...Quantum mechanics is an area of physics dealing with phenomena where the action is of the order of the Planck constant. The Planck constant is a very tiny amount and so this domain of physics is typically on the distance and momentum scale of atoms and elementary particles in general. Action is a general physical concept related to dynamics and is most easily recognized in the form of angular momentum. The most tangible way of expressing the essence of quantum mechanics is that we live in a universe of quantized angular momentum and the Planck constant is the quantum. A tangible result of the quantization of angular momentum is the existence of discrete electron orbitals, each with a principal quantum number and each orbital with an associated angular momentum that is an integer multiple of the Planck constant. Quantum mechanics has many implications on the microscopic scale, some of which are obscure and even counter intuitive. Classical physics explains matter and energy at the macroscopic level of the scale familiar to human experience, including the behavior of astronomical bodies. It remains the key to measurement for much of modern science and technology. On the other hand, at the end of the 19th century scientists discovered phenomena in both the large (macro) and the small (micro) worlds that classical physics could not explain. Coming to terms with these limitations led to the development of quantum mechanics, a major revolution in physics. This article describes how...
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...Effect can be defined as the shift in the wavelength of a photon when colliding with a free electron. The phenomenon was discovered by Arthur Compton in 1923. His discoveries suggest that photons resemble particles of matter. This provided further evidence to the quantum theory and particle nature of light. In 1927, Compton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his experiments. Many questions were raised about the nature of photons after Einstein’s discoveries in 1905. Compton, curious to whether or not the law of conservation of momentum applied to photons, decided to study collisions between photons and electrons. He sought free electrons as these would be ideal to conduct his studies with since there would be no outside forces acting upon the electrons. However, free electrons rarely exist in nature. Alternatively, Compton chose a metal with a very low work function and a high frequency photon source. This way the energy required to eject the photoelectron would be considered insignificant compared to the total energy of the system. Compton used X – rays for his experiment given that they produce very high frequency photons. Read more in Physics « The Photoelectric EffectHow an Amplifier Works » Through his experiments Compton discovered that when a high energy photon collides with an electron there is a transfer of energy. Also, he discovered that the electron and the lower energy photon scatter after the collision. The equation that describes...
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...Big Bang Theory - The Premise The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment. According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago. What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know. After its initial appearance, it apparently inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this...
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...The Light and the Electron The Light and the Electron The discovery of the electron and the invention of the incandescent light bulb are among the most exciting and valuable innovations in human history. The incandescent light bulb produces light, and it is a very durable version of the earliest of light sources. Light bulbs and electrons go hand in hand as the electron plays a very important role in producing light. Both came into fruition during the 19th century, and our knowledge of both has improved greatly since their arrival into human history. The discovery of the electron today has paved the way for unparalleled advances in particle sciences, while the light bulb has come a very long way in the advancement of energy conservation and efficiency. The incandescent light bulb, which many inaccurate accounts of history credit Thomas Edison with the invention of, actually had several inventors who built models of it before Edison. In 1809, Humphry Davy invented the first electric light bulb. He connected wires to a battery, and subsequently connected a strip of charcoal to the opposite ends of the wires. Miraculously, the tiny amount of charcoal produced light, and became known as the arc lamp. However, the arc lamp was not what historians deem as a true incandescent light bulb. The first true incandescent light bulb was invented by a German watchmaker named Henricg Globel, and he used carbonized bamboo as a filament (Bellis, n.d.). Leading historians have actually...
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...13 Agent-Oriented Novel Quantum Key Distribution Protocol for the Security in Wireless Network Xu Huang, Shirantha Wijesekera and Dharmendra Sharma University of Canberra Australia 1. Introduction Wireless security is becoming increasingly important as wireless applications and systems are widely adopted. Numerous organizations have already installed or are busy in installing “wireless local area networks” (WLANs). These networks, based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, are very easy to deploy and inexpensive. Wi-Fi allows LANs to be deployed without cabling for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. As of 2007 wireless network adapters are built into most modern laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option included in ever more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures, which also helps with the deployment of RFID technology that can piggyback on Wi-Fi. WiFi is a global set of standards, unlike mobile telephones, any standard Wi-Fi device will work anywhere in the world. Other important trends in wireless adoptions are including the introduction of wireless email with devices such as the Blackberry and The Palm VII, rampant digital cell phone use, including the use of short message service (SMWS), and the advent of Bluetooth devices. But the risks associated with the adoption of wireless networking are only now coming to light. A number of impressive attacks...
