The Archimedes principle

Wilfredo Feliciano

King Hiero II gave a goldsmith pure gold to build a crown for him, but the king had suspicious that the goldsmith was being dishonest and had mix silver with the gold to keep some of the  gold to himself. The king then asked Archimedes if he could find a way to determine if the crown had some silver without damaging the crown itself. Because the crown was a holly object that was dedicated to the gods. In that time it was a difficult task because if he wanted to compare its density he needed to know the volume of the crown, since density is equal to mass divided by volume. Archimedes needed to figure out a way to determine the volume of the crow itself in order to answer the king’s question but that was a very difficult task because the crown is an irregular object.

The story says that one day Archimedes was taking a bath thinking how to solve this problem. He noticed that once he submerges in the tub some water tip out of the tube. That’s when he had a moment of inspiration and realize that the water being displace had to be equal to the volume of his body submerged. Archimedes jumped out of the tub and was so excited he even forgot to put clothes on and wet running into the streets yelling: ‘eureka!’ which is a Greek word for ‘I found it”. The story is not clear in which method was used by Archimedes to actually compare the water displace by the crown and the gold. Vitruvius, a famous Architect and writer described that Archimedes put the same amount of gold given by the king, and known to be pure in a container, then he would replace the amount of gold with the crown itself, and if the crown contained any silver it would cause the water to overflow the container. This method has been criticized because the Archimedes did not have any tools to accurately measure the water, and the difference could be too small to observe.

A possible method, that is more realistic as the one describe by Vitruvius, is to balance the amount of gold, equal to what the king gave to Archimedes, with the crown itlsef, and the submerged both in water. If the crown and the gold remain balanced, then it the crown was made off of pure gold, but if it tilted to the direction of the gold then the crown would have greater volume and there for less density than the gold. 

The important part was the principle itself that was later called: “The Archimedes principle” which says that an immersed object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it actually displaces. This shows how just a moment of enlighten could clear the mind to allow for some critical thinking, such that would eventually become a Law of physics just like this example of Archimedes. The story concludes that the crown was not of pure gold and the goldsmith was executed by the king. What we know of this story is told by roman author and architect, Vitruvius. Archimedes didn’t actually relate this story. We think that he applied the principle in his treatise “On floating bodies”. In which he describe what we study this semester, the buoyant force.

The Amazing Albert Einstein

Miguel Barbosa Kortright

Born in March 14, 1879, German Albert Einstein was the most recognizable name in the science community, and might very well be that recognizable name for the centuries to come. His breakthrough research in the field of relativity earned him an eternal spot in the hall of fame of science and an eternal spot in the history of humanity itself. His reason to go out on a limb to continue to study and discover through the field of relativity was due to the fact that Einstein was not satisfied and did not agree with the classic laws of mechanics being used to explain the laws of electromagnetic fields. 

Albert Einstein was Jewish. Through his early years of education he attended a catholic elementary school, and later on, at the age of 8, he completed his primary and secondary level of education in the Luitpold Gymnasium. Seven years later he left Germany. Other interesting facts that surround Einstein are that apparently he had speech impediments and that, contrary to popular belief, he was right handed. At the age of sixteen, Albert Einstein attempted to enter the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich but failed to do so because of his incompetence in certain subjects. In his failure he proved himself to be a worthy physician by obtaining exceptional grades in physics and mathematics. At age seventeen he entered ETH Zurich to complete his four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma.

Albert Einstein’s first wife was named Mileva Maric. They became married in January 1903. However, their first child came before marriage, in early 1902. Her name was Lieserl and she died at a young age. The couple’s first son was named Hans Albert Einstein, while the second child was named Eduard Einstein. This couples divorce occurred in 14 February 1919. Einstein later married Elsa Lowenthal, on 2 June 1919. They were cousins. In December 1936, in the United States of America, Elsa Einstein died due to heart and kidney problems. 

His greatest discovery, the mass-energy equivalence formula (E=mc^2), helped him earn the 1921 Nobel Prize for his services to the theoretical physics community. Due to his discoveries and extensive research, the quantum theory could be established, using his discoveries as one of its pillars. Among other notable awards, he won the 1999 “Time Person of the Century” award. He passed away April 18, 1955, at age seventy-six.

The discoveries of Albert Einstein will forever play a mayor role in the future of science itself and in the future of the young and inspired men and women who look to follow in his genius footsteps. His long projector puts him next to none in the scale of human importance and human greatness. Albert Einstein was undoubtedly amazing. 

Black Holes

Nelsienid Ortiz Mercado

Black holes are known to be a section in space where the gravity prevents all things from escaping, counting the light.  By this, it is said that they have the biggest amount of gravity present in space. The theory acknowledged as, “general relativity (theory that predicts, and explains most of the features of black holes), predicts that a suitably compact mass will deform space time to form a black hole and around it there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that marks the point of no return.”(4)

Physicians called them “black” because they absorb all the light that hits the horizon, reflecting nothing, just like a perfect black body in thermodynamics. “The Quantum field theory in curved space time predicts that event horizons emit radiation like a black body with a finite temperature. This temperature is inversely proportional to the mass of the black hole, making it difficult to observe this radiation for black holes of stellar mass or greater.”(4)

Naturally black holes form when stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Stars are massive and as you may remember gravity is related to mass via the equation of the Newton’s Law of Gravity, [F=G(M1M2/r2)] where the value of the constant G is 6.67x10-11. However, not all collapsing stars form black holes. In order for an object to form a black hole it has to be compressed below a certain radius, this radius is known as the Schwarzschild radius and its given by the equation of Rs=(2GM)/c2 that was discovered in 1916 by the physicist Karl Schwarzschild. So if you wanted to turn your car or any other object into a black hole you would have to compress it down to the size of a neutrino, which is about 1x10-24m wide. Which sounds really easy; right?

There is no record on how large a black hole can be. Yet, the biggest known in existence are at the centers of many the galaxies in the universe, and have masses comparable to about a billion suns and their radius would be a significant fraction of the radius of our solar system. 

According to the general relativity there is no limit to the minimum size of a black hole. A theory according to how gravity works must also take relation of quantum mechanics and such a theory has yet to be created. A number of evidence from previous work on this theory suggests that a black hole can be no smaller than about 10-33 cm in radius. “On that small a size scale, even the apparently smooth nature of space will break down into a "rat-trap" of tunnels, loops, and other interwoven structures! At least, that's what current work suggests.”(3)

There also exist some smaller versions of black holes called “quantum mechanical black holes or mini black holes.(5) Several theories suggest that mini black holes may have been formed in the near the beginning of the universe, but there is no concrete evidence of their existence. “These mini black holes have event horizons as small as an atomic particle and might have been created during the Big Bang, the moment the universe was created.”(1)

Creating mini black holes with element accelerators depend upon less energy than previously thought. “If physicists do succeed in creating with such energies on Earth, the achievement could prove the existence of extra dimensions in the universe.”(2)

Studies show that billions of mini black holes shower the Earth every day, but luckily they are so small that they would take longer than the age of the universe to swallow the Earth whole.

… Black holes contain a new universe…

References

1. Amazing Space. http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/blackholes/lesson/whatisit/mini.html (accessed May 2013)

2. Live Science. http://www.livescience.com/27811-creating-mini-black-holes.html (accessed May 2013)

3. Simonetti, J. Virginia Tech. http://www.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/faq/blackholes.html (accessed May 2013)

4. Wikipedia. Black Holes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Properties_and_structure (accessed May 2013)

5. Wikipedia. Micro black holes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_black_hole (accessed May 2013)

Quantum Levitation

David J Miranda Rosario 

This levitation occurs thanks to the Meissner Effect, Superconductors, Casimir Effect and Flux Pinning. The Meissner Effect explains itself as a wind hitting a closed door then when it is opened the air will flow the same way it did when it was close now to flow the same way it did when it was closed but now to the rest of the field through the door frame. Imagine the wind is a magnetic field and the objects around us are open doorways, the magnetic fields just passes through them just like the light goes through glass. When the door is closed all the air goes all around the door and then go back to his path so basically that’s what happens in Superconductors.

