JimsAstronomy

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

The Quantum Physics of Determinism?

- 1793 - Quantum Physics of Determinism. Our natural world is deterministic yet the building blocks that make it up are indeterministic, totally acting at random?
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----------------- 1793 - Quantum Physics of Determinism.
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- Some things just happen at random. With no rhyme nor reason. Randomness seems to be a built in feature of our natural world at its foundation.
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- Radioactive decay of atoms is totally random.
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- Photons striking a mirror reflect or pass through randomly.
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- The theory being that quantum mechanics is “ indeterministic”, it all depends on the statistics of randomness.
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- Einstein came up with the theory in 1905 that light could be both a particle and a wave. The wave function that determines this is in a perfectly deterministic equation, called the Schrodinger Equation. His equation is the “determinism” of a wave function.
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- Heisenberg viewed the wave function as a probabilistic “haze” of potential existences. He concluded that only when you observe a particle does it materialize somewhere. Before observation the wave function was spread over a huge region of space. At observation it collapses into a narrow spike at a single position and becomes a “ particle”. However, we have no laws in physics that govern this collapse. It just happens at random?
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- For Einstein wave collapse into a particle required instantaneous action at a distance. He reasoned that no communications could travel faster than the speed of light. Light speed was a Universal Constant at 186,000 miles per second.
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- He had trouble with “ measurement” being the “ creation” of reality out of the act of observing it.
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- Or, was the wave function collapse not a physical process at all but more simply the acquisition of knowledge inside our brains?
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- What physics was trying to demonstrate was that a probabilistic event through the underlying reality was deterministic. ( mind blowing!).
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- The logic of physics says that indeterministic microphysics can lead to deterministic macrophysics. Quantum randomness indeterminism averages out to reality.
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- A baseball can have atoms behaving randomly yet its flight can be totally deterministic. Gas molecules have random motion that together determine an exact temperature. A “temperature” being the average of a large number of individual vibrating molecules.
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- It appears that the real world is a layer cake of indeterminism and determinism.
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- The Earth’s climate is dictated by laws of motion, daily, seasonally probabilistic events however, long term trends are still predictable. Biology follows the same logic.
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- Human self-determination follows this layer cake logic as well. To truly have “free will” we need indeterminism.
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- Macrodeterminism is your decision. Microdeterminism is not.
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- One gram of Uranium 238 contains 2.5*10^21 atoms. Each atom is identical and indistinguishable. Yet, 12,600 times per second one of these atoms will decay throwing off an alpha particle. No theory in physics can pre-determine which atom will decay when. It is a totally random process yet it is predictable in the macro sense. Probability calculations can determine accurately how long it takes for half of the atoms to decay (the half-life)
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- Casualty means that events can be completely determined by prior states. Is the entire Universe a single determinant system? Is there an unbroken chain of prior occurrences stretching back to the origin of the Universe? Is the future determined completely by preceding events?
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- Mathematical models involving differential equations ( equations measuring the rate of change over time) are not deterministic because they involve randomness. Their results have sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Theory implies that even as small as a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a chain reaction that could lead to a hurricane years later.
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- Chaos Theory tells us that it is impossible to predict real life events. The Schrodinger Equation uniquely predicts the development of the wave function with time. If the wave function is deterministic then Quantum Mechanics is deterministic and that could imply that there is one single wave function for the entire Universe starting at the origin.
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- Our individual atoms are random in motion, yet the enormous mass of atoms that make up our bodies allow us to live and breath. Human decision themselves reduce to the mechanics of atoms in our brains. I have to stop thinking about this. It makes me dizzy.
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- Other reviews available on this weird physics:
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- #1762 - Delving into extreme physics. How do we know that the reality we perceive is true? There is no way to remove the observer from his perception.
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- #1605 - Physics wants a Theory of Everything combining Quantum Mechanics and Relativity.
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- #1546 - Paul Dirac’s physics. Quantum Theory does not work when we push the laws to extremes, high energies , or small distances.
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- #1183 - Mysteries for science students to discover the answers to.
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- #1074 - Physics the way I learned it.
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Monday, December 28, 2015 -----
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Nonlocality, how to be two places at once?