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...Quantum Quandaries by Heath Miller December 8th 2012 What if you could transfer a file faster than the speed of light on a connection with air-tight security? You could connect to a computer anywhere around the world in the blink of an eye and never have to worry about malicious activity. It seems impossible, right? Not necessarily. It could actually be done by using a quantum network. A true quantum network would be much faster than any connection we could implement with our current telecommunications hardware. In fact, a signal transferred over a true quantum connection wouldn’t take time to transfer whatsoever. It would literally arrive instantly, and would be sent using physical properties that dictate the mechanics of the entire universe. The implications of harnessing these phenomena are astounding. In a 2011 article written in by Lydia Leavitt it states that, “Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute have discovered what might be the key to completely secure data transfer, keeping particles ‘entangled’ for up to an hour. Until now, the link between two entangled systems could only be maintained for a fraction of a second. This development could enable a direct link between two systems of communication” (engadget.com, N.P.). This could mean incredible things for our communication systems. Don’t think that speed and convenience aren’t the only benefits we would reap either. There would be countless new tools and abilities that would...
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...Steven Weinberg: “Against Philosophy” (from “Dreams of a Final Theory”). Physicists get so much help from subjective and often vague aesthetic judgments that it might be expected that we would be helped also by philosophy, out of which after all our science evolved. Can philosophy give us any guidance toward a final theory? The value today of philosophy to physics seems to me to be something like the value of early nation-states to their peoples. It is only a small exaggeration to say that, until the introduction of the post office, the chief service of nation-states was to protect their peoples from other nation-states. The insights of philosophers have occasionally benefited physicists, but generally in a negative fashion—by protecting them from the preconceptions of other philosophers. I do not want to draw the lesson here that physics is best done without preconceptions. At any one moment there are so many things that might be done, so many accepted principles that might be challenged, that without some guidance from our preconceptions one could do nothing at all. It is just that philosophical principles have not generally provided us with the right preconceptions. In our hunt for the final theory, physicists are more like hounds than hawks; we have become good at sniffing around on the ground for traces of the beauty we expect in the laws of nature, but we do not seem to be able to see the path to the truth from the heights of philosophy. Physicists do of...
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...Quantum mechanics (QM – also known as quantum physics, or quantum theory) is a branch of physics dealing with physical phenomena where the action is on the order of the Planck constant. Quantum mechanics departs from classical mechanics primarily at the quantum realm of atomic and subatomic length scales. QM provides a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. In advanced topics of quantum mechanics, some of these behaviors are macroscopic and only emerge at extreme (i.e., very low or very high) energies or temperatures. The name quantum mechanics derives from the observation that some physical quantities can change only in discrete amounts (Latin quanta), and not in a continuous (cf. analog) way. For example, the angular momentum of an electron bound to an atom or molecule is quantized.[1] In the context of quantum mechanics, the wave–particle duality of energy and matter and the uncertainty principle provide a unified view of the behavior of photons, electrons, and other atomic-scale objects. The mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics are abstract. A mathematical function called the wavefunction provides information about the probability amplitude of position, momentum, and other physical properties of a particle. Mathematical manipulations of the wavefunction usually involve the bra-ket notation, which requires an understanding of complex numbers and linear functionals. The wavefunction...
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...Is Science the only sure path to Truth? Physics is “the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. The subject matter of physics includes mechanics, heat, light and other radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, and the structure of atoms” (Oxford Dictionaries). Till the first half of the eighteenth century, physics was a branch of natural philosophy. It “became widely used in its modern sense (i.e., excluding the life sciences, geology, and chemistry) during the second half of the eighteenth century” (Olson, 2002, p. 301). Olson (2002) explains how physics is divided into two main categories. He states that topics treated before the middle of the last decade of the nineteenth century are said to be parts of classical physics. On the other hand a group of topics that emerged after about 1895 is said to make up modern physics. Since physics is a broad area, in this essay, I specifically focus on one topic from modern physics, namely quantum physics. I will evaluate whether quantum physics can lead us to ‘Truth’. In this paper, ‘Truth’ refers to quantum events. First, I will portray how quantum events are filled with uncertainties; I will then list three answers given by physicists to explain why uncertainties are present. I will then move on to show how quantum physics offers conceptual parallels to ideas in religion. I will mainly discuss the role of holism character in quantum systems. Finally I will evaluate whether god is the reason...
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...1]Main articles: Statistical mechanics, thermal fluctuations, and statistical physics Albert Einstein's first paper[88] submitted in 1900 to Annalen der Physik was on capillary attraction. It was published in 1901 with the title "Folgerungen aus den Kapillarität Erscheinungen," which translates as "Conclusions from the capillarity phenomena". Two papers he published in 1902–1903 (thermodynamics) attempted to interpret atomicphenomena from a statistical point of view. These papers were the foundation for the 1905 paper on Brownian motion, which showed that Brownian movement can be construed as firm evidence that molecules exist. His research in 1903 and 1904 was mainly concerned with the effect of finite atomic size on diffusion phenomena.[88] General principles He articulated the principle of relativity. This was understood by Hermann Minkowski to be a generalization of rotational invariance from space to space-time. Other principles postulated by Einstein and later vindicated are the principle of equivalence and the principle of adiabatic invariance of the quantum number. 2] Main article: History of special relativity Einstein's "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" ("On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies") was received on 30 June 1905 and published 26 September of that same year. It reconciles Maxwell's equations for electricity and magnetism with the laws of mechanics, by introducing major changes to mechanics close to the speed of light. This later became known as...
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...each optical equipment having some fundamental error in its creation. Introduction With the help of atomic physics, quantum mechanics, and optics, the Rydberg constant and the Bohr magneton will be calculated in this experiment. The Rydberg constant is one of the most important constants in atomic physics because of its relation to other fundamental constants in atomic physics, such as the speed of light or Planck’s constant [1]. The Bohr Magneton tells us the magnetic moment of an electron by its angular momentum [2]. Attempting to calculate the Rydberg constant and the Bohr Magneton will inadvertently teach the basis of quantum mechanics, optics, and atomic physics. Atomic spectra of hydrogen, mercury, and helium will be studied in detail along with the Zeeman Effect. Theory In quantum mechanics, labeling often times helps discern descriptions of certain events. To describe the movement and trajectories of an electron in an atom, scientists use quantum numbers to label what is going on. The principal quantum number n, tells the energy level of the electron and the distance from the nucleus. The angular momentum quantum number l, tells the angular momentum of the electron. The magnetic quantum number ml, tells the projection of the angular momentum on the z-axis. Finally, the spin quantum number ms, tells us the projection of spin on the z-axis. These quantum numbers are important when describing the transitions between energy levels of an electron in an atom. Different...
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...QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS What is quantum electrodynamics? Sociology Anna C Jean – Guillaume Martin LCSW March 7, 2015 Professor Dr. Beverly Jackson Quantum electrodynamics (QED): Is the e area of physics devoted to the study of the interaction of matter (quantum particles) and light. It generally concerns itself with the wave (or field) aspects of nature. At the level of the quantum realm, QED demonstrates that everything is connected. The world is a vast web of relationships, with everything affecting everything else. The brain, blood, and bone of the body give way to invisible forces, fields, and particles whose interactions underlie not only the human body but all of matter. Molecules give way to atoms that dissolve into subatomic particles, so that our bodies are governed not only by the laws of everyday chemistry but also by the paradoxical principles of the physical body. History shows that most truly fundamental leaps forward in scientific understanding are shunned at first. Truly new insights are sometimes too radical an overturning of accepted theory or too threatening to business or academic interests to be evaluated impartially. You have only to think of germ theory, tectonic plate theory, quantum electrodynamics, and string theory to know that even ideas that are accepted widely in our day were dismissed as crackpot ideas by a previous generation of scientists. Over the years, as physicists’ explored wave-particle duality, the study of quantum physics...
