Binary orbit simulator

 Thanks to a group at UCLA, here is a cool simulator if you want to get a better feel for binary orbits. You can vary masses as well as eccentricity, so make circular orbits (e = 0) or really elongated ones. Notice that in elliptical orbits, the center of mass of the system is at a focus of the two ellipses. 

Two very cool experiments at the atomic level

 We know, ever since Galileo in the 1600s, that two different masses, when dropped from the same height at the same time, and if air resistance is not a factor, the two objects land at the same time. Gravity's acceleration on objects is independent of mass. While this works well for everyday objects we can see, a big question has been does this hold true for small objects, like molecules or even atoms??? We now have the means of doing these experiments, and it turns out that yes, this is still true for atoms!! 

Check out this article from Science News about a really cool experiment! 

AND, we think we are pretty good pulling out our cell phones, and measuring time on the stop watch down to hundredths of a second. That's pretty good for everyday events we might want to time. But how small a time can humans actually measure? There are atomic clocks that are good down to nanoseconds (billionths) or even picoseconds (trillionths). A new experiment was done using x-ray photons and hydrogen molecules, though, where the wave nature of the electrons of the two hydrogen atoms were taken advantage of. 

X-ray photon were shot at H2 molecules. The photon could excite the closer electron, and then travel the tiny distance to the second hydrogen atom and excite that electron. A special type of electron microscope imaged the interference pattern caused by the two electron waves, and measured where that pattern was centered with respect to the molecule. The slight distance this point was from the midpoint of the molecule is caused by the time taken for the photon to travel the bond length of the molecule. This time was 247 zeptoseconds! A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or 10^-21 seconds!  WOW!!!!!! This is the time it takes a photon to travel the length of a hydrogen molecule! 

Read about it here!

Public Lecture at NU: A Storm of Stars, about the history of the Milky Way galaxy

 Prof. Shane Larson at NU, who is a really good guy and obviously knows his stuff, will give a free public lecture about the history of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This is at 7 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 28, online. You can register using the link. This should be really interesting, and if you enjoy astronomy and astrophysics, could be a lot of fun for you! 

STAR WARS fans - the first actual plasma retractable light saber!

 Check out this video for how The Hacksmith team created the first known retractable, colored plasma light saber, using laminar flow of gases! It is pretty cool...uh, well, it is actually incredibly hot at around 4000 degrees F!! And it cuts stuff! Thanks to my son for finding this video (he's an even bigger geek than I am, and is in school to be an actual rocket scientist). Disclaimer: DO NOT try this at home!

Room Temperature Superconductor - this is a BIG DEAL in Physics

 For decades, a dream of many physicists, chemists, engineers and material scientists has been to make a material that can be in a superconducting state at room temperature. Generally, superconductors have been a variety of materials that, when made really cold, like using liquid helium to cool down around 3 or 4 Kelvin, could lose all their electrical resistance...yes, R = 0...that is a superconductor. 

In this state, when an electrical current flows through the superconductor, there would be NO energy loss at all. You could maximize the current. At Fermilab, a superconducting solenoid would produce very strong magnetic fields on my old experiment. MRI machines are possible because of these types of superconducting magnets. 

But think about room temperature. If we could make wires and run electricity through them in a superconducting state, the nature of power production and distribution becomes totally efficient, with no heat loss in the wires. All aspects of our electronic, energy dependent world would be affected over time, in a positive way. Here is a ETHS grad's (Jaime B.) explanation of superconductivity in general: 

 

Black History Month - Black Inventors & Scientists

 Check out a listing of inventions made by Black inventors, as well as Black scientists. Let's remember how many of these women and men are also pioneers, leading the way for not only other Black people but for all women and people of color. 

Life in general is so much more interesting and pleasant when everyone has a chance to share their gifts and talents with the world, when all have a chance to share their voice and intelligence and wisdom, when cultures and interests and traditions are shared with each other, and when we recognize that in science, the concept of races doesn't really exist - there is just a human race. 

Nobel Week!!

 The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology goes to 3 Americans for discovering the Hepatitis C virus, which affects millions of people worldwide. 

The Nobel Prize in Physics goes to 3 (a Brit, German, and American woman; only the 4th woman in history for a Physics Nobel!) who did pioneering work in black hole research. 

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to 2 women for the first time, for developing CRISPR technology and methods. 

The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to an American poet. 

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to the World Food Programme, which consistently fed 100,000,000 people in the past year, during the pandemic.

The Nobel Prize in Economics goes to 2 Americans (both at Stanford) for auction theory.