Science and Science Fiction

Often in human literature, there are connections with science and technology, some of that day and some which does not exist. Most people know of the classic examples of futuristic sci-fi, things like Star Wars, Star Trek, and pretty much any super hero movie. They can be very entertaining to watch and to get caught up in the stories of a different world, but it can be interesting to examine the actual technologies within the movies themselves and look at the real world possibilities.

We've talked before about Star Wars and the most recognizable technology in the Saga, the lightsaber. They are working on a state of matter similar to the lightsaber, which frankly I think is just awesome. The lightsaber wouldn't have much of an impact on your daily life besides the fact of how ridiculously cool it would be to have one. Another technology from Star wars would be the many different types of speeders and star ships. In the world of space travel today, some companies such as SpaceX are planning for commercial space travel, which means you could pay to go to space just for the experience. Obviously this isn't the same as a star fighter battle in space around the forrest moon of Endor, but its a step in the right direction. Some of these ships in Star Wars also have the ability to travel through hyperspace at light speed, which we know through the laws of physics is impossible. So if you were hoping to be able to activate the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon at some point, I wouldn't could on it.

In Star Trek, the Enterprise has a similar function as light speed, called warp speed. Warp speed is said in the various Star Trek series to be achieved when matter is mixed with antimatter creating plasma which when circulated through the warp drive creates a bubble around the ship which allows it to travel at speeds greater than light. Again, as far of we know the cosmic speed limit of light cannot be broken, but the technology described by Star Trek is very interesting. The matter/antimatter interactions which they describe sound very cool, I have no idea if they are possible or not, but the theory is very intriguing. The other thing about Star Trek are the interactions with new forms of life all over the galaxy, and how these interactions go. This goes along somewhat with my last post about the possibilities of life in our universe. If you haven't seen Star Trek I encourage you to try an episode or 2 from any of the different series' or one of the movies, they can be very intriguing.

Finally, obviously most super heros couldn't actually exist, but things Batman of Ironman, where there are mostly just inventions, are the coolest to me. They show how creative people can be, and even though it is all fiction, it shows the possibility of where we might get. Obviously I don't literally mean the possibility of the Dark Knight guarding our streets, but all of science fiction is meant to show the possibility of where science may take us.

I think its important to keep this inventive, creative, wondrous side of science in the forefront of the minds of those pursuing it. When studying science, its easy to see things as static, and always exactly how they are taught. But the aim of science is new ideas, new innovations, and new technologies from the knowledge we have attained. To do this we need to keep our minds open to new ideas, no matter how far out there they are. We have to remember there was a time it was considered blasphemous to say the world was round. Ideas lead to discovery, no matter where the idea comes from. You never know what idea will lead to the next break through.

Living in the Cosmos

On Earth, all of our home, there are many different types of life. From us, humans, to bacteria to trees to fungi, life is all around us. The interesting thing about life on earth is that it all comes from a similar beginning. All life on Earth that we know of is a carbon based life form, or organic. According to evolution, all life today would have started from a single celled organism, millions of years ago, which through genetic mutations eventually changed into all the organisms around us today, including you and I.

This evolution of life here on Earth has inspired a search for life on other planets around the galaxy. You may have heard of planets which fall in the so called "Goldilocks Zone". This means the planet is the perfect distance away in its orbit from its star that the temperature and conditions would be similar to those of Earth, and could theoretically harbour life similar to that of our own planet. Most of the search for life in this field of astrobiology is focused on the search of carbon based life, and most of what you hear about in the news about the possibility for life in the universe will be something about carbon based life specifically. 

This makes sense why it happens, we are curious about other life like us, and the possibility of other humans and intelligent life with whom we could communicate. It is a logical place to start, since the only life we know of is carbon based, why shouldn't we look for other life like it. To me, this point of view is understandable, but somewhat closed minded. 

We only know of one type of life, life like us. So as far as we know this is all that exists. But what is to say there isn't life of many different kinds, most of which is probably nothing like us. Take a minute and try to think about how big the universe is, how immensely large it really is. Think about the possibility of it being infinite, and truly go on forever. Never ending. Its a tough thing to do because our brains aren't suited to think of such things, but still give it a chance. Now think of the possibilities of life within this infinite universe. If the universe is truly infinite, it never reaches its end so anything you could ever think of would have to exist somewhere in the universe, because everything is less than infinity. This is a tough concept to grasp but bear with me. 

