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What happens to Earth if the Sun temporarily stops making sunspots? Let's find out.

mt330404 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:33:37 +0000

By Rebecca Sato
DailyGalaxy.com
June 11, 2008
Click here for the original post

Dark spots, some as large as 50,000 miles in diameter, typically move across the surface of the sun, contracting and expanding as they go. These strange and powerful phenomena are known as sunspots, but now they are all gone. Not even solar physicists know why it’s happening and what this odd solar silence might be indicating for our future.

Although periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, this current period has gone on much longer than usual and scientists are starting to worry—at least a little bit. Recently 100 scientists from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and North America gathered to discuss the issue at an international solar conference at Montana State University. Today's sun is as inactive as it was two years ago, and solar physicists don’t have a clue as to why.

"It continues to be dead," said Saku Tsuneta with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, program manager for the Hinode solar mission, noting that it is at least a little bit worrisome for scientists.

Dana Longcope, a solar physicist at MSU, said the sun usually operates on an 11-year cycle with maximum activity occurring in the middle of the cycle. The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, Longcope said. The next cycle is just beginning and is expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. But so far nothing is happening.

"It's a dead face," Tsuneta said of the sun's appearance.

Tsuneta said solar physicists aren't weather forecasters and they can't predict the future. They do have the ability to observe, however, and they have observed a longer-than-normal period of solar inactivity. In the past, they observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots. That period coincided with a little ice age on Earth that lasted from 1650 to 1700. Coincidence? Some scientists say it was, but many worry that it wasn’t.

Geophysicist Phil Chapman, the first Australian to become an astronaut with NASA, said pictures from the US Solar and Heliospheric Observatory also show that there are currently no spots on the sun. He also noted that the world cooled quickly between January last year and January this year, by about 0.7C.

"This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930," Dr Chapman noted in The Australian today.

If the world does face another mini Ice Age, it could come without warning. Evidence for abrupt climate change is readily found in ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica. One of the best known examples of such an event is the Younger Dryas cooling, which occurred about 12,000 years ago, named after the arctic wildflower found in northern European sediments. This event began and ended rather abruptly, and for its entire 1000 year duration the North Atlantic region was about 5°C colder. Could something like this happen again? There’s no way to tell, and because the changes can happen all within one decade—we might not even see it coming.

The Younger Dryas occurred at a time when orbital forcing should have continued to drive climate to the present warm state. The unexplained phenomenon has been the topic of much intense scientific debate, as well as other millennial scale events.

Now this 11-year low in Sunspot activity has raised fears among a small but growing number of scientists that rather than getting warmer, the Earth could possibly be about to return to another cooling period. The idea is especially intriguing considering that most of the world is in preparation for global warming.

Canadian scientist Kenneth Tapping of the National Research Council has also noted that solar activity has entered into an unusually inactive phase, but what that means—if anything—is still anyone’s guess. Another solar scientist, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, however, is certain that it’s an indication of a coming cooling period.

Sorokhtin believes that a lack of sunspots does indicate a coming cooling period based on certain past trends and early records. In fact, he calls manmade climate change "a drop in the bucket" compared to the fierce and abrupt cold that can potentially be brought on by inactive solar phases.

Sorokhtin’s advice: "Stock up on fur coats"…just in case.

Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation

sakerfa — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:08:16 +0000

Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.

In theory the discovery could be used to levitate a person

In earlier work the same team of theoretical physicists showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible.

Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.

Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.

Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.

The Casimir force is a consequence of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles that is not only the most successful theory of physics but also the most baffling.

The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a “dry glue” effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.

Now, using a special lens of a kind that has already been built, Prof Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin report in the New Journal of Physics they can engineer the Casimir force to repel, rather than attact.

Because the Casimir force causes problems for nanotechnologists, who are trying to build electrical circuits and tiny mechanical devices on silicon chips, among other things, the team believes the feat could initially be used to stop tiny objects from sticking to each other.

Prof Leonhardt explained, “The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano-world, in particular in some microelectromechanical systems.

