Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars

        I went on my evening walk listening to a new astronomy lecture called “Nucleosynthesis: Elements from Stars”. Nucleosynthesis is the formation of elements from either the Big Bang (light elements no greater than Lithium); Stellar Nucleosynthesis (heavier elements from Carbon to Calcium); Explosive Nucleosynthesis (elements heavier than Iron) created by Supernova; and Cosmic Ray Spallation that creates lighter elements by bombardment of gas and dust in the interstellar medium. Some of this I already knew but the term for it “Nucleosynthesis” is new to me. There was so much discussed in the lecture, and for me to understand fully the process, I’ll have to listen to it again and add to this post later. I did catch one error though; they said that light takes over a hundred thousand years to reach the surface from the Sun’s core, when in fact it takes around thirty-three thousand years. I think they had gotten their data from an old NASA site that hasn’t corrected it to the new theory yet.

A little stargazing with binoculars

I went outside with my binoculars to do a little stargazing. Fat Cat was glad to have my company and sat on my lap wanting to be scratched. Found the Andromeda galaxy for the first time this year. The Pleiades cluster was rising out of the east. At this angle in the eastern sky, it looked to me like a silhouette of a person, maybe Lincoln. Cool!

Higgs Boson degeneracy?

        I got to thinking about the Higgs Boson and if it is what’s at the center of black holes- that all matter is compressed into these Higgs Bosons. I read that the Higgs Boson is what gives matter mass. A very large star would first implode to the electron degeneracy pressure which holds the core, and then collapse further to neutron degeneracy, and then finally to a singularity where the Higgs Boson degeneracy takes over. This is all speculation on my part and they haven’t even found the Higgs Boson yet.

The Inverse Square Law

        I was so tired from all that work that I just laid down for a little while and relaxed. Then I went for an early evening walk and listened to a questions and answers astrophysics lecture. One question I thought interesting was about the force of magnetism. Why is it that the Earth’s magnetic field can be over whelmed by small refrigerator magnets? The answer was that the magnetic force loses its power because of the inverse square law- it loses it strength inversely proportional to the square of the distance to the source. Therefore, you can take a small magnet and place it next to a compass, which over powers the Earth’s magnetic field. Then draw the small magnet away by several feet- it no longer affects the compass and the Earth’s magnetic field takes back over because it’s so prevailing- 4000 miles beneath our feet and still extends way out into the upper atmosphere and into space to reflect high-energy particles emitted from the Sun solar wind causing auroras and protecting life.

The Search for the Theory of Everything

        Went for my evening walk listening to a lecture about “The Search for the Theory of Everything” that is combining all the forces of physics into one grand theory. Basically, the present “Standard Theory” doesn’t include Gravity or is having a hard time getting it to fit into equations. The String Theory does include Gravity but there isn’t any proof that this theory is plausible yet, but it is the only one that is in the running at present and scientist are at an impasse hoping to fine some kind of verifiable evidence. One such support for String Theory may be the Large Hadron Collider, which just went online this September, if the collider could measure gravity at a microscopic scale and provide evidence of extra dimensions. Also, scientist are looking for the ever elusive Higgs Boson, which they believe exists and causes matter to have mass. At least this is how I understand it right now. There was so much covered that I’ll have to re-listen to it.

The Strong and Weak Nuclear Force

        Went for my evening walk listening to a lecture on “The Strong and Weak Nuclear Force”. The Strong Force is what holds the nuclei of atoms together. When larger nuclei, on the periodic table of over one hundred, form, the strong force begins to break down and isn’t strong enough to hold everything together. The strong force causes gluons to fly back and forth between protons and neutrons to hold them together in the nucleus of an atom. The electron is not affected because of the electrostatic force. The Weak Nuclear force has to do with decay of neutrons and the cause of radioactivity. I’ll just leave it at that for now and I’ll re-listen to it again since there was so much more in the lecture.

        Went for my evening walk listening to the lecture again on the “Strong and Weak Force” so I could get a little more info out of it. The Strong Force also extends (by way of Gluons) down into the realm of Quarks which protons and neutrons (Hadrons) are made of. A proton is made up of two “up” quarks with an electric charge of +2/3 and one “down” quark with an electric charge of -1/3, which add up to a +1 charge for the proton. A neutron is made up of one “up” and two “down” quarks and does not have a charge. A free neutron will over a short period of time decay into a proton, and electron, and an antineutrino. The Strong force at this small of a level acts upon the color (charge properties) of the quark. At least this is how I understood it.

Galaxies

        I went on my evening walk listening to a lecture on Galaxies. They discussed how most galaxies are conglomerations of smaller dwarf galaxies- our Milky Way is one of these that draw smaller ones into it. The Magellanic Clouds, which are irregular dwarf galaxies, pass by the Milky Way and some of the mass is being exchange by both galaxies by tidal forces. There are remnants of smaller dwarf galaxies that have been observed, which were absorbed billions of years ago by our Milky Way. Other super large galaxies had just started out that way from the beginning and not by way of cannibalizing smaller galaxies. There are other kinds of galaxies, which take on many shapes and forms: spirals, elliptical, and irregular and many sub categories. Seyfert galaxies have a very bright nucleus, are believed to contain a supper massive black hole that emits high-energy radio waves from debris from its accretion disk surrounding and falling into its black hole. Kind of like Quasars but less energetic. When two large galaxies have a collision the dust of both, combine to form many new large blue stars that die in a matter of a few million years and can eventually spell the death of the newly formed galaxy by forming heavier elements from hydrogen and lighter elements that are used in the creation of new stars.

Electromagnetism

        Last night I found a nice site for Astronomy Podcasts called Astronomy Cast and downloaded “Electromagnetism” lecture and listened to it while on my evening walk. They talked about the history of magnetism and the Electromagnetic Theory developed by Maxwell who tied light, magnetism, and electricity as being the same phenomena. The massless, chargeless Photon, I learned, is the intermediary of electromagnetic radiation in all wavelengths and at different energies. There was a little talk about Virtual Particles and magnetic fields, which I’ll have to investigate later. Also discussed were black holes with accretion disks; how electromagnetism causes flares that shoot off into space at its poles. The lecture was only thirty minutes and packed with lots of information.