Atoms: Proposed Building Blocks of Matter

   Thousands of years ago in Ancient Greece, a scientist named Democritus observed sandy beaches from a hilltop. He noticed that from afar, the beach appeared to be one continuous substance, but he knew that up close, the beach was composed of countless sand grains. In a stroke of brilliance, he reasoned that perhaps everything else was made up indivisible, innumerable balls like sand and deemed these theoretical objects, atomos, Greek for indivisible. Over the next few thousand years, atomic theory gained a popular foothold, yet scientists still doubted we would ever have the technology to actually observe these "atoms" as they are now called. Nowadays, atoms have become scientific fact and are accepted by the public. But are atoms truly indivisible as Democritus thought? And if not, what about the constituents that make atoms up? And what about those constituents' constituents?

   Most people are familiar with the idea that atoms are not really the fundamental building block of matter. Atoms themselves are made up of three subatomic particles known as protons (with a positive charge), neutrons (with a neutral charge), and electrons (with a negative charge). Atoms are arranged in a way that the protons and neutrons are clumped together in a dense core called the nucleus which the negatively charged electrons orbit.

In the picture of a lithium atom, the black balls are electrons, the red balls are protons, and the blue balls are neutrons

   Atoms are known to have certain properties based on their amount of a certain subatomic particle. These properties ultimately arise as elements, such as the lithium atom pictured above. The periodic table of elements is a recognizable chart among laymen as the table that lables what individual subatomic combinations culminate into what atom/element. But with atoms and subatomic particles, there came the question of what protons, neutrons, and electrons were composed of. So far, scientists have been unable to determine the composition of electrons, but it seems likely that these subatomic particles are essentially indivisible. As for neutrons and protons, scientists used particle accelerators to slam these atoms together at near light speed to see what was inside them. What was found were two new sub-subatomic particles: the quark and gluon. Quarks are broken up into six "flavors": up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top. These names are all purely for labling purposes and do not correspond to if a quark is actually "strange" or "charmed".

The above illustration is represents a proton composed of two "up" quarks and one "down" quark. The squiggly lines represent gluons, the force carrying particles that keep quarks together

   Now to an introduction of quantum theory. In 1900, Max Planck, a physicist working on a problem concerning blackbody radiation, formed the hypothesis that energy was radiated and absorbed in packets, or quanta. While working on blackbody radiation, Planck developed his own constant called Planck's constant, which is the quantum of action in quantum mechanics. Planck is widely considered the father of quantum mechanics.

Max Planck, the father of the quantum theory

   Now that we have an introduction of atoms, the next post will be devoted to the actual behaviors in the atomic and subatomic realm. Keep checking back, ask me a question, become a member, or email me at superficialnickname@yahoo.com. Next post is on the real quantum mechanics! Until then, salutations!



Stellar Lifecycle: Death

   One day, stars will stop shining. The Sun will rise over the Earth, whatever state it may be in in five billion years, and it will have a final day as the Sun we know it. Low-mass stars like the Sun undergo fusion for a long time. In the later stages of their life when fusion has resulted in a core composed mainly of helium, the star will start to fuse hydrogen in the outer envelopes of the star. During this time, the star grows, it expands its diameter outward. When this happens in our own solar system, the Sun will swallow Mercury, Venus, and most likely the Earth. We will be on the inside of our Sun, our planetary surface either a burnt husk of what it was or the heat could melt the Earth and the planet simply dissipates into the newly formed red giant. Either way, no more Earth. But we will either be long extinct or long gone in the stars before that happens, so no worry. After this red giant phase, the star throws off its outer layers. The gas and plasma (super-heated, ionized gas) will be thrown outward to form a planetary nebula rich with newly formed elements. The core remains, and current stellar models suggest the remnant will be a dense white dwarf star. Over possibly trillions of years, this white dwarf will cool into a black dwarf, a truly dead star. It is a slow, rather boring process or these low-mass stars to die.

