PI - history of Pi

-  2667 -  PI  -  history of Pi.  -  Pi (π) has been known for almost 4000 years.  Even if we calculated the number of seconds in those 4000 years and calculated π to that number of places, we would still only be approximating its actual value. Here’s a brief history of finding π.
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 ---------------------   2667 -  PI  -  history of Pi
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-  The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3. One Babylonian tablet (ca. 1900–1680 BC) indicates a value of 3.125 for π, which is a closer approximation.
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-  The Rhind Papyrus (ca.1650 BC) gives us insight into the mathematics of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for π.
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-  The first calculation of π was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. Archimedes approximated the area of a circle by using the Pythagorean Theorem to find the areas of two regular polygons: the polygon inscribed within the circle and the polygon within which the circle was circumscribed.
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-  Since the actual area of the circle lies between the areas of the inscribed and circumscribed polygons, the areas of the polygons gave upper and lower bounds for the area of the circle. Archimedes knew that he had not found the value of π but only an approximation within those limits. In this way, Archimedes showed that π is between
 3 1/7 and 3 10/71.  Decimal version Pi is between 3.14285 and 3.140845.
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-  A similar approach was used by Zu Chongzhi (429–501), a brilliant Chinese mathematician and astronomer. Zu Chongzhi would not have been familiar with Archimedes’ method,  but because his book has been lost, little is known of his work.
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-  He calculated the value of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter to be 355/113. To compute this accuracy for π, he must have started with an inscribed regular 24,576-gon and performed lengthy calculations involving hundreds of square roots carried out to 9 decimal places.
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-  Mathematicians began using the Greek letter π in the 1700s. Introduced by William Jones in 1706, use of the symbol was popularized by Leonhard Euler, who adopted it in 1737.
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-  An eighteenth-century French mathematician named Georges Buffon devised a way to calculate π based on probability. You can try it yourself at the Exploratorium.
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-  The study of numbers is called “number theory” .  It date backs to 2000 B.C. When the Babylonians applied the Pythagorean Theorem to approximate the square root of 2.
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-  Then in 540 B.C. Pythagoras founded his school and proved the Pythagorean Theorem.  The students were confounded by the proof that irrational numbers exist.
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-  In 300 B.C.  Euclid presented his axiomatic method for geometry.  His book “Elements” proved the infinity of prime numbers:  And, the irrational number for the square root of 2.  And, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic.
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-  In  200 B.C.   Eratosthenes developed the equation for finding prime numbers up to a given value.
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-  In  210 -  Diophantus publishes 13 volumes on algebra, “Arithmetica”

-  In  1202  -  Fibonacci describes his sequence.  (See another Review to learn about this).
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-  In  1570  -   “Arithmetica” translated into Latin.
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-  In  1637  -  Fermat asserts his last theorem.
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-  In  1736  -  Euler publishes proof of Fermat’s theorem.
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-  In  1737  -  Euler establishes analytical number theory.
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-  In  1742  -  Goldbach conjecture that every number past 4 can be written as the sum of two prime numbers.
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-  In  1750  -  Euler proves Fermat’s theorem is true for n = 3.
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-  In  1770  -  Lagrange proves irrational number can be obtained with a periodic fraction expansion. 
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- In  1785  -  Gauss derives formula to derive sum of “n” natural numbers
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- In  1792  -  Legendre and Gauss define the prime number theorem.
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-  In  1801  -  Gauss introduces modular arithmetic.
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-  In 1820  -  Germain  enhances Fermat’s last theorem
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-  In 1837  -  Euclid’s theorem extended  to infinite of primes.
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-  In 1839  -  Proof of Fermat’s last theorem is flawed.
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-----------------------------    Other Reviews about Pi , available by request:
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-  2308  -  Nuclear Reactions and Pi from Breadsticks?  Throwing breadsticks on a tile floor is a random process.  The probability of a stick touching a line is 63.7%.  The ratio of hits to total tosses is 2 / pi  = 2 / 3.14 = 63.7%.   Georges Buffon figured this out in the 1700’s.
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-  2137  - The history of Pi.  By definition, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. In other words, pi equals the circumference divided by the diameter (π = c/d). Conversely, the circumference of a circle is equal to pi times the diameter (c = πd).  Pi has been known for nearly 4,000 years and was discovered by ancient Babylonians.
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-  1023  -  -  Our history tells us that the number “Pi” was first approximated in 1,900 years before the birth of Christ.  “Pi” was known to be the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter.  The calculation was done to the base 60 not to the base 10.  To the base 10 their calculation was a little greater than 3. 
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-  803  -  Transcendental Numbers :  “e” and “pi”.  Transcendental means “beyond human experience“; but, not beyond human knowledge.  Supernatural, but still natural numbers.   Numbers are just inventions man created for counting.  0, 1,2,3,4,5, …..      How could numbers be supernatural?  We started by simply counting our fingers.  We started with positive numbers and  it took a while for man to accept negative numbers.  For several centuries man could not believe that there could be something less than nothing.
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-   March 14, 2020                                                                               2667                                                                                 
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 ---------------------          Saturday, March 14, 2020    --------------------
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MATH - secrets of the universe?

-  2664 - MATH  -  secrets of the universe?  Since the dawn of humankind, our particular brand of hairless apes has stared up at the sky wondering how we got here. Is there a higher power? A higher purpose?   Math is a amazing science.  Somehow it is fundamental to how the world operates. Here are several examples of how math teaches us refined apes about our world.
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 ---------------------   2664  -  MATH  -  secrets of the universe?
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-  There is only one thing more confusing than the vast secrets of spirituality and that is the language of mathematics. And strangely enough, math and religion can sometimes come together.
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-  For  centuries humans have sought the great answers through the ancient art of geometry, out of the belief that all those weird triangles, cubes, and dodecahedrons might bring us a little bit closer to our creator
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-   This ancient art of geometry played a major role in the beliefs, designs, and architecture of countless societies throughout history.
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-   "Sacred geometry" is a broad umbrella term covering many studies, but it relates specifically to the belief that there are geometric patterns, shapes, and mathematical formulas that are central to life, creation, and the universe.
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-  These patterns have seeped into every major religion, forming the blueprint for chapels, temples, and classic artwork.   Followers of sacred geometry do believe that mathematics will help you get closer to God, Ein Sof, Brahma, or whichever divine figure you might believe in.
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-  That's the basic idea, but what makes geometric shapes so divine?
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-  Sacred geometry often centers on the belief that certain shapes in nature, due to their inherent perfection, hold the key to understanding the universe.
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-  Deciphering the Code is the nautilus shell's distinctive spiral. See, the nautilus itself is a soft little creature in a big shell. As it matures, it creates bigger chambers for itself within that shell, each new chamber being exactly proportional to the smaller chambers from before.
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-  Basically, the nautilus is the world's best engineer of such precise natural patterns.
Are they signs of an intelligent higher power inside this simple creature?
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-  The “Fibonacci sequence“, a pattern wherein every number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. The sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and so on. Fibonacci numbers pop up all throughout nature,  whether in the number of spirals on a pinecone, an artichoke's flowers, or the pattern of leaves on a stem. Count the spirals on any pinecone in your yard.
