weak Force Scale Energy is 10^12 electron volts and it operates over a distance of 10^-18 meters. It is a mystery to physicists why the Planck scale is 16 orders of magnitude more massive than the Weak scale (10^28 vs. 10^12 = 10^16). The Standard Model predicts that if the mass of the W-Boson is between 80.2 and 80.4 GeV. And, the mass of the Top Quark is between 160 and 185 GeV. Then, the Higgs Boson is between 114 and 400 GeV. But, experiments are giving differing results. So, is the Standard Model correct, or incomplete?
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- One of the theories, called Super symmetry, predicts that there are five Higgs Bosons of different masses. However, the Standard Model predicts only a single Higgs. In order to discover which theory is true we need more powerful accelerators. A speed of light collision between protons and anti-protons would create Higgs particles that would decay into 2 Tau Leptons in a fraction of a second. Then the Tau’s would decay into other particles. Physicists are busy studying these collisions and the particle debris they create in search of the illusive Higgs. Its discovery will be a great day in physics.
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-An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned
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(1) Originally #735
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(2) The mass of a particle is often abbreviated by physicists in Electron Volts. It is shorthand. The assumption is that the Energy number is divided by the speed of light squared. E = m*c^2, therefore, mass = E / c^2. The proton mass is 1 GeV / c^2, 1 billion Electron Volts / c^2 . Where “c” is (3*10^8 meters per second )^2 = 9 * 10^16 meters^2 per seconds^2. One Electron Volt = 1.6*10^-19 Joules. A Joule is kilogram* meter^2 / second^2. Therefore the mass of a proton is E / c^2 = 1*10^9 eV * 1.6*10^-19 kg*m^2 / sec^2 / 9 *10^16 m^2 / sec^2 = 1.6 *10^10 / 9*10^16 = 1.78 * 10^-27 kilograms. Using a more precise calculation the mass of a proton is 1.67 * 10^-27 kilograms
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(3) The more recent measurements put the mass of the Higgs Boson at 125 electron volts discovered in CERN’s particle accelerator. See Review # 1423 to learn more.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, July 11, 2012