Artist's rendition of planets orbiting their white dwarf, the product of a once magnificent star

   High-mass stars have a far more exciting death. As mentioned in the previous post, these stars are massive enough to keep fusing up to iron. When iron is reached, heat is absorbed and the star collapses from its own gravity. The star implodes, fusing elements heavier than iron like uranium very quickly. Then, by a process still not completely understood, the star rebounds and creates a massive explosion in space. This explosion, called a supernova, is bright. Its luminosity is greater than the combined luminosity of all the stars in its own galaxy. In 1054 AD, a star's light that had gone supernova reached Earth and illuminated the night sky. It was bright enough to be seen in the daytime as well. These extraordinary events release gamma ray bursters, an event that would have catastrophic consequences for a planetary system near enough. Scientists believe Earth was hit by a gamma ray burster that rendered 99% of Earth's inhabitants extinct some time in prehistory, long before the dinosaurs. 

The image shown above is the Crab Nebula, it is the aftermath of the supernova witnessed in 1054 AD

   After the supernova, stellar cores of less than three solar masses become neutron stars. Basically a star composed of neutrons, they are incredibly dense. Their density is equivalent to sticking the mass of the Sun into the area of Manhattan. A teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh more than a battleship. Due to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the core rotates phenomenally fast, often time spewing material out of its magnetic poles. This is known as a pulsar and is akin to a cosmic lighthouse.

Pulsars are highly magnetized, so they have strong magnetic fields. The image shown is not what a real pulsar would look like

   The final fate for a stellar core of more than three solar masses is a black hole. Incredibly perplexing objects, it was only until the 70's before they were discovered in space. Black holes are a region of space-time that is so dense that light itself cannot escape the gravity. Everything has what is called an escape velocity. An escape velocity is the speed required to escape gravitational attraction. The Earth's is seven miles per second, meaning rockets that leave orbit must at least travel that speed. But a black hole's escape velocity is greater than the speed of light. If you will remember the posts about Einstein, it is impossible to travel faster than light, thus nothing escapes a black hole once it has passed through the event horizon. The event horizon is the point where the object chiefly becomes black. It is at this point that gravity is too powerful for light and photons are stuck in orbit around the black hole. At the center of a black hole is a singularity. A point where the laws of physics deconstruct and Einstein's theory of relativity fails. We do not yet know what occurs at the singularity, but it is one of the most sought out answers in physics. Black holes also grow as they "feed" on other objects. Their mass adds to the black hole's mass. The gravitational distortion of a black hole is so tremendous, that there is a point that to someone observing an object falling into the black hole, the object seems to stop. In fact, time itself seems to halt. But to the thing falling, time passes normally and it starts to stretch. Known as spaghettification, the objects is pulled apart, molecule by molecule, atom by atom, particle by particle and then is taken into the black hole's mass.

Artist's rendition of what a black hole looks like. Notice the distortion of the light around the object itself. This is called gravitational lensing and occurs when objects of high gravity distort light passing near them

   Stars form, stars live, stars die. One day, the last star will blink out of existence, but tonight when you look up and see just one, enjoy it. We are living during a period of the universe where stars are able to form and it will not last forever. Cherish the stars, for they died so their atoms created in their core could coalesce into you and I. We take stars for granted, but they fade into darkness one day. But enjoy them until then. 

   Hi all, I am going to be starting on quantum mechanics next post so we can build into subjects too complex to be explored with only relativity and classical mechanics. Ask questions about the post, criticize, praise, be indifferent to stars, whatever. Hopefully you come back and read. Subscribe to the posts and keep checking back for some quantum physics! Until then, salutations!

Stellar Lifecycle: Fusion

   Why do the stars shine? I have a very distinct and crisp memory of myself, at a mere age of seven, looking at the stars (and later, the Sun. By the way, that is not smart. My optometrist said it was likely my vision became so scarred because I looked at the Sun a bit too much.) and I would wonder What makes them shine? I knew the Sun was on fire, I knew it was flaming. But I also knew space lacked oxygen for fire to burn. This troubled me for a long time. Where did the Sun get its fuel from? When I was older, I received a book about stars. In the book, I learned stars were powered by a powerful force: fusion.

   As mentioned in the previous post, the early protostar first lights up when it becomes dense enough and under enough pressure, that the gas heats up and the hydrogen atoms and helium atoms start colliding into one another at super fast speeds. These collisions build up nuclei for heavier elements over time during stellar nucleosynthesis. The collisions also release huge amounts of energy. Stars are in a runaway state of constant fusion, they are basically one big hydrogen bomb. 

Deuterium and tritium (isotopes of hydrogen) combine into each other and form helium. In the process, energy is released, as well as a neutron

   

   So fusion creates energy for the star to shine. Not all stars burn their fuel in the same amount of time, it depends on the initial mass of the clump from which the star arises. Stars with higher mass burn their fuel more rapidly because they put more pressure at the core and fusion takes place at a more rapid pace. Lower mass stars last longer, usually billions of years (Like the Sun). The high mass stars in turn may only last a couple million years. During this time when hydrogen converts to helium, different stages of fusion must happen for the star to keep burning. Hydrogen starts to run low and different elements formed by early fusion slam into each other to make still heavier elements. Over time, stars forge these elements more and more. The higher mass stars get hot enough to sustain fusion up to the element iron. Then, iron begins to absorb the heat from the high mass star. All throughout its life, the star has been in a balance: it wants to blow apart from the heat released by fusion and it wants to collapse because of its own gravity. Iron absorbs that heat and suddenly the star begins to collapse. Gravity wins and the stars crushes down to an infinitesimally small point, a singularity. In this very short time, the star fuses heavier than iron elements, a last spurt of fusion. Then the implosion rebounds on itself and turns into an explosion. This explosion is known as a supernova. In it, the elements forged within the stars are thrown out into space, enriching it with elements that are heavier than hydrogen, helium, and lithium. Without this process, there would not be the necessary atoms to form people, planets, moons, comets, and all life in general. Carl Sagan was fond of saying "We are stardust." Truly, it seems we are children of the cosmos.

   In this post, I have outlined fusion. In the next post devoted to the stellar lifecycle, we will explore the deaths of stars and their stellar remnants. I have given a little hint of it in talking about supernovae, but I will be more detailed in the next post: Stellar Lifecycle: Death. Feel free to ask questions, share the blog with friends, or become a member. I'll post back soon, until then, salutations!

Her

   Hey, all, this post isn't about physics at all, it's just a little something for someone special to me. Feel free to skip it, but it'll show I'm not just a dry intellect interested in science.

   Seven months, seventeen days, six hours, and about forty minutes. That is how long we've been together. But it feels like, just perhaps, that time together, that chance meeting, was destined to happen. Since then, I have fallen, truly, deeply, very passionately, in love with....her. Some say she's just a phase. Some say she's one of many to come. But those people do not know us like we know ourselves. They have not been a part of this relationship. It seemed impossible for there ever to be a relationship. I say left, she says right. She looks up, I look down. But just as puzzle pieces fit together, a perfect fit where something fills the void, makes it complete, she does it for me and I hopefully do the same for her. Her beauty is truly unmatched by any other woman. She is a luminous woman, more luminous than the stars of the sky added together. I cannot help but to smile when I see her. Her hair flows, ever so graceful with a turn of her head. Does water even flow that way? Her eyes. Such...perfection. Shining so big, so bright. She never is disinterested when I talk about Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, or never nods off when I lecture about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. She simply says "I love you" in response. And those three words can part storm clouds in the sky, they can revive me from a depressed state, they can do amazing things. She is my other great passion in life. Next to physics, I'd gladly give up a career in physics and pursue a career as her husband. Secretly, I am always grateful when she makes me late for stuff by demanding that I do not leave, that I stay for another five minutes. It makes me feel wanted. She captivates me, she motivates me, she stirs up something previously unknown to me: love.

