A molecule when comes to existence in this 3 (or more) dimensional world, it claims the space.

A molecule can come to existence in the following ways

1. By combining 2 or more atoms of the same or different elements

2. By combining 2 or more molecules

3. By breaking a bigger molecule.

In all of these cases, the space claimed by the original atom or molecule and space claimed by the resulting molecule may differ. This difference can be tapped as mechanical force.

When a substance is converted from one chemical form into another, the resulting substance may occupy more space, less space or equal space. When the resulting product requires more space than its producing substance, the resulting product claims the space. If the space is already claimed by another substance, then it tries to push that substance away. This push is what we feel as mechanical force.

We humans are interested in the first phenomenon where the resulting substance occupies more space.

When a fuel is burnt, the resulting gas, mainly carbon dioxide requires more space than the original fuel itself. The first thing that happens when the resulting molecule got created is it claims the required space. The claim results in pushing the substances which are already in the vicinity of the space where the chemical reaction happened.

There are few ways to produce mechanical energy required to drive the wheel which is a key for human’s success on this planet. Some of the techniques known to me are listed below.

Most of our energy needs are met with internal combustion engines, nuclear power plants, thermal power plants etc where the mechanical energy is drawn using the above mentioned process.

Exception:

1. Wind mills use wind energy which results from Solar Energy and the Gravitational Energy
2. A running electric motor which is connected to a hydroelectric power station uses gravitational energy.

These 2 cases are examples of transferring the mechanical energy which already existing in the nature.

In search of Schrodinger’s cat

“The cat of out title is a mythical beast, but Schrodinger was a real person. Erwin Schrodinger was an Austrian scientist instrumental in the development, in the mid-1920s, of the equations of a branch of science now known as quantum mechanics. Branch of science is hardly the correct expression, however, because quantum mechanics provides the fundamental underpinning of all of modern science. The equations describe the behavior of very small objects – generally speaking, the size os atoms or smaller – and they provide the only understanding of the world of the very small. Without this equations, physicists would be unable to design working nuclear power stations (or bombs), build lasers, or explain how the sun stays hot. Without quantum mechanics, chemistry would still be in the Sark Ages, and there would be no science of molecular biology, no understanding of DNA, no genetic engineering – at all.

Quantum theory represents the greatest achievement of science, far more significant and of far more direct, practical use than relativity theory. And yet, it makes some very strange predictions. The world of quantum mechanics is so strange, indeed, that even Albert Eistein found it incomprehensible, and refused to accept all of the implications of the theory developed by Schrodinger and his colleagues. Eistein , and many other scientists, found it more confortable to believe that the equations of quantum mechanics simply represent some sort of mathematical trick, which just happens to give a reasonable working guide to the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles but that conceals some deeper truth that corresponds more closely to our everyday sense of reality. For what quantum mechanics says is that nothing is real and that we are not looking at them. Schrodinger’s mythical cat was invoked to make the differences between the quantum world and the everyday world clear. “

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I’m in Scotland until the end of July for a research fellowship in nuclear physics theory. I’ll pretty much be spending my days writing software towards my research, but my work-days end early, which leaves me a lot of free time. Since I’m not a big drinker, I don’t have much to do here in Glasgow, and for those who don’t know, Glasgow is a heavy drinking-oriented city, which isn’t bad (everyone is happy and nice), but it’s just not my cup of tea.

Seeing that I’ll have a lot of free time, I plan on using it to beef up my programming skills. How do I plan on doing this? First off, I plan on brushing up on my Javascript and XUL (again) since I only use it every 6-months or so, and I tend to forget how certain things work.

I want to accomplish the following (for the programs that I’ve already made) by September:

1. BCC Option for Email This!
2. More Preferences for Email This!
3. Custom Download Directory for FacePAD
4. Language Localization for FacePAD

Now, I want to venture out a bit as well. I want to attempt to write one program for either JetPack, Ubiquity, or Greasemonkey, all of which allow me to extend firefox with simple Javascript scripts. We’ll see if I make any progress…

I also want to add an FAQ section for FacePAD because I keep getting emails about the same two or three questions.
Lastly, I’d like to state that writing and maintaining these extensions is simply a hobby for me. I offer support for these extensions because I feel that I owe that much to the end-user, but I make no promises on implementing features or fixing bugs in a timely manner.

On a final final final note, I’ve been closely monitoring Google’s OSX nightly builds for Chrome, their web-browser. I do this since I’m a google fanboy and since it’s a program I’d like to extend as soon as it comes out of basic development for OSX.

Alright, that’s all for now. Feel free to contact me with your questions/suggestions/comments/concerns!

Ciao!

In my last post, I took various physics theory woo-meisters to task for being what I call “Einstein cranks”.  However, another class of physics theory crank deserves some notice, if only because they have made their cranky ideas so public and obvious.  These are the cranks who believe the Large Hadron Collider is going to destroy the Earth by the creation of a dark hole or strangelet.

