Learning by William

The Omicron variant has caused considerable panic recently. Having many more mutations, a greater ability to reinfect, and potentially far more transmissibility, Omicron presents humanity with unprecedented danger. However, some recent developments may give us reason to be optimistic, not profoundly worried. In this episode, we present a speech discussing these stories and advocating "cautious optimism."

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://osf.io/f7txy/

Miller, K. (2021, December 09). How Omicron Stacks Up Against the Delta Variant-Including Whether or Not We'll Need a New Vaccine. Retrieved from https://www.prevention.com/health/a38400888/omicron-vs-delta-covid-19-variant-comparison/

Pearson_Epidemics8_Omicron.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hA6Mec2Gq3LGqTEOj35RqSeAb_SmXpbI/view

Person, & Lapid, N. (2021, December 04). Omicron variant may have picked up a piece of common-cold virus. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-variant-may-have-picked-up-piece-common-cold-virus-2021-12-03/

My Profile on Astrobin:

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Telescope - Wikipedia

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General Relativity - Wikipedia

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Intro. To Kinematics - PhysicsHigh

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Relativity (Einstein) - Wikipedia

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International System of Units - Wikipedia

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Energy - Wikipedia

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Newton’s Laws of Motion - Wikipedia

Shareable link to the document (has all of the mathematical examples that will be discussed in both this episode and the following episode):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VfEVBscCPTfoyTDyv4ZRFJYL9Luzyd1UHvjxzz-uwpg/edit?usp=sharing

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Derivative - Wikipedia

Note: in the episode, William said that e to the power of anything, excluding zero, equals zero. This is obviously not correct, for e^1 ≈ 2.718

Shareable link to the document (has all of the mathematical examples that will be discussed in both this episode and the following episode):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VfEVBscCPTfoyTDyv4ZRFJYL9Luzyd1UHvjxzz-uwpg/edit?usp=sharing

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Calculus - Wikipedia

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Galois Theory - Wikipedia

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Abstract Algebra - Wikipedia

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Isotropy of Dark Energy - StackExchange

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Cosmological Expansion - Wikipedia

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Conservation Law - Britannica

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“Why Girls Beat Boys at School and Lose to Them at the Office” - The New York Times

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Thermodynamics - Wikipedia

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Quantum Chromodynamics - Wikipedia

When gazing into the deep expanse of the universe and finding the distant quasars and galaxies, we notice a particular feature that is commonplace no matter where we look: the further away the galaxy or deep sky object is, the redder, or the longer wavelength, the object appears; it seems that a galaxy like the Andromeda Galaxy is far less red than a comparable galaxy that is 1.6 billion light years away. This feature was once noticed by the astrophysicist Edwin Hubble, a physicist that will be spoken of frequently in this chapter, who found that this reddening paradigm was more profound the further one looked out into the universe (a galaxy 100 million light years away will appear less “redshifted” than a galaxy 2 billion light years away, even if the two galaxies have the same compositions). This redshifting determined for Hubble that the universe was expanding, and he proved his findings through what is known as the Doppler Effect, which is the phenomenon that creates the redshifting Hubble used to determine that the universe was expanding. In this chapter, we will discuss the Doppler Effect, how it occurs, and what it represents.

References

Classical Doppler Effect - Wikipedia

As we, being objects with mass, approach relativistic speeds, our masses continue to increase, and the energy required to propel us continues to increase; once we are near enough to the speed of light, a major mathematical and physical conflict occurs: not only are we now composed of infinite mass, but we also require infinite energy to propel ourselves. Considering the fact that there is not an infinite amount of energy, or mass, for that matter, in the universe, it is reasonable to believe that the speed of light is unattainable for us massive beings. Our travels are limited to short, interstellar neighborhood voyages. Even so, our failure in breaking physics, at least now, raises the question: what does actually travel at the speed of light, or for that matter, what even is the speed of light? In this chapter, we are to discuss the speed of light and the objects it is restricted to.

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Speed of Light - Wikipedia

The atom is most definitely not the smallest particle and most definitely can be broken down into smaller pieces; even the protons and the neutrons that we considered to be fundamental particles in and of themselves can be broken down into smaller particles. In an attempt to open your minds beyond the delusion that the atom cannot be broken down, this chapter is to convey and communicate the building blocks of the building blocks of atoms, which we have alluded to oftentimes in previous chapters but have not covered in-depth. Welcome to the wondrous world of quarks.

References

Fifty Years of Quarks - CERN

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White Dwarf - COSMOS

Chances are, you have seen the night sky before. Thou looketh to the Heavens: what does thou see? It is likely that one sees a few, or a few thousand, glimmering stars, some shining brighter than others; some orange, red, blue; some massive, some small; some luminous, some dim. It is likely that you have seen at least a somewhat dark night sky sometime in your past life, as I assume most of you have gone camping or hiking or biking, sometimes, or often if you are similar to I, during the night. In the Northern winter, the night sky is bedazzling your eyes with thousands of points of beauty, as it does in the summer. In the Northern winter, the brightest of the stars show their brilliance and luminance to our eyes; Sirius, Regulus, Adhara, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran, Procyon, Capella, Bellatrix, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka all showcase their complexion during these months. In the Northern summer, the Milky Way, the dense band of stars that appears to us as a glimmering wave of milk, conveys its own particular brilliance. In the Northern summer, the brilliantly-lit Deneb, Vega, Altair, Antares, Arcturus, Sadr, and the great stars of Sagittarius and Ursa Major dominate our vision. Upon seeing this prodigious assemblage of nuclear fusion, our brains begin to fail to understand the immensity of the universe in which we live. Even when gazing upon the meager 3,000 visible stars in our night sky, we are humbled by the formidable collection which exists above our heads. This episode and the subsequent episode delves deep into the great stellar immensities lying below our noses.