I love her.

   Thank you all for listening to the rambles of a guy in love. I'll be posting soon about fusion, but until then, salutations. And if you are her, I love you always.

Stellar Lifecycle: Formation

   Nebula are the nurseries of the stars. It is within these great cosmic clouds that stars form. Nebula were first formed after hydrogen and helium condensed into the first stars. These stars had an incredibly high mass, so they burned their fuel fast and died hard. Their death came in the form of a hypernova, showering the cosmos with the elements formed in the stellar core. After many generations of these high-mass stars, these heavier-than-hydrogen atoms mixed in with the clouds of hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium formed after the cooling of the big bang.

   Nebula are primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, but after the deaths of the first stars, they became flooded with elements like carbon, silicon, and iron. Within the nebulae, gas starts to clump together and get denser. Over time, the clump starts to give off energy from the friction of the atoms rubbing together and from the clump's own gravity pulling in the gas and putting it under pressure, making it hotter and hotter. This is the stage known as a protostar. Eventually, the accumulation of gas becomes hot enough to support fusion. In this process, the atoms race around and hit each other, releasing energy in the form of photons, or light. This is why stars shine. About 99% of the gas goes into the star, (or stars, as many solar systems have been found to have multiple stars) but the rest of the material goes into making planets like the Earth.

   So stars are born inside of nebula. All stars have their beginning inside these great clouds, all stars including the Sun. I will continue the next post with a more detailed explanation of fusion and its implications for the formation of us. I would like to apologize for my absence, I just went through another move and we were having difficulty setting up our WiFi. But I will be posting back soon with Stellar Lifecycle: Fusion! Until then, salutations!

The Big Bang Theory: Birth of the Cosmos

   13.7 billion years ago, there was nothing. Nothing to happen and nothing to have happen to. Then, at the instant of something we now call the big bang, space, time, energy, matter, and antimatter burst forth from a singularity that had infinite temperature, infinite curvature (meaning it had zero dimension, a literal dot), and infinite density. The singularity was something of a cosmic egg. After this initial bang, the early universe expanded to a phenomenal volume in just 1/10^35 seconds. Imagine something the size of a grapefruit exploding to the size of the Milky Way galaxy (100,000 light years) almost instantaneously. This explosion of space-time is now known as inflation. The early universe was white hot. Of course it follows that if all the matter in the universe is squeezed into such a relatively small volume, the temperature must be beyond extreme, hotter than the hottest star core.

   After the universe was born, energy went into creating matter and its evil twin, antimatter. Antimatter has the curious property of annihilating with normal matter. So the early universe was filled with a war between these two. You cannot have equal matter and antimatter or there will be no type of matter to form galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually people. So there was a small imbalance (thought to be one particle in a billion) between the two and matter won the battle between antimatter. This is due to a complex interaction between a particle called an X boson and energy. But we won't go into that now. We have now ventured one millionth of a second into the universe's life.

   After about three minutes, it was beginning to cool down enough for energy to form particles that combined into the first atomic nuclei. The universe was filled at first with hydrogen, helium, and lithium. This all took about 300,000 years and the end dropped the veil of energy so the universe became transparent (space became black). For over 100 million years afterward, the universe was silently cooling down as matter started to coalesce in the darkness. After another 100 million years, stars formed, but it would be another 200 million years before galaxies would form.

   This has been a very simplified view of creation, it is just an outline of the big bang theory. After I have delved into quantum mechanics and the forces of nature, this topic will be returned to and given very special attention. If anybody has any questions on what I have layed out so far, please comment with your question and I'll be happy to explain. I'm still not sure about my next post, but I'll get it in as quick as possible. Until then, salutations!

