Ludwig Boltzmann was a physicist who developed statistical mechanics, which connects Newtonian physics of particles to thermodynamics. Boltzmann’s kinetic theory not only explained how heat, work and energy are connected, it also gave a clear definition of entropy. While this revolutionized our understanding of everything from heat to the universe, it also led Boltzmann to a rather puzzling idea known as a Boltzmann brain.
Hole In One
Recently there’s been news that scientists suspect the black hole in the center of our galaxy may be a wormhole instead. Needless to say, you shouldn’t get your hopes up. The news is actually based on a preprint published on the arxiv that outlines how one might distinguish between a black hole and a hypothetical “white hole”.
Across the 8th Dimension
A few years ago a research team measured the force of gravity over very small distances. Their result places very stringent constraints on the space-time structure of our universe. Either the universe consists of only the four dimensions we see around us, or else all dimensions beyond those four must be very small, no more than about 10 microns, roughly one-tenth the width of a human hair. What, you might ask, does proving Newton right (yet again!) have to do with hyperdimensional physics? Quite a lot, it turns out.
State of Decay
One aspect of quantum particles is that they can decay into lighter particles, releasing energy. For example, a free neutron will tend to decay into a proton, electron, and anti-neutrino. Most particles undergo this kind of decay. Some decay rather quickly, while others tend to take longer to decay. There are a few particles, however, that don’t decay. The electron is stable, as is the lightest neutrino. Then there is the proton, which might be stable, but we’re not entirely sure why.
Six Degrees of Isaac Newton
There is a hexagonal cloud pattern at the north pole of Saturn. It was first discovered by Voyager in 1981, and was still there when Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2006. So it seems the pattern has been stable for more than 30 years. There’s been a great deal of debate about just how such a stable geometric shape could form in Saturn’s clouds, but it turns out the solution is surprisingly simple, and it traces back to some early experiments of Newton.
Gravitational Constant
Astrophysics works with the assumption that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. That’s a huge assumption given that our most distant space probe has barely left the solar system. So how do we know our assumption is valid?
Symmetry
Symmetry is something we all tend to recognize, but probably find hard to quantify. Things like mirror symmetry are easy to describe, but what about the image above. It gives a feeling of symmetry, but exactly how would you describe it?
Duality
When quantum theory is presented in popular science, it is often presented as a strange or spooky thing where particles can act like waves and waves can act like particles. It usually focuses on experiments such as the double-slit experiment where the photon or electron “knows” how the experiment is done and alters its behavior accordingly. This is rather unfortunate, because although quantum theory can seem strange, it is hardly mysterious. It basically comes down to a concept known as duality.
Numbers Game
There’s a popular video from Numberphile that shows how the sum of all the integers, adding them up forever is -1/12. If that ties your brain in a knot, it should. How is it possible for 1 + 2 + 3 + … to be a negative number? The answer is that it’s not…quite. It’s not that the video is …