Science Matters

Welcome to Science Matters!

It's been nearly a century since Einstein made his historic observations on Relativity and it's been 70 years since Bohr, Heisenberg and others developed the basis for Quantum Theory. Little progress has been made, however, to educate the masses on the significance of these and other developments. This Q&A forum is designed to take one small step toward making established and cutting edge Science a little more accessible to the rest of us.

If you have candidate Questions or Answers (or "better" Answers than the ones provided) then submit them via the link below. If you'd like more information about a particular response either contact the author directly or post your request to a news group such as sci.physics. Enjoy, and remember - Science Matters!

Fundamentals

Q101 - A wave of light is commonly depicted as a squiggly line. What are the units of the X axis and the Y axis?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen
Q102 - What are Quasars?: Answer provided by Kevin Brown
Q103 - What are Neutron Stars?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q104 - What causes Supernovae?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q105 - What's the difference between Fission and Fusion? How can they both give off energy?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q106 - What are Pulsars?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen

Elementary Particles and Such

Q201 - How are anti-particles different from particles?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen

Einstein's Universe

Q301 - The progressive orbit of Mercury was shown to be early validation of Einstein's theory. How would Einstein's theory affect the orbit of Mercury?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q302 - In classical (Newtonian) physics, two large, rapidly moving bodies orbiting each other would be pulled toward each other's center of mass and thus trace out elliptical orbits. In Einsteinian physics, however, since gravity waves travel no faster then light, each body is pulled to where the other body was at some time T in the past (the two bodies would have since moved on). What would these orbits look like?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen

Quantum Mechanics

Q401 - What is the Uncertainty principle? Why is it so important?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]

Gravity & Black Holes

Q501 - Is there a theoretical limit to the pull of gravity?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q502 - Is it possible for matter to be so densely packed that a shock wave can travel faster than the speed of light (in a vacuum)?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q503 - Do two Black Hole's with same mass have the same radius?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q504 - Have any black holes been detected?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q505 - If I was orbiting in close proximity to a black hole what would I see? What would the black hole look like?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q506 - How fast does gravity (gravity waves?) travel?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q507 - If I was standing on the surface of a black hole (wearing my protective suit, of course) what would I see?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]

The Big Bang

Q601 - Current theory has the Universe originating from a singularity (Big Bang). Why do we believe it began from a single point? Why not from something the size of a ping pong ball? A star?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q602 - One zillionth of a second after the big bang, did the universe qualify as a Black Hole?: Answer provided by Kevin Brown
Q603 - When scientists talk of the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang, are they referring to 1) Time as measured near the center of the expanding ball? or 2) Time as measured near the edge of the expanding ball? (or are they equivalent? or does it matter?) At first glance it would appear that time would move much slower towards the center of the big bang since it contains such a greater concentration of mass.: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q604 - If there was a Big Bang then presumably we'd be somewhere close to the edge of the expanding balloon. Why then do we see such uniformity in the space around us?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q605 - Presumably time was distorted (slowed down) during the first few fractions of a second after the Big Bang due to the immense concentration of mass. If I recorded the Big Bang on video and played it back at "normal" speed (time as measured away from gravitational fields) how long would it take to view the first full second of the Big Bang? An hour? A year? Longer?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]

Miscellanea

Q801 - I remember an experiment where thousands of gallons of water were put into a cave deep underground. What was the experiment? Did it work?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen
Q802 - I'm told the theories of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity contradict one another at some level. Where do these two theories clash?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen
Q803 - Are there any blue shifted galaxies (i.e., galaxies heading toward us)?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q804 - Is the curvature of space real? or is it simply a mathematical representation?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen

Imagine That!

Q901 - If I were standing at the edge of the Universe (for example, if I were riding one of the first photons out of the big bang) what would i see?: [No Answer Yet - Do You have a candidate answer?]
Q901 - If, instead of being limited to visible light, I put my special goggles on and was able to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, what would I see?: Answer provided by Lawrence Tuppen