If you're thinking of every possibility in infinity, there are probably a couple types of life that don't exist here. Not just different species, but totally different types of life. They could have a totally different elemental structure, they could be larger than our entire planet, there really are and endless number of possibilities of what really could be like. This isn't the easiest thing, but I really encourage you to think about what might be out there. It can be cool to see what your brain can come up with, and thinking about if the universe is infinite and what you think up may actually exist is very exciting. 

There is an important difference here to make between thinking the universe is infinite and what it actually is. Right now, we know generally how old we think the universe is, at least how far we can see so a general sense of scale, and other general ideas about the immensity of the cosmos, but we really can't know. The universe is just too big to see the end of it, and possibly we never will. So when I say the life form you think about could exist at some point, it could very well exist but we may never know if it does or doesn't. Thinking in terms of infinity can be powerful, but I caution at trusting its conclusions, they are all only possibilities.

Particles of Life - Part 3

So far, we have seen particles involved with 2 parts of our universe; those of matter and those of energy. The last types of particles we will talk about are those of the fundamental forces in our world. To do this we need to know what the fundamental forces are. There are 4 of them in total: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.

First, we have already looked at a form of electromagnetism, coming from photons. Photons are the disruption in an electromagnetic field. The force of electromagnetism is transferred through these electromagnetic fields, so when there is a disturbance in this field which results in a force and an energy change, which is why a photon is released.

The strong nuclear force is the force which holds the quarks together so they can form neutrons and protons in the centre of an atom. This force is transferred by a particle known as a gluon, which does exactly like it sounds like it would. It basically glues the quarks together through the strong force. The Large Hadron Collider, at CERN in Switzerland, is the  largest particle accelerator in the world to date. Part of what the LHC has done is observe quark gluon plasma, which is basically this interaction between quarks with the strong force.

The weak nuclear force is able to change the flavour of quarks and other particles spins through the emission of bosons. This may not seem like something that comes up very often, but it is a cool process. The particles are called W and Z bosons and what happens is when a particle, such as a quark, starts undergoing a weak decay, one of these bosons is released and through this emission the quarks properties can change. For example an up quark can be made when a down quark releases a W boson, which is then converted into other particles which we will discuss at another time.

Finally, we all know about gravity. Its what keeps us on the ground. This is typically referred to as a field force, which means it doesnt act by contact by at a distance. What most people would think of gravity as is the attraction between 2 objects. It is a very weak force compared to the other 3 which is why we only notice it when a mass is very large. The field also can only transmit the force at the speed of light. There is a particle which has been theorized, as is currently being looked for, called the graviton which would transfer the gravitational force. Its properties would be similar to the photon, such as it would have no mass. The way they are looking for this particle is by observing something called gravitational waves, which are ripples in spacetime caused by rapid motion of heavy masses, such as black holes. If gravitational waves are observed it would show that gravity is restricted by the speed of light and that gravitons are a major possibility.

In the last 3 posts i have talked about some particles of various types, but these were very limited descriptions, and even limited number of particles. There are many types of particles in our universe which are very intriguing and I hope to talk about more in the future.

Particles of Life - Part 2

This past weekend, at least for up here in Canada, it was thanksgiving. University kids all went home, who could at least, and were able to see family and friends they've been away from for the past few weeks and gave thanks for the life around them. That life, as we discussed in the last post, is made up of particles. Particles are everywhere, in all kinds of different forms of matter and energy. So far we've talked about some of the basic ones of matter. Now we will talk about some of those of energy.

The particle energy which we appear to interact with most would be the photon, which is the particle that makes up light or electromagnetic radiation. This is everything from x rays when you go to the doctors office to the microwaves that heat your food, to the gamma rays coming out of exploding stars. Light is everywhere. A photon is theoretically one unit, or division of light; one single particle. The different types of light, only one of which is the different light we see every day, come from the different energies contained in the individual photons. For example gamma rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation which contain a large amount of energy, and as a result we cannot see them. The interesting thing about light and electromagnetic radiation is it is not only represented as a photon or a particle, it is also represented as a wave, but this is something for another day.