Such systems already play an important role - for example tiny mechanical devices which triggers a car airbag to inflate or those which power tiny 'lab on chip’ devices used for drugs testing or chemical analysis.

Micro or nano machines could run smoother and with less or no friction at all if one can manipulate the force.” Though it is possible to levitate objects as big as humans, scientists are a long way off developing the technology for such feats, said Dr Philbin.

The practicalities of designing the lens to do this are daunting but not impossible and levitation “could happen over quite a distance”.

Prof Leonhardt leads one of four teams - three of them in Britain - to have put forward a theory in a peer-reviewed journal to achieve invisibility by making light waves flow around an object - just as a river flows undisturbed around a smooth rock.

Story from Telegraph News:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1559579/Physicists-have-%27solved%27-mystery-of-levitation.html

To understand the Universe

rod. — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:45:01 +0000

Quoting U.S. theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg (b. 1933):

The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.

Weinberg is my favorite (living) physicist. When I was an undergrad I read his Dreams of a Final Theory book, and I loved it. He is definitely one of the greatest thinkers of our time.

To think what nobody has yet thought

rod. — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:30:57 +0000

Quoting Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961):

The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.

Big Bang Theory Vs Real Life Physicists

honestyfinally — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:23:16 +0000

Lately me and some friends have been watching regularly this sitcom called Big Bang theory. Story of two physicists living next to a really pretty normal girl. They also have two other nerdy friends, a horny russian guy and a indian computer geek who cant talk in front of girls. The creators of the show have made the show catered to the masses' imagination of physicists as socially inept creatures(most of us are actually are) and their unusual reactions to common social situations. Anyway I have posted below some good scenes from the sitcom.

The last one is the theme song in case anyone likes the song by Bare Naked Ladies.

1)We like talking about either string theory or quantum theory:

What distinguishes us from rest of the general population are at least 4 mind grueling courses in quantum mechanics and perhaps one in quantum field theory. (actually I have an added credit of knowing quantum computation and quantum electrodynamics). Anyone who has gone through all these courses will come out with no respect for anything else in the world because these things are so bloody tough. Basically people ask me what "quantum" is all about. The explanation is simple, when you restrict a particle in a tiny confined space, instead of having a range of energy like a particle in free space has , its energy can only attain discrete states or "quantized" states. Similarly energy per photon is discrete and is called a quanta. Anyway since we have spent so much bloody time in learning and mastering quantum theory we like to talk about it. Some theorists push the crazy boundary to go on and dedicate their entire life to string theory, where tons of other dimensions come in.

2) We are bad with women:

I would say only half of its true. You can be bad with women if u choose to not do anything about it. It's not just physicists but any person working in a predominantly male environment like an offshore oil rig or in the army turns out this way. I know some of the physicists who work even on saturdays and sundays and others who are getting laid thrice a week with three different women because if you are kinda normal and have other skills except physics the physicist thing turns out to be a real chick magnet.

3) We own X-boxes:

I own an X box. I rest my case.

4) We are fussy about tiny details:

Absolutely true. You can't tell us something and then go away without supplying the proof behind it. This is how our conversations takes place, this is how we explain to our supervisors that some result we are showing him is not dubious. So if we are talking to you, you better supply us with the evidence.

5) We are not very social creatures:

The smarter and smarter you get it gets very difficult for us to engage and enjoy conversations with normal people. Normal people, mediocrity is a boon, because you can find a million people around you just like you and you can have a very enjoyable conversation with them. Unlike us, in the middle of the conversation you wont feel like going off to sleep because you find the conversation or the group really really dumb. So we tend to stay amongst ourselves and be happy.

sonicando — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:20:02 +0000

จอห์น อาร์คีบอลด์ วีลเลอร์ ได้เสียชีวิตแล้ว

suppiya — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:24:02 +0000

๏ ปรมาจารย์จอห์น อาร์คีบอลด์ วีลเลอร์ ได้เสียชีวิตแล้ว

จอห์น อาร์คีบอลด์ วีลเลอร์ (John Archibald Wheeler) หนึ่งในสุดยอดปรมาจารย์ทางฟิสิกส์ทฤษฎี ผู้เป็นตำนาน ได้จากไปเรียบร้อยแล้ว (13 เม.ย. 2551) …