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-  The "golden ratio," which is the name for “1.618“, a number found when lots of division creates perfect symmetry. The golden ratio is found in countless ancient architectural feats, including the Great Pyramids.
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-   Plato was one of the most influential thinkers in human history, and he taught the world all about the dangers of chaining people up in a cave and making them watch shadows. Not surprisingly, Plato's brilliant mind got delighted whenever someone mentioned mathematics, particularly geometry.
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-  Over his academy was written "Let no one destitute of geometry enter my doors."
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-   Plato theorized that the sensory world as we knew it was merely a flawed impression of divine reality.  Plato tinkered with the ancient idea that the universe was constructed of five geometric shapes, each one symbolic of an element: earth, air, fire, water, and aether.
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-  Plato didn't create these shapes, but people have come to call them the Platonic Solids. Plato's scientific approach, breaking down the universe's massiveness into smaller, identifiable parts, was way ahead of his time. Plato got sacred geometry started.
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-   Archimedes was a highly intelligent Greek mathematician.  His complex geometric designs of  13 shapes are called the Archimedean Solids. The difference between the Platonic solids and the Archimedean solids comes down to the level of complexity.
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-   How was sacred geometry informed real world architecture, culture, and art?
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-  Sacred geometry has played a major role in Islamic art and architecture since the eighth century, with the interiors of countless mosques, towers, and palaces being adorned with fascinatingly complex geometric shapes, all following a specific grid, using a ruler and a compass.
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-   Muslim religious art is quite different from Christianity, where churches are usually decorated with literal figurative depictions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. The core beliefs of both religions are mostly the same, so why did their religious art go in such different directions?
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-  Rather than use human images, Muslims employed dazzling abstract geometry as a form of religious expression, creating some of the most interesting religious artwork in the world.
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-   There are still common geometric rules relating to the architectural designs of churches, steeples pointing toward God, and that most famous of all Christian icons, the cross.   The perfection of geometry symbolizes the perfection of the divine, compared to man: order in chaos.
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-  Hinduism is also done with the math, specifically fractal geometry, according to academic researchers from South Korea. Hinduism's sacred shape is a mandala, the intersection of a circle and a square, symbolizing the relationship between humankind and the divine.
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-  Hindu temples have actually been planned, designed, and built with the mandala as their geometric center.
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-   Geometry is part of  the Jewish world as well.  Geometric symbols are a key part of the ancient Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah. Anyone who has studied Kabbalah can affirm that it's a fascinatingly complex belief system, loaded with symbolism. The point where geometry and Kabbalah intersect is within the "Tree of Life," a diagram central to Kabbalistic belief.
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-  The Tree of Life is composed of ten geometric circles and 22 bars. It's a map of the sacred path between mankind the unknowable creator who lies beyond human comprehension.
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-  The tree represents the multi-layered process of creation, and the endeavor to return to a more divine consciousness by climbing this tree, one branch at a time.
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-   Da Vinci did have a lot of insane hidden meanings in his art, as all of his most famous works employ sacred geometry.  Leonardo was really big on mathematics.  One of the major guiding components in his art was that whole "golden ratio".
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- The number 1.618, which creates perfect geometric symmetry.   Da Vinci wasn't the first person to discover this dazzling geometric miracle, but he did give it new prominence and inspired others to, as well.   Da Vinci believed that true, natural beauty only came from drawing proportions that lined up with this ratio.
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-  All of Da Vinci's most famous works pinpoint the golden ratio in Vitruvian Man, the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Annunciation.
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-   “Flower of Life” is totally different from the Tree of Life.  This psychedelic arrangement of overlapping circles at least dates back to Ancient Egypt, where it was found within the Temple of Osiris.
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-  This same geometric symbol can be found within Phoenician art in the ninth century B.C., so there's no question that it was important.
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-  So  sacred geometry has played a huge role in countless societies, religions, and movements, with its myriad of perfect shapes appearing in architecture, temples, mosques, churches, and art since the dawn of civilization.
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-   POISSON'S DISTRIBUTION is an equation for predicting the future.  Poisson's distribution lets scientists take a bunch of data, graph it, and predict future events based off that.
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-   For example:  we would like to know how much mail a person is going to get every day. If we measure how much mail you get over a time period, and then put that data into the distribution equation, we can predict how likely it is that you'll get three, four, five, or 80 messages on any given day in the future.
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-  People have used this to predict the outcome of sports games or if random farms in Kansas will get hit by a space particle.
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-  FIBONACCI SEQUENCE is probably one of the most famous set of numbers in the world, the Fibonacci sequence can be described by an equation. To find the next number in the sequence, add up the previous two. The sequence keeps going. It's straightforward but probably holds the keys to the universe.
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-  We can use the Fibonacci Sequence to draw spirals and shapes, which show up in a whole lot of places. Flowers follow the Fibonacci Sequence. Big things do too: the shape of spiral galaxies follow the Fibonacci sequence, as do the shapes of tropical storms and hurricanes. Why does it show up everywhere?
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-  TUPPER'S SELF-REFERENTIAL EQUATION  looks like an absolute mess, but when run through a computer, it makes a very specific graph. Graphed equations can look like all sorts of things.  When you plot Tupper's self-referential equation, the lines on the graph spell out the equation itself. If that's not mathematical sorcery, we don't know what is.
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-  Using the technique that Tupper used, people have set up websites to let us spell out words with math.
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-  BBP ALGORITHM.  What's the 12,094,854,921th digit of pi?   Picking out random digits of pi is an impossible task. The number goes on forever. A team of mathematicians came up with the BBP algorithm, an equation to find pi's random digits.
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-  That property was totally accidental. The team first developed their equation simply to calculate pi more accurately but then realized they had a digit-extraction algorithm.  An algorithm that lets mathematicians figure out the value of a certain digit of a long number without having to calculate the earlier digits.
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-  Say we wanted to know the 100th digit of pi. Instead of having to memorize all the way up to that digit, we can just use the BBP algorithm to give us the number. We don't even need to know the 99th digit or the 101st digit.
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-  That's a pretty amazing thing for an equation to do, especially since it came up accidentally. It does spit out the number in base 16 hexadecimal notation, so we have to convert it to our normal base 10 number system. Unless you can count in base 16.
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-  RIEMANN ZETA FUNCTION for prime numbers. They are numbers that can only be divided by themselves or one. Some examples are 2, 3, 5, 7, and so on.  This function is used to predict exactly where the prime numbers occur on the number line. They seem random, but equations like the Riemann zeta function might predict where we can find them.
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-  If you graph the function, all the places where the line hits zero can be connected by another line, one related to complex numbers.  This property, called the “Riemann conjecture“, influences nearly everything. Researchers see it pop up randomly in quantum mechanics, number theory, and most importantly, figuring out where prime numbers will appear on the number line.
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-  And yet the equation remains unproven. Researchers can find proofs for specific solutions, but nobody can find a general proof that works every time. It's such a big problem that mathematicians can win $1 million to solve it.
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-  BEAUTY EQUATIONS:  One of the best ways to predict the beauty of a person is using the Golden Ratio equation. The Ratio shows up all over nature, including in human faces. If a person's face matches the Golden Ratio more perfectly, then we like that person's face more. It's even possible to change pictures of faces to fit the Golden Ratio and make them even more beautiful. The Ratio holds the key to beauty.