- 1792 - Local and Non-local Space? How to be in two places at once. Paired atomic particles remain connected regardless of the space between them. How do they communicate?
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----------------- 1792 - Local and Non-local Space?
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- Non-locality is how to be in two places at once. Nonlocality in physics is where particles somehow communicate connected states ( properties ) when they are no longer “local” ( close enough for the speed of light to reach between them.).
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- For an atom , 2 electrons in orbit, are not allowed to be in the same “ state”. ( see footnote about Pauli Exclusion Principle ). If one has “ spin up” and the other has “ spin down” they are connected. If one switches states from up to down or vice versa the other switches states instantaneously. They somehow act as a connected pair.
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- Now the weird part. If we remove these 2 connected electrons from the atom they remain connected no matter how much they are separated in space. Somehow they communicate so when one changes states the other changes instantaneously. The separation means that the state change happens faster than the speed of light. Somehow they violate “ locality”. Somehow they transcend space and place and distance no longer have meaning?
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- If the one of the electrons is sent to the Moon with an atomic clock. The other with an atomic clock remains on Earth. We use a magnetic field to reverse the spin of the one on Earth. The one on the Moon reverses at the same time. We would expect a 1.3 second delay for a signal to reach the Moon telling that electron to switch. That is not the case. The switch is instantaneous with no time delay.
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- Everything has a “ place”. In other words everything has “ locality”. Atomic particles that violate locality transcend space. The term is “quantum entanglement“. When particles become
“ paired” somehow they remain paired regardless of separation. Nonlocality synchronizes the two particles regardless of distance or space between them.
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- Gravity appears to be a force that acts invisibly over distance. However, Einstein has shown that “force” to be the “curvature of space-time through space. The speed of gravity is also limited by the speed of light. 186,000 miles per second is always a constant. If the Sun disappeared the Earth would not feel the release of gravity for 8 minutes. If the Earth disappeared the Moon would not feel it for 1.3 seconds.
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- How would Einstein explain Entanglement and Nonlocality?
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- Space and time are no more stable than the ground beneath our feet. Tectonic plates marginally are changing our position. Likewise, everything in the Universe is in motion and changing positions. Gravity still propagates at the speed of light so the ripples of space-time must also propagate at the speed of light.
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- Objects moving freely through space are following the curvature of space-time. Always following the path of least resistance and the shortest time. Even light beams of photons trace out the shape of space as the travel at 186,000 miles per second.
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- We tend to think that the Sun’s gravity has bent the light rays of a distant star passing by. But, more accurately light photons are following warped space that is created by the mass of the Sun.
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- Earth’s mass does the same thing. All falling objects follow warped space. “Down” is always the direction in which time passes more slowly. Time at sea level passes more slowly than time at the mountain tops. Put your watch on your ankle and time will pass slower than if you wear it on your wrist.
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- When you observe a falling object you see it rolling across the contours of time.
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- With warped space-time we loose all ability to define a specific location. All locations are relative. We never observe “places” to have absolute locations. Only their relative locations are objective as a consequence of the Theory of Relativity.
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- Another consequence is that quantities such as Energy can not be situated in any specific place either. Points in space are indistinguishable and interchangeable. Space will not support any “ particular” location. Space becomes defined by different configurations of the gravitational field were it resides.
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- Any field of gravity is not a “local’ phenomenon. Points in space-time are not independent. Our normal day to day lives can ignore this Nonlocality. Physics to us appears to be local., only limited to the constant speed of light.
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- Only under extreme circumstances does Nonlocality become noticeable. Blackholes would be one example of extreme circumstances. For Isaac Newton gravity acted at a distance but space was absolute. For Albert Einstein gravity ripples through space-time with no positions being local.
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- Quantum Nonlocality must be something like this. But, we have to explain how it can react faster than the speed of light.
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- Nonlocality is sometimes called “ Spooky action at a distance”.
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- The “ Pauli Exclusion Principle says that no two electrons in an atom can have the same set of values for the four quantum numbers. Spin being one of these numbers. This principle explains the periodic table of elements each having a different configuration of electrons in different shells.
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- www.georgemusser.com is a good site to learn more about Nonlocality.
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- Velocity :182,282 miles per second. Moon distance 238,855 miles. Time: 1.3 seconds. 2.6 seconds for the round trip. Sun distance 93 million miles. Time: 510 seconds, 8.5 minutes.
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Tuesday, December 22, 2015 -----
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Monday, December 21, 2015

Space bends, and Time slows?

