physics | Caramel

Just what you wanted on a Friday night – a physics lesson! Whether you love or hate physics may have depended on your teacher. Don’t worry, you don’t need to read every word, you could just scroll through to the lovely pictures if you prefer. For those who want to look over this, I have tried to make sure the key points are in bold type.

I am no expert, but my pea-brain is wired mathematically – lock in me in a room for several hours with a pen and paper and you will probably find I have filled the paper with as much of the Fibonacci Sequence as space would allow rather than a story. So I find that my mind laps up physics and maths…and I often find myself staggered by the order, the genius, the laws that have been there far far before humans began looking up at the stars.

Goodness, I’m typing with a terrific thunderstorm erupting outside – it’s breathtaking.

albert-einstein-1933340_640 Photo credit ParentRap @ pixabay.com

In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper that was considered to be a mathematical footnote to his special theory of relativity. It contained the formula now synonymous with his work:

E=mc²

This famous equation tells us that the amount of energy released when an atom is split equals the loss of its mass times the speed of light squared. Easy yeah?

E Energy

= equals

m mass

c²times speed of light squared

c²means c times c, or 186,282 miles per second times 186,282 miles per second

Because c²is an enormously large number (34,701,000,000 mi²/sec²), a small amount of mass can be converted into an enormous amount of energy. When an atom of uranium is split, it quickly forms two smaller atoms but also loses about 0.1 % of its nuclear mass; that tiny amount converts into a vast release of energy.

Is it only uranium that we may associate with nuclear energy that this applies to? Well the principle is the same with all matter or substances. Here are some interesting ways of explaining what it would mean if it was easy for us wee humans to extract and harness the energy from any substance around us other than by setting it on fire:

Just 450 g of any substance completely converted into energy equals:

11 billion kilowatt hours
the power needed to drive a car around the earth 180,000 times
the power required to propel the largest oil tanker around the world 400 times
the electric power needs of the United States for one day

Cyclotron

The reverse is also true. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to “materialize” just one atom. But this is basically what happens in a cyclotron – a type of particle accelerator. Matter is produced by colliding particles at high energy. The resulting mass of all particles produced in the collision is greater than the two particles that collided. In other words, matter has been created. That is why enormous energies are required in the cyclotrons. Think about that: an enormous amount of energy is needed to make a tiny amount of matter.

Sun

Modern science is aware that matter can be changed into energy and energy into matter. Our sun provides an example of matter being converted into energy. Every single second, the sun converts about four million tons of matter into sunlight and other forms of radiant energy. The small fraction of that energy that reaches us is sufficient to sustain life on the earth. It is quite simply mind-boggling to contemplate the tremendous power and energy that were required to create not just the sun but also all the other billions of stars.

I love this verse penned three thousand years ago, long before Albert Einstein was born.

“Lift up your eyes to heaven and see.

Who has created these things?…

…Because of his vast dynamic energy and his awe-inspiring power

As I mentioned in a previous post…not all see the physical and scientific information in front of them in the same way. It is not my place to belittle anyone else’s views. There is no way I would mock anyone for their sincere beliefs. However, it is not at all difficult to understand why so many billions give glory to a Creator.

Through my eyes, I see abundant reasons to ascribe glory to an intelligent mind, a wonderful, purposeful, incredible mind behind the existence of the material universe. As someone who loves science I find it hard to understand why some are dogmatic and close-minded in their view that it was all one big accident. Mathematically that is more than preposterous.

When I look up at the stars…aah! My oh my, it’s really hard to find the words. I’m in tears. I can’t explain the surge of love and wonder and utter esteem and admiration…it fills me with energy to live my life (forgetting anything that has hurt me) convinced this power will be used to put all matters right. It’s an astonishing thought, but there have been times when I felt so alone due to the challenges I was facing, that it was only because of Him I found the fight to keep breathing. I remember it that night in the park. I remember seeing stars above me and not knowing what was happening…but sensing an urgent order that I had to keep breathing.

Now, if you think any of the physics above was complicated, then check out the many helpful explanations that have been published of what goes on inside one of these cyclotrons. Of course if you watch Star trek regularly you probably understand all of this!