Superconductors are basically metals and alloys that can conduct electricity without any resistance. When they are cooled down to amazingly low temperatures they became superconductive. These so called superconductors never loss any of the electricity that passes through them. This doesn’t allow magnetic lines to pass through them like the closed door made the air go around them and this is the so called Meissner Effect discovered in 1931 discovered by German physicists Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld.

Now the Cassimir Effect comes in, it can give rise to repulsive forces between uncharged objects. Simply because of this it caused the physicist to create applications to the future development of levitating devices such as a skateboard for example.

When a superconductor is pinned in space above the magnet this is called Flux Pinning. Superconductors are used to create these quantum levitations but they cannot be penetrated by magnetic fields. At high temperatures these superconductors with a 3-inch diameter, 1micrometer thick and a magnetic field of 35 0Oe there can be about 100 billion flux tubes and can hold up to 70 000 times the superconductor’s weight. But when it reaches low temperatures the flux tubes are pinned and cannot move. This holds the superconductor in place allowing it to levitate.

There is another type of process which a superconductor is locked in place within a magnetic field called Quantum Locking. This allows the superconducting material to become fixed so that it will not re-orient itself without outside assistance. It is also known as Quantum Trapping or Quantum Flux Pinning. But this goes even beyond Quantum Levitation because this isn’t the same as magnetic repulsion, simply because the superconductor doesn’t have any electrical charge on it. But it repulses the magnetic field around it, if the superconductor is thin like it should be then some of the fields pops through the material due to the Meissner Effect previously explained before.

I personally find this topic in physics very interesting since it can change way better the way we live and be closer to that “FUTURE” everyone has in their mind. Such as having floating cars in the streets floating skateboards maybe those things are far from there but who knows what can comes next, in a decade the world of computers was almost renovated itself better and better every year until the first that were created became obsolete. I think I can wait until people that are physics enthusiast can come up with some brilliant ideas of how to develop applications to the daily life of a human being.

Higgs

Luis O. de Jesús Martínez

In this course of physics we studied different types of forces that we manage with every day, they are: weigh, friction, normal force, tension and elastic force. All this forces can be visualized in an essential level, more elemental. We can say that forces are expressions of four forces or fundamental interactions. Since 20th century several scientist had tried to unify all this elemental interactions in a unique theory. These four fundamental interactions are: gravity, electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force. The weak nuclear force, in contrary of the gravitational force, electromagnetic force and strong nuclear force, has a very short range. Also the mediating particles are the bosons W, Z. This takes us to define and extend what is a boson. Bosons are a type of elemental particles that exists, that is to say the smallest thing that matter decomposes. They are energy carrier and are very important in the field of quantum mechanics. 

In 1964, Peter Higgs with a group of scientists expose the Higgs Mechanism, which tries to explain the origin of the elemental particles’ mass. This particle is colorless and with no electric charge or spin, this implies that the particle does not interact with photons and glucones. However, it can interact with particles from the Model of Physics which particles have mass: quarks, charge leptons and bosons W and Z that are relatively heavy. With this, the Standard Model of Particle Physics will be completed. The discovery will help to explain the origin of the Universe too; is popularly known as the God Particle. In March 14, 2013 was partially confirmed the finding of the elemental particle, with twice the data presented on July 12, 2012. Some data have to be improved because of the complexity and speed of events (the Higg’s boson interacts in zepto seconds: 10-24 s). Making difficult to measure the mass of the Higg’s boson and other things like the parameters that depends of it: the intensity required so two bosons can interact between them and the half-life of the particle.

The discovery of this particle practically explains our origin and how nature had evolution until now. However, like Higgs says, “this does not explain everything” but opens new investigations about the cosmic origin of the Universe. The truth about this case is that fundamentals forces had been used as bases in the development of the universe. Our daily life can be explained from the point of view of the forces which are involved in everything we do day by day. 

The theory of everything

Elijach J. Rivera Escobar

I have been a Christian since I was born. And I believe in my religion, I do think that there is a God up there in heaven that created us and our universe. But in what I do not believe is that things happened magically. And that is why I am interested in this theory of everything called the string theory. Unrevealing the mysteries of how things came to be in a molecular level is something that really excite me for many reasons. First of all thinking about how helpful it can be for advancements in technology blows my mind. It could mean that in just a few years with could be driving a flying car, or walking with robots, teleporting ourselves to different parts of the world or maybe even controlling things with our minds. 

String theory tries to define why things are how they are and why they work the way they do. It attempts to discover how it is possible for us to exist. We can say that it tries to figure out how God created us. What standards he used to make the world hold itself and everything in it. Even more what is beyond the galaxies themselves and much more. Knowing how things work in a molecular level can give humans the power to do an infinite amount of things. 

Many people think that those kind of businesses are not supposed to be mess with. I think different, the more we know the better we can be. It is important to keep improving ourselves. I am eager to know what is the next thing out there to be discovered. If God gave us the knowledge, we might as well put it to work. 

The speed of Light

Agustín Colón Ortiz

We all know that light is the fastest thing there is in our universe. Light travels at approximately 299,792,458 m/s if it could circle the earth it would circle it about seven times in one second. The first to conclude light-speed was “fast” was Galileo in the 1600. Te fist to true measure of light-speed came in 1676 by some one named Olaf Roemer. Olaf noted that the time elapsed between eclipses of Jupiter with its moons became shorter as the Earth moved closer to Jupiter and became longer as the Earth and Jupiter drew apart. With this data he calculated that the speed of light was something like 2.14 x 10^8 which is rather close considering the lack of technology he had at that time. 

The speed of light is one of the most important limits in the universe. The seed of light makes our world function perfectly. One of the benefitial effects of the speed of light be as fast as it is, is that when it comes to our daily life s fast as it is that what you are really seeing there is no delay time. For example when you turn on a light-bulb we can see we can see it right away in other words anything that happens around us we can see it right away. One of many interesting and we could say curious things about light-speed we can see is when there is a thunderstorm, we see the great speed with which light travels is that you see a flash of lightning instantaneously, but you hear the thunder only later on.

The light is the fastest thing there is when you compare it to us humans. But astronomically it proves quite slow. An interesting piece of data I read in an article said, when man first landed on the moon light proved to be frustratingly slow. When it came time to talk to the astronauts there was a delay of 1.3 seconds when mission control at NASA talked to the astronauts and they received the message, and another 1.3 seconds for the reply of the astronauts to come back down so it was a total of 2.6 seconds of delay and these waves were all traveling at light-speed. That distance is nothing compared to other things in this universe, it is said that light from the sun takes an estimated time of about eight minutes to reach the earth. Let’s now imagine that if the sun were to disappear, that means it would take about eight minutes to feel its effects here on earth, no light and probably a shock wave. 

Astronomically the speed of light is measured in light years is six trillion miles (6,000,000,000,000). Depending were an object in space is we are actually watching its past, for example the brightest star in our sky is Sirius also called the “dog star” is approximately 8.6 LY away which means from our point of view in the present, we are watching this star 8.6 years in the past. That means this star could explode right now and we might not see the effects until 8.6 years later. It is very amusing to think because it takes time to travel we are able to look back in time. The further we look in distance the further back we look. This also makes space travel more difficult, because we cannot travel at light-speed we cannot travel thru space fast enough and it would take probably a persons whole life just to get to another galaxy. I do personally hope that a break through is made in this field so that we can explore all the wonders of the universe, because Light-speed or the speed of light is one of the many wonders of the universe.  