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-  SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION  describes how quantum systems (like an electron or other particle) evolve over time. It totally revolutionized physics as we know it.  It has some strange properties. It predicts something called “quantum tunneling“.
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-  The quantum tunneling effect says that particles can do weird things, if they try to do it long enough. For example, a particle that couldn't travel through a solid wall would be able to, as long as it smashed itself against the wall long enough.
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-   In our world of large things, that means if you kept running into an indestructible wall for an infinite amount of time, at some point, all of your particles would just jump through the wall. Fortunately, to do that would take longer than the age of the universe. That sounds absurd, but it's how the Sun works.
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-  The equation also tells us that there are probably parallel universes hanging around.
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-  CANTOR'S PROOF  is one of the mind-blowing ideas in mathematics and it totally reinvented how we think of infinity.   How big is infinity?  In hard-core mathematics, it's not a useless question at all. In fact, it's super important.
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-   Mathematician Georg Cantor investigated the idea of infinity, trying to figure out just how large infinity was. He developed the diagonal proof, to show  that infinity has a size, and some infinities have different sizes than others.
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-  That probably seems ridiculous, but it's mathematically sound. Cantor was able to show there were an infinite amount of natural numbers, which are whole numbers like 1,2,3,4, and so on.
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-  He also showed there was an infinite amount of real numbers, which included all the decimal numbers between all the numbers. Here's the amazing part: the infinite amount of real numbers is bigger than the infinite amount of natural numbers. So there are different sizes of infinity, just like numbers are different!
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-  EULER'S IDENTITY is considered by every mathematicians as the most beautiful equation in existence, Euler's identity is positively amazing and gives us some look into the interconnectedness of the whole universe. Richard Feynman called it "the most remarkable formula in mathematics."
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-  The identity comes from the Euler's equation, which shows up for most students in undergraduate physics. People don't really think much about it. But when the “x” in the equation is set to “pi“, the equation equals zero.
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-  With pi in the equation, it includes five of the most fundamental numbers in the universe: 1, 0, e, i (the imaginary root), and pi. Somehow, all five of those numbers are related to each other deep down in mathematics. The equation also has three of the most useful math operators (plus, times, exponentiation) and the relation =.   Somehow, all the building blocks of mathematics ended up in the same equation.
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-  Using these things, any civilization can build mathematics from the ground up, and it's all here in one little equation. If we were to leave one thing for our ancestors, should an apocalypse hit, it would be this identity, which would give them all the mathematical basis they need to rediscover everything we have.
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-  P=NP:  In computational mathematics, there are two types of problems: P problems and NP problems. P problems are a piece of cake for computers. NP problems are those that are not easy, unless we want to wait around 300 quintillion years to get the solution.
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-  NP problems are weird though, because a computer can tell us that the answer to an NP problem is right if we show it a solution, it just can't get there easily on its own.
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-  Here's an example of an NP problem: a salesman wants to visit 100 cities and still make it back home but only has 10,000 kilometers worth of gasoline. Can he make it to all the cities and back home with that gasoline? Think of all the different combinations of routes the salesman can take between all 100 cities, and its pretty easy to see that it would take a long time to figure out a solution because a computer would have to try every possible path.
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-  But, if we gave a computer a path already solved, it could pretty easily figure out if the path worked. Just add up all the kilometers, and if its less than 10,000, and problem solved.
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-  So what's the big deal? Well, in math-talk, P=NP says that there are no true NP problems. A computer can theoretically solve any complex problem. If somebody can prove that P=NP, they will make a sweet $1 million ... And completely revolutionize the world.
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-  Theorists believe if somebody can prove that P=NP, they will also discover the key to breaking any encryption.  Everything, from Gmail accounts to Swiss bank passwords would be open! Anybody who verifies P=NP had better hide, because we bet a lot of governments would want them dead.
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-  FRIEDMANN EQUATIONS:   Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann created these equations in the 1920s to explain how the universe was expanding. They show that the universe should expand. But when the equations came out, it looked like the universe wasn't expanding at all.  Both sides of the equation were in balance.  This is a totally unstable condition because The slightest imbalance would run to infinity.
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-   Einstein freaked out about that and added a new term to the equation called the “cosmological constant“, a new variable to make the equations say that the universe is static. He didn't like the solution, so he broke the equation.
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-  Soon after he came up with his "fudge factor," astronomers discovered that the universe is expanding.  The Universe is not in balance. There was no need for a new variable. But that didn't solve the biggest mystery though: what was making the universe expand?
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-  When astronomers started trying to figure it out, they couldn't see anything that would make the universe get bigger and bigger.   Friedmann somehow predicted that the universe has a force that has eluded discovery for nearly a century. Eventually, astronomers just called it “dark energy“.
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-  There's definitely something pushing the universe apart, but even today, nobody can figure out what that something is. It's a gigantic mystery, but the equations say that it has to exist. They show us the future of our universe will be dark energy pushing things apart.
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-  They also imply that the universe might be shaped like a “saddle“.
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-  RUSSELL'S PARADOX:  Imagine a barber who has this sign on his store: "Do you shave yourself? If not, come in and I'll shave you! I shave anyone who does not shave himself, and no one else." Seems straightforward, but here's the question: does the barber shave himself?
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-  If he does shave himself, then he shouldn't shave himself because he only shaves people who don't shave themselves. But then that means he has to shave himself, since the first statement means he doesn't shave himself.
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-  But now he is contradicting the first statement. He both shaves himself and doesn't shave himself.
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-  This isn't just a fun logic trick to play on our friends. The mathematical version of this paradox (which only uses variables and a mathematical object called a "set") is a profound statement, and totally revolutionized “set theory“.
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-  It lead to some far-out theories like “Godel's Incompleteness theorem“, which says that any mathematical system will have problems that are impossible to solve, and the discovery of different sizes of infinity.
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-  SPHERE EVERSION:  Topology is the field that studies how shapes change as they're twisted and deformed, often in ways that can't happen in real life. For example: sphere eversion, which is turning a sphere inside out without making any tears, folds or creases on its surface.
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-  That's impossible to do or even imagine in real life. How can you turn something inside out without tearing or folding it? With math!
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-  Doing one of these eversions mathematically was impossible to prove for a long time. Now, topology people can do it all the time, especially since computers can crunch the equations for us.
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-  Most people have a hard time thinking of applications of topology. The field shows up in really random places, from computer coding to chemistry and into the weird world of string theory, a physics theory to describe all of reality.
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-  The cutting edge fields use topological techniques and mathematics. So who knows, maybe the sphere eversion will hold the secrets of the universe?
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-  FUTURE PREDICTION EQUATION:  Lots of mathematics revolve around predicting the future. For example: if we drop a ball from an airplane, how long will it take the hit the ground?
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-  But some scientists  want to predict more complex things. According to a group of neuroscientists at the University of Sussex, they may have found a way to predict incoming disasters, from massive problem like stock market crashes to individual tragedies like brain aneurysms. Turns out, those two situation follow similar mathematical trends, even though they're vastly different.
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-  Their equation relies on the flow of information in complex systems and relies on a similar simulation to phase transitions, like what we see when water turns to ice.
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-  According to their equation and computer simulations, by analyzing how information flows, we can predict when a "phase change" of fortune will happen, when normal events suddenly turn into a huge catastrophe.  Like the corona virus that is attacking us right now.
