SCIENCE
NOTES
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The Progression of Physics Theories

1. newtonian mechanics/dynamics
2. Classical Mechanics (mechanics in which Heisenberg's uncertainty principle does not have such a large effect)
3. Special Relativity
4. General Relativity <--- this will take a while
5. Quantum Mechanics <---- also will take a while
6. Quantum Chromodyanmics, Quantum Electrodynamics (aka relativistic quantum mechanics)
7. Mathematical String Theory
8. Supergravity
9. Supersymmetry
10. K-Theory
11. Cohomology maybe?
12. M-Theory/F-Theory maybe

But... K-theory and and Cohomology are math, not physics. M-theory is string theory. The five known consistent string theories --Type 1, Type IIA, Type IIB, Heterotic E8 and Heterotic SO32-- are projections of M-theory into a ten dimensional space. All of the fields bleed into one another --there is no neat little progression or ladder to climb.

When big things move across little things, we call it an "occultation." When little things move in front of big things we call it a "transit." And when two things about the same size move in front of each other, we call it an "eclipse."
Absolute zero is -273 degrees; Celsius, of course. (0 Kelvin, obviously)
Novae (the plural for nova) are usually, if not always, the result of an interaction between two stars. In such a binary system, as they are called, an ancient and exhausted star called a white dwarf, which has used up all of its nuclear fuel, siphons hydrogen gas off its orbital companion, typically a much larger normal star. Every 100,000 years or so, enough gas builds up on the white dwarf to trigger a thermonuclear explosion.
. . With the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Starrfield can examine the X-ray emissions of novae. X-rays, like visible light, are one type of electromagnetic radiation. But they are far more powerful.
. . When Starrfield and his colleagues used Chandra to observe the aftermath of Nova Aquila, planning to study the types of gases that it had tossed into space, they instead discovered a handful of unexpected phenomena, things they didn't even know they should look for.
. . As Nova Aquila wound down in brightness between April and October 2000, when the observations were made, its X-ray output was seen to pulsate over periods lasting roughly 40 minutes. In one swift burst --just 15 minutes long-- the X-ray output jumped to six times the previous levels. "Our Chandra observations told us that thermonuclear fusion reactions were still occurring on the surface layers of the white dwarf." "Eight months after discovery, the explosion was not over."
. . A supernova can for an instant put out more light energy than entire galaxies. And gamma-ray bursts, involving even higher-energy particles, are thought to be the mothers of all explosions --at least 1,000 times more powerful than supernovae.
There are 72 species of Antelope. This would *not count the american Pronghorn, which is as much a goat. Both sexes have the distinct prong-shaped horns and they are different than antelopes in that they shed their horns annually like antlered deer and elk.
. . It can *sprint at 88 KM (55 miles) per hour, bested only by the cheetah, but its speed cannot be matched by *any other creature in the *distance run.
The lil 'tisimal Amun, i.e., 1.5 km wide, is worth 20 *Trillion dollars! An iron meteorite is virtually stainless steel. Metal ores filtered down toward the Earth's core before it solidified, leaving just random ore-fields around. This is from permanent.com, where you can check out the future of planetisimal (wrongly: "asteroid") mining. Fascinating.

The table doesn't give the average of Earth all the way thru....
Iron meteorite: Stony meteorite: Earth's crust:
Iron: 91%Oxygen: 36%Oxygen: 49%
Nickel: 8.5%Iron: 26%Silicon: 26%
Cobalt: 0.6%Silicon: 18%Aluminum: 7.5%
Magnesium; 14% Iron: 4.7%
Aluminum: 1.5%Calcium: 3.4%
Nickel: 1.4%Sodium: 2.6%
Calcium: 1.3%Potassium: 2.4%

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Lab mice, tho bred to be nearly perfect clones, are 50-50 right and left-handed.

World's oldest living thing: creosote bush in Mojave. Expanding ring shape. From about when desert started, 10-12,000 ago.

The bovidae family includes cattle, goats, sheep, & antelope. (not deer. Tho I assume all had a common ancestor.)
The Rock Hyrax weighs six pounds. Closest relative is Elephant! Manatees are believed to be distant cousins of the elephant.

From here down is nothin' fancy. Just some old notes of mine. Some fascinatin' stuff, if U can read it. Perhaps U V some?