Expansion of the Cosmos

   For about the first two decades of the 20th century, the universe was believed to consist of the Milky Way galaxy. The other galaxies observed at the time were believed to be nebulae, vast clouds of hydrogen and helium and other elements aglow from nearby stars and the protostars forming within. This was a long way off from the heliocentric model, and an even farther contrast to the geocentric universe. But the view of our universe changed when Edwin Hubble, for which the Hubble Space Telescope is now named, provided evidence that many of the nebulae discovered were actually galaxies like ours, or "island universes". Suddenly, the Triangulum nebula and the Andromeda nebula gained galactic status in the eyes of humanity, as well as many other nebulae. But this was only the beginning.

   The Doppler Effect is a well-known scientific principle to most people. To use a common example, it is demonstrated when an ambulance or some other vehicle with an activated siren passes you. As the vehicle moves towards you, its sound waves come at you in a manner where they are closer together, whereas when it travels away, the sound waves are stretched because their source emits the waves at a farther and farther distance away. Basically the relative motion of the emitter changes the apparent frequency of the sound waves, so an object getting closer appears to increase in frequency, reaches its peak when closest to you, and decreases in frequency when moving away. This concept is illustrated below:

The sound of the motorbike decreases as it moves away from the woman and increases as it moves towards the man

  The same principle is applicable for light. Light emitted from an object moving towards you increases in frequency, resulting in it being shifted to the blue end of the visible spectrum. The light emitted from an object moving away decreases in frequency, so the light is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. This shift is largely imperceptible in everyday objects, but measurable for things moving very fast. Hubble applied this experiment to the newly discovered galaxies. When Hubble measured the light from these galaxies, he found that nearly all were red-shifted. This meant that galaxies were moving away from us, but not only moving away, but the farther they were away, the faster their rate of retreat. This lead to the conclusion that either our galaxy was somehow the center of a universal retreat from galaxies, or far more likely, the space itself between galaxies was expanding. Hubble measured this rate of expansion, now called Hubble's Constant. 

The Doppler Effect when applied to light

   So space was expanding. But not only was it expanding, its rate of expansion was increasing. This would lead science to a whole new understanding of our universe, an understanding that would culminate in nothing less than the very birth of our cosmos. So, next post will be about a big topic: the big bang theory. Feel free to ask questions and subscribe! Until then, salutations!

Relativity: Einstein's Greatest Achievement Part 2

   Throughout the universe, there is a perpetuating field called the fabric of space-time. For simplifying purposes, imagine the universe as a thin rubber sheet completely stretched out. In this flat space-time, Einstein proposed that objects with mass made "dents". These dents were the gravity field we feel. So if you placed, say, a bowling ball on this sheet, it would bend downward pretty far. Then toss a marble around this dent so that it is falling towards the bowling ball, but always missing and swinging around via its inertial energy. Now imagine the bowling ball as the Sun and the tiny marble is our Earth. This is a fairly accurate representation of gravity and orbits of objects, but is visualized here as being two-dimensional. Einstein found that matter does not pull objects; rather, space pushes them.

  So Einstein established the theory of curved space-time. This warp of space could be verified by measuring the bending of a light ray around an object of a sufficient gravitational field. The Sun is the nearest object with such a high mass, so an experiment was put forth to use known star positions that were behind the Sun and, during a solar eclipse, measure if the stars appeared to be around the Sun, rather than behind it as illustrated below:

   In 1919, Arthur Eddington led an expedition to a total solar eclipse at the time and found the star light to indeed be deflected from its true position. This verified general relativity and the theory became accepted by the scientific community.

   So back to E=mc². This equation meant that the amount of energy trapped in a tiny atomic nucleus is massive. By splitting an atom, the energy released in a controlled reaction could power our civilization forever. Unfortunately, this equation was weaponized and reincarnated as the atomic bomb, much to Einstein's and many modern physicists' horror. The energy contained in atoms is violently and graphically illustrated in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. But the same power responsible for the bombs is also the reason the stars in the sky shine. Nuclear fusion within the cores of stars is what causes them to light up. But that is a lesson for another post.





