Sunday, 17 April 2011
Saturday, 16 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 13
Today I found out... The ancient Egyptians divided the time between sunrise and sunset into twelve periods, and that between sunset and sunrise into another twelve, the origin of our twenty four hours. Their hours actually had variable length, since sunrise and sunset varied throughout the year, and the astronomers of ancient Greece – in around 150 BC – decided that this was too complicated, so decided that all hours should be of the same length. They used the ancient Babylonian system of dividing things into 60s to develop ‘first divisions’ (or minutes as we call them) and ‘second divisions’ (or seconds as we call them). Sexagesimal measurements as they called them were used as 60 as it was one of the most versatile and divisible numbers.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 12
Today I found out... Anatomically modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, reaching full behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago...
The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years. This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples...
With some simple Maths...
200000 / 4.54 x 10^9 = 0.000044
50000 / 4.54 x 10^9 = 0.000011
...we are able to work out that humans, as we know them anatomically, have only existed through 0.0044% of the earths age...
The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years. This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples...
With some simple Maths...
200000 / 4.54 x 10^9 = 0.000044
50000 / 4.54 x 10^9 = 0.000011
...we are able to work out that humans, as we know them anatomically, have only existed through 0.0044% of the earths age...
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 11
Today I found out... An atomic clock is the most accurate type of timepiece in the world, designed to measure time according to vibrations within atoms. NIST-F1, the United States' standard atomic clock, is said to be so accurate that it would neither gain nor lose a second in over 30 million years.
The big difference between a standard clock in your home and an atomic clock is that the oscillation in an atomic clock is between the nucleus of an atom and the surrounding electrons. This oscillation is not exactly a parallel to the balance wheel and hairspring of a clockwork watch, but the fact is that both use oscillations to keep track of passing time. The oscillation frequencies within the atom are determined by the mass of the nucleus and the gravity and electrostatic "spring" between the positive charge on the nucleus and the electron cloud surrounding it... I.e they can't possibly be wrong.
Without atomic clocks, GPS navigation would be impossible, the Internet would not synchronize, and the position of the planets would not be known with enough accuracy for space probes and landers to be launched and monitored...
The big difference between a standard clock in your home and an atomic clock is that the oscillation in an atomic clock is between the nucleus of an atom and the surrounding electrons. This oscillation is not exactly a parallel to the balance wheel and hairspring of a clockwork watch, but the fact is that both use oscillations to keep track of passing time. The oscillation frequencies within the atom are determined by the mass of the nucleus and the gravity and electrostatic "spring" between the positive charge on the nucleus and the electron cloud surrounding it... I.e they can't possibly be wrong.
Without atomic clocks, GPS navigation would be impossible, the Internet would not synchronize, and the position of the planets would not be known with enough accuracy for space probes and landers to be launched and monitored...
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 10
Today I found out... The Mayans developed a calendar that had a unit called a "Baktun" which was 144,000 days long. They believed that after a great cycle of thirteen Baktuns the world would be destroyed and recreated again. Because their astronomical records were so precise, we can work out that the most recent great cycle started on Wednesday 8th September 3114BC. This means that it - and, according to the Mayans, the world - will come to an end on Sunday 23rd December 2012. Pack your bags and don't say you haven't been warned...
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 9
Today I found out... That by doing a lot of maths and spending hours observing particle accelerators, scientists believe they can look back to 10-47 seconds after the moment of creation... It is perhaps worth being reminded that 10-47 is ten million, trillion, trillion, trillionths of a second, or 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds ...
Some experts believe that there may have been other big bangs, perhaps trillions and trillions of them, spread through the mighty span of eternity, and that the reason why we exist in this particular one is that, this is one that we could exist in. Although the creation of a universe might be very unlikely, a scientist called Tryon from Columbia University emphasized that no one had counted the failed attempts !
Some experts believe that there may have been other big bangs, perhaps trillions and trillions of them, spread through the mighty span of eternity, and that the reason why we exist in this particular one is that, this is one that we could exist in. Although the creation of a universe might be very unlikely, a scientist called Tryon from Columbia University emphasized that no one had counted the failed attempts !
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Mind Fuck: Day 8
Today I found out... another way of viewing the third dimension.
Imagining the third dimension is easy for us because we experience it daily. A three dimensional object has length, width, and height. However there’s another of understanding the third dimension: if we were to imagine an ant walking across a newspaper which is lying flat on a table, and we pretend that the ant is completely two dimensional when walking along this two-dimensional newspaper world... the paper can be folded around so that the two ends meet, thus creating a way for the Ant 'jump' across to the other side of his newspaper world instantly while everything still remains two dimensional.
In effect the Ant has “magically” disappeared from one position in his two-dimensional world and be instantly transported to another. We can imagine that we did this by taking a two-dimensional object and folding it through the dimension above, which is our third dimension. It is apparently more convenient for us to imagine the higher dimensions if we can think of the third dimension in this way... the third dimension is what you “fold through” to jump from one point to another in the dimension below.
Imagining the third dimension is easy for us because we experience it daily. A three dimensional object has length, width, and height. However there’s another of understanding the third dimension: if we were to imagine an ant walking across a newspaper which is lying flat on a table, and we pretend that the ant is completely two dimensional when walking along this two-dimensional newspaper world... the paper can be folded around so that the two ends meet, thus creating a way for the Ant 'jump' across to the other side of his newspaper world instantly while everything still remains two dimensional.
In effect the Ant has “magically” disappeared from one position in his two-dimensional world and be instantly transported to another. We can imagine that we did this by taking a two-dimensional object and folding it through the dimension above, which is our third dimension. It is apparently more convenient for us to imagine the higher dimensions if we can think of the third dimension in this way... the third dimension is what you “fold through” to jump from one point to another in the dimension below.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)