What is the Universe expanding into..

Do you think there was anything before the big bang?

  • I don't think there was anything before the Big Bang

    Votes: 56 12.5%
  • I think something existed before the Big Bang

    Votes: 200 44.7%
  • I don't think the big bang happened

    Votes: 54 12.1%
  • I think the universe is part of a mutiverse

    Votes: 201 45.0%

  • Total voters
    447
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When discussing bosons, we should give credit to the Indian physicist Satyendranath Bose after whom the force-carrying particles are named.

If Einstein hadn't received an unsolicited article on the topic of photons from Bose in 1924, he would not have discovered that at ultra-low temperatures atoms can form a new state of matter, which became known as a Bose-Einstein condensate.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/higgs-boson-einstein_b_1849374
 

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It's been a long thread, but I seem to remember discussing the experiment a while back.

I found it!

To understand SPIN, we have to go back to 1922 when Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach shot neutral silver atoms through a varying magnetic field.

Instead of travelling through the field in a straight line, or spreading out evenly, the silver atoms separated themselves into two distinct groups, with one group heading up and the other going down.

Now, if those atoms behaved like little metal balls and could spin on their own axis, then their angular momentum would interact with the surrounding magnetic field, producing a torque which would result in a change in direction.

But, crucially, the experiment showed that there were only two directions of spin associated with the silver atoms.

As usual, physicists, were very unimaginative when naming the directions of this new property of 'spin'. For example, an electron can only have a spin +1/2 or -1/2, corresponding to the up and down deflections of the Stern-Gerlach experiment.

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1650229
 

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Anyone who takes Physics seriously should probably get out more! I know I do.

I managed to slip this one up the flagpole without comment:

The Standard Model.jpg


Whenever the Standard Model goes Wrong, we just add another particle:

Standard Model Latest Picture.jpg


Tensor Bosons? What the Heck are THOSE?

BTW, and I have been keen to slip this one into our Discussion, I have solved Dark Energy.

Star Trek.jpg


It was staring me in the Face at Breakfast years ago.
 
My googling skills suggest that the term 'tensor bosons' arises because of the inclusion of bosons in the tensor formulation of the Dirac theory.

The Dirac theory is the quantum theory of the electron, and the Dirac equation is used in the formulation of curved spacetime.

No, I don't understand it either!
 
Here's the 'simple' fact of the matter:

We are well used to scalar fields (when describing energy) and vector fields (when describing force).

A tensor field is an exotic combination of the two (my words!).

A scalar field has particles with a spin value of 0, while a vector field has particles with a spin value of 1, and a tensor field has particles with a spin value of 2.
 
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I have been gripped today by the ongoing "Special Military Operation" by the Russians in Ukraine. You know, killing the soft targets like Women and Children. 🙄

Seems the Pride of the Russian Fleet "The Moskva", despite initial denials, was strangely struck down by an unexplained Fire.

Moskva has Sunk (2).png


A Toaster Fire in the Bowels of the Ship setting off ammunition? No. A Ukrainian Missile. 😛

A very poor Warship, IMO. Everything points to the (Aft) Front. Attack from the Stern. Seemples.
 
I have been gripped today by the ongoing "Special Military Operation" by the Russians in Ukraine. You know, killing the soft targets like Women and Children. 🙄

Seems the Pride of the Russian Fleet "The Moskva", despite initial denials, was strangely struck down by an unexplained Fire.

View attachment 1044720

A Toaster Fire in the Bowels of the Ship setting off ammunition? No. A Ukrainian Missile. 😛

A very poor Warship, IMO. Everything points to the (Aft) Front. Attack from the Stern. Seemples.
Was The Hood a very poor warship ?
 
I don't think the Cruiser "HMS Hood" was rubbish. Just severely outgunned versus "Bismarck". A Battleship.

As an engineer I would have anticipated "Cordite Flash".

All we had available. History tells we later brought bigger guns to bear. These were desperate times.

I happen to possess my Dad's WW2 War Memoirs. He didn't like to discuss the Horrors he, as a Fighting Officer saw.

I will post them if you iike.

I never thought it could Happen again. Alas, it currently is all happening again. 🙁
 
The greatest experiments in physics (please edit/add as you see fit). These are experiments that changed the direction of physics and opened up new possibilities to explain the natural world (not in any particular order).

Galileao - dropping lead balls from the tower of Pisa and discovering they fell at the same rate
Cavendish - weighing the earth
Newton - splitting a white light beam into its constituent spectra
Fraunhoffer [sp]- discovering the spectral lines in a split beam
Stefan- Gerlach for atomic spin
Michaelson- Morley for confirming c was as calculated by Maxwell
Einstein’s ‘bent start light’ confirming space time curvature around a massive body


There are some good particle/QM ones as well. Maybe Steve or Gali can add to the list 🙂
 
My dog has had his foot soaking in epsom salt for 10 min a couple of times. He now runs circles around the competition..me.

What I find fascinating about magnetism lately is the ability to turn off(effectively) the magnetic field of a permanent magnet. I picked up such a device at a hardware store and no one there could explain how it works. Then I came across a Youtube vid.
 
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