The origins of matter had been discovered

Itzel J. Alvarez

Fifty years ago a scientist named Peter Higgs proposed a new standard model of particle physics which explained the origin of mass in elementary particles. This model talks about a particle called the Higgs boson (His name bears the name of the scientist who first proposed its existence) that explains the origin of all visible matter in the universe. CERN scientists have been working on this project about twenty years after the scientist Peter Higgs proposed but their existence has not been easy, because to verify their existence it is required the help of the Large Hadron Collyder (LHC) which accelerates the particles in opposites directions to collide at a point such that the existence particle can be captured in a micro moment. This particle accelerator and collider is located a few hundred meters below Europe.

After all this time colliding particles, CERN, very recently, detected the existence of this particle, its existence could revolutionize some laws of physics such and simultaneously give validity to other theories based on the existence of the boson. This particle is very difficult to understand that’s why is better to use several analogies to explain it. One of the analogies that explain more or less this particle is when we have a number of people walking down a street and no attention between them is paid. These represent the photons which have no mass. While if you imagine a famous artist who attracts a swarm of photographers around him or her, the artist represents the particle which attracts other particles that collide and acquired visible mass through the boson. But to explain how massive particles may be we must understand the Higgs field. To achieve this we imagine that three people interact with the snow in order to overcome a mountain. The first on the mountain passes using a ski, this person exceeded the mountain pretty fast as there will almost touch with the field, while another person used snow shoes which do not allow him or her to pass through the snow and did not penetrate much and therefore exceeded the mountain more slowly than the person with the ski. And finally we have the person who does not use a ski or special shoes for snow, so the snow does not let him or her to travel faster, because the person's feet sink into the snow. In this analogy, each person represents a particle and each one is more massive than the other depending on their interaction with the snow, which in this case represents the Higgs boson field. This analogy allows us to understand that the more the particles interact with the Higgs field boson, the particle is more massive and more difficult it will be to exceed the field. 

For example, the electron is the lightest particle, therefore thanks to the existence of the boson we can say that this particle is the one which achieves faster on the Higgs particle field. While on the other hand, the top quark, which is a heavier particle, weighs 350,000 times as massive than the electron. So to have an idea of its weight, the top quark weighs like a gold atom. This is not because of the top quark is larger in size than the electron but because of this particle becomes very massive when is trying to cross Higgs boson field. It is fascinating that this particle has already been proven; right now this discovery could be considered the most important and significant in the physics of this century. The interest of scientists to verify the existence of the Higgs boson arises from the curiosity to know why some elementary particles have more mass than others. Thanks to the Higgs boson, this will not be a mystery. Now we know from where the matter is created.

Blaise Pascal

Valerie M. Negrón Rivera

Pascal was a mathematician, physicist, philosopher and Christian writer. His contributions to mathematics and the natural sciences include the design and construction of mechanical calculators, contributions to the theory of probability, fluids research and clarification of concepts such as pressure and vacuum. Born in 1623 in Clermont, France.  At a young age he lost his mother and in 1632 moved with his father to Paris. His father was a scientist and had certain mindset about the education of his son not to study maths until the age 15. Although his father did not allow him to study mathematics, Pascal had a curiosity in geometry and at 12 years demonstrated that the sums of the interior angles of a triangle were equal to two right angles.  At 17, he discovered several theorems related to descriptive geometry. An example of this would be Pascal's mystic hexagon. In 1640 Pascal published "Essay on Conic Sections" in that moment he started an interest in analytic geometry and his interest in Physics increased as well. In 1642, Pascal invented the first digital calculator (roue pascaline) in order to help his father in the Collection of Taxes. As time passed Pascal began doing experiments on atmospheric pressure. In 1646, his father had an accident, while in recovery they began going to the teachings of Jansen Dutch reformist bishop. Since then the father, the son and daughters became devotee and even Jacqueline decided to become bride of Christ (nun), while Pascal, suffered paralysis phenomena in his legs with permanent pain, interpreted his illness as a divine sign and began to lead an ascetic life. In 1647 demonstrated the existence of a vacuum in space. His ideas were not well received by many theologians and researchers, including Descartes who repeatedly met in Paris in late September 1647 when he published his essay "New Experiments about Empty." In 1656 he wrote "The Treaty Equilibrium of liquids ". Also proposed principles for the study of hydrostatic. The last significant contribution Pascal was his work on cycloid, which is the site of a point on the circumference of a circle that is rolling along a straight line. Pascal solved this problem in 1658, when due to illness was unable to sleep at night. Also applied to calculate Cavalier indivisibles to calculate the area of any segment of the circle and the center of gravity of the segment. Pascal also calculated the surface areas and volumes of revolutions of the shaft cycloid "x" and challenged many scientists of the time to solve this problem, but there were few who accepted the challenge and solved the problem. Finally he published the solution to the problem in "Letters to Carcavi". In 1654, he had a close brush with death when he was involved in an accident which barely managed to escape. Although the accident miraculously caused no physical damage, this profoundly influenced the thought of Pascal. The November 23, 1654, shortly after the accident, Pascal lived another religious experience after which he devoted his life to Christianity. Pascal began to make frequent visits to Jansenists monasteries and published anonymously several religious works. He died on August 19, 1662 in Paris France.

Physics is interesting and useful

Carlos J. Alers Pérez 

One thing I find interesting about physics in general terms is that it is something that can be witnessed and applied in every aspect of life. Even things that we take for granted or not even notice to begin with have properties occurring in them that are known as a result of a study of physics. Something as trivial taking a drive from one’s home to the university or to one’s workplace is governed by physical phenomena such as gravity, velocity, acceleration, and other forces. In particular, I find it intriguing that even though velocity is measured and witnessed with regards to specific points of reference, when one becomes accustomed to moving at high velocities in a specific vehicle, it seems as if one is moving slower, even though the point of reference is exactly the same. This almost makes it seem as if the reference point has somehow changed, even though that is obviously not the case. The point of reference technically continues to be the same but the individual perceives it differently. I have found this to be very interesting and have pondered upon what physical phenomenon could be occurring that would cause this. It could be considered that since we, being living organisms, have a tendency to adapt as a result of the habit of moving at high speeds, have been molded and in fact have become a changed point of reference. 

Another facet that I find to be interesting with regards to physics is sports. It can literally be applied to anything in sports. From the force exerted when striking a ball the amount of distance a swimmer moves in a swimming pool when considering its edge as the reference point. Taking the case of the swimmer, it’s safe to say that a swimmer can travel twenty meters in a pool when taking the edge as the point of reference, but when one takes the water itself as the point of reference, can it truly be said that the swimmer is moving is it both the simmer and the water. My reasoning behind this is because of the mechanics that are involved in swimming. Take a single stroke; it involves raising the arm out of the water, swinging it over to ahead of oneself, and dipping it back into the water and pulling back. All these actions help propel the swimmer forward in the water as they are repeated over and over again. At the same time as the swimmer pulls, he is pushing water behind himself, continuously. When the edge of the pool is taken as the point of reference it can be seen the swimmer is moving in one direction and that the water, as a whole, does not appear to move on bit. From another point of view, the swimmer, it can be observed that the he is also moving in a particular direction and if the water that he pushes back is observed, it is seen that the water is moved as well. Although, the water that is moved has a negligible impact in witnessing the water move entirely (because it is contained in the pool) it can still be said that the water is being moved and undetermined distance and circulates within the pool itself. 

When all these things are considered is it easy to see how interesting and useful in everyday life and even though people, in general, take these things for granted, it does not diminish their relevance.   