Codes: S=The sciences SW=Space World. SN=Sci News. SA=Sci'c Amer. S+T:Sky+Tele. F:Futurist A:Ad astra //

Categories: Computers, History, Geology, Myth, People, Pop, Psych, Power, Greenhouse, Environs, Tech, Sciences, BIO, Animals <

**HISTORY: Biblical flood myth comes from Sumer.(smith, 12-88)

/Thera erupted:1645 BC; wiped out Minoans on Crete. (Atlantis myth?)

**MYTHOLOGY: Philosophy prof Henryk Skolimoski: "The primary function of religion is to provide a framework for ideals."

SA. Turin shroud: it's a thin watercolor painting, in a style common to 14th century. Gelatin-based medium w particles of red ocher. "Blood" areas V particles of vermillion (from cinnabar).

Trinity theory started ^ 325 a.d. at Council of Trent.

**ENVIRONS://Aral Sea, a terminal salt lake, (was world's 4th largest?) has dropped 13M tween 1960 + 87, due to irrigation. Area down 40%. Salt has blown 1000 Km. P>Methane Hydrate, found in abundance off coast of S.Carolina (siz:Marylnd). Enuf methane to supply US 350 yrs!

Manu of nylon releases vast NOx. Very g-haus,etc.

*GRNHAUS:

Analyst estimates rice paddies --->14% of C2H4 (methane) that's emitd by human activity. Chinese fields may emit 4-10X m'n US or European.

[F] Nuke wintr'd be followed by nuke-spring: 4X the UV.

[F]10% of US arable land is paved. 2% of total surface-area of the nation!

//In 88, and largely since, US ate more grain'n we grew.//Ethanol costs 2X Methanol, but is what's in gasahol. An all-M car cud use exhaust-heat to dissociate M into CO+H, which has 20% m power'n Methanol! More cud be made from burn-off wastes at wellhead.

With rain, ACID from peatland can kill off nearby forests.

**PEOPLE. Sciences Mag 1-89. 6/7 savants r male. Most blind, many autistic.

*Syphilis may'v been new world origin, originally from bears (as non-venerial).

Carbon monoxide and loud sound R synergistic to deafness.

GERONTOLOGY: There are almost no left-handed 80-yr-olds.

**POPUlation. World gains 86 Mil ppl/yr,+loses 24 Bil tons of topsoil.//50-60 mil abortions/yr worldwide.

U.S. takes in more immigrants than all 180+ othr nations combined. 1mil+ /yr.

//There r perhaps 5,000 rare diseases yet undescribed! (+waitin for a sufficient human population to start to spread.)

** PSYCH: Bad nuz: 55% of American teens believe in astrology.

A hostility-score predicts heart-disease deaths, + death from all causes.

**GREENHOUSE: *SN2-3-89: GH isn't result of urban-heat-island effect. //SN,^2-2-90:Warmest yrs on record (in order)1990, 88, 87, 83, 81, 89, 80, 86. (It's been like that since.) 1990s were .6C warmer'n 1880s. 1990 was .7 warmr. Schnieder, of Nat'l Center for Atmo'c Research: "By the time the evidence is irrefutable, it could be to too late to do anything!"

OCEAN: SN 11-21-87: Ocean expansion L raise 4-8 cm over next 40yrs. W all factors: a rise of .7M by 2075. Now rising a fraction of a cm/yr. Warming may INcrease snowfall on Antarctica-- to equal net sea-level lowering! Antarctc has 90% of world ice,+wud raise oceans 260'!! If ocean lays on land for long, L depress surface itself! Prediction of rise now: .33M by 2050. Poles L warm, but NOT in coldest season! Still, all known factors don't add up2known rise: 1.3mm/yr.//[D10-88] By 2050, 1/6 of Bangladesh'l be underwater; Egypt'l lose 15% of arable land. Miami dikes are impossible; in a v severe storm, Miami Beach'd get waves 16' over current sea-level. 5' rise'd destroy 50-90% of US wetlands.// Land masses V gotten wetter since '60. Northern tropics drier, S: wetter.

TEMP rise: .6 to 1 celsius by 2025. After ice age, Scandinavia's STILL rising, due to loss of ice-weight! California: more summer flood +winter drought. SF bay will be saltier. Sierra, more rain, less snow! 5% of Rth's surface burns/yr, NOW. 1816 global drop:1degre. Minn'polis wntr>1C/decade. Prairie/forest border moving N, 10-15km/yr.

**POWER:/ Grnpeac: U.S. energy-bill: $420 bil/yr. Import 6.8 mil bbl oil/yr. $15 billion subsidy to nuke industry. Cud save $30 mil/yr just w best litebulbs.

GEOTHERMAL: almost all the 2,200 MW is in Cal. Exploratory geo-therm well bein drilled in Long Valley caldera. To 6km or 500*C.

SOLAR-THERMAL: Luz Co. units are 23% efficient. 7plants -->194MW. 8c/KW/hr.

SOLAR CELLS: U.S. usage--650,000 MW--cud be supplied w 67 Miles sq. Audubon,1-90

Exhaust of natural-gas engine cud be piped into desert SALT-PONDS, where alga cud use the CO2 -->oil (50% of dry weight), 150-400 bbl per acre/yr. Still, $1.60/gal. U.S. waste-to-enrgy plants ttl: 850 MW.

// N.Gas: 48 states v 50-yr supply, at 50-80% efficiency use.

Las Vegas burns 1.5 mil kw/hrs/day in major hotels +Casinos alone.

1 gram of anti-matter = 6 MegaWatt/yrs!!

Oil import: 2/3 is Iranian!

* SUPRCONDUCTING generatrs will b 99.5% efficient, vs current 98.6%. R much more dependabl in storms or othr down-times. 63% life-cycle savings. S-C Magnetic Energy Storage system has been designed. Would store 5k megawatt/hrs, +charge/discharge at rate of 1,000 megawatts. 90-95% efficient. Cost: $1Bil! In case of catastrophic release, $100 mil of v pure aluminum bricks is a heat-sink. Hi-temp S-C wud lower capital cost 3, maybe 8%. S-C transmission lines still wudn't be competitive.

NUKEs: a typical nuke plant has 40,000 valves!! Usta yield 20% of US power. But dropping fast.

**SCIENCES:* BIOLOGY:

SN 10-7-89. 12% of DNA may be on membrane.

//SN12-2-89: Mycoplasma Incognitus: tween virus+bacteria. Smallest orgnism that can live w/o a host. Found in 22 of 32 dead AIDS ppl, +6 dead w/o.

//Hair-growth: 1"/10 wks.// Genetic-disease list (gene found): Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington's, lots more....

//A teaspoon of ocean contains 75mil viruses. Mating dance in birds displays lack of parasites+ resistence thereto.

Triticale (100yrs old) has been improved to equal wheat yield on good soil, and 20-30% better on poor soil. Resists diseases better, + flours rise now.

Alfalfa: nu seed for hi-Nitrogen fixation. Seed: 12$/acre, vs $2, but seed-cost's only 10% of per-acre cost.

* GEOGRAPHY Sahara, 200k ago, had major waterways! // If antarctica were at North pole, arm'd reach almost to Anchorage, on inlet from South coast.

Panagea lasted only 100 mil yrs.

*GEOLOGY. Nu record for oldest rocks: 3.96B yrs. NW Canada, near Great Slave Lake. Zircon in granite. Record for crystals alone: 4.3B, in Australia. Zircon. Most ocean basin is basalt; continent granite (G forms of remelted Basalt).

Lake Baikal has smoker vents; 1st found in fresh water. With oasies of life, 400M down; nu species.

* VOLCANOes: Thera was 1477 BC, Santorini: 1710 BC.

Krakatoa: 1670 and 1883; Tambora (Indonesia): 1815 (biggest strato-cloud); Cosequina: 1835.

** CHEM +PHYSICS: Liquid Carbon! @ 4500 degrees K., even at low pressure. Electrical conductivity of a metal.

A possible man-made crystal: Carbon Nitride. C3N4. Theoretically harder'n diamond.

Laser cooling record: 43 microkelvins.//ocean vents wud'v scalded primordial soup. Vents, 3.5Km down, emit lite, mostly I-Red. Shrimp there have lite-detectors (naked retina) on backs to "see" + avoid heat.

New state of matter [SN,10-8-88]: quark-gluon plasma.

Nucleus spin record: 10 to the 20th rpm! Emits gamma wave, slows down.

/[D3-89] railgun exists that can shoot a 1/3 oz ball to 7.2 kilometers per second, or 1Kg to 3.4 kps. =360 km apogee. 100,000's of G's acceleration!

** ASTRO: Planets: Theory: 1/2 the Earth-like planets ever formed have been destroyed by suns going red-giant. So where are the technological species from there?

EROS perihelion: 1.12AU. 6x16x19km. Nickel, Fe, + metal/silicates.

