The Beauty of Science

nospam@example.com (Tim Forkes) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:09:00 -0600

Due to my inability to get things done on time, we have a treat today: My nephew Dan writes a blog, “Eschew Obfuscation,” and this is his latest entry. I always enjoy reading Dan’s writing and I hope you do as well.
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There are some who say that attempting to break apart and analyze the world removes some of its beauty. I myself have seen examples of exactly this phenomenon. But not all times does understanding the world take something from our perception of the world. Let me tell you a story.

In the beginning of all things, there was a god awful bang. In this explosion were created two hydrogen atoms. These atoms, in concert with many trillions of their kin, existed as they had done since their creation. A vast cloud was formed of them, as they waited patiently for billions of years as other stars were born. It was not until a nearby star, formed from the same elemental hydrogen, came to the end of its life, that our star began its coalescence.

Unable to sustain its process's of nuclear fusion, this nearby star collapsed and rebounded in a massive explosion which created the shockwave that started the collapse of our cloud of hydrogen. Our two atoms, having waited through the eons, have at last started the long process of coalescing into a star. After many millennia swirling around the cloud's center of gravity, these two atoms will arrive at the edge of what will one day be our sun.

They are taken down into the broiling heart of our new-formed sun, and there, at the end of all their waiting, they are brought together under intense heat and pressure in a process which will produce one atom of helium. The fusion of these two atoms released energy, energy which had been stored within the two original atoms since the moment of their birth. The energy from the formation of the universe was used to create these two atoms, and in their transformation into helium some of that energy was returned to the universe. This energy became a photon, a particle of light.

This particle, birthed in the fiery center of a star, began its torturous journey to the surface. There is a lot of matter in the depths of our stellar neighbor, and for millions of years our photon struggled against the amassed weight of material pressing down against it. But after many centuries of hardship, our photon finally broke free from the tyranny of the sun. Once released, this photon began traveling away from its stellar nursery, on into the vasty night between the worlds. Flying past the roasted world of Mercury, and barely glancing at the clouds of acid encircling Venus, our photon finally reaches our pale blue world. Light travels fast, more than 186,000 miles a second, but even at this breathtaking pace our photon must travel for more than eight minutes before it can reach our home planet.

As this photon enters our atmosphere, it's wave becomes bent and curved in accordance with the immutable laws of physics. Created in the heart of the star, and born from the union of two atoms created at the beginning of all things, having fought its way clear of the sun and traveling through the empty miles of space, bent and scattered by our atmosphere, our photon finally reaches the surface of our fair planet.

Our photon may strike a rock, or a tree, or a rooftop. It might splash into the ocean or rebound off of bare earth. But once it does strike, it briefly becomes a part of whatever structure it just impacted. The energy contained within the photon is absorbed by the material. Our photon, with some slight changes brought on by its interaction with the Earth, is emitted once again, travels through the atmosphere, and enters my eye.

This preserved energy from our creation gets absorbed in my retina and travels, as electrochemical impulses, from my eye along a nerve which leads to my brain. This impulse is sorted and used, is transformed into an image. This photon, along with trillions of others just like it, have come together to create an absolutely stunning sight: sunset over the mountains. The fires of creation have been preserved through these aeons in order to create jaw dropping beauty.

Knowing how the world works does nothing to detract from its beauty.
Quite the opposite in fact.
— Dan Beringer

Love Science!

nospam@example.com (Tim Forkes) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:01:00 -0600

Just saw something interesting on the History Channel. Once in a while the History Channel has something on other than war video. Well, most of the time, but this program was even more interesting than the norm.

The Universe: Secret of the Space Probes came on at 12 noon, when MSNBC is usually on my tube. Now, admittedly, I know little about science and even less about cosmology, but I know something is an awesome moment in human development when I see it! And the narrator is kind enough to point it out to me.