วีลเลอร์มีผลงานมากมาย แต่เท่าที่ข้าพเจ้าให้ความสนใจก็คือ

Wheeler–Feynman Absorber Theory (ผลงานร่วมกับไฟน์แมน) :)
- John Archibald Wheeler and Richard Phillips Feynman, ``Interaction with the Absorber as the Mechanism of Radiation'', Reviews of Modern Physics 17 (2–3), 157–181 (1945). [doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.17.157]
- John Archibald Wheeler and Richard Phillips Feynman, ``Classical Electrodynamics in Terms of Direct Interparticle Action'', Reviews of Modern Physics 21 (3), 425–433 (1949). [doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.21.425]
Geometrodynamics เป็นการเขียนทฤษฎีสัมพัทธภาพทั่วไปของไอน์สไตน์ ขึ้นใหม่ในภาษาของ Modern Differential Geometry ให้ไม่ขึ้นอยู่กับการเลือก กรอบอ้างอิงหรือพิกัดอ้างอิง :)
- Charles W. Misner and John Archibald Wheeler, ``Classical Physics as Geometry'', Annals of Physics 2 (6), 525–603 (1957). [doi:10.1016/0003-4916(57)90049-0]
- John Archibald Wheeler, ``On the Nature of Quantum Geometrodynamics'', Annals of Physics 2 (6), 604–614 (1957). [doi:10.1016/0003-4916(57)90050-7]
- John Archibald Wheeler, ``Geometrodynamics and the Problem of Motion'', Reviews of Modern Physics 33 (1), 63–78 (1961). [doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.33.63]

References:

John Archibald Wheeler — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler]
Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler–Feynman_absorber_theory]
Geometrodynamics — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometrodynamics]
Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne and John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco (1973).
[http://www.amazon.com/Gravitation-Physics-Kip-S-Thorne/dp/0716703440]
John Wheeler ได้เสียชีวิตแล้ว — วิชาการ.คอม
[http://www.vcharkarn.com/include/vcafe/showkratoo.php?pid=142630]
Goodbye — Cosmic Variance
[http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/04/13/goodbye/]

Physicists model how we form opinions

Simin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:02:58 +0000

In large part, a society’s image stems from its overall opinions – its political, religious, and ethical beliefs – and how much diversity it tolerates. For example, how do some areas develop images of being either liberal or conservative, and, in others, liberals and conservatives live side by side?

As a team of researchers explains, our individual opinions both influence and are influenced by our surroundings. By following a set of rules, the researchers have modeled the opinion formation process in societies where individuals’ opinions are strongly influenced by others they interact with. The scientists found that, depending on two criteria – how strongly individuals are influenced by each other and how many connections individuals have – a society’s overall state can exhibit either large segregated patches of consensus, or areas with closely intermingled opinions.

Peter Klimek from the Medical University of Vienna, Renaud Lambiotte from the University of Liege and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and Stefan Thurner of the Medical University of Vienna and the Santa Fe Institute in the US have published their study in a recent issue of Europhysics Letters.

In their model, individuals are represented as nodes in a network. The nodes are binary, and they display an individual’s opinion on some subject, such as yes/no, liberal/conservative, Clinton/Obama, or any other choice.

Then, the society’s overall stance on a subject can be determined for the future by evolving the system. First, an algorithm checks the state of all nodes connected to the node in question. If the fraction of the state of neighboring nodes exceeds a certain threshold (which the researchers call the “laggard parameter” and must be above 50%), then the central node adopts that state. If not, the node remains in its original state. This process is iterated several times, until it can no longer be updated, and the society freezes.

“The original opinions of the individuals are 'a priori' inclinations toward some subject,” Thurner told PhysOrg.com. “To stay within the Clinton/Obama example, although most of my peers may be democrats, some of them may consider political experience to be more important, while others think that a fresh start is needed. Given such individual initial dispositions, our work shows under which circumstances individuals will stick to them or change their mind.”

Depending on the laggard parameter and the system’s average connectivity, the model produces societies with different features. For example, as the laggard parameter increases (when individuals require a greater fraction of neighbors holding the opposite opinion in order to change their opinions), the regions of consensus shrink, and the society’s diverse views intermingle. In other words, individuals stubbornly hold on to their opinions, even if many of their neighbors have the opposite view. But the more that people are influenced by others, the less likely it is that the society will ever reach such an intermixed state.

Secondly, changing the connectivity parameter affects how quickly the system transitions from the segregated state to the intermixed state. For the same laggard parameter, a system with higher connectivity (10 or more connections in the model) creates a sharper transition from a segregated society to a mixed society. Systems with lower connectivity take longer to intermingle, and may never completely mix, as the system could stop evolving after fewer iterations.

Because social ties fluctuate, the researchers also modified their model by randomly rewiring the connections after the system reached its final update. This rewiring represents how individuals lose and make new friends and acquaintances, resulting in a more realistic model.

Overall, the researchers explain that a society’s public opinion can form one of two scenarios: segregated or coexistence of differences. But, as the team explains, even segregated societies can be versatile, with clusters of different groups – just as long as they aren’t forced to interact too much.

“Our model predicts that the formation of consensus depends on how actively an issue is under debate, especially if the original sets of opinions are balanced, i.e. there is roughly the same amount of people sharing each of the two opinions,” Thurner explained. “This is, of course, the most interesting case. In societies where debate is encouraged, a group of people is more likely to find consensus on a topic than, say, in a society where active discussions are not appreciated, suppressed or even forbidden.”

As the researchers explain, the model could be used as a tool to make statistical predictions in real-life scenarios.

“In principle, all our model parameters can be determined in real life,” Thurner said. “Presently, large efforts are made by dozens of groups to map social networks. The outcome of these efforts can be straight forwardly taken as an input to our model. The nature of social influence that individuals exert on each other (in the model this is the laggard parameter), can be assessed through polls, behavioral surveys, etc.

“However, predictions of our model are of statistical nature, and results predict most likely outcomes,” he added. “Predicting the outcome of a specific election can be compared to playing poker. Just from knowing that I hold an above average hand there is no guarantee that I will actually win this round.”

More information: Klimek, P., Lambiotte, R., and Thurner, S. “Opinion formation in laggard societies.“ Europhysics Letters 82 (2008) 28008.

Source: http://www.physorg.com/news127385810.html

Written by: Lisa Zyga

The bipartisan physics caucus grows by one

JSE — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:26:32 +0000

Bill Foster, a particle physicist at Fermilab, won a special election in Illinois last week to become the newest member of the House of Representatives. He's the third physicist in Congress! The other two are Rush Holt (D-NJ), a former professor at Swarthmore and assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and Vern Ehlers (R-MI), who has a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Berkeley and used to chair the physics department at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

Why three physicists and no mathematicians? Maybe because physicists are much more likely to have experience overseeing large pots of money -- and by extension, to have experience asking people for large pots of money, a critical skill for aspirants to public office.

There is one Congressman with a Ph.D. in math, first-termer Jerry McNerney (D-CA). But in his professional life he's an engineer. And algebraic topologist Daniel Biss will be a Democratic candidate this fall for State Representative in Illinois. Are there any other mathematicians in state legislatures?

If you're running for office and want to cash in on this physics trend, you might start with Chad Orzel's enjoyable post explaining how to talk like a physicist. Some of his suggestions are indeed things I say all the time, without thinking of them as markers of membership in the math tribe: for instance, referring to difficult things as "non-trivial," or bad things as "sub-optimal."

Richard Feynman

jhorna — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:22:30 +0000

It's better to live not knowing than to live with an answer that might be wrong.

Richard Feynman

jhorna — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:19:09 +0000

You shouldn't pre-decide what you're trying to do, except that you're trying to find out more about it!

Richard Feynman

jhorna — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:12:14 +0000

Actively irresponsible!