SunLite-pressure on E = wat of large ocean-liner.

E's mag-field reversd for 10k yrs, 1.1 mil ago.

A comet-hit of 30k diam = 100,000 times all Earth's nuke arsenal! Air the size of Africa'd be heated to 3,100F. NOx formed, Nitric acid rain (battery-strength). Crater: 100's of miles across.

**ENERGY: 31% efficent solar-cell. Expect 35%. Stacked multi-layer, each optimized for a wavelength. Made for 350-500 sun-powers, so could be multi-mirrored onto.

Mine Helium-3 [from solar-flares] on Luna for fusion reactors on Earth. 30 tons/yr would supply all E's energy.

**ROCKETS: Columbia is oldest, + 4 Tons heavier'n Discovery +Atlantis.

Energia lifts 28T; trip-vehicle: 390Tons.

**POLITICS: [TIME] Japan's defense budget is 6th largest in world. About 1% of GNP. Cud b 3rd soon. (this was several years ago.)

*Goats. There is more goat-milk than cow-milk in world. India has 68 million.

Nature has invented the wheel (besides the unique rotary joint of sperm cells): In Namibian desert, several species of spider flip sideways & roll downhill when pursued by predatory wasps. <1.5M/sec =44rps! or 2640rpm!

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Uncategorized info...

*Wind yields 10% of electric power on big island, Hawaii.

Gaspra (planetisimal) may be covered w a layer of dust or soils 8-10M deep.

Amorphous Ice as in comets is much lighter than crystaline, + vastly less in thermal conductivity: as litle as 1/100,000th!. So comets are self-insulated in fall thru atmosphere.

* A marsupial--a certain bandicoot--has a gestation period of 12.5 days!--the record. Another--shrew-like--is the lightest at 2 grams. Adult looks like baby mouse.

There is a marsupial "mole". Kinda white fur, almost blind; lives in Australian desert. No burrows; living in sand, it "swims" thru it.

Giganto-thermy permits largest living sea-turtle, the Leatherback, 750#, a metabolic rate between Mammals and reptiles. Has warm body-temps, even in arctic. Energy conservation of reptiles & activity of mammal. Is likely the strategy of at least some dinosaurs. Largest dino eggs: only 2 liters; 1/5th the size of the Elephant Bird.

Eight million years ago, a crocodile between Peru & Brazil: 2.5 Meters tall, 12-14M long, 10-12 tons. Heavier'n a T.Rex!

*Prey-poaching: Klepto-parasitism!

*Buckyballs are strong! Shot at a diamond surface @8.2 km/sec, they bounce off, whole. Could be usd as super-grafite, or super-teflon: They have a computer model of a fullerene of 540 atoms! Looks 5-sided; dunno how many faces that'd be.
. . Bombarded w Helium, they think some got inside: "world's smallest Helium balloon! Also possible to have 7-member benzene-type rings inside the sphere, as well as 5+6.
. . 174 different ways Bucky molecule can vibrate. At over 250 degrees K, (just below Zero), balls spin as if in gas phase. In optical computers, buckyballs shine! Non-linear optical materials vary in lite-processing potential. 2nd order properties: doubles the frequency of lite passing thru them, and ceases to transmit when in electric field. 3rd order: triple freq, and switch on/off depending on lite's intensity. BuckyBall compounds do both well.

*SN. Study shows that lesbians have a higher incidence of left-handedness. (and, perforce, vice versa!)

Smokers report higher lifetime frequency of substance abuse, severe depressions, anxiety & personality disorders involving agressive or anti-social behavior.
Smoking seems to deplete vitamin-C levels in blood.

*Fut. Breast-feeding moms use calcium more efficiently, and have more bone mass themselves.

Baby's IQ may be reduced by long unproductive labor. More'n 12 hrs. As happens more often in first kids. Tests show 11% diff. (Ceasarian people may be outstanding, historically. Julius Ceasar.)

Young men in Germany are 10 centimeters taller than men were 70 years ago, and reach that height sooner.

Stop smoking & immediately cut risk of coronary artery disease by half. But lung cancer is still 30-50% of former threat after a decade.

SciNuz,11-6-93. Chinese who believe they're born in "bad omen" year actually do die 1.3 to 4.9 years sooner than others. You can "believe yourself to death"!

MACHOes: "Massive Compact Halo Objects". Have .1% of solar mass each! Dark. Near galaxy edge. They've gravity-lensed stars in Lesser Magelenic Cloud.

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