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-  It's a really complex idea and it could melt our brains. Thinking of the flow of events like the change from water to ice is super odd, but supposedly it works. Mathematicians can use it to predict when a future tragedy will happen and then take steps to prevent it.
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-  Will we even believe the predictions?  It is in the math.  But, how many can understand it.  Hopefully you learned a little math to think about.
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-   March 12, 2020                                                                               2664                                                                             
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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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 ---------------------          Friday, March 13, 2020    --------------------
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PHYSICS - the theory for everything?

-  2663  -  PHYSICS  -  the theory for everything?  It is likely that  Cosmic Inflation created an equal amount of matter and antimatter. One theory is that a phase transition after inflation led to a tiny bit more matter than anti-matter and at the same time created cosmic strings which would produce slight ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves.
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 ---------------------   2663  -  PHYSICS  -  the theory for everything?
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- For me physic started out learning about the simple atom.  The atom is made up of protons and electrons.  The number f protons in the atom determines all of the 90 elements from hydrogen to oxygen to iron to uranium.   
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-  Atoms make up our material world.  Electrons provide us electricity and magnetism. Light is a form of electromagnetic energy.  Light is massless and travels at only one speed , 186,000 miles per second. 
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-  Atoms are made of particles smaller than protons and neutrons.  These are quarks and gluons that were first discovered just a few decades ago.  Neutrinos were also discovered to be flooding us from the Sun arriving in three different varieties.
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-  Today we believe that all this we know so far makes up only 5% of the total Universe.  95% of the Universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy that we classify as unknown.
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-  With that state of affairs what are the new answers we are trying to uncover?  Why is the Universe expanding at an ever increasing pace?  Cosmic inflation is stretching our tiny Universe.  And, somehow it turned this cosmic energy into matter.  How did the matter even get into us?
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-  It is likely that this same Cosmic Inflation created an equal amount of matter and antimatter. One theory is that a phase transition after inflation led to a tiny bit more matter than anti-matter and at the same time created cosmic strings which would produce slight ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves.
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-  Why is there more matter than antimatter? That answer, in turn, could explain why everything from atoms to black holes exists.
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-  Billions of years ago, soon after the Big Bang, cosmic inflation stretched the tiny seed of our universe and transformed energy into matter. Physicists think inflation initially created the same amount of matter and antimatter, which annihilate each other on contact.
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-   But then something happened that tipped the scales in favor of matter, allowing everything we can see and touch to come into existence.   The explanation is hidden in very slight ripples in space-time.
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-   If you just start off with an equal component of matter and antimatter, you would just end up with having “nothing“, because antimatter and matter have equal but opposite charge.  Everything should just annihilate.
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-  Obviously I escaped this annihilation soI cold rite this.  But why? The answer might involve very strange elementary particles known as “neutrinos“, which don't have electrical charge and can thus act as either matter or antimatter.
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-  One idea is that about a million years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled and underwent a phase transition, an event similar to how boiling water turns liquid into gas. This phase change prompted decaying neutrinos to create more matter than antimatter by some "small, small amount.
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-   Scientists have figured out a way we might be able to see this phase transition. They proposed that the change would have created extremely long and extremely thin threads of energy called "cosmic strings" that still pervade the universe.
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-  These cosmic strings would most likely create very slight ripples in space-time called “gravitational waves“. Detect these gravitational waves, and we can discover whether this theory is true.
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-  The strongest gravitational waves in our universe occur when a supernova, or star explosion, happens, when two large stars orbit each other; or when two black holes merge. But the proposed gravitational waves caused by cosmic strings would be much tinier than the ones our instruments have detected before.
-
-  Further study has made an encouraging discovery: In all cases, cosmic strings would create gravitational waves that would be detectable by future observatories, such as the European Space Agency's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and proposed Big Bang Observer and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory.
-
-  If these strings are produced at sufficiently high energy scales, they will indeed produce gravitational waves that can be detected by these planned observatories.
-
-  Or another explanation has our universe flooded with hundreds of kinds of nearly invisible particles and that, long ago, formed a network of universe-spanning strings?
-
-  This second theory is a prediction of “string theory“, the best attempt at a “theory of everything“. This theory has little particles, known as “axions“, that would create a vast "axiverse."    This incomprehensibly huge network of strings may be detectable in the near future with microwave telescopes that are actually being built.
-
-  The axion, named by physicist Frank Wilczek in 1978, gets its name because it's hypothesized to exist from a certain kind of symmetry-breaking, when certain patterns appear in mathematics.
-
-  There's one kind of symmetry, called the “CP symmetry“, that says that matter and antimatter should behave the same when their coordinates are reversed. But this symmetry doesn't seem to fit naturally into the theory of the strong nuclear force.
-
-  One solution to this puzzle is to introduce another symmetry in the universe that "corrects" for this misbehavior. However, this new symmetry only appears at extremely high energies. At everyday low energies, this symmetry disappears, and to account for that requires  a new particle, the “axion“.
-
-  String theory is an attempt to unify all of the forces of nature, especially gravity, in to a single theoretical framework. For string theory to work and for the mathematics to even have a hope of working out, our universe must have more than the usual three dimensions of space and one of time; there have to be extra spatial dimensions.
-
-  These spatial dimensions have to be tiny and curled up on themselves at scales so small that they evade normal efforts to spot them.   We are not exactly sure how these extra dimensions curl up on themselves, and there's somewhere around 10^200 possible ways to do it. “10^200” is a one followed by two hundred zeros, a very large number.
-
-  But what these dimensional arrangements appear to have in common is the existence of axions, which, in string theory, are particles that wind themselves around some of the curled-up dimensions and get stuck.
-
-  String theory does not predict just one axion but potentially hundreds of different kinds, at a variety of masses, including the axion that might appear in the theoretical predictions of the strong nuclear force.
-
-  Could axions make up dark matter, which seems to be responsible for giving galaxies most of their mass but can't be detected by ordinary telescopes?
-
-   In the earliest moments of the history of our cosmos, the universe went through phase transitions, changing its entire character from exotic, high-energy states to regular low-energy states.
-
-  During one of these phase transitions happened when the universe was less than a second old.    The axions of string theory didn't appear as particles. Instead, they appeared like loops and lines.  Axions were a network of lightweight, nearly invisible strings crisscrossing the cosmos.
-
-  This hypothetical “axiverse“, filled with a variety of lightweight axion strings, is predicted by no other theory of physics but string theory.
-
-  How can we search for these axion strings? Models predict that axion strings have very low mass.  Axions likely wouldn't mingle with other particles. There could be millions of axion strings floating through the Milky Way right now, and we wouldn't see them.
-
-  The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the oldest light in the universe, emitted when it was just 380,000 years old. This light has soaked the universe for all these billions of years, filtering through the cosmos until it finally hits something, like our microwave telescopes.
-
-  So, when we look at the CMB, we see it through billions of light-years' worth of universe. It's like looking at a flashlight"s glow through a series of cobwebs: If there is a network of axion strings threaded through the cosmos, we could potentially spot them.
-
-  Researchers  in 2019 calculated the effect an axiverse would have on CMB light. They found that, depending on how a bit of light passes near a particular axion string, the polarization of that light could shift. That’s because the CMB light (and all light) is made of waves of electric and magnetic fields, and the polarization of light tells us how the electric fields are oriented
-
-   This is something that changes when the CMB light encounters an axion. We can measure the polarization of the CMB light by passing the signal through specialized filters, allowing us to pick out this effect.
-
-  The researchers found that the total effect on the CMB from a universe full of strings introduced a shift in polarization amounting to around 1%, which is right on the verge of what we can detect today.
-
-   Future CMB mappers, such as the Cosmic Origins Explorer, Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection (LiteBIRD), and the Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) , are currently being designed.
-
-  These futuristic telescopes would be capable of finding an axiverse. And once those maps come online, we'll either find that we live in an axiverse or rule out this particular prediction of string theory.
-
-  Either way, there's a lot to untangle.  Stay tuned , we have a lot more to learn.
-
-   March 11, 2020                                                                               2663                                                                                 
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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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 ---------------------          Thursday, March 12, 2020    --------------------
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ASTRONOMICAL - distances and directions?

-  2662 - ASTRONOMICAL  -  distances and directions?  -  We see the Sun moving across the sky, and the Moon doing he same at night, but we forget it is us that is moving.  It is the Earth that is rotating , completing one cycle every 24 hours.   Every hour we rotate 15 degrees to the east .  Every 4 minutes we rotate 1 degree to the east.  Every night the stars rise 4 minutes earlier. 
-

-
 ---------------------   2662  -  ASTRONOMICAL  -  distances and directions?
-
-  Our four seasons are caused by the Earth being tilted 23.4 degrees from its orbital plane as it circles the Sun.  The north Celestial Pole is 23.4 degrees to the north of the Ecliptic Pole.
-
-   This has the same effect as tilting our equator.  The Celestial Equator , the one that goes around our globe, is at a 23.4 degree angle to the ecliptic, the plane of our rotation around the Sun.
-
-  The Spring Equinox marks the spot on the Equator where the length of the day and the length of the night are the same, 12 hours.  This year that occurs on Thursday, March 19 2020. 
-
-  That point is put at zero angular degrees and the equator around the globe is divided into 360 degrees.  Each degree is divided into 60 minutes and each minute is divided into 60 seconds.  These are angular degrees, minutes and seconds and not to be confused with time.
-
-  The east-west coordinates are the celestial equivalent to longitude on the Earth.   
But, in astronomy it is called the Right Ascension, not longitude  The Right Ascension is measured eastward in hours, minutes, and seconds of time, starting at zero at the Spring Equinox.
-
-   Since the Earth rotates 360 degrees in 24 hours, this equates to a one hour “Right Ascension” being 15 degrees of arc.  One minute of time equates to 15 minutes of arc.  And, one second of time equates to 15 seconds of arc.
-
-  The Spring Equinox, or Vernal Equinox, marks the point at which the Sun, therefore the ecliptic plane, crosses the celestial equator on its way north.  The north-south coordinates are called “Declinations”,  and that is equivalent to latitudes on the Earth’s surface.  It is measured from 0 to 90 degrees north and 0 to 90 degrees south to get to each of the celestial poles.
-
-  With these definitions we can find celestial objects that are cataloged at a particular time to be in a particular place in the sky. 
-
-  For Example:  Norton’s 18th addition published for December, 2000 said that Pleiades, open cluster in Taurus, Messier 45, would be at Right Ascension 03 hours, 47  minutes and Declination + 45 degrees, 07 minutes. 
-
-  Of course these directions need to be published each year to be perfectly accurate.  The Earth’s orbit is not perfectly repeatable and the Earth’s tilt precesses so that north pole does not always point towards the North Star.
-
-  With these directions you can use your hand at arms length to estimate your degrees pointing around the sky.  Your fist at arms length is 10 degrees.  Your index finger is 2 degrees of arc.  The Sun and the Moon are ½ degree of arc. 
-
-  There are many other guide posts in the night sky once you become familiar with the constellations.  It just takes some practice.
-
-  Astronomer’s measure distance in lightyears, the distance light travels in one year at 186,282 miles per second.  The velocity of light is in the metric system is 299,792,458 meters / second.  The distance is 9.46 * 10^12 kilometers, or 5,880,000,000,000 miles in one lightyear.
-
-  Astronomers measure the brightness of stars in Apparent Magnitude of Luminosity.  Apparent because you do not know the Absolute brightness unless you know how far away the star is.  The further away the dimmer the star appears. 
-
-  The Magnitude metrics all started with the Greeks when they assigned the brightest star a magnitude of 1 and those stars just barely visible to the naked eye a Magnitude of 6.  Later, once technology took over the measurements, each step in Magnitude was defined as a factor of 2.512 times.
-
-   Therefore, 1 to 6 Magnitudes, being five steps, equates to (2.512)^5  =  100.  The brightest star and the dimmest star we can see has a factor of 100 difference in brightness.
-
-   The bright star Vega was given a 1 and all other stars were compared to Vega.  If a star was brighter than Vega it was given a negative number.  Sirius is -1.46 Magnitude.  Venus is -4 Magnitude.  The Sun is -27 Magnitude.
-
-  Given the distance to a star with an Apparent Magnitude measured you can easily calculate the Absolute Magnitude or the Luminosity of that star.  The light spreads out as the surface of a sphere.  The area of the surface of a spheres is 4*pi*r^2.  The distance being the radius.
-
-   So, the star’s Luminosity in watts  =  (4*pi*r^2) * (Apparent Magnitude) in watts per square meter.  Or, if you know a stars actual luminosity through some other means you can calculate its distance using the same formula.
-
-  It just takes practice with a star map and pretty soon you have a whole new world in your backyard.
- 
-   March 10, 2020                                                        902                  2662                                                                                           
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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”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 ---------------------          Tuesday, March 10, 2020    --------------------
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LIGHT - What It Means To Be Visible?

-  2661  -  LIGHT  -  What It Means To Be Visible?   If something is visible it usually means that your eyes are sensitive to the electromagnetic radiation they are receiving.  Of course, other detectors besides eyes can be used to detect a much wider range of electromagnetic radiation.
-

-
 ---------------------   2661  -  LIGHT  -  What It Means To Be Visible?
-
-   Electromagnetic radiation and gravity are the only two ways we know of to communicate “information“.  Both are carried by massless particles, or waves, known as photons and gravitons.  Because they are massless they MUST always travel at the constant speed of light. 
-
-  The maximum speed that information can travel is the speed of light.  You can not learn anything any faster than that.
-
-  Electromagnetic radiation and information come to us, and to our eyes, in very small bundles of energy.  The energy of each photon of light is E = h*f.  The photon energy, “E“, is directly proportional to the frequency of oscillation ,”f”, of the electric wave and the magnetic wave that are oscillating together.  “h” is a constant for the units we use to measure the action of the energy.
-
-   In our case “h”  = the constant 6.7 * 10^-11.  This constant is know as Planck’s Constant of Action.
-
--------------------    E  =  h  *  f
-
--------------------  Photon Energy  =  0.000,000,000,067 * frequency
-
--------------------  Photon Energy  =   kilograms * meters^2 / seconds^2
-
---------------------Photon Energy  =  joules, which is the name given to kg*m^2/sec^2
-
-  These units for energy should look familiar to you.  Remember, E=m*c^2.  Energy is directly proportional to mass.  In this case the constant of proportionality is the speed of light squared.  “c^2”  =  9*10^16.