- 1790 - Space bends, and Time slows? This review explains why space and time must change in order to adhere to the Theory of Relativity.
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----------------- 1790 - Space bends, and Time slows?
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- What follows are five reviews that are about Determinism, Non-Locality, Infinity, Space-Time, and Relativity. Let’s start with Space-time. It all changed in 1905. Space and time were constants, unchanging. Then Einstein proclaimed that space bends and time slows. That changes everything:
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- Once the equations were written Einstein needed a demonstration, an experiment, that validated the calculations. Mercury’s orbit around the Sun is not exactly the same every year. It is awfully close. Within one part in a million. But, it is consistently off by that same amount each year. As the planet orbits it “precesses“, its orbit offsets, it wobbles due to space-time warping created by the huge mass of the Sun.
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- No big deal but Einstein’s equations calculated the amount exactly and Newton’s equations calculated exactly the amount of error predicted. The proof that space-time really does warp.
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- He proved that time slows with this thought experiment. Design a clock using a flashbulb, a mirror, and a photocell. The flash goes off. Light travels up to the mirror and back to the photocell that triggers another flash. Now the repetitive flashes act as a tick-tock of a clock.
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- If the clock is stationary each tick-tock is the exact same amount of time.
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- Now, set the whole thing in motion. The light beam that goes up to the mirror and bounces back to the photocell does not go straight up and straight down. The beam going up and coming down traces a longer triangular path as the clock’s moves horizontally. The light beam has to travel further when in motion. The tick-tock slows down.
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- The stationary observer sees a saw-tooth pattern to the light beams as the clock passes by. An observer moving with the clock still sees a straight up and down beam. The moving observer sees a faster clock than the stationary observer. The stationary observer sees a slower clock. It all depends on their Relative motion. Moving clocks tick slower.
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- The same phenomena occurs simply throwing a ball in the air. Newton’s laws are the same in motion or stationary, but, two observers see different paths for the ball. The stationary observers see a longer path for the ball when the thrower is moving.
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- These ideas are behind what is now the Theory of Relativity:
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- Moving clocks slow down.
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- Moving objects shrink in their direction of motion.
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- Moving objects get more massive.
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- It has been proven clocks tick slower in orbit than when on Earth. Less gravity has slower clocks because Earth’s gravity is warping space-time less at higher elevations.
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- Electromagnetic waves toss electric fields and magnetic fields back and forth with various frequencies. The speed of these waves is always 186,000 miles per second in the direction of travel. The tossing back and forth varies with each different frequency (color).
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- Electromagnetic waves range in size from radio waves with 1,000’s of miles in wavelength to Gamma Rays with wavelengths smaller than the nucleus of atoms. Regardless , all these waves move at the same speed, the speed of light. And this speed is always a constant to all observers regardless of their relative motion.
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- Speed is a ratio. The only way for speed to remain constant regardless of motion is for distance to shrink and time to slow.
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----------------------- speed = distance / time
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- To carry this Theory of Relativity into space. A space traveler is weightless. She releases a ball and it is suspended in the same spot as long as the velocity of the ship is constant. If the spaceship is accelerating the floor of the ship rises up and meets the ball. The traveler feels the force of acceleration. The traveler thinks the ball is falling to the floor. The traveler can tell no difference between gravity and acceleration.
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- Defying common sense all bodies fall in a gravitational field the same regardless of their mass. You would think that the heavier ball would fall faster than the lighter ball. Not so! The gravitational acceleration is the same independent of mass.
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- If the space ship is traveling in one direction and accelerating at exactly 32 feet per second per second, then the falling ball would fall exactly the same as if the space-ship were standing still on the surface of the Earth. The space traveler could not tell the difference between acceleration and gravity.
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- The simple principle always applies: The presence of matter distorts the fabric of space-time and objects all travel the shortest time path through this warped space. Space-time distortions are basically unnoticeable , and immeasurable, until motion nears the speed of light, or, objects are near a very large mass.
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- In fact, the first demonstration, or experiment, to verify this principle occurred in 1919 when astronomers detected light being deflected as photons passed by the mass of an eclipsed Sun. The same warp of space-time also explained the precessions of Mercury’s orbit introduced in the first paragraph.
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- A more modern proof of Relativity occurred when the 24 orbiting satellites in the Global Positioning System ( GPS ) began measuring distances to calculate positions on Earth’s surface using their high precision atomic clocks. These distance measurements only worked when calculations compensated for the differences between slower time in orbit and faster time on the surface of Earth.
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- The Theory is 100 years old and only one prediction remains unverified. That is the existence of Gravitational Waves. Several experiments are in the works. Stay tuned, an announcement will be made shortly ,and, Einstein will be proven right once again!
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- The next Review #1791 addresses the Consequences of the Theory of Relativity.
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- Previous reviews available upon request:
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- # 1773 - The size of space depends on how fast you are. Space is not empty. It is full of fields and particles, and what else?
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- #1407 Space is in constant motion. Electric charges ( ions) in motion create electric and magnetic fields.
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- #1670 - Space dust.
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- # 1242 - At the smallest levels things remain connected even though they are separated in space.
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- # 1241 - How can space and time be related?
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- #1258 - How much space is in out Solar System?
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- #781 - Space- much todo about nothing?
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--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Monday, December 21, 2015 -----
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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Pluto 9th Planet to 1st Dwarf Planet?

