Thursday, September 22, 2011

So What's Going on at Cern Lately?


So we already know that guys at the LHC haven't found the Higgs boson yet, but what's going on at Cern, home of the Large Hadron Collider?

Well, since Cern is home of the biggest particle smasher in the world it's natural that there's a lot of fuzz going on there right now. Recently scientists working at Cern announced baffling results, which appeared during one of the experiments in the Gran Sasso laboratory.

So what they did was basically sent some neutrinos from Cern to Gran Sasso laboratory, which is 732 km. away. The interesting part is that they detected neutrinos coming to the lab a fraction of a second earlier than they should. The calculations of the speed revealed that neutrinos must have covered the distance in a faster-than-light speed.

Source

For those of you who don't remember high school physics, light speed at vacuum is one of the most important and well tested constants in science. For more than a hundred years scientists tested  the speed of light and found it to be constant.

"We wanted to find a mistake - trivial mistakes, more complicated mistakes, or nasty effects - and we didn't," said Antonio Ereditato, who was working on the experiment.

Only more independent experiments, which would find the same anomaly would give great evidence that light speed limit is different. However, having in mind that similar anomalies were always resorted, I would bet my money that light speed limit will not be broken.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Why Doesn't The North Star Move in the Sky?


Have you ever wondered why the so called North Star (sometimes called Pole Star) doesn't move in the sky? Well actually this is one of the most often asked questions in astronomy.

The answer actually is very simple. The so called North Star does not move as it is above the North Pole and the axis of Earth's rotation. Thus the rotation of our planet causes the movement of the stars in the sky except for the North Star.

The interesting thing is that stars also move a little, also the axis of rotation of planet Earth also shifts slowly. Thus the role of the "North Star" changes among stars throughout time.

The picture shows star movement in the sky:



















Source

Sunday, September 11, 2011

So What's Going on at LHC Lately?


So how is the great hunt for the Higg's particle going on in the biggest particle smasher in the world?

Unfortunately, Higgs chasers haven't found the great particle yet, however the collected data indicates a tighter range of possible masses of the hypothetical particle. To fit into standard model of particles Higg's boson has to be lighter than 145 billion electron volts.

Despite this, Higg's particle is still playing hard to get. There were signs of Higgs back in July, when scientists found some particles, which indicated that there might exist a lighter Higgs particle which is really hard to find at low energies.

The good news is that LHC physicist still expect they will either find the Higgs particle or rule out the existence of the famous particle in 2 years. Let's hope this is exactly what's going to happen, after all, it's about time for the good old Peter Higgs to get his Nobel Prize.

Source

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Top 10 Greatest Physics Experiments: 5. Torsion Bar Experiment



The experiment was performed in 1797–98 by the English scientist Henry Cavendish. He followed a method prescribed and used apparatus built by his countryman, the geologist John Michell, who had died in 1793.
Even though Newton already had calculated the value of the gravitational constant G, it wasn’t confirmed in labarotory. This is where the torsion bar experiment comes into play.

The apparatus employed a torsion balance, essentially a stretched wire supporting spherical weights. Attraction between pairs of weights caused the wire to twist slightly, which allowed the first calculation of the value of the gravitational constant G. The experiment was popularly known as weighing the Earth because determination of G permitted calculation of the Earth's mass. The simple equation of gravity created back at the end of 17 century by Newton was confirmed once again.

Source

Source


Thanks for reading! Please subscribe and comment. Cheers!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku Review



About the Author:

Michio Kaku is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New York and a co-founder of the famous string theory. Besides that he is one of the most famous science populizers appearing in TV shows, radio and numerous scientific documentaries.

Michio Kaku has written a number of popular science books, mostly focusing on the future of physics and modern theories. The list includes:


Short Review:

The book is written based on interviews with over three hundred of the world's top scientists, who are already inventing the future in their labs. Kaku in this brand new book presents the revolutionary developments in medicine, computers, quantum physics, and space travel that will forever change our way of life and alter the course of civilization itself.

According to Michio Kaku the future will be extraordinary. The ultra fast internet will be in your contact lens. It will recognize people's faces, display their biographies, and even translate their words into subtitles.

What is even more amazing that you will be able to control computers with microscopic sensors implanted in your brains.

So in conclusion this book is another great addition to other Michio Kaku's books. If you have already read his other books you already know what to expect from this one. So if you're a fan of Kaku's books be sure to check this one out as it really gives you a glimpse to the future. 



Friday, September 2, 2011

Dark Matters: Twisted but True Episode Guide


Hey folks, once again we have another brand new science documentary on Science Channel. The new show called "Dark Matters: Twisted but True" focuses on strange and twisted corners of science throughout the history.


So since the 1st episode has already aired let's check out how this science shows holds up. The first episode was about the secret Philadelphia experiment, secret Soviet experiments on apes and humans and the invention of the electric chair. I have to be honest I was hoping for a nice serious science documentary, but when I heard what the first episode will include I kind of lost hopes in this show. After all, what kind of science show, especially one at Science channel could talk about Philadelphia experiment, which most probably never happened plus ufo's and stuff like that.

Unfortunately, my feeling came out to be true, as this brand new documentary looked more like one of those pseudo-science shows where the "investigate" ufo's, teleporting war ships and all that other mumbo jumbo. The part where they talked about secret experiments in the Soviet union where scientists tried to create ape-man soldiers kind of killed the whole seriousness that the show had. The thing is that the show focuses to much on speculation while forgetting the facts. Though I have to admit the host of the show John Noble does a fantastic job as if he was born for such a role. It seems like the Science Channel wanted to quickly boost their rankings by appealing to the wide audience of ufo fans.

So yeah I guess the only good part was the last part of the show where they talked about the creation of the electric chair. It was more serious and accurate in comparison to other two parts of the episode. It kind of makes you wish that the whole show was more like that.

In conclusion, it's not the best choice for the fans of serious documentaries, but if you're a fan ufo's, conspiracy theories and stuff like that, this show is what you're looking for. So here's a short guide of all the six episodes in the first season.
__________________________________________________________________
Episode 1 (airs on August 31): The Philadelphia Experiment, Ape-man Army and Zapped to Death.

Episode 2 (airs on September 7): I Have Einstein's Brain, Unidentified Flying Nazis and Killer Thoughts.

Episode 3 (airs on September 14): Sexy Secret Agent, Full Body Transplant and Honey I Nuked the Planet.

Episode 4 (airs on September 21): It's Alive!, Tripping with uncle Sam and My Hand is Killing Me.

Episode 5 (airs on September 28): 21 Grams, Missing Cosmonauts and Sound of Death.

Episode 6 (airs on October 5): Radio Waves of Death, How to Make a Zombie and Jekyll vs Hyde.
__________________________________________________________________
For more info on every episode check out this link.

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Lady Gaga, Salman Khan