  

The genius behind the theory: Albert Einstein and his famous equation

   There is little doubt that relativity was Einstein's greatest achievement. It revolutionized how we view the world. No longer were space and time separate entities, they were forever united under his theories. Throughout the future posts, we will continue to go back to Einstein, but next post will be about Edwin Hubble and the expansion of the universe. I'll post soon, follow the blog and spread the word. Until then, salutations!

Relativity: Einstein's Greatest Achievement Part 1

  Space and time are related. This new view postulated by Albert Einstein formed a monumental shift in the way we see the world. Einstein worked as a poor patent office clerk where he had plenty of time to think about the principles of his theory of special relativity, published first in a paper in 1905. Einstein was big on thought experiments, he had a talent for visualizing hypothetical circumstances in his mind. He was basically a very productive day dreamer.

   To start us off, imagine traveling on the highway at sixty miles per hour (I'm American, I use the arbitrary customary system). In the next lane is a car traveling parallel to you at the exact same speed, the same sixty miles per hour. To an outside observer, perhaps standing on the side of the road, both of you are traveling at sixty MPH. In the car, say you have a radar gun, used to measure the speed of an object relative to the user. Because you are both traveling at the same speed, if you used your radar gun on the car next to you, the speed would measure 0 miles per hour. Einstein knew that speeds measured relative to the one doing the measuring would add or subtract or cancel each other out. So if a car traveling the same direction as you, but going thirty miles per hour faster, then the speed relative to you would be thirty miles per hour. But the speed measured by a road-side observer would be your speed plus the speed of the car going thirty miles per hour faster.

The speed of the green car measured by the red car is twenty miles per hour   

   The speed of light had been accurately taken at the time, around 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum. Einstein then applied the principle described above to light assumed that the speed of light is a constant regardless of those taking the measurements moving relative to the light beam. That means even if you are traveling ninety nine percent the speed of light next to a light beam, the speed you measure is always the same, the exact same 186,000 miles per second (in a vacuum, that is). This had remarkable implications. It meant that in order to measure this same speed, the space around you itself had to distort as well as the time flow relative to an outside observer. The faster you go, the heavier you become. The energy used to travel at such phenomenal speeds was somehow becoming mass, this mass distorted the flow of space and time. This meant that time runs slower in areas of heavier space-time distortion then in areas that are less distorted. This is famously displayed in the Twin Paradox, where twins at birth are separated at birth, one staying on Earth and the other put on a starship traveling near light speed. The twin ages less on the ship then the one on Earth, so when he returns to Earth, there is an age difference despite them being born at the same time. This lead Einstein to the famous equation you can see everywhere you go, E=mc². E meaning energy, m for mass, and c for the speed of light.    So because of the huge number represented by light speed, there is a huge amount of energy for a tiny amount of mass. Not only were space and time intrinsically related, but matter and energy were interchangeable! 

   This also meant that nothing can travel at the speed of light, the energy needed is infinite to propel matter at such a high speed. But since energy is like "liquid" matter and matter is like "solidified" energy, the energy would turn to matter and the infinite amount of matter thereby created is impossible. So the speed of light is the speed limit of the cosmos, nothing can travel faster than it. 

   We have delved into very important concepts of relativity, but due to my time limitations, I must continue this topic later. Keep checking back and feel free to ask questions below. Tell your friends about the blog and become a follower! I'll post again soon, until then, salutations!

Classical Electromagnetism

   Of the four forces of nature that have been harnessed by humans, there is little doubt that electromagnetism has had the greatest impact. It is the reason you're able to read is, the reason you can instantly communicate with your friends, the reason information is accessible instantly via internet, the reason for your lighting, the reason society has advanced so far and looks so different from 100 years ago. Humanity has mastered this force and the results of it, but how did it get started? Who first used it? Why is it caused? What is its future? This category, like the scientific revolution, will be split into several blog posts.