Water on the moon

Diego A. Navarro

On October 9, 2009 the LCROSS space program slammed a Centaur rocket booster into the south pole of the Moon. The mission was intended to determine if any water ice exists under the surface of the moon. There have always been theories that over millions of years ago, comets containing water have collided with the moon and have brought water to the Moon. Most of it goes away over time, but if any water happens to accumulate at the bottom of the craters at the poles, where the Sun never shines, it stays on the moon frozen forever in the shadow. By impacting a spacecraft into the Moon, it can dislodge the ice where it gets hit by raw sunlight. The water breaks down into hydrogen which can be directly detected using spectroscopic methods.

The crater LCROSS inspected, later named Cabeus, has a floor temperature of -230 Celsius which is cold enough to maintain the ice. The rocket slammed into it at high speed, making a new crater about 20 meters across and splashed debris over a larger area. The material ejected from the crater had clear signs of water. The infrared spectrometer on the LCROSS definitely detected absorption lines from water, and the ultraviolet spectrometer saw it in emission. The amount of water they found in the debris was a couple of hundred kilograms in total, but that indicates there is a lot more still lying on the surface. The presence of large quantities of water on the Moon would be an important factor in rendering lunar habitation cost-effective, since transporting water from Earth would be extremely expensive. If future investigations find the quantities to be particularly large, water ice could be mined to provide liquid water for drinking and plant growing, the water could also be split into hydrogen and oxygen by electric power stations or a nuclear generator, providing breathable oxygen as well as the necessary components for rocket fuel. The hydrogen component of the water ice could also be used to draw out the oxides in the lunar soil and harvest even more oxygen.

Researchers found evidence of water inside the debris droplets showing that the lunar water is chemically identical to that on ancient Earth. Much of Earth's water is thought to have arrived in meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites that were inserted into the planet as it formed as the solar system was forming. According to the leading theory, the moon was created some time later, about 4.5 billion years ago, from a hot cloud of debris that was knocked into space when a planet the size of Mars slammed into Earth. The studies suggest the Earth was already damp at the time the moon was created, and that the intense heat of the collision failed to vaporize all of the water and that is what we are finding on the surface of the moon today. 

Although a lot of research still has to be done finding water on the moon is one of the most important findings of the century. This discovery means the possibility of lunar habitation and the ability to explore this new frontier in depth and being able to benefit from it the best we can.

This is the end of my article. But since you were looking for a new law. I thought you might enjoy this…(see below)

My Physics Class

Nelson Ramos Rodriguez

In our physics class, we learned many different factors that affect motion, and the complexity behind the whole concept.  The concept of motion is defined as the change in the position of an object, or the displacement. This displacement, can be measured by how fast or how slow it travels with respect to a time frame.  The word speed captures the rate by which a particle, or an object, travels certain distance in a margin of time. When direction is applied to the magnitude of the speed, then the word that describes this behavior is velocity. Nevertheless, velocity is not necessarily a constant value. When it increases, it means it is experiencing acceleration; whereas when the velocity decreases, it is decelerating. Acceleration is defined as the rate of which a velocity changes with respect to a time frame. 

After learning these basic concepts, we proceeded to learn about what is force, and the great discoveries that Sir Isaac Newton made while studying these trivial concept. Actually, he created three major laws that try to captivate the general behavior involving motion. This great physicist made one of history’s greatest contribution, after being struck by it, literally! He discovered that force, is an attraction that keeps us attached to the ground, and not wandering off through space. Gravity, is not really a force; instead, it is an acceleration; the force that we experience by being stuck to the ground depends on how much mass does each body contain. The first principle that describes general motion, states that any object at rest, or at uniform velocity, will maintain its state as long as no net force acts on it. Force by itself, is defined by Newton’s second law, that states that it is proportional to the mass of times the acceleration that the body is experiencing. This second principle gives us a very important equation that relates force to the acceleration implied in the body. The third law describes objects in collision, or contact in general: when an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal in magnitude and opposite in direction force. 

Considering my field of preference being mechanical engineering, the course has been immensely helpful in understanding the whole skeleton of what my field consists. Be it for designing a fast car, an aerodynamic airplane, or a prestigious speed boat, the course of physics is a very important topic that should be always taken into account, since being a mechanical engineer consists of applying the theory that physics implies in order to make efficient machines that improve daily life, rather than making it more complicate for society than it already is. To be able to better understand physics in my field, it is very helpful to get a hands-on experience that gives me the knowledge that I need in order to be a successful engineer that can make this world a better place. The Physics class that I have taken this semester has boosted and motivated me to further learn about how much does the world and even the universe involves physics, motion, and many other behaviors yet to be discovered. 

Higgs

Lorena M. Ramos Oyola

How does matter acquires its mass? Many of us just think that the mass of an object comes obligatorily with it, taking to account maybe its size or the materials of which it is formed, or at least that is what I thought until I found this interesting yet awesome article about the Higgs boson. The article “LHC cements Higgs Boson Identification”, posted by BBC NEWS in the  Science & Environment  section, informs us about a particle found  in July, 2012, which had amazed many of the scientists (for not saying all of them) for its peculiar similarity to the long-searched  and researched particle – The Higgs boson-. The LHC, Large Hadron Collider, is an International project –actually a machine- that lies beneath the Swiss/French border at Geneva, leaded by the European Organization for Nuclear Research –“CERN”  derived from the acronym for the French “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire”-, was what confirmed the discovery. 

This “super particle”, as we may call it because of its characteristics,  stands for a fundamental particle that gives or assigns mass to matter… How? Well it is thought that the particles which have direct contact or direct interaction with the Higgs particle are the ones that acquire mass, the ones that do not have this kind of contact do not acquire mass. Therefore, being a “central component” of the Standard Model of particle physics; a theory that defines the relationships between the forces of the universe, meaning the different nuclear interactions and dynamics of the subatomic particles. Which basically explains how the universe is put together and how it functions by letting us acknowledge and understand what is really happening from the inside of matter –the particles or atoms-. Thus, meaning a huge importance or advance on Science and its development and improvements.  Although there are still some doubts and uncertainty about whether the discovery is in fact a Higgs boson or not, there are some facts that lead the scientists into classifying it as  a “Higgs–like”.  A reason for this is that, even though a much fuller analysis is needed, after some experimentation it has been known that the particle found has  a “spin” equal to zero, which makes it highly accurate to think it is actually a Higgs, since no other particle –at least an elementary particle- has “spin” zero instead of a Higgs boson. It will also be needed to verify which type of Higgs it is, to see if it is the one compatible with the Standard Model, once it is completely confirmed to be this amazing and so important particle.  

Personally, I think this is an amazing and helpful progress towards the knowledge of the behavior of particles, since it can be the first “physically” known -not just assumed of its existence-, it can be more profoundly explored. Therefore, we can all learn more about it. Hence, with more knowledge we could even be able of manipulating it in our favor, and with it we could have some kind of control over the interactions of these particles. Consequently, have control over mass, or interaction of mass… I bet we could! There’s no limit on imagination and knowledge! 

Physics

Glorian G. Serrano Villamil

Say that a couple is sitting on a bench at the park drinking some coffee during a warm morning.  If they stay long enough and occasionally watch the world around them they can definitely appreciate and feel how the world works in so many different ways. Humans, animals, the environment, and climate even themselves behave in certain ways according to various circumstances, according to the pass of time. Now, what should be called these “circumstances”? What about those “reactions” that are often observed so intriguingly but not understood many of the time? Perhaps nature responds to some actions very randomly sometimes, but other times are quite precise patterns that somehow make sense and describe what is actually happening among us all.  Many people in the past have made themselves the very same question that many of us do now, what exactly is causing all of these “randomness”? How do we explain the cause/effect of universe existence? Few people have actually got the right answers and from them, humankind learns today.

One of these excellent teachers, Sir Isaac Newton appeared in 1687 publishing the book titled “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”, where he explained the laws of motion. Legend has it that his inspiration to begin with all of his experiments and calculus methods happened when an apple fell onto his head. Some might think, How uncertain! But actually this kind of thing, as simple as it is, represents physics as a daily life aspect. Now, what are these laws of motion that explain universe behavior? 

Newton’s First Law of Motion is called the Law of Inertia. It says that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, with the same direction and speed unless it is corrupted by an unbalanced force. In other words, motion or lack of motion cannot change without an unbalanced force. Picture a ball flying through air as a projectile. This law would predict that the ball will continue to move forever, however, that clearly is not the case since it is known that some other forces such as the gravitational force and friction force are acting on the ball making it change its direction and speed until it eventually stops. Nonetheless, in places without these opposing forces, like outer space, the ball would just keep moving. 

Newton’s Second Law of Motion involves the object’s mass and its acceleration stating that the acceleration of an object produced by its total applied forces relates to its mass. To have a clearer idea about what it is been discussed, the equation that describes Newton’s Second Law is: 

F=ma 

The relation between the variables affirms that the greater the mass, the greater the force needed to accelerate or move the object. It is precise to clarify that here the acceleration’s direction can be both positive and negative. It all depends on the problem given and the required solution. Imagine two trucks, one weighs 10,000 lbs and the other weighs 6,000 lbs. Which of both is going to be easier to move? Automatically the answer by many would be the truck with the less mass. The answer is correct, but why? Objects that have more weight will require greater unbalanced force to move. This is the reason of why the lighter truck will move easier than the other. 

For every action there’s a consequence! Newton’s Third Law of Motion says that for every action (force), there is an equal yet opposite reaction (force). The thing is that forces are found in pair. For example, the very same people from the beginning sitting on a bench at the park, their bodies are pushing down a force on the bench while the bench is pushing them up. According to this law, the force exerted downward by the two people to the bench must be equal from the bench to the people but upward. This law is as simple as it gets and is seen everywhere, everyday in any type of situation. 

Newton’s Laws of Motion are the base of the basics, not only in physics but in all sciences as well. They help describe and explain the smallest details about reactions between objects, particles, molecules, planets, living things, etc. These are the laws of the universe in its own infinity, if you will. The more we know about the world, the more we need these science teachers and their famous laws even more when they have recognized and approved their work from each other through the years, along the history of science. Without any doubt, motion is constantly changing and so science grows as the earth evolves. 

Moonbow: The midnight show

Carla Marie Segarra Guerra

After the sun goes down and the stars come up, the show begins. Moonbows are more than a rainbow and almost magic… 

Moonbows are sunlight reflected off the surface of the moon. This event is a very rare phenomenon. Moonbow are form when the light that is reflected from a full moon is diffracted when interacting with spherical water droplets suspended in a rain cloud or the mist of a waterfall. When the light goes through the drop, a rainbow or a moonbow is the way our eyes see that light. Since ancient time, this beautiful phenomenon has been studied. Rene Descarte in “Discours de la Method” explains this process. He writes: "Considering that this bow appears not only in the sky, but also in the air near us, whenever there are drops of water illuminated by the sun, as we can see in certain fountains, I readily decided that it arose only from the way in which the rays of light act on these drops and pass from them to our eyes.” Unlike the colorful rainbows produced by the sun´s light in a rainy day, moonbows appear white due to the loss of brightness which is not able to activate the cone color receptors in the eyes. The only way a moonbow will look like a rainbow is in a picture or sometimes under extreme clean conditions. For a moonbow to occur there must be good weather conditions with clear skies and a full moon.

Moonbows are also known, as lunar rainbow, white rainbow and space rainbow. They can only be observed on a dark night, in places far away from city lights. A moonbow is created by the indirect light from the Sun. This produces a decrease in light intensity, producing moonbows which are almost imperceptible. In addition, the loss of intensity could be further eclipsed by added light luminosity, depriving the possibility of witnessing a moonbow.

Without a full moon this would not probably happen. It is essential in order to reflect plenty of light to create the moonbow. The Moon must be positioned in a 42° angle, or less from the horizon. Moonbows usually appear in the part of the sky opposing the Moon with the viewer behind the Moon. The full moon, the dark night and the perfect angle are needed to appreciate it. Because a moonbow is a rainbow, all the natural laws governing a rainbow apply. But all this physics isn’t as important as simply understanding that your shadow always points toward the center of the rainbow/moonbow; this spectacular will only appear when the sun/moon is 42 or fewer degrees above the horizon (assuming a flat horizon) the higher the sun/moon, the lower the rainbow or the moonbow. When the sun or the moon is above 42 degrees, the “show” disappears below the horizon.

Also, the waterfall provides the medium against which the light reflected off the moon will interact in order to produce a moonbow.. There are famous places in which mooonbows are known to become visible, including Cumberland Falls and Yosemite National Park in the U.S. Victoria Falls in Africa and Waimea Canyon in Hawaii

Two people will never see the same moonbow, is a special distribution of colors in reference to the viewer point. Only in a picture two persons would see the same arc of colors. Moonbows are fascinating, magical, unexpected, special for each viewer, a one in a lifetime experience. The lunar rainbows are more rare than rainbows created by the Sun, because they depend on more factors other than just sunlight. 

References: 

The National Center for Atmospheric Research & the UCAR Office of Programs http://eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/ (Accessed: April 2013)

Time

César A. González Nazario 

From a young age my interest for math and science was abundant. After my first class of physics in high school I was amazed by this science that studied and formulated everything in our daily lives. We could calculate with just simple formulas:  movement, speed, trajectory, it was amazing at some point I thought every answer was just waiting to be discovered by some physicist who would develop a  formula and described something no one else thought could be possible. It was inconceivable the methods and formulas you could relate daily movements and resolve problems from all this amazing equations. Although proved physics laws and equations are without doubt something out of this world my interest for something more unrealistic but probable is greater. This unreal and unproved physics material is time traveling. 

Is this even possible? My personal answer is yes. I’m no expert on the subject but I believe time is like most of the terms in physics, a way of describing a natural phenomenon were we can see a pattern, a constant. We could manipulate this natural phenomenon and go back and forth in time. Some physicists insist that the theory of relativity developed by Albert Einstein could be a hint of how time traveling could be possible. If in some way we could move at the speed of light we could bend time and space and alter it going forward in time. 

Other unproven but no less interesting physics phenomena is portals which can transport you from one place to another in relatively no time or from one universe to another. This could be possible by worm holes also known as an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. This isn’t proven but in theory this wormholes could be a shortcut through time and space. The possibility of wormholes that could be portals that things could go from one point to another was first demonstrated by Kip Thorne and his graduate student Mike Morris in a 1988 paper. For this reason, the type of traversable wormhole they proposed, held open by a spherical shell of exotic matter. Later, other types of traversable wormholes were discovered helping this hypothesis getting more realistic. 

After research and physicists thinking about it they connected time and the speed of light with these wormholes and ending up with a time traveling wormhole. This would be accomplished by accelerating one end of the wormhole to a high velocity relative to the other, and then sometime later bringing it back. Relativistic time dilation would result in the accelerated wormhole mouth aging less than the stationary one as seen by an external observer. Meaning someone could enter in one end and get out the other side the same age but the people around would have aged and time passed normally. 

These phenomenon’s are really unbelievable and somewhat we think of these as science fiction movie phenomena, but with more technologically advancement and with a lot of thinking and proving, some day we could end up time traveling, of course with good intentions and purposes. Maybe like those days in high school the answers truly lies in physics.

Astrophysics and Cosmology

Stephanie Rodriguez

One of the topics I am most interested in physics are cosmology and astrophysics. Astrophysics and Space Physics have been some of the most active fields in recent years, thanks in large part to the huge burden of observational data has provided the HUBBLE Space Telescope. The Hubble Space Telescope, also known as orbital telescope Hubble is a telescope that orbits outside the atmosphere, in a circular orbit around the Earth at 593 km above sea level, with an orbital period between 96 and 97 min.

