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Varun's Blog - At the Speed of Light !

A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. ~Edward Teller

A very warm welcome to my th reader.Why speed of light ? Well, the aim of this blog is to reach the impossible by exploration and scientific fervor. Exploration never ends, knowledge never dies but Speed of Light can be achieved ....

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Showing posts with label interesting concepts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interesting concepts. Show all posts

Monday, May 21, 2007

Mystery Behind the Anti-Matter !

What is antimatter? Does it indeed exist?
Can we detect the presence of antimatter?
Does your same body exist composed of antimatter?
Does dark matter contain antimatter?
How different would the two galaxies made up of antimatter and matter particles respectively look from earth?
Does antimatter have negative mass?
Is time travel possible due to existence of antimatter?

Well, it’s very interesting to know and understand the existence of exact opposite replica of every particle in this universe. In simple words, if we have an atom then we have an anti-atom also. Consider a hydrogen atom, for example; It has a nucleus and an electron revolving outside it. Now, there also exists an anti hydrogen atom, which has an anti-electron and an anti-nucleus in it. An anti-electron has a positive charge but has the mass as that of an electron.

It’s the ultra high speed collisions that create antimatter. It is very difficult to capture antimatter particles. Antimatter is created in the explosions taking place on the surface of stars and other inter-galactic collisions. Before the Big Bang took place there was absolutely no material particle which existed. It was only after this explosion that matter and antimatter particles were created in almost equal amounts. But according to theories and analysis a higher percentage of matter particles developed and remained in space.

It is possible to harness energy from the collision of matter and antimatter particles. Let us take a simple example to understand the principle and its use. Suppose we create a rocket that has an antimatter capturing cabinet. We can force the matter and antimatter particles to collide by throwing light on it obtained from the stars and sun. Through this collision we can generate energy which would help the rocket to propel forward towards its destination. In this process, high amount of energy would be generated and can be used in a controlled form. The biggest drawback is that it is very difficult and expensive to store antimatter. There are techniques to capture and store antimatter but again they require high amount of money and expertise. It is also very difficult to create antimatter artificially.

What is vacuum? Does it mean absence of particles?

Now if energy exists then a term like anti-energy should also exist. Well, the Dirac equation has a negative solution. Since it a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation, it demands the presence of anti particles to have a proper explanation for its negative result. Therefore, the need of antimatter particles was felt. As of now, the expression for this equation is quite complex for a beginner in astronomy. It was at this point of time that Dirac proposed that vacuum is not actually an empty space but a space filled with electrons having negative energy. This would mean vacuums in universe are possessing high amount of negative energy. But this was not quite appealing to people. So absence of real particles or a state in which no particles exist is considered as a vacuum.

From the very beginning we have been studying Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2.
The equation E=mc2 is actually E2=p2c2 + m2c4

We consider the special case, when the particle is at rest. This makes momentum (p) of the particle zero and the equation reduces to E=+(mc2) or E=-mc2.
The negative sign explains the existence of antimatter.

Well, it’s antimatter all the way! Think about anti blackholes, anti ice creams or maybe anti….


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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Direction Of Time

The concept of TIME-EMIT – Total Increase Of Mutual Energy raises many questions in our minds. The laws of Science do not distinguish between the past and the future. The arrow of time always points from a direction with less randomness towards a point having more randomness. There are three arrows of time :

:. Thermodynamic arrow of time
:. Psychological arrow of time
:. Cosmological arrow of time

According to thermodynamic arrow of time, the direction of time is in the same direction as the increase of entropy. Psychological arrow of time has a definite direction. This is a direction in which we feel time passes. This is a direction in which we remember our past and not the future. Finally, cosmological arrow of time has a direction in which the universe is expanding and not contracting. Speed of light can be considered absolute but TIME is relative. This gave birth to theory of relativity !



The bamboozling questions that arise are :-
.:Q:. Will this arrow of time ever change its direction?
AND
.:Q:. How would the state of our universe get affected?

The biggest problem is that universe is continuously expanding and evolving. In accordance to this evolution, we need to update and develop our laws and theories also. One cannot predict the beginning of the universe because laws fail at the Big Bang singularity. Classical theory ceases to hold good for the universe when the curvature of space-time becomes large because then the quantum gravitational effects become important.

The laws of science are unchanged under the combination of operation – C, P and T

C – changing particles for anti-particles

P – taking mirror image

T – reversing direction of all particles

Overall, we have to run in the backward direction. The laws of Science that govern the behavior of matter under all normal situations are unchanged under the combination of two operations C and P. Life would just be the same (as on earth) on a planet in our celestial neighborhood having inhabitants, which are mirror images of us and are made up of antimatter.