-
--------------------  E  =   c^2  *  m
-
-------------------- Mass Energy =  90,000,000,000,000,000 * mass
-
-------------------- Mass Energy  =   kilograms * meters^2 / seconds^2, or joules
-
-  The “h” Constant of Action is a very small number for a single photon.  The “c^2”  number is a very large number for a kilogram of mass converted into energy.  However, the electromagnetic energy of the photon is directly proportional to the frequency of oscillation.  And, electromagnetic energy spectrum of oscillations covers a wide range of frequencies from radio waves, to light waves, to X-rays and Gamma Rays.
-
-  The low energy radio frequency waves have oscillations in the order of 1000 cycles per second. (kilohertz).
-
---------------------  Energy of radio wave  =  6.7*10^-11 * 1000
-
---------------------  Energy of radio wave  =  6.7*10^-8
-
---------------------  Energy of radio wave  =  0.000000067 joules.
-
-  At the other end of the spectrum, the high energy Gamma Ray frequency waves have oscillations in the order of 10^24 cycles per second.  (femtohertz).
-
---------------------  Energy  of Gamma Ray  =  6.7*10^-11 * 10^24
-
---------------------  Energy of Gamma Ray  =  6.7*10^13
-
---------------------  Energy of Gamma Ray  =  6,700,000,000,000 joules.
-
-  As you can see the electromagnetic spectrum covers a wide range of energies.
-
-  For the energy of light that our eyes can see we are limited to a spectrum of wavelengths from 400 nanometers blue light to 750 nanometers red light.
-
-   Above and below these wavelengths lies ultraviolet and infrared that our eyes can not quite visualize.  400  and 750 nanometers wavelengths correspond to frequency of oscillations of 750*10^16 cycles per second  for blue light and 0.04 * 10^16 cycles per second for red light.
-
-----------------------------  frequency * wave length = the speed of light
-
-------------------------------------------  f * w  = c

---------------------  Energy  of blue light   =  6.7*10^-11 * 750*10^16
-
---------------------  Energy of blue light   =  5 * 10^8 joules
-
---------------------  Energy of blue light   =  500,000,000 joules.
-
---------------------  Energy  of red light   =  6.7*10^-11 * 0.04*10^16
-
---------------------  Energy of red light   =  0.26 * 10^8 joules
-
---------------------  Energy of red light   =  25,600 joules
-
-  Blue light has a lot more energy than red light.  That is the reason infrared makes you feel warm, but violet and ultraviolet light give you a sunburn.
-
-    Our eyes are amazing instruments in their ability to detect over a range of 20,000 magnitudes of energy levels.  Some human eyes can detect a single photon of light.  Most can detect a level of energy of 4 to 5 photons of light.
-
-  Things are visible because electromagnetic energy reaches our eyes.  But, what causes electromagnetic energy?  In a word, “atoms“.  Light is the oscillation of electric waves and magnetic waves traveling together at the speed of light.
-
-   A magnetic wave, or a magnetic field, is created when an electric charge is in motion.  An electric field is created when a magnetic field is in motion.  Each one creates the other when they are moving through space.  And, the two waves moving together  can only move at one constant speed.
-
-  The simplest atom is hydrogen, that is made up of a single positive charge proton at the nucleus and a single negative charge electron orbiting around it.  All atoms are little magnets because the electric charge of the electron is in motion around the nucleus.
-
-   Motion is not only linear, it is circular as well.  And, circular motion requires acceleration.  A force is not needed to keep an object in motion at a constant velocity in a straight line.
-
-  However, if an object’s velocity is going in a circle its velocity is constantly changing, because the direction is changing.  A force is required to accelerate a mass.  And, acceleration is the same as a changing velocity, so a force is required according to Force = mass * acceleration, F = ma.
-
-   The mass times velocity is called angular momentum.  Electrons are always spinning in an atom as well as orbiting.  Therefore, electrons always have angular momentum.  A spinning electron always maintains its own magnetic field resulting from their negative charge being in motion.
-
-    Electrons can only spin in one of two ways,  clockwise, or flip them over and they can spin counter-clockwise.  So, the magnetic field’s poles north and south can only point in the direction of the spin axis of the electrons up spin or down spin.  If we line up a lot of electrons in a metal all pointing in the same spin axis direction we create a permanent magnetic.
-
-  As long as the atom is experiencing constant acceleration, in other words its changing velocity remains the same, then the atom does not emit any photons.
-
-    However, if there is a force causing the atom to accelerate its motion, or the electrons to jump to lower levels of orbit, than photons can be emitted.  Thermal energy is the most common way the motion of atoms can speed up.  Faster jittering under increasing heat causes acceleration increases causing photon energy to be radiated out of the atoms.
-
-  A force is needed to cause an atom to accelerate.  F = m*a.  Energy is defined as a force acting over a distance.  E = F*d.  Therefore, Energy = m*a*d.  Electromagnetic Energy is radiated whenever a charged particle, like the electron, increases its acceleration of motion, “a“. 
-
-  Electromagnetic Energy is also radiated when the electron jumps some distance, “d”, between orbits, which are at specific energy levels inside each specific atom.  Each atomic element in the Periodic Table has its own unique structure of electrons and energy levels orbiting the nucleus.
-
-    When photons are emitted, or absorbed, by each atomic element a different frequency arrangement is created, depending on these unique energy levels.  Again, this is according to Energy = 6.7*10^-11 * frequency.   So, if astronomers measure the frequencies in the light spectrum coming from the stars they can identify what elements are there or in the interstellar gas in between. This study is called “spectroscopy“.
-
-  Everything that is visible is either creating electromagnetic energy in its atomic structure or it is reflecting some of this electromagnetic that is coming from another atomic structure source. 
-
-  Our biggest source for photons is the Sun.  But, anytime atoms gain energy through increased acceleration or loose energy when electrons drop to lower energy levels, photons are created.  Atoms absorbing photons gain energy by moving electrons to higher energy levels.  Atoms can absorb and emit photons only at the energy levels, and frequencies, permitted by their own unique atomic structure.
-
-    All other photons are reflected.  That is why everything has a different color.  What is not absorbed is reflected. What is reflected is the color you see.  Color is just another name for frequency.  Frequency is just another name for electromagnetic energy.
-
-  All electric fields and magnetic fields are defined from an electric charge being in motion.   All motion is a change of space per change in time. 
-
-  What makes things visible is a combination of all of these creations the natural world has given us.  Just because something is clearly visible doesn’t mean it is understood.  I hope my review helped your understanding a little. 
- 
-   March 10, 2020                                                                               2661                                                                                                                                 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----  Comments appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com ----- 
--  email feedback, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
---  to:  ------    jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ------  “Jim Detrick”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 ---------------------          Tuesday, March 10, 2020    --------------------
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ASTRONOMY - what is the fate of the universe?

-  2658 -   ASTRONOMY  -  what is the fate of the universe?  In 1900, the British physicist Lord Kelvin is said to have pronounced: "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement."   Within three decades, quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity had revolutionized the field. Today, no physicist would dare assert that our physical knowledge of the universe is near completion. To the contrary, each new discovery seems to unlock a Pandora's box of even bigger, even deeper physics questions.