Cloud Of Antimatter At The Center Of The Milky Way

haecus — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:51:51 +0000

......The shape of the mysterious cloud of antimatter in the central regions of the Milky Way has been revealed by ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory Integral. The unexpectedly lopsided shape is a new clue to the origin of the antimatter. The observations have significantly decreased the chances that the antimatter is coming from the annihilation or decay of astronomical dark matter. The new results give astronomers a valuable new clue and point away from dark matter as the origin of the antimatter. Beyond the galactic centre, the cloud is not entirely spherical. Instead it is lopsided with twice as much on one side of the galactic centre as the other. Such a distribution is highly unusual because gas in the inner region of the galaxy is relatively evenly distributed. Equally importantly, Integral found evidence that a population of binary stars is also significantly off-centre, corresponding in extent to the cloud of antimatter. That powerfully suggests these objects, known as hard (because they emit at high energies) low mass X-ray binaries, are responsible for a major amount of antimatter. “Simple estimates suggest that about half and possibly all of the antimatter is coming from the X-ray binaries,” says Weidenspointner. The other half could be coming from a similar process around the galaxy’s central black hole and the various exploding stars there. He points out that the lop-sided distribution of hard LMXBs is unexpected, as stars are distributed more or less evenly around the galaxy. More investigations are needed to determine whether the observed distribution is real. “The link between LMXBs and the antimatter is not yet proven but it is a consistent story,” says Weidenspointner. It has real astrophysical importance because it decreases the need for dark matter at the centre of our galaxy......

http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/324908

http://www.physorg.com/news119109289.html

National Physical Laboratory Walkin Interview on 5th March 2008

govjobs — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:05:09 +0000

NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY (NPL)
(Council of Scientific & Industrial Research)

Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg (Near Pusa), New Delhi - 110012

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Seeking disbelievers

colincware — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:30:12 +0000

There is a missing challenger to the assertions being made here, at this Blog. Let me reformulate this problem – and it is a very unknowing situation. Because this Blog is not being challenged suggests there is no theoretical scientist, theoretical physicist who truly is seeking TOE. For all their statements of their seeking the Theory of Everything, TOE, – they are, very apparently, shying away from looking into a non-theoretical solution to finding TOE.

This Blog is seeking one or several (the much more, the much merrier) very curious professional mathematicians and/or physicists, theoretical or applied, to challenge the facts developed here – to show all of us others where the errors are made!Is there someone whose disbelief does not outweigh his/her seeking non-theoretical TOE? This apparent difficulty paints the picture of the fabled castle with walls, moat, and drawbridge – to protect the turf within. TTOE is beautiful, simple, Real, mechanical, and mathematical. TTOE has the same, real physical contents and constants as TNOU, for the same Universe.

I wonder how many others are becoming more convinced the "seekers" want to "talk" seeking, but are really set to defend their theoretical turf. It certainly is more fun to stir (fairy tales, others have called them) the theories and expand on them, and re-enforce their purpose of their work. They have had to learn through years of advanced study the multitude of, some times conflicting, theories – and having to chose one model over others - and defend their positions. I have read of some of these defenses as being very physical with slight or nearly body injuries. The emotional wounds also certainly must shake them to their heels. The work with TTOE clearly, mathematically, defines the "belief" that TTOE is REALY true. Mathematically true. If TTOE work is given to disbelievers, they did not want to continue any dialog even if a graph and discussion of TTOE supported their position. It was too simple; it did not require either Special or General Relativity theories. TTOE cannot be theoretical! TTOE must show that there was no Big Bang. Disbelief defies curiosity again.There should be no need of this. High school physics and some lower college level calculus is all that is required to work with TTOE. This is all that is needed! This is so factual, real (not theoretical or imaginary) it is not fancy; so it is understandable the reluctance to stepping over the "moat" clearly goes into uncharted land for them.

The New Heretics

theobservereffect — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:48:43 +0000

When Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg were developing the Copenhagen Interpretation, heresy was probably the furthest thing from their minds. Yet, their findings (and those of other, autre garde physicists of the early twentieth century) was an assault on established scientific dogma... Heresy.

