SCIENCE: BOOKS OF THE MONTH

How We Made The First Flight : This is a book written by Oliver Wright of the Wright brothers duo.
 Here is a link to the free ebook.
 Please click below to view and download this book:

• How we made the first flight?

Relativity: The Special and General Theory  by Albert Einstein

Please click below to view and download this must-read book, by Albert Einstein  :

• Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein 
  

Also find:

• A brief history of Time, by Stephen Hawking

You can raise discussions about these books  and other articles in the blog by just posting your views as comments down here. Thank you.

Many other free books on the pipe-line!!!

SPACE-TIME VORTEX

 

ARTICLE COMING SOON. Concise video by NASA:

an artist concept about twisted space-time around earth

STRING THEORY… simplified!!! (just for everyone)!!!

                
       STRING THEORY…………… simplified!!! (just for everyone)!!!

Introduction

String theory are now like some famous Hollywood celebrities- almost none of the documentaries on the universe ends without yelling out ‘STRING THEORY’ and still some of you may have no idea about it except when you hear it from Dr.Sheldon Cooper (of the sitcom ‘Bigbang theory’). But now is the time for some science, don’t you think so?

To the ‘science guys’:

If you already know the basics of theoretical physics, you may find this article too boring and below your intellectual level. Perhaps, you may want to check out other articles on this blog.  There may also me other related information you would like to share; email me or you can also post comments down here.

STRING THEORY……………. simplified!!! (just for everyone)!!! : LEVEL - 1

      String theory refers to the mathematical models that try to explain the four main physical forces, viz. the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force(the force between the electrically charged particles), the strong nuclear force(binds protons and neutrons together to form nucleus) and the weak nuclear force(responsible for radioactive decay of sub-atomic particles).

Classical physics describes the universe to be made up of small particles (points) which are static (not moving) and unchanging. In contrast, string theory describes the particle as a string or line (not a particle or point). The string forms the four different forces by vibrating in different ways.

Main concept

                           

                           Usually, scientists think of matter as being made of very small particles, much smaller than an atom. We cannot observe them to see their shape. At present, mathematical formulas say the particles are point-like and therefore have no shape at all. The main idea behind string theory is that these small particles have shapes, and are tiny loops or strings. Because they are so small, their actual shape does not matter much when we are looking at larger objects. String theory suggests that when these tiny loops move fast to and fro in various ways, they are actually a different type of matter. In other words, if the loop oscillates (moves back and forth) in one way it becomes a different type of matter than if it oscillates in another way.

Difficulties

                      

                    There are many different versions of string theory, and none of them are fully accurate. Often, many of them are only good guesses. Supporters of String theory say this is because the theory is still in making and has not been completed yet.

 Another problem is that the mathematical equations of string theory give different possible solutions. Scientists who believe in string theory work around this problem by picking only the results that match their observations and saying that later they will find why the other ones are invalid. Challengers argue that we cannot ever know if a theory is true as a whole if we only take the bits that work. This also makes the theory very less applicable until the issue is solved, because mathematical laws are usually used to predict what will happen in a situation - but string theory cannot yet answer that question, because it needs to be tried first and then scientists can pick the answers that work.

Yet another problem is that it says our universe is made of at least 10 dimensions, while we only see four (width, height, depth, time). String theory’s supporters say some dimensions may not be visible to us, but others doubt there can be 6 or more hidden dimensions, or that we will never be able to access them even if they do exist. String theory does not make guesses that can actually be tested by scientists today or in the near future. Some people say this makes the theory unscientific.

What can provide evidence the for string theory?

 The LHC

Why do we need the string theory?

Firstly, this theory will help to correct something called ‘the singularity problem’ (???, it’ll be explained

in LEVEL 2) – persistent in both the newton’s gravity laws and Einstein’s quantum mechanics.

 This theory is also believed to simplify the mysteries of origin of universe and  the dimensions of space.

What is the superstring theory, then?

     It actually means supersymmetric string theory i.e. it incorporates the ‘theory of supersymmetry’* with  the string theory.

*( supersymmetry is a hypothesized theory which suggests that for every type of boson*  there exists a corresponding type of fermion*  with the same mass and internal quantum numbers, and vice-versa.)
(???, it’ll be explained in LEVEL 2).

As we conclude…

   

       What you always have to remember is: ‘the string theory’ assumes that everything in the universe is made up of tiny things called ‘strings’- simple right?

Now,you will have to wait till LEVEL-2.bye.

In this video, actor Morgan Freeman explains ‘the string theory’ and its periphery. Do watch it!