-

-
 ---------------------   2658  -  ASTRONOMY  -  what is the fate of the universe?
-
-   What is dark energy?  No matter how astrophysicists crunch the numbers, the universe simply doesn't add up. Even though gravity is pulling inward on space-time, the "fabric" of the cosmos,  it keeps expanding outward faster and faster.
-
-  To account for this, astrophysicists have proposed an invisible agent that counteracts gravity by pushing space-time apart. They call it dark energy. In the most widely accepted model of dark energy, it is a "cosmological constant": an inherent property of space itself, which has "negative pressure" driving space apart.
-
-  As space expands, more space is created, and with it, more dark energy. Based on the observed rate of expansion, scientists know that the sum of all the dark energy must make up more than 70 percent of the total contents of the universe.
-
-  But, no one knows how to look for it. The best researchers have been able to do in recent years is narrow in a bit on where dark energy might be hiding.
-
-  What is dark matter?  About 84 percent of the matter in the universe does not absorb or emit light. "Dark matter," cannot be seen directly, and it hasn't yet been detected by indirect means, either. Instead, dark matter's existence and properties are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation and the structure of the universe.
-
-   This shadowy substance is thought to pervade the outskirts of galaxies, and may be composed of "weakly interacting massive particles," or WIMPs. Worldwide, there are several detectors on the lookout for WIMPs, but so far, not one has been found. One recent study suggests dark mater might form long, fine-grained streams throughout the universe, and that such streams might radiate out from Earth like hairs.
-
-  Why is there an arrow of time?  The fact that you can't un-break an egg is a common example of the law of increasing entropy.  Time moves forward because a property of the universe called "entropy," roughly defined as the level of disorder, only increases, and so there is no way to reverse a rise in entropy after it has occurred.
-
-   The fact that entropy increases is a matter of logic: There are more disordered arrangements of particles than there are ordered arrangements, and so as things change, they tend to fall into disarray. But the underlying question here is, why was entropy so low in the past? Put differently, why was the universe so ordered at its beginning, when a huge amount of energy was crammed together in a small amount of space?
-
-  Are there parallel universes?  Astrophysical data suggests space-time might be "flat," rather than curved, and thus that it goes on forever. If so, then the region we can see is just one patch in an infinitely large "quilted multiverse."
-
-  At the same time, the laws of quantum mechanics dictate that there are only a finite number of possible particle configurations within each cosmic patch (10^10^122 distinct possibilities). So, with an infinite number of cosmic patches, the particle arrangements within them are forced to repeat, infinitely many times over.
-
-  This means there are infinitely many parallel universes: cosmic patches exactly the same as ours, as well as patches that differ by just one particle's position, patches that differ by two particles' positions, and so on down to patches that are totally different from ours.
-
-  Is there something wrong with that logic, or is its bizarre outcome true? And if it is true, how might we ever detect the presence of parallel universes?
-
-  Why is there more matter than antimatter?  The question of why there is so much more matter than its oppositely-charged and oppositely-spinning twin, antimatter, is actually a question of why anything exists at all. One assumes the universe would treat matter and antimatter symmetrically, and thus that, at the moment of the Big Bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter should have been produced.
-
-  But, if that had happened, there would have been a total annihilation of both: Protons would have canceled with antiprotons, electrons with anti-electrons (positrons), neutrons with antineutrons, and so on, leaving behind a dull sea of photons in a matterless expanse.
-
-  For some reason, there was excess matter that didn't get annihilated, and here we are. For this, there is no accepted explanation. The most detailed test to date of the differences between matter and antimatter confirm they are mirror images of each other, providing exactly zero new paths toward understanding the mystery of why matter is far more common.
-
-  What is the fate of the universe?  The Big Crunch. The vertical axis can be considered as either plus or minus time.  The fate of the universe strongly depends on a factor of unknown value: Ω, a measure of the density of matter and energy throughout the cosmos.
-
-  If Ω is greater than 1, then space-time would be "closed" like the surface of an enormous sphere.
-
-  If there is no dark energy, such a universe would eventually stop expanding and would instead start contracting, eventually collapsing in on itself in an event dubbed the "Big Crunch."
-
-  If the universe is closed but there is dark energy, the spherical universe would expand forever.
-
-   If Ω is less than 1, then the geometry of space would be "open" like the surface of a saddle. In this case, its ultimate fate is the "Big Freeze" followed by the "Big Rip": first, the universe's outward acceleration would tear galaxies and stars apart, leaving all matter frigid and alone. Next, the acceleration would grow so strong that it would overwhelm the effects of the forces that hold atoms together, and everything would be wrenched apart.
-
-  If Ω = 1, the universe would be flat, extending like an infinite plane in all directions. If there is no dark energy, such a planar universe would expand forever but at a continually decelerating rate, approaching a standstill. If there is dark energy, the flat universe ultimately would experience runaway expansion leading to the Big Rip. Regardless how it plays out, the universe is dying.
-
-  How do measurements collapse quantum wavefunctions?  In the strange realm of electrons, photons and the other fundamental particles, “quantum mechanics’ is law. Particles don't behave like tiny balls, but rather like waves that are spread over a large area. Each particle is described by a "wavefunction," or probability distribution, which tells what its location, velocity, and other properties are more likely to be, but not what those properties are.
-
-  The particle actually has a range of values for all the properties, until you experimentally measure one of them, its location, for example, at which point the particle's wavefunction "collapses" and it adopts just one location.
-
-  But, how and why does measuring a particle make its wavefunction collapse, producing the concrete reality that we perceive to exist? The issue, known as the measurement problem, may seem esoteric, but our understanding of what reality is, or if it exists at all, hinges upon the answer.
-
-  Is string theory correct?  When physicists assume all the elementary particles are actually one-dimensional loops, or "strings," each of which vibrates at a different frequency, physics gets much easier. String theory allows physicists to reconcile the laws governing particles, called quantum mechanics, with the laws governing space-time, called general relativity, and to unify the four fundamental forces of nature into a single framework.
-
-   But,  the problem is, string theory can only work in a universe with 10 or 11 dimensions: three large spatial ones, six or seven compacted spatial ones, and a time dimension. The compacted spatial dimensions, the vibrating strings themselves are about a billionth of a trillionth of the size of an atomic nucleus. There's no conceivable way to detect anything that small, and so there's no known way to experimentally validate or invalidate string theory.
-
-  Is there order in chaos?  The equations that describe weather and water, among other things, have not been solved.  Physicists can't exactly solve the set of equations that describes the behavior of fluids, from water to air to all other liquids and gases.
-
-   In fact, it isn't known whether a general solution of the so-called Navier-Stokes equations even exists, or, if there is a solution, whether it describes fluids everywhere, or contains inherently unknowable points called singularities.
-
-  As a consequence, the nature of chaos is not well understood. Physicists and mathematicians wonder, is the weather merely difficult to predict, or inherently unpredictable? Does turbulence transcend mathematical description, or does it all make sense when you tackle it with the right math?
-
-  Do the universe's forces merge into one?  The universe experiences four fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak interaction (also known as the weak nuclear force) and gravity.