Another intriguing particle of energy is the neutrino. Neutrinos are very tiny, weakly interacting but very abundant particles which are the result of some nuclear decay and interactions. They can also come from interactions in stars and other cosmic activity, so neutrinos are coming from everywhere in the sky. When I say weakly interacting, I mean very weakly. They have no electric charge so they are not effected by any electromagnetic forces, and they have a very very small mass so the influence of gravity is very small. They interact so weakly, they can pass through most matter totally unimpeded. There are trillions of neutrinos passing right through the earth, and even through your own body, with no affect at all.

This makes detecting neutrinos quite the problem. One way to do this is by using heavy water, or something called deuterium oxide. When the cosmic neutrinos pass through the heavy water, they can actually interact with the molecules and release a certain type of radiation that can be identified as coming from a neutrino interaction. This field of study is relatively new, but as scientist refine the methods of detection, we will be able to learn more about what neutrinos are.

These are 2 of the more common types of energy particles you will hear about in physics, but there are of course many more. There is another grouping of particles we have yet to discuss, and those are particles of force. We will discuss these in the next post.

What Makes Us

As I have eluded to in previous posts, the universe is made up of much tinier and intriguing things than it appears to be. What I was talking about are called strings, which is a loose term, but basically they are infinitesimal vibrating objects that make up every type of particle we know of, and then some. The different vibrational patterns give the particles their specific mass, spins, charge, and other quantum properties. Many particles have been conceived for a relatively long time, but we are still finding new particles today.

Some particles that have been known for a while are particles of matter, like the electron or the quark. The electron has a -1 elementary charge and a very small mass, and they are the particle that orbits the nucleus of an atom. They orbit in things call orbitals (physicist aren't always super creative) that have different energy levels, so an electron with a certain amount of energy will orbit in one orbital, and a different energy level in a different orbital and so on. Electrons can change orbitals by gaining or losing energy, by either jumping up or down one energy level respectively. However, when it drops down an energy level, it needs to get rid of the extra energy it has and it does this by releasing a photon, or a particle of electromagnetic radiation, or light energy, but I'll talk about these a little later. This is the basic idea that neon lights are based on.

One other major matter particle, the quark, is quite exotic for something so normal. There are six different known types of quarks, called flavours, which are up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom quarks. Each flavour of quark has a different mass, different spin, different charge and different colour which is a property specific to quarks. The charges of the quarks are interesting as their all fractional elementary charges, either 2/3 or 1/3 positive or negative one elementary charge, depending on the flavour. This seems odd, but the reasoning become apparent when we learn more about what quarks do.

When we look at quarks, we rarely see them individually in nature. Mostly what they do is combine to form other particles we know of, such as the proton and the neutron. A proton is made up of 2 up quarks and a down quark, resulting in a +1 elementary charge, and a neutron is made up of 2 down quarks and an up quark, resulting in a neutral charge. You can see that a proton and neutron will have the same mass. The other flavours of quarks are all much heavier than the up and down quarks, especially the top quark.

Quarks can also make up other matter particles such as baryons and mesons, which can also consists of antiquarks, the antimatter particle pairs of quarks. Electrons also have antimatter counterparts called positrons. Antimatter is a very fascinating concept, but that will have to be for another post. For now, regular matter particles will have to do for your appetite for knowledge. 

There are many more types of particles around us all the time and we will look more into these.

University Life

Well, for those first years like me, we are entering our first experience with midterms. We are just about in our 5th week of classes and hopefully, everyones settling into university life nicely. There have been a lot of new things coming our way in a short period of time and for the next little while it'll be more of the same. Things are getting busy but personally I couldn't be happier with how things are going.

The first thing, and I think the main thing, that is great about university is the people that you become friends with from all over the world. Ive met people, who I am proud to say I now consider friends from different continents, different languages, totally different lives who are now in the same spot as I am and I think thats amazing. Ive met incredible people who have written apps, travelled the world, are five star athletes, anyone who can think of I seem to have met. Its really cool to be around all the time because it totally opens your mind to the possibilities of what are possible. Everyone has such different experiences, but they all seem to come together and interact so fluently, it makes me wonder what is possibilities are possible to come from that.

Then you have classes, and especially in my case, you get to learn exactly what you want to; you get to do exactly what you want and work towards where you want to be. There is a lot of stress that comes from all the work in those classes, but take it for what it is, being marked and assessed and graded just shows you what you don't know, and what you will know even better after relearning. Everything here is a learning experience.