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...past 10 years, discussing the challenges faced in developing it. Introduction Many events, phenomenon and concepts such as existence of alien and soul, channeling and telepathy, which are unexplainable, are considered to be supernatural origin. For that origin, parapsychology, which is a scientific study of paranormal behaviors and experiences, may provide the answer for us. Apart from that, new age movement, which is important for our future and started from the 1960s, is a spiritual development and relative to paranormality. Furthermore, the main concepts of new age are “We are all in one” and “our consciousnesses create our own realities”. In fact, parapsychology, which can be proven by quantum physics, makes the concept of new age more complete and persuadable. Thus, quantum physics and parapsychology, which have a strong relationship between them, make a great impact on new age. Nevertheless, the challenges are many people may think that paranormal phenomenon and these concepts are frauds and ridiculous. We will recognize these are possible and really amazing when we investigate more. This essay investigates what is parapsychology, evaluates the impact on new age and discusses the challenges faced. Background There are two main directions in parapsychology, which are Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis. In the past, there were many famous scientists and inventors who are enthusiastic for paranormality such as William Crookes, Michael Faraday, Albert Einstein...
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...that paper, Einstein introduced the concept of “light quanta,” or “photons” as we call them today. The quantum of action was introduced into physics by Max Planck in 1900.[3] Planck derived the thermal equilibrium energy distribution for electromagnetic radiation (also called the “blackbody problem” because of the experimental apparatus). The quantity of interest was dr/df where r denotes the energy density and f the frequency (Fig. 1). No one had been able to derive dr/df from the first principles of statistical mechanics. One serious problem was in the high frequencies, which contributed infinite energy when one integrated over all frequencies to obtain the total energy! Planck thought about the charged particles whose simple harmonic motion generated harmonic electromagnetic waves of the same frequency. He discovered that if he assumed a particle oscillating with frequency f could carry only the discrete energies 0, hf, 2hf, 3hf..., where h was a constant, he could derive the distribution function: dr/df = (8ph/c3) f 3 (e hf/kT − 1)−1 , where c denotes the speed of light in vacuum, k Boltzmann’s constant, and T the absolute temperature. This function fit the data provided h was assigned the value 6.6×19−34 J · s, now called Planck’s constant.[4] The smallness of h accounted for the lack of energy graininess in macroscopic oscillators such as pendulums. To Planck in 1900, the quantum was a property of the mechanical oscillators that happen to generate...
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...Quantum Theory Electrons behave like particles in some experiments, and like waves in others. The electron's 'wave/particle duality' has no real analogy in the everyday world. The quantum theory that describes the behavior of electrons is a cornerstone in modern chemistry. Quantum theory can be used to explain why atoms are stable, why things have the color they do, why the periodic table has the structure it does, why chemical bonds form, and why different elements combine in different ratios with each other. Light and electrons both behave quantum mechanically. To understand the experimental basis for the quantum theory, we have to begin our discussion with light. Waves * Waves are an oscillation that moves outward from a disturbance (ripples moving away from a pebble dropped into a pond) Properties of waves | property | definition | symbol | SI units | velocity | distance traveled per second | c | m/s | amplitude | peak height above midline | A | varies with type of wave | wavelength | peak-to-peak distance | | m | frequency | number of peaks passing by per second | | s-1 (called Hertz) | | * relationship between frequency and wavelength * distance per cycle × cycles per second = distance per second = c * examples * The speed of sound in air is 330 m/s. Humans can hear sounds with wavelengths between 17 m and 17 mm. What is the highest sound frequency that is audible? * interference * constructive interference:...
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