Dark secrets of the Universe

Dark secrets of the Universe

It is very common and obvious that we get so much interested in stuffs like the origin of universe and human evolution and always try to think about different possibilities and causes, also our scientists indulge in the same. But, yet, we know very little about how the Universe was created. It’s perhaps likely that we don’t know much– after all, we were never there ourselves,right?. But it’s surprising to realize that when it comes to the ‘Universe at the present time’, we don’t seem to have a much better knowledge of what is out there!! In fact, astronomers and physicists have found that all we see in the Universe – planets, stars, galaxies – accounts for only a small 4% of it! This means, it is not so much the visible things that define the Universe, but rather the void around them.

Cosmological and astrophysical observations indicate that most of the Universe is made up of invisible substances that do not emit electromagnetic radiation – i.e., we cannot detect them directly through telescopes or other similar instruments. We detect them only through their gravitational effects, which makes them very difficult to trace and analyze. These mysterious substances are known as ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’. Their role in the evolution of the Universe is mystery, but within this darkness lays intriguing possibilities of till now undiscovered physics (beyond the established Standard Model).

Dark matter

Dark matter makes up about 23% of the Universe. The first clue of its existence came in 1933, when astronomical observations and calculations of gravitational effects revealed that there must be more ‘stuff (???)' present in the Universe than telescopes couldn’t see.

Researchers now believe that the gravitational effect of dark matter makes galaxies spin faster than expected, and that its gravitational field deviates the light of objects behind it. Measurements of these effects show that dark matter exists, and they can be used to estimate the density of dark matter even though we cannot directly observe it.

But what is dark matter? One idea is that it could contain ‘supersymmetric particles’ i.e. hypothesized particles that are the partners to those already established in the Standard Model.

Dark energy makes up approximately 73% of the Universe and appears to be associated with the vacuum in space. It is homogenously distributed throughout the Universe, not only in space but also in time (what does this mean???,think about it!!!). Meaning -its effect is not weakened as the Universe expands.The even distribution means that dark energy does not have any local gravitational effects, but rather a global effect on the Universe as a whole. This leads to a repulsive force, which tends to accelerate the expansion of the Universe. The rate of expansion and its acceleration can be measured by observations based on the Hubble law. These measurements, together with other scientific data, have confirmed the existence of dark energy and provide an estimate of just how much of this mysterious substance exists.

SPACE AND ITS DIMENSIONS

Secret dimensions

It is a pretty clear fact known to all of us that we live in a space of three dimensions –a large ‘closet’ of height, width and length.

Also we can consider time as an additional, fourth dimension, as Einstein declared. But just as we have acquainted ourselves to the idea of four dimensions, some theorists  have made predictions crazier than even Einstein had imagined.

                                                            

String theory interestingly suggests there are six more dimensions in existence, but are somehow hidden from human senses. They could be all around us, but curled up to be so small that we have never realized their existence.

Beyond the third dimension???

                                    

Some string theorists have taken this idea further to explain a mystery of gravity that has puzzled physicists for some time – why is gravity so much weaker than the other fundamental forces? Does its carrier- “the graviton” exist and if yes , where? The primary concept is that we do not feel gravity’s full influence in the everyday world. Gravity may appear weak only because its force is being shared with other spatial dimensions.

To find out whether these ideas are just wild imaginations or an incredible leap in understanding the space, will require experimental evidence. But this will surely take time…(and money obviously)…

High-energy experiments could open the inconspicuous dimensions just enough to allow 

particles to move between the normal 3D world and other dimensions. This could be 

obvious in the sudden disappearance of a particle into a hidden dimension, or the 

unexpected appearance of a particle in an experiment. Right now , we can’t say anything 

about it. What we can do is to wait until our scientists find the ultimate truth!

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER at CERN

What is CERN?
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)  is  is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border.CERN's main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research.
Also, CERN is also the birthplace of the World Wide Web. 


These days, Most of the activities at CERN are directed towards operating the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the experiments related to it.


What is the LHC?


LHC stands for Large Hadron Collider which smashes two beams of particles head-on at super-fast speeds, recreating the conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang.It is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator built by CERN with the aim of allowing physicists to test the predictions of different theory of particle physics and high-energy physics, and particularly that of the existence of the Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetry
( supersymmetry is a hypothesized theory which suggests that for every type of boson*  there exists a corresponding type of fermion*  with the same mass and internal quantum numbers, and vice-versa.)


*bosons- they are the particles governed by Bose-Einstein statistics.Also, large no. of bosons can occupy the same quantum states.
*fermions-they are the group of sub-atomic particles governed by Fermi–Dirac statistics. Two or more fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state (following the Pauli's exclusion principle).