The stars and the galaxy is one of the areas that catch my attention. Study the different constellations and their stories or legends is something very interesting. How do you think the universe was created? How the planets were created? What is Galaxy?, We be the only living beings in the universe? How are the stars really if we saw them up close? and other questions are constantly passing through my head. It's hard sometimes to think the idea that we are the only beings alive in a universe so immense. The stars apart from their beauty often have interesting stories and the galaxy is so huge and has so many things to learn that their study is a bit complicated, but fun for me.

The term astrophysics refers to the study of the physics of the universe. Astrophysics is a science experimentally, in that it is based on observations, and theoretical, because it makes assumptions on physical situations not directly accessible. Another big area of astrophysics investigation consists in studying the physical characteristics of the stars. This part I would say it is the most interests me because as I mentioned before I love the theme of stars and most know their physical characteristics.

Astrophysics also studies the composition and structure of matter interstellar gas and dust clouds that occupy large areas of space and that once were considered absolutely empty. Astrophysics research methods are also applied to the study of planets and minor bodies of the solar system, of which the composition and structure, thanks to research conducted by artificial satellites and space probes, it was possible to achieve a deep understanding, which many cases has allowed ancient beliefs change. Here we can see the importance of this science by allowing us to learn more about the planets and our solar system. Can these sciences help us know if there is life on other planets? I think that can help us know if a planet has a composition that would allow any living creature to survive, but confirm the existence of this perhaps takes a bit more work and would need combinations of different branches of science.

The other part that I refer is cosmology. This is a little more unknown by the people, but no less important. The cosmology is the study of the universe as a whole, which includes theories about its origin, its evolution and other things. Its scientific study of the universe is not the only science that we need to understand his origin; we also need another science to achieve understanding this. It is necessary to involve physics, astronomy, philosophy, esotericism, and religion.

Cosmology is divided into several other sub-themes or theories of creation of the universe, but among these the most interesting to me is the "Big Bang Theory". The central idea of the Big Bang is that the theory of general relativity can be combined with observations of isotropy and homogeneity of large-scale distribution of galaxies and the position changes between them, allowing the Universe extrapolate conditions before or after the time. We know that the creation of the universe is a mystery to many people and a very interesting topic, as there are different theories and no fully guaranteed. The different views and types of scientists have created a number of theories about the creation of the universe. While you get one that is completely true, keep you busy and entertained us getting new theories or confirming some.

This is a brief summary of what is and investigate both astrophysics and cosmology. If we know are sciences that not everyone knows, but we can see the importance of them and how interesting it is to learn about them, what they study and what they can teach us. The stars, galaxies, the universe, the planets, are one of the few subjects including physics. Definitely read up on this and go slowly knowing is very important and helps us begin to understand a little more the origin and composition of our planet, the universe, among other things.

A physics essay of Higgs Boson

José E. Pérez Narváez

I had read a lot of physics articles, and interesting news about planets, particles, new materials discovered, but, there is one article that got a lot of my attention. This one is the Higgs Boson. It got my attention because they (the scientist) explain it as the ‘Particle of God’. They called it the Particle of God because this particle can explain why there is mass on some particles. Also is a missing key particle that can enable a more complex search about the beginning of the Universe. On this essay I will explain the groups that are involved in this investigation, why they want it to find this particle, and what benefits it will give to the world.

The group involved on this investigation is CERN. This organization has thousands of scientists working on this investigation from all over the world. In this immense group, there are a group of Puerto Ricans of the UPRM. I know that because one is a friend, and because of him I know about this project. CERN is an important organization that is known for their unique laboratories for particle physics, and is an organization for Nuclear Research.

This particle was first sense in 2012 after years of experiments, efforts are on the way to confirm if the Higgs Boson exist or do not exist with a Large Hadron Collider. A group of scientist says that they confirmed that that was the particle, and for the first time they say they saw it. This is an important discovery because, as I said on the introduction they want to find this particle to expand the theory of the Big Bang Theory in other words they want to get a better view of the beginning of the universe, also if they find this particle they can create new theories, and with this discovery they can create new equation that will involve this new particle. 

If the scientist finds how this particle could react. The effects can be only positive or negative, only one way. It will depend on what hands the Particle of God is given. This is because, this particle it is believed to be the particle which can give mass to the matter. If the scientist know how to create mass they could build almost anything in existence. If they completely find the Higgs Boson they would know in more detail the aspect of mass and could go further to the mysteries of the universe for example the dark matter.

                                                                         

This particle is a very interesting one. It could help the world or destroy it. It could help humanity in the future or obliterated. This Particle of God has the mystery that many scientists want to discover. They are not far away to that accomplishment, but it will be interesting when it happens, when they see the particle for sure. It’s going to be a great day to those who put all the effort into it. Also they will be proud, but until then the mystery will continue and the Higgs Boson is going to be “The Particle of God”. 

Black holes

Angel Andino

Black holes are the most mysterious objects in our universe because their gravity is absolute. They bring physicist a challenge because they break all the rules of physics but at the same time they rule the universe. The black holes are at center stage of the universe and they dominate the evolution of the universe itself. At one point the black holes were consider science fiction but now they are consider science fact because even thou we have not landed in one yet scientist have gather enough evidence to confirm they are real. A black hole basically is the end point of everything including stars, matter, energy and even gravity itself. I believe they could be the key to understanding the birth of the universe its formation and also its death. The power of the black holes comes from one of the primary forces in nature, gravity. One basic way to look at gravity is thinking that gravity pulls. Gravity keeps our feet on the ground and our planets orbiting around the sun, but in a black hole gravity is off the charts and it is so strong that it sucks in everything near by, It can even bend the light of near stars and even gets to a point that they absorb the light and does not reflect anything back, that is why they are black. Black holes are incredibly heavy, to get an idea of how heavy a dark hole is imagine the earth and compact it “crush it" to the point that even the atoms collapse and wen the earth is only the size of a golf ball but have the same weight it originally had; That is about the same amount of the density a black hole has. The way black holes form is by gravity itself, there is only one place in the universe that has that much gravity and that place is inside the largest of stars. Wen massive stars 10 times heavier than our sun die, gravity crushes them creating a huge explosion that is called a super nova but some stars are even bigger, these super stars are 100 time bigger than our sun and has 100 times more gravity and wen one of these stars dies it sets of the biggest explosion in the universe called a hyper nova and this is the birth of a black hole. Our universe are full of stars, ones die quietly and other in a big explosion. The biggest of stars give birth of a black hole. For example the dying star VY Canis Majoris that is more than a billion miles across and like all stars it is a natural nuclear fusion reactor pumping energy outward at the same time the star gravity pushes inward. For a few million years fusion and gravity are locked in stand of but wen the star run out of fuel fusion stops and gravity wins, wen this happens in a millisecond the core shrinks to a fraction of its original size and a black hole is born. The new black hole in the middle keeps feeding on the body of the star and eventual explodes liberating more energy than our sun is going to produce in all its lifetime. What is left is a new black hole with two jets of energy traveling the universe at the speed of light, these jets are called Gama ray burst that in terms of energy and power they are second to only the big bang itself. Most of the Gama rays only last in second but they incinerate everything in its path. The Gama rays tell us the birth of a black hole. Scientist counts these to tell how many black holes are being created. In 2004 NASA launch the swift probe to count Gama ray burst around our galaxy and what they discovered was that they counted at least one Gama ray burst a day, these findings shocked the science community because at one time scientist taught that black holes could never been found, but now they believe that they could be millions of black holes across the universe. Scientist is now considering a mission to a black hole even if it is a long way off. They are baffled because inside these colossus the law of physics does not apply. Inside of a black hole gravity becomes infinite and time stands still. This concept is very difficult to comprehend. Scientist really does not know what is or what happens inside a black hole but one thing is for sure the laws of physics do not apply there, as we know it. There must be bigger laws that ere being obey by these black holes that we do not understand yet but one day I believe we will. Some people believe that in the other side of a black hole it can be a big bang because as a dark hole collapses and matter fell into it. Perhaps the matter is blown out the other side. If a big bang is just the flip side of a black hole this could be how our own universe was born, I taught of this because if you think about a black hole and you put in the parameters of the universe the mass of the universe the size of the universe you find that our universe match the conditions of a black hole, in other words we could be inside a black hole. If we think about it every dark hole could be the origin of an entirely separated universe and if that some day could be demonstrated there could be millions of separated universes out there each one full of live, stars and other planets. Whatever we figure out later we know that black holes are everywhere. Until we get the technology we can only ex-peculate and gazed at the majesty of the black holes, the masters of the universe.