The process by which a seemingly radical theory becomes accepted and eventually appropriated by the mainstream has always fascinated me -- whether we're talking about the heliocentric cosmology of Copernicus, Darwin's "Origin of Species," or the Copenhagen Interpretation. There are phases to this process. At first, a new theory which challenges the status quo is derided as ridiculous. Next, it is acknowledged as possible or even probable, yet considered to be of little or no utility -- "knowledge for knowledge's sake." Gradually, what was once heresy becomes widely accepted as truth, at which point unlocking its practical applications can (and often does) impact how we live our daily lives.

Quantum Theory is arguably the most successful scientific theory in human history. The math that supports it can be calculated with mind-boggling accuracy; its experiments have been verified again and again. Its practical applications -- superconductors, computers, transistors, lasers, medical imaging, the development of the World Wide Web -- are far-reaching. As a result, the challenge QT faces is not an argument regarding its scientific basis or utility, but a lack of consensus regarding its conceptual and philosophical connotations. This is where heresy enters the picture in contemporary discussions about Quantum Theory.

Who are the new heretics? What, specifically, is the nature of their heresy? And what practical applications and benefits might eventually be realized from their forays into forbidden intellectual territory?

Roger Penrose, Eugene Wigner, Dean Radin, Bruce Lipton, Fred Alan Wolf, Bruce Rosenblum, Brenda Dunne, Robert Jahn, Evan Harris Walker, Attila Grandpierre, Roger Nelson and Matthieu Ricard are but a few of these pioneers. Some of them are physicists; some are biologists (one a biologist-turned-monk!), neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists and philosophers. The heresy they share is the belief that consciousness plays an important role in the construction of the material universe. The practical applications of their research and hypotheses are yet to be fully realized, understood or employed by the majority of the scientific community, let alone the the rest of society. They are such ~~stuff~~ dreams as ~~dreams~~ stuff is made on.

In future posts, I'll be discussing these theorists and providing links to their websites, papers, books, and online videos. While some of them may be forgotten eventually, and their hypotheses cast aside, undoubtedly there are also those whose research and ideas will shift our understanding of the workings of the universe, and, in so doing, alter the course of humankind.

Doomed? Not...Yet...Gulp

pleasantforgeries — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:57:00 +0000

I found this stuff on Digg.com. It's a list of 10 possible ways our way of life could be altered or destroyed at any given moment. Pretty scary stuff. Enjoy, and be afraid. Very afraid.

1. Particle Accelerators

Physicists have long theorized that particle accelerators could destroy the earth. When electric fields are used to accelerate protons they could collide at speed fast enough to create black holes or bits of altered matter. These small black holes would slowly engulf our planet. The pieces of altered matter, called strangeletes, would destroy any ordinary matter they came in contact with, eventually annihilating the entire planet. Although most scientists assure that none of the particle accelerators being used at the present are strong enough to bring about these events they are unsure of the abilities of the newest accelerator being built. Currently, over two-thousand physicists from thirty-four countries, universities and laboratories are aiding in the construction of The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located near Geneva, Switzerland. It is scheduled to begin experimentation in May 2008. It is hoped that if black holes are produced they will be small enough to evaporate, but only time will tell.

2. Rogue Black Holes

Although the concept of black holes was conceived in 1915 by Einstein (some may argue earlier) they were not accepted as fact until Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose proved their existence in 1970. From this point on black holes have been looked at with a sense of awe and fear; a place from which nothing can escape, not even light. Even scarier is the fact that our galaxy is full of collapsed stars waiting to turn into black holes, some astronomers estimate there are as many as 10 million. Luckily, most black holes are in orbit around other astronomical masses. However, if one of these black holes was able to pull itself away from orbit and head towards earth we would be clueless since they are almost impossible to see. The black hole wouldn't even have to come very close to earth to wreak havoc, if it even entered our solar system it would distort all planetary orbits causing extreme climate changes, and even expel some planets from the system.