Secret of the Probes was about various space probes that have gone out into the universe over the past 50 years. From the very earliest that would only measure radio waves, to the most recent, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or the Solar Probe Plus. That one will be really awesome! It was launched directly into the sun! I hope to live long enough to find out what its helioseismic and magnetic imager tells us about Sol! That will be decades.
 I envy my nephew Dan. Not only is he interested and educated on these topics, he will most likely live long enough to enjoy the moments of discovery.

What caught my attention though were a couple probes that were out in our galaxy all ready, taking samples from comets and comet trails, as well as from the planets and moons in our solar system. From one probe, Stardust, taking samples from the tail of a comet, the name of which is forgotten, the dust from stars not our own were found! That means, stars blasting solar dust from other solar systems have found their way into our neighborhood. But the scientists expected that. How would I know? It sounds pretty awesome to me.

What the scientists found that was unexpected to them was that much of the comet was made up of material found here in our own solar system. The impact on us, scientifically and historically, is monumental. The building blocks of our planet and indeed humankind, are found in the stars. In fact, with the discoveries of Stardust and many of its predecessors, it is a fact we were created from the stuff of stars outside our solar system.

Some people might remember the song by Joni Mitchell, “Woodstock.” She sings, “We are stardust, we are golden and we got to get ourselves, back to the garden.”

For decades I thought that was just hippie-dippy imagery formed to create a really great song. Like, we are all connected in a spiritual, synchronous bond of, we hope, love, fellowship and good vibrations. We were all hippies back then, so it made sense. Still does, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Little did I know we actually are made from stardust.

We might learn even more about that soon. The SHO was launched in February of this year and has begun transmitting data back to Earth. It’s going into the sun with a helioseismic and magnetic imager to take pictures with 14 different cameras, all focused on different wavelengths. You can check it out at the web site of the Stanford Solar Group.

To be honest, I have no idea what the Hell I’m talking about in more than a general sense, but it all is interesting. Science does for us what many of us cannot do for ourselves — learn about ourselves as a species and as a small part in this larger world and universe.

Anyone with any credible knowledge of science agrees the Earth itself is over 4.5 billion years old. Think about that. The average age of a human is about 75 years, not even 100 years. Even if our average age was 1,000,000 years, that’s still minute compared to the age of the Earth. And what of the universe?

Now, according to religious fanatics, the Earth is only 6,500 years old, give or take a century or two. And, they conclude, evolution is impossible no matter how old the Earth is. God said so. And, they would like you to believe, there are credible “scientists” who can refute the science of science. There is no science to support Creationism and its sister fallacy, Intelligent Design.

What do the people who promote mythology as truth do for humanity? They force public school systems to teach that mythology as science or state that evolution is just a “theory,” further confusing the students as to what is real and what is not. In other words, they add to the incredible level of ignorance in this nation.

Some people, who fall on the side of intelligence and science, think we need to placate the ignorant minority that wants to believe a mythology created just over 6,000 years ago to explain that which couldn’t be understood at the time. This debate started over 150 years ago with the publication of Charles Darwin’s On The Origins of Species. It’s time to end the debate and let the mythologists know they can continue to believe mythology, but it will not spill over into reality. We need to say no to these crazy people, and they are indeed crazy.

I’m all for teaching Creationism in public schools, in a comprehensive course on religion and/or mythology, like we do for ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Greek and Roman mythology. And that should be expanded to other ancient cultures as well, like Native American, including Mayans, the Incas and Aztecs. It’s the Mayans who predicted the Earth would end in 2012.

You know what I like about evolution? Women today look like the lovely Ashley Nicole and not like Cro-Magnon women and certainly not Neanderthals.
 Did you know there is now evidence different species of “humany” beings inter-coupled for sex? No kidding! Homo erectus got it on with Homo floresiensis, over 40,000 years ago.
 And did you know the Republican nominee for the Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joe Biden believes science has developed mice with human brains? Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, the kook who wants us to abstain from masturbating thinks science is advanced far enough to make mice human, but not smart enough to know the Earth is only 6,500 years old.

Now, my thoughts are on something altogether different from science and religion, thanks to those two — or three — tangents. And Ashley’s photos. Gotta go!

The Forkes Report - Science

The Beauty of Science

Love Science!