   As the name suggests, electricity and magnetism are different aspects of the same, intrinsically related thing. Early scientists and philosophers were familiar with magnetism when they observed materials like lodestone move certain metals. Electricity was first studied by the Greek scientist Thales when he observed how amber had certain electric qualities (in fact, the word electric comes from the Greek word for amber, elektron). In coming years, the two seemingly dissimilar forces were mostly shrouded in mystery until 1873 when James Clerk Maxwell wrote his famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. He showed mathematically that the interactions found between positive and negative charges (poles) were actually governed by the same  force, electromagnetism. Another physicist, Michael Faraday, a poor and relatively uneducated scientist, found the force lines we see when we place iron shavings near a magnet, now called a Faraday field or Faraday lines. These were both important steps for understanding the force and connecting the two ideas.

   Electromagnetism is essentially the interactions between electrically charged particles. Light is also an electromagnetic emission, as are radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light (color), ultraviolet light, X rays, and gamma rays. The particles of each one of these, the photon, is a massless particle that travels 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second) making it the fastest thing in the universe. The relation between electrons and their respective nuclei is explained in electromagnetism as well. And we are all familiar with the story of Benjamin Franklin discovering the relationship between lightning and electricity.

   Overall, we have barely begun to cover this extensive topic, but we will soon see much of the mystery that covers this dynamic and most useful of universal forces. I will probably return to this topic when I have elaborated on quantum mechanics so we can have a true understanding of what this force is. On a personal note, sorry guys for taking so long, moving has taken it all out of me and it has been difficult getting back into the rhythm of things, but I hope to be posting much soon, so keep checking in. Until then, salutations!

UPDATE

   Hi all, I still haven't settled in yet, but I will soon. Until then, salutations!

Scientific Revolution: Part 3

   The late 17th century saw the arrival of Sir Isaac Newton, history's greatest scientist. Newton is most famous for his three laws of motion, the three laws we always learn in school: 1) An object at rest will stay at rest unless a force is applied against it, 2) F (force) = m (mass) x a (acceleration), and 3) For every action, there is an equal, but opposite reaction. These three laws plus his law of gravitation formed the staple of classical mechanics and is still used today. In 1687, his greatest achievement and one of science's most influential books was published, Philosophiæ  Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In it were his three laws and his law of universal gravitation. The success of Principia earned him a spot of fame among scientists of the era. Having already attained the prestigious Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, he was considered a chief authority of the sciences at the time.

   Newton is also famous for his development of calculus, although it was also founded independently by Gottfried Leibniz. Furthermore, we are all familiar with the story of Newton's observations of apples falling from trees motivating him to formulate his law of universal gravitation. This story is considered to be true by most historians, so you can tell that to your friends the next time they claim it's just a legend. After Newton formulated his law, heliocentrism started to become accepted fact by the public. Newton showed through his formulas how the Earth orbited the Sun, seemingly placing the Sun in the center of the universe. But Newton himself noted how the center of gravity seemed to be slightly off of where it was expected to be. Regardless, he viewed this center as unchanging and never moving, but it was still troubling that it was not located in the dead center of the Sun.This was of course accounted for by the tug of the other planets on the Sun, displacing it from its true center, just as the Earth's barycenter (the center of mass between two or more objects) between it and the Moon is located away from the center in the mantle or outer core.

   Newton became a superstar of science for his work. Every educated child can at least tell you he was a really smart scientist. Alexander Pope once wrote:

 Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;

God said "Let Newton be" and all was light.

   So, the scientific revolution comes to a conclusion here. Newton's influence on our technology has had tremendous impacts on us, his three laws being largely responsible for the impending Industrial Revolution. Anyways, that's the story. On a more personal matter, I may be out for up to a week, I am currently in the middle of a move and I need to get back in the rhythm of things. Next post, I'm hoping for some talks about electricity and magnetism, along with some contributing scientists like Faraday, Clerk-Maxwell, Edison, and Tesla. Until then, salutations!

Scientific Revolution: Part 2

   When we last left off, Copernicus had had his influential book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, published with his fresh new theory of a heliocentric (Sun- centered) universe. As mentioned, his idea was considered blasphemous by the Church who held that God must have placed them in the center of the universe, for the possibility of Earth being one of the planets would have diminished its importance. This view was also held by the public who disregarded Copernicus's work. This is where we pick up....