3. Gamma-Ray Burst

Gamma-ray bursts are extremely powerful, estimated to have 10 quadrillion times more energy than our sun. They are created by the collision of two collapsed stars. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to visualize collapsed stars making it even more difficult to predict the location of a gamma-ray burst. A burst 1,000 light years from the earth (further away than most of our stars) would create an explosion as bright as our sun and bring a hasty destruction to earth. Although our atmosphere and the ozone would provide protection at first it would soon be cooked away by the radiation. UV rays would kill the photosynthetic plankton in the ocean, which provide most of the earth's oxygen. At least one burst can be seen each day when watching our sky with gamma-ray vision; it can't be too long before there is one closer to home.

4. Omega Point

This term describes the ultimate maximum level of complexity-consciousness. Philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believed that the universe is continuously working towards this point. The socialization of humankind, including creating more complex forms of communication and information exchange, increases the collective consciousness of the human race. Just as human beings can self-reflect, one day too the universe will hit the critical Omega Point and the collective consciousness of humankind will be able to reflect upon itself. This divine center of consciousness will draw together the entire universe and end the world as we know it.

5. Bubble Nucleation

According to the leading cosmological model the universe began as a false vacuum of empty space filled with energy. This incredibly unstable, high-energy state went through the process of bubble nucleation to reach a more stable, lower-energy state. This huge release of energy caused the expansion of the universe. We would like to think that the world we now live in is a stable true vacuum but it is possible that although the universe is at a lower energy level now than it was before, we are living in another false vacuum which could collapse at any moment. If a low energy bubble nucleates in our false vacuum it would expand at the speed of light, once again changing the universe.

6. Divine Intervention

As with all end of the world theories it's impossible to know if divine intervention is a feasible end of the world scenario. Despite its lack of scientific evidence it gains validity through strong support. Christians look to the Book of Revelation, Jews to the Book of Daniel, and Muslims believe that the coming of Mahdi will bring the end. All have a similar story, a divine force will intervene in the world to bring our history to an end and start a new moral order. Even non-believers have something to worry about since some doomsday groups decide to take these matters into their own hands. For example, the Aum Shinri Kyo sect that released Sarin nerve gas into a Tokyo subway station in 1995, killing 12 and injuring more than 5,000. Imagine what would happen if these groups got their hands on more powerful weapons.

7. Solar Activity (Super-Flares and Decreased Activity)

The sun emits solar flares, also known as coronal mass ejections, towards earth frequently. These flares are large magnetic outbursts which contain high-speed subatomic particles. Luckily, earth's atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from the consequences of these potentially lethal flares. However, evidence has been found that sun-like stars far from our solar system can briefly increase in brightness by 20 times. It is hypothesized that these increases are caused by super-flares, which are millions of times more powerful than the common solar flare. If our sun were to emit one of these super-flares it would literally fry the earth. On the other hand, if our sun's activity were to decrease by a mere 1% (which has been known to happen to many sun-like stars) we would be flung back into another ice age.

8. Aliens Attack the Earth

The chance of encountering intelligent extraterrestrial life becomes greater every day. As of January 8, 2008, 217 planets have been discovered outside of our solar system and 2-3 new ones are found each month. Famous astronomer Carl Sagan believed there to be billions upon billions of planets in the universe. With such high numbers it is hard, if not impossible, to believe that there is no intelligent life in the universe besides human and that an alien invasion and destruction of Earth is impossible. It is theorized that it would not be a conflict between humans and aliens that would cause lead to our end but that the aliens would exploit Earth for her resources or merely disrupt the planet by mistake.

9. Global War

Although, tensions between world groups wax and wane causing the public to frequently go from worrying about a global war to forgetting about it, global war is a constant threat. It is believed that there are at least 20,000 active nuclear weapons in the world. A malicious use of these weapons or even an accidental nuclear exchange or misfire could be disastrous for the planet. Even more worrisome should be the treat of biological warfare. Using killer germs is cheap, they are also easy to produce and conceal. Even scarier, they can become impossible to control.