There is so much going on at university, it really is one of the best places to be. Every day something new and exciting happens and it shapes who you will become. Every experience for every person is different, but again the difference in experiences coming together is where innovation can occur, and the thought of that truly gets me excited.

This is how I have found the first few weeks of this new life to be, and I am intrigued to hear about how other peoples experiences have been, so comment below and tell us how things have been for you, wherever you are in your experience.

The Pursuit of Knowledge

Recently, some things about my blog have been pointed out to me and I feel it necessary to clarify what this is about. I am not an expert in physics, I don't have a Ph.D, and I am not trying to act like I do. The posts that I make are completely my opinions, interpretations, and thoughts on the topics I am discussing. I know they aren't always going to be right, but thats not why I write them. I don't write to inform people and teach people about physics. I hope I spark an interest in those who read but for correct information this is not the place. I am writing because I want to learn. 

This may seem counterintuitive. How can the one giving the information be learning? Well, as is often the case with teachers, they learn from their students. This is what Im trying to do in a sense. Everything I write is only how I understand things, its not an official published paper on the workings on the universe. I expect to be wrong, because this is how learning truly occurs; by making mistakes. When you make a mistake and you are corrected it opens the door to actual understanding. THAT is why I write. I hope for readers sake you take this as I mean it. I hope you learn as much as I do, but please don't expect me to be right, because I expect the exact opposite of myself.

Let me say again; I am a first year physics student at the University of Waterloo who has a very basic understanding of concepts which form our universe. I cannot remember a time in my life where I have not been completely intrigued by the world around me, and when I didn't want to learn. This is just the next step in my journey of wonder, a journey I never expect to finish. I am writing this blog to explain topics I THINK I know, but I expect not to. I want you as readers to be just as enchanted by these topics as I am, and if you know more than I do PLEASE let everyone else know too. There is a comment section for a reason. Help me with my journey. Help me understand the workings of the universe even better than I do now. Don't feel embarrassed for me that I got it wrong, feel happy you can teach me a deeper understanding. If you have forgotten why I am in this, I encourage you to read my first post. It will explain what this blog is really about; learning.

I know those who pointed out my factual errors in earlier posts felt bad for having to do so, which I obviously understand. But I thank you for helping me fix those errors and helping me understand how things really are. However in the future, don't just enlighten me, enlighten everyone (I again reference the comments section). Knowledge shouldn't be private, and you shouldn't only gain knowledge for a purpose of something more. Look at things with wonder, and never stop wanting to learn. Don't be afraid to make a mistake because like I said that is when REAL learning occurs. The pursuit of knowledge is a two way street, don't be afraid to change directions.

How Hawking's Name was Born

As we discussed in the last post, we know black holes are some of the most elusive, yet most popular objects in the universe. They are the largest and smallest things in the universe all at the same time, and because of this they are a possible impossibility.

Some of the greatest and most popular scientists in recent history have made their name researching black holes. One that jumps out is Stephen Hawking, who is now one of the most recognizable physicists in science. Hawking's work gave birth to the idea of Hawking Radiation. Hawking Radiation comes from a similar aspect as we previously talked about, where objects crossing the event horizon appear to be annihilated.

Around the surface of a black hole, called its event horizon, the force of gravity is very strong. As a result, particles surrounding the event horizon are experiencing a lot of force. When particles are under this much force, quantum mechanics has some weird effects called quantum jitters. What this means is this; when particles are moving around they do so based on quantum probabilities, which is basically just a map of where a particle could be. These probabilities always jump around, so the motion of individual particles can seem quite random, or jittery. When the particles are under a lot of force, the jitters increase, so the particle has basically no pattern, and even jumps in and out of existence. When this happens, an antimatter particle is simultaneously created out of the energy surrounding the particle, to counteract the existence of the normal matter particle. This is the basic cause of quantum jitters around a black holes event horizon.

This might seem a little weird, but the cause of this effect is even more mystical. When matter and antimatter particles interact, things don't go well. What happens is they annihilate each other, since they are exact copies of each other, but exactly opposite. A mirror image if you will. And since they are both created to cancel each other out, this is exactly what happens. They both cease to exist as particles and release a proportional amount of energy to the matter they both contained. This is really a not a lot of energy when you look at just an individual particle, so black holes can be pretty dim. As you can see, black holes are not really black at all.

So Hawking, who now everyone knows as one of the smartest people alive, showed that "black hole" is really quite a poorly chosen name.