-
-  Physicists know that if you turn up the energy enough, for example, inside a particle accelerator, three of those forces "unify" and become a single force. Physicists have run particle accelerators and unified the electromagnetic force and weak interactions, and at higher energies, the same thing should happen with the strong nuclear force and, eventually, gravity.
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-  But, even though theories say that should happen, nature doesn't always oblige. So far, no particle accelerator has reached energies high enough to unify the strong force with electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Including gravity would mean yet more energy.
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-   It isn't clear whether scientists could even build one that powerful; the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), near Geneva, can send particles crashing into each other with energies in the trillions of electron volts (14 tera-electron volts, or TeV). To reach grand unification energies, particles would need at least a trillion times as much, so physicists are left to hunt for indirect evidence of such theories.
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-  Besides the issue of energies, Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) still have some problems because they predict other observations that so far haven't panned out. There are several GUTs that say protons, over immense spans of time (10^36 years), should turn into other particles. This has never been observed, so either protons last much longer than anyone thought or they really are stable forever.
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-  Another prediction of some types of GUT is the existence of magnetic monopoles, isolated "north" and "south" poles of a magnet, and nobody has seen one of those, either. It's possible we just don't have a powerful enough particle accelerator. Or, physicists could be wrong about how the universe work.
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-  Stay in school there is a lot more to learn!
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-   March 8, 2020                                                                               2658                                                                     
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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”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 ---------------------          Tuesday, March 10, 2020    --------------------
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VIRUS - Could they have Created Life on Earth?

-  2660  -  VIRUS  -  Could they have created life on Earth?  A new virus recently discovered could be the missing link between non living viruses and living bacteria.  It is called the Mimivirus because it mimics a bacterium.  It is the largest virus discovered so far, about 500 nanometers long.  The smallest virus is about 17 nanometers long.
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---------------------  2660  -  VIRUS  -  Could they have Created Life on Earth?
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-  Virologists have considered viruses parasites that are much smaller than bacteria.  The are not cellular and are not considered to be living organisms.  They can only “live” within another living cell.
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-  This discovery is challenging our biological definition of “life”.  Sometime in life’s evolution on Earth life changed from chemistry to biology.  Could the virus be the chemistry that did that?
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-  Viruses are tiny envelopes of molecules, of protein coated DNA and RNA.  DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid.  RNA is ribonucleic acid.  They do not have cell membranes as bacteria do.  They can only replicate themselves by implanting into a living cell, usually killing the cell in the process.
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-  A virus to most of us is a bad thing.  The biggest selling software on the world market today is called antiviral.  The word virus comes from the Latin meaning “poisonous slime“. 
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-  The viruses we know include the a Avian Flu virus, the Asian Flu virus, the Herpes Simplex virus that causes oral cold sores and genital herpes, the Hepatitis B virus that attacks the liver.  The Coronovirus that we are just hearing about. 
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-  All bad critters.  It is going to take a major altitudinal adjustment to begin paying homage to these critters as the precursors to all life on Earth.  But, with recent discoveries that is the school of thought that has come forward.
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-   Biologists have not considered the virus to be a living organism.  Biologists define three branches of life:  eukaryotes, bacteria, and archea.
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--------------------------  Eukaryotes are organisms whose cells have a nucleus.
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--------------------------  Bacteria are single celled organisms that may or may not have a nucleus.
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--------------------------  Archea are microbes that do not have a nucleus, yet they make up 33% of all life on Earth.
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-   Viruses depend on these living organisms in order to survive, they are parasites that do not have cell membranes of their own.  Biologists have categorized over 4,000 different types of viruses.
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-   But, there are millions more that have not been categorized.  A geneticist circled the globe in his sailboat and sampled the water every few hundred miles.  Within every sample he discovered millions of new viruses.
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-   Most of these viruses are integral to life and are harmless to us.  Each of us is infected with a huge array of viruses with no ill effects.  The biological information in an organism is encoded in an RNA or DNA sequence.  All the encoding in a cell is called the genome.
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-  The human genome contains more retrovirus sequences than actual genes.  Biologists consider these sequences to be junk code. They persist and replicate but do not do anything.  Yet, they are there, part of our genetic identity.
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-  There are so many viruses on Earth that if you stacked them head to toe they would stretch out 58,800,000,000,000,000,000 miles.  That is 10 million light years long.  There are more viruses on Earth than there are stars in the Universe.
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-   Most people only think viruses are HIV and flu but in fact most of the genetic material on Earth are viruses.
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-----------------------------  Viruses have different ways of replicating:
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-  The Yellow Fever virus is an RNA virus that can replicate itself without DNA.  The HIV virus, Human Immunodeficiency virus, uses its own RNA to create a strand of DNA that it splices into a host’s genome.
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-   The Hepatites B virus is a DNA virus that transmits through the blood.  The Rhinovirus that causes the common cold has no external envelope making it more contagious to humans. 
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-  The Parainfluenza Type 1 virus that causes respiratory infections attaches to the host cell using small hooks and spikes.
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-----------------------------  Viruses come in all shapes and sizes:
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-   The Herpes Simplex virus has a geometric 20-sided structure.  The Polio virus has a spherical shape and looks like little BB’s.  The Tobacco Mosaic virus looks like a heap of spilled pick-up sticks.  It was the first virus ever discovered in 1935 after the invention of the electron microscope. 
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-  The West Nile virus has a cube-shaped capsid.  The capsid is the outer protein coating that is common to all viruses.
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-   The Mimivirus was discovered in 2003 in an industrial cooling tower in the West Yorkshire mill town of Bradford, England.  The bacteriologists were looking for Legionella, a bacterium that causes a sever pneumonia-like disease known as Legionnaire Disease.  Some of the Legionella bacteria they found were difficult to examine.
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-  Later it was discovered that these bacteria were occupied by the Mimivirus.  The Mimivirus has turned out to be the largest ever found.  It was 500 nanometers in length.  Visible light wavelengths, from blue to red, are from 400 to 700 nanometers long, so this virus was just the size of one wavelength and could actually be seen with a light microscope.
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-    Most viruses are 1/10 that size and require an electron wave microscope in order to see them.  The genome in this Mimivirus is 1,200,000 letters long, 10 times larger than a typical virus, and, even larger than some parasitic bacteria.
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-   The light microscopes can magnify up to 500 to 1000 times and can resolve down to 200 nanometers.  The electron microscope using electron wavelengths can magnify up to 500,000 to 2,000,000 times and resolve down to less than a tenth of a nanometer.
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-  With the discovery of the Mimivirus the boundary between non living viruses and complex living bacteria has become blurred.
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-  RNA virus are thought to be at the base of the tree of life before today’s DNA based organisms evolved.  These RNA virus make copies of themselves with much more errors and mutations.  These variations allow the virus to have a resiliency to adapt. 
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-  The Mimivirus is believed to be an ancient lineage of a DNA virus.  Its soccer ball shape has infected all three of the life forms, eukaryotes, bacteria and archaea.  And is therefore believed to have emerged prior to these three life forms.
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-   At life’s earliest evolution could a Mimivirus have entered a bacterium and persisted there.  Could the bacterium become the cell and the cell begin replicating?  Could that have been the earliest form of life?
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-   February 17, 2020                                            1750                      2660             
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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”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 ---------------------   Monday, March 9, 2020  -------------------------
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