Charles Hard Townes

Valeria A. Acosta Arroyo

During my research for this essay I came with the awesome story of  Charles Hard Townes. This came to my interest as I was researching for topics on our physics class. Charles Hard Townes is a nobel price winner in the physics theme. Our story begins with physicist and an educator of this science. Townes is known for his work in quantum electronics, maser and laser devices. What most amazes me is the fact that he shared his nobel prize with two other physicist: Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov. 

Charles Hard Townes was practically sponsored and all his studies were funded by the U.S Navy. Even though we dont know much of Charles Hard Townes, he was very important in the technology we have today. He developed serious inventions that helped create what is now called the microwave. Charles Hard Townes didnt participate directly with the US Army or the Navy but he collaborated much in the development of a new radar systm for aircrafts in the World War II. With this in mind he felt he was helping the nation. After the war, Townes continued to work at Bell Labs, creating new radar by experimenting with different radio wavelengths topics which we discuss in our current Physics curriculum. Townes received lots of money directed for his experiments one of the most famous experiments he worked on was the development of the maser for which he got many recognitions because of the theory and application of the maser. Many physicists of his era believed that the work and studies he was doing were impossible but he proved them wrong and by this I personally believe he truly deserved the Nobel Prize. 

Charles is the only figure other than Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama to win both Templeton Prize and Nobel Prize.  After many research on this extraordinary man I can see the Townes has been widely recognized for his scientific work and leadership. He has even received prizes and recognitions all along the course of his life and even as recent as last year, 2012, which he was awarded the Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy and Roland V. Fitzroy Medal. After knowing all these extraordinary things only one physicist has made during his life and all the changes he has made to the world we know today I have some serious respect for Charles Hard Townes , and I believe he truly deserves a space in our Physics class just because of all the hard work and advances he has made to the Physics. Today we know Physics as we know it thanks to people like him, Charles  Hard Townes is of the same respect as Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton are to the Physics, but this is only my humble opinion. 

Quarks: smallest particle ever known

Kevin A. Alicea Marrero 

A quark is the elementary particle and the fundamental constituent of matter. They are known as the smallest particle ever known. There are six types of quarks (flavors): up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top. Physicists Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig proposed quarks in 1964. The up and down quarks are the ones with the lowest mass. The other ones (strange, charm, bottom, and top) eventually end up being up and downs because of the particle decay. That’s why those are the most stable of all. As we know, protons and neutrons are the most stable particles and that’s because, protons in specific, are a combination to two up quarks (one red and one blue) and one down quark (green). Therefore, up and down quarks are the most common. The other four can be produced in high-energy collisions such as cosmic rays and in particles accelerators. 

The six of them can be identified by their properties such as: electric charge, color charge, mass, and spin. Quarks are the only fundamental particles that experience all four fundamental forces like: electromagnetism, gravitation, strong interactions, and weak interactions. Quarks have a spin of ½ and are the only particles whose electric charge are not integer multiples. They’re also divided in three generations. The first one include ups and downs, the second one includes charms and strange, and the third one include tops and bottoms. Also their masses increase in each generation. For each quark, there’s a corresponding type of antiquark. Antiquarks are particles that differ form quarks. They have the same magnitude as quarks but opposite sign. They’re identified with a bar on top of the symbol.

Gell-Mann took his time to decide the particle’s name back in 1963. He had the sound but he wasn’t quite sure of it’s spelling. He didn’t knew how to write it until he saw the word “quark” in James Joyce’s book, Finnegans Wake, which in that time meant: the cry of the gull. Gell-Mann took this word from the phrase “Three quarks for Muster Mark!” and it has another purpose other that just the word; and it’s the number three in the sentence that fitted perfectly the way quarks occurs in nature. 

I’ve always been kind of interested in the creation of the Universe, planets, life, etc. This time I was in search of something that answered one of many questions I make myself. So I looked for something simple but interesting and I found these quarks. This couldn’t get more simple in more than one sense, one is because it isn’t difficult to understand and second because it literally one of the most simple things by being the fundamental constituent of matter. This shows me the main components of things and of the components of the subatomic particles that I thought they were the smallest things that ever existed. I pretty much enjoyed this class because it has so many interesting thing that explain the why and how of our daily life and I hope to stay this interested in physics because it’s the simplest of all sciences and helps us each day of our lives. 

Schrödinger's Cat

Celia M. Gutiérrez Reyes

Quantum physics is a branch of physics that seeks to explain how small units of energy called quanta behave in our universe.  The fundamental principle of quantum theory states that quantum particles behave as both waves and particles.  Another principle says that it is impossible to know both the position and momentum of a particle at the same time.  These and other principles of quantum theory are sometimes difficult to understand and visualize, yet quantum physics is a very interesting and innovative field in science.  Niels Bohr, one of the most important developers of quantum theory, famously said: " If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet."  A fine example of a shocking part of quantum theory is "Schrödinger's cat," probably one of the most famous thought experiments of all time in this field of physics.  Developed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935, he sought to respond to the EPR paradox (developed by Albert Einstein and his colleagues Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen), which challenges the prediction of quantum mechanics that it is impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a quantum particle.   Schrödinger's experiment consisted in locking a cat in a box, along with a radioactive element (which behaves like a quantum particle), a Geiger counter to measure if the element decays, and a sealed flask of poisonous gas for an hour.  The radioactive element has a 50% chance of decaying in the specified time, and if it does, a small hammer will be released, breaking the flask of gas and killing the cat.  Quantum physics says that the element can simultaneously be decaying and not decaying  (because the radioactive element follows the principle of superposition) during the hour, which would then mean that the cat is both alive and dead.  Because of this, the cat in the experiment is often referred to in popular culture as being some sort of zombie; however, this is not true.  The difference between the cat and the radioactive element is that the cat follows Newtonian physics laws, while the element is a quantum object; this simply means that the cat is either alive or dead, unlike the particle, which can be both decaying and not decaying.  Therein lies the paradox part of the thought experiment: how to know if the cat is alive or dead (or both), if the particle is both decaying and not decaying?  Two different interpretations of the outcome have been proposed: the Copenhagen interpretation, and the Everett many-worlds interpretation.  The first states that the system is in superposition, and as soon as an observer  opens the box, the experiment system will go in one direction or the other; this means that either the element will have decayed and killed the cat, or it will not have decayed and the cat will be alive.  The other interpretation states that when the observer opens the box, two alternate worlds are created, one in which the cat is alive, and one in which the cat is dead; these two worlds exist in a parallel state, and cannot interact with each other.  As the cat is apparently split between two worlds, so is the observer, and one world is not aware of the other.  The procedure and explanation of the thought experiment is complicated to follow, but once it is understood, it is fascinating, and will only serve to make a person want to continue to research the intriguing field of quantum physics.  

