Saturday, May 8, 2010

Space....... And Beyond It, More Space!


We fight for SPACE on earth! But many of us dont know that we have got space which is unlimitedly available outside our "world of space" the real space! Though this space is unlimited, it is inaccessible.
Let us come to the scientific aspect of it! Lets start with Big Bang theory! I am trying to create a virtual model so that we get familiar with whats around when we land in space!
Consider there is a dark place, (you cant see anything ), but the place is going to infinity (something which is beyond our imagination!) radially (3D and not in 2D). At this centre lets assume an atom (which is highly compressed !) is present. We now say that the atom underwent a BIG BANG (explosion) and the content inside it went off in all directions. These under some forces (like attraction, gravitation etc) became clouds and slowly formed visible particles and further slowly formed in hard rocky material and then the huge rocky bodies! The ones which had got fuel (hydrogen and helium) became stars and the remaining became planets , asteroids, comets etc. The interesting thing here is, these small and huge bodies did not stay quiet they went on revolving around something or the other. And from here the theory of "Universe is Expanding" came into existence, and the contents which exploded out of the single atom travelled huge distances from the centre. This whole volume upto which the particles have reached is collectively considered as the space. So space is something which we have assumed to be the part of the dark room upto which the contents of the atom (exploded) have reached.

The theory of expansion has changed! As observed the expansion rate has decreased which was supposed to be increasing before!

Interesting Stuff

Books & Papers:
Introduction to the Issue on Signal Processing for Space Research and Astronomy
http://ens.ewi.tudelft.nl/pubs/leshem08jstspintro.pdf
Universe In a Nutshell- By Stephen Hawking
Outer space and man. :Talmy, Vladimir. trans.

Softwares:

Celestia- Freeware

Websites:
http://library.thinkquest.org/28550/expan.htm
http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://www.exploratorium.edu/hubble/tools/doppler.html

Moovies:

Sunshine- Danny boyle
2010 -The Year We Make Contact
BBC.Horizon.2005.Einstein's.Unfinished.Symphony

Albert Einstein's Twin Paradox

Subhash Kak, Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at LSU, recently resolved the twin paradox, known as one of the most enduring puzzles of modern-day physics.First suggested by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago, the paradox deals with the effects of time in the context of travel at near the speed of light. Einstein originally used the example of two clocks -- one motionless, one in transit. He stated that, due to the laws of physics, clocks being transported near the speed of light would move more slowly than clocks that remained stationary. In more recent times, the paradox has been described using the analogy of twins. If one twin is placed on a space shuttle and travels near the speed of light while the remaining twin remains earthbound, the unmoved twin would have aged dramatically compared to his interstellar sibling, according to the paradox."If the twin aboard the spaceship went to the nearest star, which is 4.45 light years away at 86 percent of the speed of light, when he returned, he would have aged 5 years. But the earthbound twin would have aged more than 10 years!" said Kak.The fact that time slows down on moving objects has been documented and verified over the years through repeated experimentation. But, in the previous scenario, the paradox is that the earthbound twin is the one who would be considered to be in motion -- in relation to the sibling -- and therefore should be the one aging more slowly. Einstein and other scientists have attempted to resolve this problem before, but none of the formulas they presented proved satisfactory.Kak's findings were published online in the International Journal of Theoretical Science, and will appear in the upcoming print version of the publication. "I solved the paradox by incorporating a new principle within the relativity framework that defines motion not in relation to individual objects, such as the two twins with respect to each other, but in relation to distant stars," said Kak. Using probabilistic relationships, Kak's solution assumes that the universe has the same general properties no matter where one might be within it.The implications of this resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity. It may eventually even have some impact on quantum communications and computers, potentially making it possible to design more efficient and reliable communication systems for space applications.

Leap Year concept: Why 1900 was not a leap year but 2000 was!

EArth takes 365.2425 days to revolve around the sun. We take into account only 365 days. And an year with 365 days is called as the Common year(february =28 days). The remaining 0.2425 we approximate as 0.25. Hence the error in the approximation is [-0.0075=(0.2425-0.25)]. Keep this negative error in mind because this will be used later.Now after 4 years 0.25 of a day becomes 0.25*4=1 day. So we add a day after 4 years in the month of february making it a month of 29 days. This year with 29 days in february or a total of 366 days in the year is called as the LEAP year. But due to the error of -0.0075 per year, which becomes considerably enough to be taken in to account after 100 years (i.e. -0.0075 * 100=-0.75 of a day), which again can be approximated to -1 day, we remove a day after 100 years, which makes a centurial year (which is not divisible by 400 ) a Common year (non leap year). But again in the approximation done above i have an error of 0.25 (=(-0.75) -(-1)) per 100 years. Now after 4 centurial years this error becomes exactly 1 day (=0.25*4=0.0075*400) which is added in the month of february. Hence every centurial year except for the ones which are divisible by 400 is a non-leap year.

