Just how DOES the sun shine?

Sequel to the post "THIS is Quantum mechanics".

For at least twenty years, we did not know how the sun worked, ie shone.

Yes, we had the equations, the PP1 and PP2 chains, and the C-N-O Bi-cycle, all nuclear physics equations, which predicted so many neutrinos.

So Dr Paul Davies in 1967 made the most interesting telescope ever. A huge tank of carbon tetrachloride buried in an old mine in Dakota.

Just to detect the neutrinos.

The problem was about those darn neutrinos, the smallest particles in the multi-cosmiverse. No mass, no charge, only "spin". They pass through lead without hitting anything in it for at least 18 million million miles.

And for years, Dr Davies detected about a third of the quantity predicted by our equations.

We could not figure it out.

Then a breakthrough.

It was put forward that maybe we detected only "electron" related neutrinos.

In order to understand this, it had to be realised that we now know there are three different types of neutrinos. What they are is no important.

What IS important is that the neutrinos coming from the sun were actually a "quantum superposition" of all three.

Dr Davies' telescope was only detecting one of them.

So, other experiments were set up to detect at least one of the others ( the third one is so rare, to detect them was almost impossible).

And we found it. This bumped up the number coming from sun to about two-thirds of what the equations predicted.

The next surprise was that there came results from experiments that hinted at an actual MASS for the neutrino. This changed things, as if the neutrino had an actual mass, the neutrino could "oscillate" between all three varieties, just like the K-0 meson could.

That would explain why we could only detect a third of the neutrinos. We would only detect the electron neutrinos.

Bearing in mind that the "oscillation" period depended on the reciprocal of the mass difference ( as measured by the K-0 effect), this explained an awful lot.

Finally, we had worked out just "how" the sun shone!!!!

Celebray--shon!

This is Usain Bolt and a very witty satirism!


It's very funny!

Personal Vendetta

WARNING !!! VERY SUBJECTIVE POST INDEED !!!

At the moment of writng, the Olympics medals table tells me that China are on equal footing with the USA, with 32 medals each, DESPITE the fact that China have 20 gold medals, and the USA just 10.

This incenses me. Why can't the IOC allow a points distribution, say 3 for gold, 2 for sliver, 1 for bronze?

In that case, China would have 79 points and the USA would have 61 points. Korea are still third!!!

What confuses me even further is that China are seen to be top of the table because they have more golds.

I wish Michael Phelps well, but I await the women's gymnastics when in my opinion, China will sweep the board. They already have the team gold and I actually saw the performances on the A-Bars and the floor. Those two little girls were priceless. There are two more golds there ready for the taking, in the individual competitions.

THIS is Quantum Mechanics

The Quantum world is really strange. Some of the effects defy explanation completely.

This is the one that threw my imagination off it's axis.

It is called "regeneration".

To put it normal terms, a particle dies and is reborn.

It's astonishing what happens....

The particle was one of the first of the "strange" particles, and it is called the K-0 meson.

And this thing was really strange.

First, here is a description of what was seen.

The beam of particles was produced. We shone it onto a detector (basically, a wall) which stopped them.

Quantum machanics predicted some would come out of the other side of the "wall". Its part of the rules these things obey.

After that, with another "wall", we detected the ANTIparticle of the K-0 meson.

This told us that the beam was a mixture of the K-0 meson and its antiparticle.

It gets really weird now.

The first "wall" stopped the K-0. The second stopped the antiparticle. So basically, nothing should have got through.

Yet, because of that same rule of quantum mechanics, the second "wall" did NOT stop all the particles.

So we set up a third "wall".

You'd expect to get just K-0 antiparticles.

We didn't. We got the K-0 again!

They were dead, and yet, somehow they were "reborn".

The explantion is really simple if you know QM.

In simple terms it's not one particle, but two.

It's very hard to explain.

It's called "Quantum Superposition".

In other words, it IS both particles at the same time. The reason why it is "reborn" is because it is NOT just the K-0 we detect. We detect both, but the effigies that "get through" both "walls" are neither K-0 nor it's antiparticle. The things we detect are only what the "walls" "feel". The stuff that comes out of any "wall" is a mixture of both particle and antiparticle.

The really weird thing is that if we shift the "wall" back 3 meters or so, we detect the OTHER one!

In other words, the "thing" we call the K-0 meson actually shifts between being itself and it own antiparticle. Over a distance of about 3 meters. We actually have calculated how far. It depends on the difference between their masses! (actually it depends on the reciprocal but there you go!)

This topic is closely related to how the sun shines, but that is another post!

Come in , number 254!

This ........ is Bob Beamon....






The Physics were thus...... Mexico City, 1968 Olympics. The Long Jump. The air is thinner there and no doubt contributed.

But My, oh My what a jump!.

To Boldly Go....

SUBJECTIVE POST!!!





This is a pastiche of everything Star Trek made for the screen. I recognise almost all of the segments.

It is a fact that the entire Star Trek phenomenon has done more for physics awareness than any Government has been able to do.

The debate goes on STAR WARS versus STAR TREK. I personally am up for Star trek because it is more science based, but I am biased.

I present this here because it appears to be an homage to the issue.

I was born too late and had science in me anyway, but more kids have been inspired by science because of Gene Roddenberry than their science teachers.

A true visionary.

( please notice that the team of heroes always number seven. The Original Series (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scottie, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu), The Next Generation (Picard, Riker, Troi, Data, Worf, Dr.Crusher and Geordi), Deep Space Nine ( Kira, Odo, Quark, Sisko, Bashir, O'Brien, Dax), Voyager (Janeway, Chakotay, Torres, Seven, The Doc, Paris and Kim). This was probably inspired by The Magnificent Seven western)

((The video would have been ok except for the spelling mistake at the end.))

Just For Laughs Part 2

Robin Williams is never better than here as the Genie in Disney's "Aladdin". The Genie even looks like him.

NB This cartoon was the first animated feature where each character had it's own team of animators, characterisations, voices, producers and directors.