- 1789 - Pluto 9th Planet to 1st Dwarf Planet? Spacecraft visit in 2015 uncovered many new mysteries. There is much more complexity their than expected.
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----------------- 1789 - Pluto 9th Planet to 1st Dwarf Planet?
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- Pluto rose from the smallest planet to the largest and brightest Kuiper Belt object. Its demotion from “ Planet” acquired the new name , “ Dwarf Planet”.
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- The New Horizons Spacecraft arrived to visit Pluto in July 2015.
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- Pluto has an atmosphere 52 miles thick with multiple “haze” layers extending as high as 100 miles above the surface. This enormous atmosphere is composed of nitrogen, methane, and other gases that evaporate off the surface when Pluto’s orbit is closest to the Sun. It takes Pluto 240 years to complete a single orbit.
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- Pluto’s orbit has 120 degree tilt on top of being highly elliptical which causes intense variations in those four long seasons.
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- Pluto’s density means that about 70% of its mass is rock. In contrast Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is 40% rock with its primary composition water-ice.
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- Pluto’s diameter is 1,473 miles. It has 5 moons ranging from:
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----------------------------Charon ----------- 750 miles
----------------------------Hydra ------------ 38 to 104 miles ( not perfectly spherical)
----------------------------Nix --------------- 29 to 85 miles
----------------------------Kerberos --------- 8 to 21 miles
----------------------------Styx --------------- 6 to 16 miles
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- The smooth, dark regions on Pluto appear to be wind blown dunes. But, that is strange because Pluto’s atmosphere is so thin. It could be that its atmosphere was much thicker in the past.
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- Before the New Horizon’s flyby astronomers expected to find a frozen, cratered, long-dead world. Instead, they find that Pluto’s surface is young with frozen plains, icy mountains as high as the Rockies, dunes , glacial lakes, and flowing nitrogen ice. The surface ranges in age form 100 million years to several billions of years old. The lack of meteor impacts prove the recent geological activity. To have geological activity there must be some form of internal heating?
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- The dark regions of the surface may be coloration of frozen methane irradiated by the Sun and converted into tar-like compounds.
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- Mountains extend to 11,000 feet. Their peaks composed of water ice. The water ice is as hard as granite when its temperature is -390F.
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- The material flowing down the mountains appears to be nitrogen ice. Polygon depressions on the surface of the plains are likely formed by relatively warm material seeping for below the surface.
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- The mystery encountered is to discover, “ what is the energy source driving all this activity?”
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- Other reviews available include - #1781 with reference to four others
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---------------- Pluto Diameter ----------- 1,473 miles ( 18% Earth’s)
------------------------- Mass -------------- 1.31*10^22 kg ( 0.22% Earth’s)
------------------------- Density ----------- 2.05 g/cm^3
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----------------- Charon Diameter -------- 737 miles
------------------------- Mass -------------- 0.156*10^22 kg
------------------------- Density ----------- 1.60 g/cm^3
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Sunday, December 20, 2015 -----
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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Europa the liquid moon of Jupiter?