   Johannes Kepler was a German scientist who supported the Copernican idea. He believed the same as Copernicus, that the center of our cosmos was the Sun. In 1596, 53 years after the theory was put in print, Kepler published his own work, Mysterium Cosmographicum. In it was the first evidence pointing towards a heliocentric universe. Later, he would also develop his three famous laws of planetary motion.

   Around the same time, Galileo Galilei was testing his new and incredible design for his telescope. In his observations of the solar system, he discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter. This was a breakthrough, it showed that Earth was not the only heavenly body that had the ability to be orbited by other objects. This was a blow to geocentrism and it received much opposition from many other astronomers. Later, Galileo would go on to write Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. In it, he appeared to insult Pope Urban VIII. As a result, he was placed under house arrest where he wrote his influential book, Two New Sciences. He died while still under house arrest.

   Heliocentrism spread throughout Europe as a common notion by the late 1600's. While still not widely accepted, it was beginning to take its roots as a new universal perspective. Well, that's all for today's post. It will be picked up in the next one with Isaac Newton, possibly history's greatest scientist. Until then, salutations!

Scientific Revolution: Part 1

   Before 1543, the Earth was the center of everything in a geocentric universe. Ptolemy's idea was widely accepted as fact and was further pushed onto the masses by the Church, who believed God had made them special in their position in the cosmos. Everything orbited the Earth, not just the Moon. The five planets known at the time, the Sun, and an orb with fixed points (stars) as well. They believed the universe was in perfect balance, with the Earth the center of its order. This is where we begin....

   Nicolaus Copernicus was among the few who first challenged Ptolemy's and Aristotle's concepts of the universe. He was essentially changing the way we would view ourselves forever. In 1543, the year of his death, his book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, was published. In it, he put forth his theory of his heliocentric universe, a groundbreaking step in the direction for our modern view of our place in the cosmos. His proposal was met with vehement opposition from the Church for tearing humanity from its cherished position in the stars. His work was far from being widely accepted fact. It would take the help and provided evidence of many more scientists in the future before the public would even consider the heliocentric universe as a possibility. But this story will be picked up in the next post.

   So there you have it. Nicolaus Copernicus, a true visionary in science and physics. He is the framework for building up to a modern understanding of the universe. Anyways, more of this legendary story later. Until then, salutations!

Introduction

   Since I have a little bit of spare time, I thought I would give you all an introduction to this blog and what it will be about.

   I will endeavour to simply explain physics and astronomy in layman's terms to those who find the subjects interesting or fascinating. The first posts will be primarily about the birth of modern physics with anecdotes about such famed scientists as Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Copernicus. These lessons will build the framework of later studies of the unification of electricity and magnetism in Maxwell's equations, Einstein's relativistic universe, Hubble's discovery of other galaxies and the fact they are moving away, the big bang theory, and other such discoveries. Then, we move into a realm where common sense in our everyday terms is violated and objects are in two places at once: the bizarre world of quantum mechanics. We will revisit electromagnetism here as well as quantum tunneling, the nature of the atom and its constituents, the weak and strong nuclear forces, quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and quantum theory's impact on our technology. Later on, more in-depth discussions about the big bang theory will arise, the nature of dark matter and dark energy, antimatter, the newly developed negative energy, string theory, higher dimensions, parallel universes, wormholes, and the quest for the theory of everything and the unification of physics.

   Well, there you have it. Don't expect me to follow along that schedule precisely, I'm going to be tempted to skip some of the more dull subjects (yeah, I heard the people who just said, "It's PHYSICS, it's ALL DULL!"). Anyways, please stay tuned for more, I hope to post soon, Until then, salutations!

Hello Fellow Human!

   Hello comrades, I shall be posting some physics stuff on here when I have a little bit of that special fourth dimensional substance we call time. Until then, salutations!