References

http://library.thinkquest.org/3487/qp.html

http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/ardlouis/dissipative/Schrcat.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWMTOrux0LM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SjFJImg2Z8

The Universe: An Unraveling Mystery

Rolando J. Casado Ladrón

Since before I can remember, I have always been fascinated by the celestial bodies over my head. Later I spent hours looking through a telescope identifying every constellation I could find at night. During high school I finally started to understand the complicated mechanics the universe endured. I was even more amazed when I saw that the same Physical Laws that applied to me ruled over the entire Universe as well. And the more I learned the more questions I formulated. What was the universe? What is it made off? Did it begin or was it always there? If we had a beginning, then there would surely be an end. Then I came across a peculiar theory that explained some of my most burning questions. This theory is called the Big Bang. 

This theory explains one possibility of how the Universe came to be the way that it is now. The Hubble Law is one of the few pieces of physical evidence that supports the Big Bang. It dictates that the universe is ever expanding and the galaxies are getting farther apart at a velocity proportional to the distance between them, this relationship is known as the velocity-distance relation. The idea is that if the Universe is expanding now then that means that at some point it was smaller, unimaginable small. Going back billions of years this theory presents the Universe in the beginning as a small, dense and hot sphere. Then the story goes that the sphere “exploded” giving birth to the Universe we know today. 

From this point on gravity becomes the most influential part in the formation of the Universe. During the first second after the blast there were a handful of elements which Helium was the dominant. During this gaseous phase gravity starts to combine the gas particles forming new elements. Then the gas became clusters and started gaining mass until a few minutes later galaxies, solar systems and planets were formed. I can’t believe that a basic force as gravity is so influential in the Universe. Then I asked myself if gravity is a constant force that repels and attracts bodies with mass then, in the beginning, the particles should have stayed in a perfect grid. So what was the trigger for the difference in mass within the particles? The answer came from Einstein’s equations of relativity were he mathematically explained the expansion of the Universe and proved the existence of dark energy. It is represented in the equation as the cosmological constant. This type of energy is the cause for the accelerated expansion of the universe and forms about 70 % of the total density of energy in the Universe. This is the story of how the Universe came to be as we know it today. These equations also predict that the Universe is getting colder and farther apart until one day it will lose all of its energy. What happens after this happens? Will it stay there motionless or might there be another bang?

This theory has been able to explain to me how the Universe came to be but opened new ones. What caused this incredible dense and small “particle” to explode”? What surrounded this “particle”? If time and space came after the bang then how can we define or describe this particle? Reading and learning about the Universe is my passion and realizing that the laws of Physics are the explanation of how the Universe works has attracted me to the physics area of study. The Universe is a mysterious place and learning about it attract my attention and it is why my dream is to work at NASA. 

Death Wobbles

Saul O. Ruiz

Physics is found all around us. When we walk, ride our cars, mow the lawn, in every aspect of our lives there are physics involved. Due to the resent growth of longboarding I wanted to show one of the biggest fears of many riders. Longboards are just the same as skateboards but are longer between 34-60 inches long and usually having bigger wheels almost up to 90 mm in diameter. The components of the board are reverse kingpin trucks, wheels, bearings and grip tape. The truck’s main components are the bushings, pivot cup bushing, axle, hanger and base plate. Most of the riders love going fast but there is a phenomenon that riders call speed wobbles, which takes away confidence from going faster. A speed wobble occurs when the rider is going fast usually downhill, and starts losing stability and the board starts wobbling and the board causes the rider to lose control and in most cases causes the rider to fall. Physics has a way of analyzing this phenomenon. What riders know as speed wobbles in physics it is called hunting oscillation. Hunting oscillation occurred long before skateboards where invented. Hunting oscillation occur in any system trying to find an equilibrium. That is why it is called hunting oscillation, it is an oscillation created when a system is not in equilibrium and it tries to hunt for equilibrium. One of the first recorded hunting oscillation occurred on the train tracks. Locomotive trains were reaching high velocities and started shaking side to side. It is an interesting note to mention that some locomotive trains started forming oscillations which made the locomotive shake from side to side and it would turn into a violent motion that damaged the track and the wheels of the locomotive train which caused derailment. And in later years they would create dampening suspension system that would allow the locomotive trains go faster without wobble. The actual wobble is a phenomenon called self-exciting oscillation which creates a sinusoidal wave which the amplitude grows with in reaching top velocities. What happens during longboarding at high speeds is the same as the locomotive trains it starts shifting from side to side after receiving the initial wobbles the system hunts for equilibrium and instead of being derailed you get bungeed out of the board. When riding longboards the two main reasons for wobbles are the actual rider and the lack of dampening. The way the board turns and the geometry of the trucks speed wobbles might always occur. Ways to defend against the speed wobbles is dialing up a correct setup with no bushing or pivot cup slop. Having the correct bushing hardness for your weight also helps. Even when having the “right” setup, you might still get speed wobbles. That’s when the rider comes into play; the rider is the most essential part of the problem. The usual problem with speed wobbles is the distribution of weight of the rider. Ways to correct the problem is that you want most of the rider’s weight in the front of the truck. A lower stance of the rider will also lower the center of gravity making him have more control and stability. Even when all this fails if you still get wobbles do not fight them, join them, what you want to do is relax, lean forward and ride them out creating a sine wave which returns the system to equilibrium. 

Unique Waves

Ramón Peluyera

Physics has revolutionized the world in unimaginable ways granting us the gift of knowledge throughout the ages. One of all the amazing and fascinating subjects of Physics that interest me the most is that of waves. Humanity uses it on a daily basis whether we are aware of it or not. Communications of all types are under the same category since waves are necessary for us to understand one another. Most waves have been discovered and studied by physicist and they are aware of their characteristics.  However recently, there has been news of a wave that does not travel uniformly, never seen before. This wave forms includes star shaped waves and even polygons shaped waves.

To understand how important this new discovery is one must first understand the work of a wave. Basically a wave is a flow that travels through a medium, a transportation method for example: air, water, etc. It transports energy like we have already studied in class, kinetic energy, with the exception of not transporting matter. The particles of the medium which are used to travel are moved from their original position, but then returns through equilibrium. 

Ordinarily the waves studied have been one’s who’s way of movement are linear or not uniformly linear, but this special case is rare to both cases. In the University of Nice Sophia in Nice, France Jean Rajchenbach and other colleagues were the discoverers of this new phenomenon. This new wave was made in an experiment by shaking with vibration causing frequencies that would jiggle a dish of silicone oil with a slow, but regular motion. This combination of movements would produce star-shaped waves with five or six sides. These are unusual patterns that are thought to spread out in non-linear motion between three or more separate waves. The mathematics theory behind this wave still not understood to the fullest extent. The star shaped wave appears in trays or disks of different sizes and shapes. Knowing this the wave shape is not affected by the container in which it is held, which is also a property of a wave’s shape.

Jean Rajchenbach and the team of his colleagues are developing completely new models describing this wave. According to Jean Rajchenbach the waves could be used as a relation with quasicrystals, which is an arrangement of atoms forming a structure with five fold symmetry. Further calculations suggest that the shapes of nonlinear forces are similar to that between gravity waves. Researchers hope for success in the experiment to lead to better perceptive on other nonlinear gravity waves like tsunamis. Some physicists assume that nonlinear effects could be responsible for rogue waves that are formed in the oceans. A great deal of work would go into another research for similarity between the star shaped wave with the rogue ocean waves, but thinking of the possibilities it would unimaginably effective for the entire world. Knowing the time or place a tsunami could occur due to the nonlinear similarity with the star shaped wave could save lots of lives as well. That is why expanding the knowledge from every new discovery is an important aspect of life and physics since knowing the basics is an essential part of physics.