Albert Einstein's Twin Paradox

Subhash Kak, Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at LSU, recently resolved the twin paradox, known as one of the most enduring puzzles of modern-day physics.First suggested by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago, the paradox deals with the effects of time in the context of travel at near the speed of light. Einstein originally used the example of two clocks -- one motionless, one in transit. He stated that, due to the laws of physics, clocks being transported near the speed of light would move more slowly than clocks that remained stationary. In more recent times, the paradox has been described using the analogy of twins. If one twin is placed on a space shuttle and travels near the speed of light while the remaining twin remains earthbound, the unmoved twin would have aged dramatically compared to his interstellar sibling, according to the paradox."If the twin aboard the spaceship went to the nearest star, which is 4.45 light years away at 86 percent of the speed of light, when he returned, he would have aged 5 years. But the earthbound twin would have aged more than 10 years!" said Kak.The fact that time slows down on moving objects has been documented and verified over the years through repeated experimentation. But, in the previous scenario, the paradox is that the earthbound twin is the one who would be considered to be in motion -- in relation to the sibling -- and therefore should be the one aging more slowly. Einstein and other scientists have attempted to resolve this problem before, but none of the formulas they presented proved satisfactory.Kak's findings were published online in the International Journal of Theoretical Science, and will appear in the upcoming print version of the publication. "I solved the paradox by incorporating a new principle within the relativity framework that defines motion not in relation to individual objects, such as the two twins with respect to each other, but in relation to distant stars," said Kak. Using probabilistic relationships, Kak's solution assumes that the universe has the same general properties no matter where one might be within it.The implications of this resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity. It may eventually even have some impact on quantum communications and computers, potentially making it possible to design more efficient and reliable communication systems for space applications.

FaCts

*If two pieces of metal touch in space, they become permanently stuck together.

*The Moon is still moving away -- about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year.

*Our Galaxy - the Milky Way is spinning at a rate of 225 kilometers per second. In addition, the galaxy is travelling through space at the rate of 305 kilometers per second. This means that we are traveling at a total speed of 530 kilometers (330 miles) per second.
The Earth is, in fact, not really round. It is called an oblate spheroid meaning it’s slightly flattened on the top and bottom poles.

*Sun loses up to a billion of grams a second due to solar winds

*Emission of gravitational waves is causing the Earth to slowly spiral in toward the Sun, but it would take another 10^(27) years for them to collide.

FACts about our Solar System:




Sun
Over one million Earths can fit in the sun.It is too Hot to get close to, a temperature of 10^6 K at its centre and 5000 K on the surface. Sunspots also called as Black spots are the places where the temperature is comparatively less. Sunspots usually come in groups with two sets of spots. One set will have positive or north magnetic field while the other set will have negative or south magnetic field. The Sun also emits low density streams of particles, also known as the Solar Winds. These winds blow through the solar system at 450 km/sec and consist mostly of electrons and protons and responsible for AURORA( the adjoining image).Existing for about 4 and a half billion years, it has burnt up about half of the hydrogen in its core. This leaves the Sun's life expectancy to 5 billion more years, at which time, the Sun's elements will "swell" up, swallow Earth, and eventually die off into a small white dwarf. Proxima Centauri (Alpha Centauri C) is the star nearest to Sun. It is 4.3 light years away from Sun. Every eleven years, the magnetic poles of the Sun switch. This cycle is called "Solarmax". The Sun has circled the Milky Way galaxy for about 20 times only since it's formation. The Sun rotates about it's own axis once every 25.38 days. The light takes 8.3 minutesto travel from the Sun to Earth.

Mercury
It is the closest planet to the sun. It is too hot and dry to live on. There is no air.


Venus
It is the second planet from the sun.Almost the same size and gravity as that of Earth.And has deadly poisonous clouds (acid).

Earth
The third planet from the sun. Most beautiful looking planet from outside space. The Only planet that we know of that supports life. The moon (Natural satellite of earth) plays an important role in sustaining life. Tides are caused due to the attraction force of moon. A fact about moon is that it is going farther from the earth. Another fact is that it has a time period of rotation about its axis which is equal to that of the time period of its revolution around earth.It has gravity, air, water, etc.

Mars
It is the fourth planet from the sun. Its called the red planet. We have sent Rover to mars already in search of life. It has red dust and ice.

Jupiter
The fifth planet from the sun. The image of jupiter shows the movement of storms is in opposite directions hence leading to the very high turbulence. The Only planet with a big red spot (a storm that is very wide). This red spot is constantly having motion inside it. The colour of RED spot has changed. It is the Largest planet in the Solar System.

Saturn
The sixth planet from the sun. Very cold. It has an outer ring around the planet. These are basically rocky material moving around it. If you put Saturn in water it would float.The moon TITAN is now of great interest as there are chances that it can sustain life (bacteria living in very cold climate).

Uranus
The seventh planet from the sun.It is very cold.It has an outer rings around the planet.Unable to see stars because of storms of clouds.

Neptune
The eight planet from the sun. It is very cold. The planet is blue in color.

Pluto
The farthest planet from the sun. But now it is not considered as a planet anymore. This planet falls in Kuiper belt which consist of minor planets. The very startling fact about this planet is : it is rotating about an axis which is horizontal (i.e its axis is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of sun). This planet's orbit is more elliptical as compared to the others. And the plane in which thi planet orbits the sun is different from the plane in which the other planets revolve around the sun. It is the coldest planet. It is very dark. The sun looks very small from this planet. You can see many stars from here.