- 1788 - Europa - moon of Jupiter is 80% larger than our Moon. It harbors an enormous under ice ocean and has a good chance of support primitive life forms.
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----------------- 1788 - Europa - moon of Jupiter.
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- Jupiter’s moon Europa harbors an ocean of liquid water beneath its fragile shell of ice. Active geology has covered up all the older craters on the surface. Today its icy surface is striated by cracks and faults, jumbled icebergs suspended in regions where liquid water exited or slushy water has frozen.
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- Tidal flexing from Jupiter’s enormous gravity allows water to well up and build up ridges.
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- Europa has a metallic core and a rocky mantle. Above the rocky mantle is a layer of water ice 60 miles thick. If this were liquid it would be twice as much as all the Earth’s oceans combined.
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- Europa is one of the few moons in the Solar System that has a magnetic field. It appears to interact with the rotation of Jupiter’s strong magnetic field. A magnetic field requires the flow of a liquid layer of electrically conducting material.
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- A salty ocean would be just the ticket to do this. Lava eruptions from vents in Europa’s seafloor could jumble the icy crust above. Primitive life thrives near seafloor vents at the bottom of Earth’s oceans. Simple organisms feed off toxic gases from these volcanic vents.
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- Also, phyllosilicate clay minerals on Europa’s surface are close associates to Earth’s minerals harboring organic molecules.
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- Calculations put Europa’s ice shell at 12 miles thick then the liquid water ocean below that is 60 miles thick.
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- Europa takes 3.55 days to orbit around Jupiter. Tidal forces raise and lower the ice shell as much as 100 feet. Europa’s orbit is elliptically shaped by the other tug of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede. This ellipse causes the tidal bulge to lag behind the orbital velocity. The combination causes the ice shell to float freely on the subsurface ocean. A long float to circle the moon taking 12,000 years to complete.
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- In addition to this rotation thicker ice at the poles is wandering down to the equator. All in all Europa is offering a dynamic environment for further exploration. Stay tuned there is much more to learn.
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- Other reviews available:
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- # 1725 - Explains how friction creates the heat energy for Europa’s oceans.
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- # The above review lists 4 other reviews #1702, #1361, #1152, #812 for even more for you to learn.
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Saturday, December 19, 2015 -----
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Titan the strange moon of Saturn?

----------------- 1787 - Titan, strange moon of Saturn.
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- The planet Saturn has 62 moons. Can you name the largest? Is this the largest moon in our Solar System?
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- The largest moon orbiting Saturn is Titan. It is the only planet - moon discovered so far with a liquid on its surface and the only moon with a dense atmosphere. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury.
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- But, the temperature averages -295 F and the liquid is not water it is more like liquid natural gas. The dense atmosphere is mostly methane and is so thick it hides the surface. The atmosphere is still 90% nitrogen. ( Earth’s atmosphere is 77% nitrogen ). Titans’ remaining 10% atmosphere contains argon, methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), ammonia (NH3) and other hydrogen compounds.
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- There are fields of sand dunes but they are not silicate sand they are beads of organic material more like plastics. The rivers are flowing hydrocarbons, methane and ethane.
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- Our Sun’s ultraviolet radiation breaks down the hydrogen compounds releasing the hydrogen to escape into space leaving behind carbon and nitrogen. The methane and ethane in the atmosphere act as Greenhouse Gases. Still its surface temperature is not warmer than -180C with an atmospheric pressure 1.5 times that on Earth.
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- Methane in the atmosphere condenses and rains down on to the surface forming liquid rivers and lakes. If all the methane condensed at once it would become a global layer 23 feet deep. Do the same thing with the water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere and the global surface would add only 1 inch.
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- Sunlight is splitting the methane molecules into hydrogen and ethane and propane. The hydrogen gas escapes into space. These hydrocarbons that rain down on the Titan’s surface over time become solid particles that make up the “sand dunes”. They are called tholins.
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- The surface pressure on Titan is 150% that of Earth’s The average temperature is
-295F. The Saturn System tilts 27 degrees from the plane of its orbit . This tilt creates the 4 seasons. But, each season lasts 7.5 years as it takes Saturn 30 years to circle the Sun.
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- The methane lakes and seas cover 1% of Titan’s surface lying mostly in the northern hemisphere. Radar measurement have found lake depths down to 525 feet. Calculations for the total volume of surface liquid methane is 15 times larger than the volume of Lake Michigan.
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- Titan obviously has a complex chemistry. This makes it possible to produce organic compounds. When the Cassini Spacecraft sent the Huygens Probe to parachute through the atmosphere to the surface January 14, 2005 it found river valleys and shorelines created by lakes of methane. Instead of rock Titan has ice. Instead of molten lava Titan has water ice mixed with ammonia. Titan’s internal heat might still harbor liquid water along with plenty of organic chemistry. Titan’s origin and evolution are chronicled within the nature of its lakes and seas giving us an amazing glimpse of this strange new world.
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- Other Reviews available upon request:
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- #1363 - Titan is 3,200 miles in diameter orbiting Saturn in 16 days
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- #1144 - Titan’s average density is 1.88 grams/ cm^3
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- # 818 - Written in 2007. Titan’s atmosphere is similar to that on Earth some 4 billion years ago.
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- #555 - Written in 2005. Christiaan Huygens was the astronomer that discovered Titan in 1655. He was 26 years old and used a home made telescope.
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- #1786 See this review to learn about Enceladus one of Saturn’s smaller moons. The largest moon in the Solar System is Jupiter’s Ganymede.
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Saturday, December 19, 2015 -----
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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Enceladus - A moon of Saturn.