All I can say is… balderdash… complete and utter pseudoscientific fear-mongering & balderdash.  The following video from The Daily Show illustrates just how silly these arguments can be…

The arguments from these folks range from simply not understanding basic physics theory to delusional conspiracy mongering. Walter Wagner, the man in the video above, illustrates a perfect storm of woo regarding this issue.  Allow me to list some of the flaws in his reasoning more specifically…

Read the rest of this entry »

I just got back from a very interesting talk on the science behind the movie Angels & Demons, held at the Manitoba Museum, with speakers Dr. Jeff Martin (U of Winnipeg), Dr. G. Gwinner (U of Manitoba), and Dr. K Sharma (U of Manitoba):

Angels & Demons is an action-packed thriller that opens in Manitoba theatres later this month. It is based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel that focuses on an apparent plot to destroy the Vatican using a small amount of antimatter. In the book and the movie, that antimatter is made using the Large Hadron Collider and is stolen from the European particle physics theory laboratory CERN. Parts of the movie were actually filmed at CERN.

These lectures are being held across North America, so I recommend you go to one of them because they’re a great way for somebody who’s not a scientist, but a science-enthusiast, to learn about anti-matter, to learn about colliders like the Large Hadron Collider, and to learn about particle physics theory.

If you’re not able to attend a lecture or if there’s not one in the area, here’s a little synopsis of whether what happened in the movie is true:

In the movie,  the Vatican is threatened by 1/4 gram of anti-matter, that will flatten it when the battery in its container dies. In reality the Large Hadron Colliders and physics theory labs around the world do produce anti-matter, but in very small amounts. If I remember correctly from the lecture, the amount that’s produced is usually about 1 billionth the size of the amount used in the movie. It would take 190 million years to produce 1/4 gram of anti-matter, so don’t worry. We’ll be destroyed by an asteroid before we destroy ourselves with anti-matter.

The lecture was also talking about the Higgs Boson Particle, which is referred to in the movie by the unfortunate name of “the god particle”. The Higgs Boson is a theorized particle that would help explain the origin of mass in the universe. It hasn’t yet been observed, so one of the goals of the Large Hadron Collider is to provide evidence either for or against its existence. Wikipedia, as always, has an excellent summary of the Higgs Boson, so I recommend looking there for more accurate information than I can give.

Vector potential is a vector field such that its curl gives you the magnetic field ; in other words,

.

For this reason it is also called as the magnetic potential. Its electric counter part is the scalar potential which gives the electric field upon taking the gradient (provided that the vector potential is independent of time):

.

The scalar potential is also called as the electric potential.

One often confronts the idea that the vector potential is just a mathematical object without much physical meaning. Moreover, there is a myth saying that one needs quantum mechanics to fully appreciate the reality of the vector potential. These are not true for the following reasons:

• Recall that the classical theory of electromagnetism is naturally relativistic. And we know that, together with the scalar potential , the vector potential forms a 4-vector. Hence, if one thinks that the scalar potential (i.e., the electric potential) has physical reality, then one better think that the vector potential has physical reality.
• Suppose a point particle with mass and charge is in a system where electromagnetic field is present. Furthermore, suppose there is a symmetry in the system; for example, a translational symmetry in -direction. Then the linear momentum nor the angular momentum, in general, are not conserved. What is conserved is the -component of the canonical momentum in that symmetry direction. This fact is elegantly derived using Lagrangian mechanics and  Noether’s Theorem. Hence, we expect that the vector potential can carry momentum.

Indeed, J. C. Maxwell (the father of Maxwell’s Equations) wanted to give the name “electrokinetic momentum” to the vector potential; and stated that (under certain circumstances) it has the meaning of “the time-integral of the electromotive force which a particle placed at the point (x,y,z) would experience”. (Quotes are from Article 590 in his book “A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism”.)

A nice experimental set-up one can analyze to understand what Maxwell is trying to say above, is suggested in Feynman’s Lectures on physics theory, Vol 2, Section 17-4. Consider that experiment where “the current drops very fast”. For a simpler set up (and more helpful discussions), see the article by M.D. Semon and J. R. Taylor, “Thoughts on the magnetic vector potential”, Am. J. Phys. 64 (11), Nov 1996.

I still haven’t heard anything in either direction on my TA job. I don’t want to hassle my boss, who has been a really fair and good person on this issue. It just sucks, because it is a holiday in the US, so I won’t see my boss until Tuesday.

In this economy, at least in the US, I’ve noticed that there is an almost death of the entry level job. I can see it in science, except maybe biology (I know very little biology and don’t know if the skills are advanced or something you pick up in lab easily). physics theory jobs are demanding a lot of specific skills, where I’m honestly not sure where you would develop them, unless you were unfortunately laid off from another job.

I see it administrative positions, retail positions, and restaurant/cafe jobs, too. How does one catch a break? Seriously?

Back in 2006, I had searched really hard for a job. I don’t want to go over how many jobs I applied for. This market is definitely worse. I’m finding less in physics theory or science research, and what I am finding is very specialized. I have considered that I lost my pluck and am writing myself off before I give someone else the chance to. I don’t think that’s true, since I met a recent college graduate who has a degree in both electrical engineering and physics theory; he said there aren’t really any entry-level jobs in either field and what got him a job were connections.

I’m not above taking an admin job; I did that in 2006-2007 to pay the bills. It’s fine, honest work. However, I’m concerned I can’t even get that, with the demands that employers can make. With all the layoffs in the US, I genuinely believe that a fastfood joint could demand that the person making the fries is a PhD and would not only fill that job but also have it be fairly competitive.

Let’s hope that I can get something soon. With bills and three cats to provide for, I don’t really like having an unknown job future.

image from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod

A better way to size up distant galaxies: Scientific American Blog

“New research may shed light on the stellar explosions used as cosmic mileposts.” SciAm