10. Ecosystem Collapse

Our biodiversity is vanishing. At least 30,000 new species become extinct each year, a higher rate than ever before in history. Every single organism on the planet is integrally intertwined with the life of others. To make our life easier in the here and now we are slashing and burning forests, slaughtering animals, transporting organisms from their original ecosystem to others, and introducing synthetic materials into the environment, just to name a few. We are already upsetting the checks and balances of the global ecosystem but have not yet seen a devastating consequence such as the extinction of pollinating insects leading to widespread crop failure and the eventual starvation of humans. Ecologist use the imagery of a "marginal tree," that once cut will throw our planet into chaos to explain the unpredictability of a cataclysmic ecological collapse.

I DID NOT WRITE THIS! THIS IS ENTIRELY COPY AND PASTED!! If you want to the article in the exact same way, but with pictures, go here.

Kinda scary isn't it? Oh well...we all gotta die sometime, don't we? But it really brings up a really spiritual question. If a person didn't believe in God, or a divine being, how would they react? How would you react? Would you try to find God in your time of need? Or would you mock those who, in your view, wasted their lives? Interesting...

Peace and love

Justin

Listing of Category Projects to Develop

colincware — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:30:30 +0000

As you look over these thread categories, realize that each and every one must ultimately be joined - connected - by a single set of written statements and supporting set of mathematical equations - short - simple - "beautiful" as many renowned scholars would describe the equations this Blog is to develop and present.

1. On the astronomical distance of the Universe

2. On Hubble uncertain values of "apparent" expansion

3. On the structure of the Universe continuum

4. On the age of the potentially visible Universe

5. On the properties of The Velocity of Light (TVOL)

6. New fundamental constants and their properties

7. On EM radiation impedance and "empty" space impedance

8. On the properties of Time

9. On a 4-Dimensional Universe

10. On the Nature of the Cosmic Universe

10a. On cosmic Red Shift

10b. On "Empty Space" is not a perfect vacuum

10c. On Maxwell's "Displacement current"

10d. Testing the "new" Red Shift theory

10e. The goodness of fit of the new theory to Super Novae data

10f. Comparison of fit to astrophysicists' Super Novae data

10g. Using the new cosmic magnitude function with 60 Super Novae data

10h. Validity of the new theory without expansion, acceleration, Dark Energy

10i. Summary of cosmos NOU; conclusions, predictions and: Does 4-D space-time exist?

11. Resolution of Stefan-Boltzmann constant and Planck radiation law

12. On mass density of the Universe comparisons

13. On a common property to "travel" from the cosmos to subatomic

14. On summing the energy of the Universe

15. On calculating the cosmic microwave radiation (CMBR) temperature

16. On new values of physical constants

17. On the UnCertainty principle

18. On Hydrogen spectra emissions; Part 1, Photon energies

19. On Hydrogen spectra emissions: Part 2, Selecting eigenvector energies

20. On Hydrogen spectra emissions: Part 3, Locating the H' spectra in NOU

21. On finding NOU properties of the Hydrogen atom

22. On determining the properties of the Gravity constant

23. On determining the properties of force and acceleration

24. Ranging of force, acceleration, and Gravity to any realm in the Universe

25. Examples of some applications of Tools for NOU (TNOU)

26. On the direct, unmodified applications of the rules of TNOU to accelerations

27. On NOU properties embracing the Casimer force

28. On extending Casimer force effects through the atomic dimensions of the Bohr atom

29. A means to convert positive through negative linear data to logarithms

30. On element velocities and behavior at less than and greater than TVOL

31. Exploring element velocities in the atomic realm

32. On the Lorentz transformation and its energy limit and behavior greater than TVOL

33. On the behavior of the Lorentz transformation under mechanical velocity conditions

34. On the Precession of the orbit of Mercury

35. On the Gravitational mass-lens deflection angle of light passing the Sun

Good Theoretical Physicists . . .

suppiya — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:00:33 +0000

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902 – 1984)
http://suppiya.wordpress.com/paul-dirac/
Julian Seymour Schwinger (1918 – 1994)
http://suppiya.wordpress.com/julian-schwinger/
และคนอื่นๆ อีกหลายคน…
http://suppiya.wordpress.com/theoretical-physicists/

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