Contracting phase of the universe doesn’t favor existence of intelligent beings. Hence, we would never have the opportunity to ask or observe the reversal of direction of the arrow of time.

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Computer Speakers are sensitive than a mobile !


An Invention – Computer Speakers are sensitive than a mobile !

I don’t know if its actually of any use but I need to post this in order to get your views and ideas on the same because it does help us in enhancing our concocting skills.

I had my cell kept near my computer speakers which were obviously switched on. Whenever someone calls up, a disturbance with a peculiar sound in the speaker is produced exactly 3-4 seconds before the cell actually starts ringing.

Now we can capture this disturbance produced in the speaker with a suitable instrument that is in turn connected to an LED or an alarm. Well, whenever someone will call up, the LED will glow or the alarm will ring just 3 seconds before the cell actually starts ringing. This means we have come out with an invention of a device 3 seconds more sensitive than our cell phone.

I know 3 seconds are of no use. Anyways, the cell will certainly ring after 3 seconds and we can attend the call. So, whats the big deal ? Well, in the world of technology even a milli-second matters and we are on the road to competition !!

Please let me know about your views and ideas by posting in the comments section.

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Plant color depends on pH of soil

Hydrangea macrophylla - Bigleaf

It is a deciduous shrub, growing 1-3 m tall. Its flowers are pink, white, or blue, depending partly on soil pH. In acid soils the flowers will be blue, in alkaline soils the flowers will be pink, and in neutral soil the flowers will be white.

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

You can remember your future !


Reversal of Time

Well, humans might be able to remember events in the future. This means if you placed a bet with your friend, you will surely win because you would know the result beforehand. Sounds little absurd, eh? I will try to answer this question in very simple words and easy logic.

One thing we have to agree with is that there are always more disordered states than the ordered ones. Consider a Jigsaw puzzle. There are many disordered states but the ordered state is only one i.e. only one arrangement will complete the puzzle.

Now, suppose that a system starts with small number of ordered states. Eventually, as time progresses, it will evolve according to laws of science and will become disordered because disordered states are always more in number for the system. This means that with increase in time, disorder will tend to increase. In simple words, disorder of a system increases as time progresses obeying the initial condition of high order.

Consider that god wants to finish the universe in a state of high order. Now, the situation is totally opposite to what we have seen in the above paragraph. Universe has to “end” in a state of high order and it is for sure that in “early stages” of universe, it would have probably been in a disordered state. As the time progresses, the end of the universe comes closer. In other words, disorder will decrease, as the universe will approach its end. We can also put it like this – “Disorder is decreasing with time.” Now, keep this statement in mind and read further.

This means that we would see broken tea cups pieces gathering together and jumping back on the kitchen shelf.

A human living in the same universe would see this and this would have a psychological impact on his mind. He will remember events in the future, and not the events of the past. When the teacup was broken, he would remember it being on the shelf, but when it was on the shelf, he would remember it being on the floor in the broken form. So, every event that he will remember is in a way “of the future”. It is difficult to talk about human memory and perception as we don’t know its working in thorough detail.

If the universe begins to contract, we can say that the universe is nearing its end and disorder is decreasing with time. Now, would we be able to remember events in the future ? Would we be able to remember tomorrow’s prices and make a fortune on stock market ? The problem is we can’t observe this because the universe would not contract for at least another 10,000 million years. But there is a way out to check this: Jump into a black hole. Entering a black hole is same as experiencing a collapse of the universe. Suppose an astronaut enters a black hole, he would be able to make money at roulette by remembering where the ball would go before placing the bet. But, unfortunately, he would not be able to bank his winnings, as there is no way out from a black hole.

The idea is attractive because it means contracting phase of the universe will be reverse of expanding phase. Therefore, people would die before they were born in a contracting universe.

I know the entry has exceeded the word limit (as our English teachers say – “Marks will be deducted for exceeding the word limit.”) but I hope it has put the point across.

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This is science !

When you are speaking to technically illiterate people you must resort to the plausible falsehood instead of the difficult truth.

Photos of Comet Mcnaught !
Astro-photographer? Send your photos to pics@exploreuniverse.com and have them featured on this blog with your name. Comet Mcnaught : Pictures taken with Nikon D100 on 19/1/07 from Manning Point, northern NSW, Australia by Mr. Peter Enright.
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