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Main Sequence Star - Space.com

As I was interested in the topic of supersymmetry, I decided to add it to the list of chapter nodes, this one being chapter 26. As I assume is known, today, the concept that is to be understood is the concept of supersymmetry and its role in physics, astronomy, and quantum mechanics.

References

Supersymmetry - Wikipedia

In this episode, we will be covering Hilbert Space and its importance in quantum mechanics. Please cut me some slack because this topic combines abstract algebra with advanced calculus, both of which I do not know. The history of Hilbert Space and the application of it into quantum mechanics should be simple, but its application and derivation surrounding mathematics will likely stump me; I know the English language, but not integrals and multivariable vector calculus. But anyways, let’s explore the foundation of something I do not understand and the foundation of quantum mechanics, Hilbert space.

References:

Hilbert Space - Quantiki

From where did we originate? How did we develop highly organized societies and civilizations? From what species did we diverge? What made humans different from their ape relatives and ancestors? What traits about humans are most unique and invigorating? These questions, and many more, will be answered in today’s episode, where we explore the birth of our genus, homo, and the birth of our species, the homo sapien.

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Homo sapien - Wikipedia

In April of 2019, scientists and radio astronomers around the world came together to share the world’s first image of a black hole. In a stunning polynational consortium, radio astronomers from 20 different countries utilized their radio telescopes to image the black hole in the center of Messier 87, the largest object on the entire Messier catalogue of 110 objects. This consortium used many of the world’s most prestigious telescopes, along with atomic clocks, two custom built supercomputers (think about that custom built computer at your friend’s house and multiply that by 150,000), and several new computational techniques in image acquisition, to take this incredible image of the black hole. Messier 87 itself is black, but is lit up by an intense glow of radiation that surrounds it; when I see this, I think about a star being engulfed by this enormous black hole. The astronomers were able to image the radio waves emanating from this source and capture the black hole itself, specifically the ultra-dark, round source existing in the middle of the image. This image is often considered among the most important images ever taken, excluding, potentially, the first Hubble deep field and pale blue dot.

References:

Humans Could Enter a Black Hole ‘Safely’ - ScienceAlert

After conducting numerous episodes of astrophysics and quantum mechanics, I feel that I am finally dipping my toes into the ocean of physics that exists right below my nose. I feel that I am finally able to explain, though with a rudimentary understanding of the topic, the pillars of quantum mechanics. I thought I would make this episode to humble myself and prove to myself that I do not, at all, have even a rudimentary understanding of the wild west of astrophysics: quantum mechanics. Even so, in our relentless pursuit of knowledge and understanding, we stumble upon the greatness of quantum entanglement, a tremendous topic that humbles and horrifies the human brain.

References

Quantum Entanglement - Wikipedia

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have stared up at their night sky in spectacular wonder; lined with thousands of stars, some bright, some faint, and 5 particular wanderers we now know as planets, our human ancestors found great indulgence in the night sky. With the beautiful beams of light shining through the night, there exists another, less luminous band of haze that appears throughout the northern summer and a very faint band that appears throughout the northern winter. This diffuse and branching pattern of haze in the night sky came to be referred to in the western world as the Milky Way, whose name derived from a Greek myth about the Goddess Hera who sprayed milk, in meaning the haze of the Milky Way, throughout the night sky. In this episode, we shall discuss some of the many classifications of galaxies.

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Spiral Galaxy - Wikipedia

In the 21st century, scientists, notably physicists and astronomers, have made exceptional discoveries and exceptional advancements in the field of science. From the discovery of the Higgs Boson to the discovery of the neutrino and a new state of matter, astronomers and physicists alike have made important and outstanding contributions to the scientific development of our society in this century. It seems to me that these incredible discoveries often go overlooked; we are so caught up in our screens and our crises that we forget to realize the intense and exceptional development occurring right under our noses.

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UChicago Undergrads Discover Bright Lensed Galaxy in Early Universe - uchicago news

Last episode, we discussed the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics. The episode got quite deep and interesting, as we delved deeper into some of the more complex topics that plague the great scientific minds of our generation. We made typical mechanical physics, often regarded as one of the most difficult high school classes that exists, look like a child's play. Quantum mechanics is, without a doubt, a heavy topic. The difficulty and uncertainty that exists with quantum mechanics is not isolated merely to quantum mechanics; there exists many other scientific paradigms and phenomena that plague scientific minds and force innovation. In this episode, we will explore yet another aspect of quantum mechanics, this time particle physics. Even with all that exists in the Copenhagen Interpretation and quantum field theory, there is still far more to be learned surrounding quantum mechanics. We have only begun to dip our smallest toe on the surface, but now we shall bring that toe a little deeper, as we begin to explore another aspect of physics, specifically particle physics, and the model that defines this particular field of physics. In this episode, we will explore the Standard Model of particle physics.

References

Standard Model of Particle Physics - CERN

Physics has always existed as the horrible and confusing class that high school teenagers have to fight to survive through. It has existed as a unanimously difficult class with much room for confusion. Through my own experiences, I have observed that teenagers generally hate physics; they take the class for the credit it provides, but they often gain nothing from the class. Many go on to fail their physics classes, whether it is an AP class or a normal class. In this episode, we will look into the main interpretation comprising quantum mechanics, the Copenhagen Interpretation, and we will look into how all of it works. Brace yourselves as we attempt to understand one of the only indeterminist (not having cause) scientific concepts in existence, a concept that fundamentally rejects our natural understanding of patterns.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or corrections, please email me using the address provided: learningbywilliam@gmail.com

Reference:

Copenhagen Interpretation - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy