Science Behind Things

Quantum Particle Reverted by Scientists from Quantum State back to Classical State

Andrew Jordan, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, and Alexander Korotkov at the University of California, Riverside, have done what had been previously thought impossible since 1926: measuring a quantum particle without forcing a permanent and complete collapse from its multi-locational quantum state to single location classical state.  And then they reversed it.  And they did it gradually.

Now Mr. Jordan is focusing on nanophysics, which addresses fundamental physical problems that occur on the mesoscopic level.  The mesoscopic scale is typically a few to ten nanometers (10^-9 meters), and involves averaging over a few thousand atoms or molecules.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806140128.htm

2-D Cloaking is Possible

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a new concept for a two-dimensional cloak of invisibility, by drilling holes in a layer of silicon and placing it over a metal surface that bulges up in the spot where an object is to be hidden. If the sizes of the holes are graded in the right way, light shining into the silicon reflects from the metal lump as if it is flat, rendering it invisible.

Very cool.

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Source: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=shield-invisibility-makes-smooth&no_cj_c=1

Look out Black Holes!

Next Sunday, June 15th, NASA plans to launch the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope, which took 14 years to develop by University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) physicists, led by Robert Johnson and adjunct professor of physics Bill Atwood.  They led a team of about 12 undergraduates, six graduate students and five postdoctoral physicists, from different parts of the world.  The telescope will loook at gamma rays, which have the smallest wavelengths and the most energy of any other wave in the electromagnetic spectrum, being produced by the hottest regions of the universe.  These waves are generated by radioactive atoms, in nuclear explosions, by such violent events as supernova explosions or the destruction of atoms, and by less dramatic events, such as the decay of radioactive material in space.  Also, as matter is drawn into a black hole, it spirals inward, similar to water in your bathtub spiraling down the drain rather than just going straight down the drain.  The spiraling matter produces a lot of heat from friction, and a lot of x-rays.  Gamma rays are even more powerful than x-rays, and are produced when black holes or neutron stars do even more spectacular things, such as draw in massive amounts of matter, heat it to incredible temperatures and ignite it.  Gamma rays also come from supernova explosions and pulsars (spinning neutron stars).  We live in a pretty exciting universe!

Sadly, the telescope is also designed to look for ficticious dark matter.  Dark matter was invented by some astronomers because the universe doesn’t otherwise behave the way it should, according to the supposed big bang idea.  Instead of throwing out the flawed big bang idea (which doesn’t even qualify as a theory or hypothesis), some scientists have unscientifically tried to make the data fit their ideas, instead of the other way around, by inventing dark matter.

But there are plenty of exciting discoveries awaiting scientists, all pointing to the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ, the Designer and Creator of the universe.  I can’t wait to hear about them (before they are misinterpeated by some in the vain hope of supporting evolution and other unsound ideas).

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Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/sitemap/ci_9532733

Whipped Cream Without Shear Thinning

Ever paint a house?  Put ketchup on french fries?  Bleed?  Eat an ice cream sundae?  If not, you must be under the age of 1 or living a boring life.  For the rest of us, why does paint stay on a house, but it comes so easily off of the brush?  Why does ketchup so easily come out of those fast food packets, but so persistently stay inside the bottle and on your french fry?  When you accidentally poke your finger, why does your blood not just shoot out, but rather it seems to just sit there if there’s a small hole in your skin?  And why does whipped cream flow so nicely out of that nozzle you used to spray it on your sundae, but now it stays on your ice cream, or room-temperature spoon?

It’s all thanks to a phenomenon called shear thinning, which was tested only one time in space, aboard the space shuttle Columbia, the last time it ever flew, in an experiment called the Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2).  Some of the data was transmitted to earth from orbit, and then, thankfully, even though the shuttle was tragically lost with all hands on board during the fiery reentry to earth, the hard drive containing the experimental data survived the crash, and it was able to be retrieved by scientists.

CVX-2 was designed to study shear thinning in xenon, which is made up relatively simple to understand molecules.  Although simple liquids such as xenon don’t normally experience shear thinning, they can be presuaded to do so at a critical point where fluids can exist as both a liquid and a gas simultaneously.  The temperature and pressure have to be just right, and then shear thinning takes place, thanks in no small part to the micro-gravity environment of the space shuttle, where otherwise gravity would cause the fragile substance to collapse on itself.

What will this research do for the rest of us non-astronauts?  It will help engineers design better engine oils, liquid plastics that stay in their molds better, and countless other things.  Praise God for creativity.

Source: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/25apr_cvx2.htm

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