- 1786 - Enceladus - Saturn’s moon. This review describes what we have learned from recent space probes. It’s a whole new world to spur the imagination.
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----------------- 1786 - Enceladus - Saturn’s moon.
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- I am working on a series of moon reviews. Saturn’s Titan and Enceladus, Jupiter’s Europa. This one is about Enceladus. But, here is a quick summary to get you familiar of some of the more than 100 moons orbiting Jovian planets:
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---------------- Jupiter moons - Io - Europa - Ganymede - Callisto
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---------------- Saturn moons - Mimas - Enceladus - Tethys - Dione - Rhea - Titan - Iapetus
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--------------- Uranus moons - Miranda - Ariel - Umbriel - Titania - Oberon
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---------------- Neptune moons - Triton - Nereid
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---------------- Mercury moons - none
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--------------- Earth Moon - one Moon.
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- Enceladus has groves in its surface that are measurably warmer than the surrounding terrain. These groves are venting huge clouds of water vapor and ice crystals.
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- Enceladus is barely 500 kilometers across ( 311 miles ). It would fit inside the borders of Colorado.
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- How to explain this geological activity in such a small body? Radioactivity? Tidal friction heating?
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- It could be that the icy composition makes these properties fundamentally different that terrestrial worlds.
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- Enceladus is the best bet astronomers have for finding life elsewhere in our Solar System. Enceladus has a subsurface global liquid ocean. Near the south pole subsurface sea spews into space out of fissures in the surface.
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- A liquid water ocean lies between the moon’s icy surface layer and the rocky interior. It is the push and pull of Saturn’s gravity that is keeping this water in its liquid state.
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- Material from the over 100 geysers is pulled towards Saturn and orbit’s the planet as the E-ring. Silicate particles have been found in this ring. The 194F temperature and PH of 8.5 to 10.5 needed to form these particles imply Enceladus harbors hot-spring heated water. By example, the hydrothermal vents found on Earth sea floors host extreme organisms. Maybe Enceladus does as well?
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- The chemistry that produces these silicates also releases molecular hydrogen gas.
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- We still have much more to learn from exploration of the moons. Here are some previous reviews about Enceladus available upon request:
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- #1714 - Tidal forces create a liquid ocean under the surface ice on Enceladus. This ocean ia about the size of Lake Superior that lies under 25 miles of thick ice.
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- # 1362 - In 2008 a flyby found geyser contain water, nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia, solid particles, propane, ethane, and acetylene. ammonia is a potent antifreeze and could keep liquid water down to - 136F.
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- #1166 - Cyrovolcanoes on the surface are spewing jets of water vapor and ice into outer space.
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- # 957 - Enceladus is 14% the size of the Moon with density of 1.85 grams/ cm^3. The Moon’s density is 3.34 g/cm^3 and the density of water is 1.00 g/cm^3 ( because that is how the gram is defined.)
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- Data for these review calculations:
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--------------------- Enceladus --------- Diameter ------------ 311 miles
--------------------------------------------- Mass ----------------- 1.2*10^20 kilograms
--------------------------------------------- Volume ------------- 6.4*10^22 cm^3
--------------------------------------------- Density -------------- 1.85 g/cm^3
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--------------------- Earth --------- Diameter ------------ 7,926 miles
---------------------------------------- Mass ----------------- 5.97*10^24 kilograms
---------------------------------------- Density -------------- 5.52 g/cm^3

--------------------- Moon --------- Diameter ------------ 2,160 miles
----------------------------------------- Mass ----------------- 7.349*10^22 kilograms
----------------------------------------- Density -------------- 3.34 g/cm^3

--------------------- Enceladus / Moon Ratios --------- Diameter ------------ 14%
---------------------------------------------------------------- Mass ----------------- 0.16%
---------------------------------------------------------------- Density -------------- 55%
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----------------- RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Thursday, December 17, 2015 -----
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