LHC  contains six detectors each designed for specific kinds of exploration.

seven experiments perfomed on LHC

LHC experiments
ATLAS-    A Toroidal LHC Apparatus  (the one that searches for the evidence of supersymmetry)
CMS-        Compact Muon Solenoid      ( the one that searches for the Higgs Boson )
LHCb-       LHC-beauty
ALICE-     A Large Ion Collider Experiment
TOTEM-   Total Cross Section, Elastic Scattering and Diffraction Dissociation
LHCf-        LHC-forward
MoEDAL- Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC



On 10 September 2008, the proton beams were successfully circulated in the main ring of the LHC for the first time, but 9 days later operations were halted due to a magnet quench incident resulting from an electrical fault. The ensuing helium gas explosion damaged over 50 superconducting magnets and their mountings, and contaminated the vacuum pipe. On 20 November 2009 proton beams were successfully circulated again, with the first recorded proton–proton collisions occurring 3 days later at the injection energy of 450 GeV per beam.On 30 March 2010, the first collisions took place between two 3.5 TeV beams, setting the current world record for the highest-energy man-made particle collisions, and the LHC began its planned research program.The LHC will operate at 4 TeV per beam until the end of 2012, 0.5 TeV higher than in 2010 and 2011. It will then go into shutdown for 20 months for upgrades to allow full energy operation (7 TeV per beam), with reopening planned for late 2014.

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER at CERN

This video explains the LHC and its applications in particle physics( like in the discovery of HIGGS' BOSON).

The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

Here is a link to the  free downloadable pdf format of the popular science book-
 The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?
written by: LEON LEDERMAN WITH DICK TERESI

• THE GOD PARTICLE  (chapter 1 & 2 only)

I am trying hard to track down the full book but it seems to be difficult than I expected. But very soon the full version of this interesting science book will be available for all of you right here in this page. Until then you can find this preview worth reading. Thank you.

If you are interested to raise discussions about the book and also about the latest discovery of the same name , you are very welcome. just leave a comment down here....

HIGGS BOSON - so called "GOD'S PARTICLE"

one possible signature of Higgs Boson

Have you guys been familiar with the latest discovery by the CERN scientists about a "proposed elementary particle" in the standard model of particle physics, called HIGGS BOSON-named after  Peter Higgs who proposed  such a particle some few years ago. The existence of the Higgs boson and the associated Higgs field can be the simplest of several methods to explain the reason behind why  other elementary particles have mass - which is yet 'unsolved'  . This theory suggests that an unseen field covers all of space and this field has a non-zero value everywhere and other elementary particles then obtain mass when they interact with it. The Higgs boson,the smallest possible excitation of this field,is predicted to exist by the same theory and so it has been the target of a long research in particle physics.

According to the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a boson, a type of particle that allows multiple identical particles to exist in the same place in the same quantum state. It has no intrinsic spin, no electric charge, and  it is also very unstable, decaying into other particles almost immediately after its creation. If the Higgs boson were shown not to exist, other "Higgsless" models would be considered.

Statements from the scientists:

• "We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of 5 sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV. The outstanding performance of the LHC and ATLAS and the huge efforts of many people have brought us to this exciting stage but we need a little more time is needed to prepare these results for publication.”                                
  1.  - ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti

• "The results are preliminary but the 5 sigma signal at around 125 GeV we’re seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found . The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks."                                                      -CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela

• “It’s hard not to get excited by these results,We stated last year that in 2012 we would either find a new Higgs-like particle or exclude the existence of the Standard Model Higgs. With all the necessary caution, it looks to me that we are at a branching point: the observation of this new particle indicates the path for the future towards a more detailed understanding of what we’re seeing in the data.”-CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci.

• “We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature,The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle’s properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe.”     -CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.

THE NICKNAME AND ITS MEDIA HYPE:

The Higgs boson is often referred to as the "God particle" by media and this unique name is famous all over internet and T.V.( this name is given after the title of Leon Lederman's   book on particle physics, The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? ).While use of this term  have increased media interest, many scientists dislike it, since it  overstates the particle's importance. Its discovery would still leave unanswered questions about the and gravity as well as the ultimate origin of the universe. Higgs, an atheist himself, is displeased that the Higgs particle is nicknamed the "God particle".

 Lederman said he gave it this name because the particle is "so central to the state of physics today, so crucial to our understanding of the structure of matter, yet so elusive".

A renaming competition conducted by the science correspondent for the British Guardian newspaper chose the name "the champagne bottle boson" as the best from among their submissions: "The bottom of a champagne bottle is in the shape of the Higgs potential and is often used as an illustration in physics lectures. So it's not an embarrassing name, it is memorable, and  has some physics connection too."

So, what next?

The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe. Are its properties as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final missing ingredient in the Standard Model of particle physics? Or is it something more exotic? The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe, are made, and the forces acting between them. All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than about 4% of the total. A more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be a bridge to understanding the 96% of the universe that remains obscure.

-CERN PRESS RELEASE

more on this later...