Absolute zero and Einstein!

[OneOfOne]

I was just perusing TV for the next week and SBS has the second part of Absolute Zero on Sunday at 8:30, the final part is on the persuit of absolute zero and I guess it will have superconductivity, supermagnets and loads of other super things!

Then at 11:35 is E=MC2: Einstein's Big Idea...I guess it will have something interesing...so set the video/pvr up for these!

[Chippy]

Thanks for the headsup. I'll be taking a look :-)

[sheeny]

Bummer... I can't get SBS...

Thanks for the ehads up anyway!

Al.

[acropolite]

Missed the first part but the second part was fascinating, how scientists come up with these techniques (cooling atoms with lasers, containment if the condensate with magnetic fields etc) amazes me. Einstein was truly one of a kind, I doubt humanity will ever see such a mind again. For those who missed the program it is available on DVD, do a search on ebay for Absolute Zero DVD for the best price (make sure you get the science doco not the SCIFI movie).

[astroron]

I only watched the second one,brilliant , I wish I had watched the first one as well.
Ron

[renormalised]

I watched both episodes of Absolute Zero, and the first of E = MC^2. Very, very good. You know, it's a pity Faraday wasn't as competent in maths as Maxwell was, but Faraday was more the experimentalist and Maxwell the theoretician. The equations for light might have been discovered 30 or 40 years earlier, if he had been.

It's a damn travesty of justice that they don't recognise Einstein's first wife, Marleva Marich, for her contribution to his works. Einstein may have been the visionary but she was a far better mathematician than he ever was. She was more the typical scientist....highly analytical and methodical. He was more the dreamer.

[xelasnave]

I really enjoyed the program.
I was fascinated by the light thru the Bose' E condensate
and by the apparent lack of gravity acting upon the helium and the Puc...as all these things can be only explained by push gravity:D

Looking at the effect of cold upon ligh one wonders if when ligh travels thru the Universe if cold may bend the space time grid... I guess the answer as to why it would not is because space is actually a little above the temp of the condensate...I dont know but I expect it would be colder than space..the CMB is 2.5??? or something so that must mean space must be 272 or a bit above abosolute..I have to digest and read up on stuff it raised...

Is the puck on that ring that defies gravity a magnet or is it a super conducter but at higher temps I gather it is not magnetic..?

alex:):):)

[xelasnave]

AND I stumbled on a late show with Dr A and his wife and she was shown as the thinker or at least the board that he bounced his ideas..it showed them as very very pasionate with kissing and othe girl stuff.

alex

[Ian Robinson]

The program was a repeat , so I didn't watch it (again).

She deserves equal recognition and status to Albert , he would never have achieved what he did without her assistance , collaboration , skills and patience.

[renormalised]

Alex.....space = 2.73ºK or -270.37ºC

The puck was a superconductor... non magnetic at higher temps.

[renormalised]

I just thought of something rather ironic and funny....Einstein's great grandkids and such are still alive today. What if one of them or one of their future rellies becomes a physicist and ends up giving "Ol' Gramps" theories the boot or severely modifies them:P:D:P

That'd spin the other physicists heads:D:P

What'd be even spookier is if that person's first name was Albert:eyepop::eyepop:

[sjastro]

It's the Meissner effect.

Regards

Steven

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Cornell was one of the two scientists to first create a B-E condensate, and while watching him on the doco I noticed he did not seem to have a left shoulder.

I had not caught anything in the narration so I looked him up and indeed he does not, nor a left arm!!

He lost these to necrotizing fasciitis in 2004, the flesh-eating bug!! What an ordeal. He is recovering apparently and describes it as "more of an inconvenience than a catastrophe". Amazing.

Cheers

[xelasnave]

Thanks for the help fellow travellers.

So if space is 270.37 and the condensate that slows the light is the same??? or indeed close? does this not indicate that light may slow in the coldness of space...maybe not to the speed of a bike as suggested in the show but perhaps reduced by a measurable margin... I expect this is a difficult matter to accept given the proposition we all have been presented with ..that light is a constant...

So this may mean that M31 is only a stones throw away if you see my drift.

alex:):):)

[skwinty]

Hi Alex
Although I have not watched this program, I understood that the Bose - Einstein condensate affected atoms rather than photons, so I dont get the point you are making.
Please elucidate.

[xelasnave]

Now how would we go if our lift in the equivalence thought experiment was full of condensate and we shone our torch when the moving lift goes past at C????
alex

[xelasnave]

Well on the show the demonstration showed a light beam..2 klms long (say) hitting the condensate ..at that point the light shortened to 2mm or something real short but in that region...and slowed to the pace of a push bike...when it got to the other side and exited the BC it lengthened to 2 klm and resumed its speed of 300,000klms per second...

Maybe I misinterpreted things but that was what I took away from that part of the show.

alex

I can explain why of course if this is a fact but until it is a fact I will hold back:lol::lol::lol:

[skwinty]

Okay Alex, I get your point.
The condensate is optically dense and as such will significantly slow the passage of light whilst travelling through the condensate.
However, for us to say that M31 is closer than we think is pushing it a bit far. This would imply that the greater part of space is condensate.The temperature in space is about 2 degrees kelvin and the condensate requires absolute zero. Perhaps when the universe expands a bit more and the temperature gets to zero absolute then we can expect a proliferation of condensate.

[xelasnave]

I know it is a stretch but I expect you can see the line of my thought.....

I am thinking about this and wonder if the condensate presents as optically dense... it would seem to me that the atoms stop moving and are less likely to be hit and so the light slowing seems inconsistent on the one hand...however I suspect the findings present everyone with matters to wonder about.

But I must say everything looks good for my ideas re gravity push:eyepop:...I can fit all this into a push environment defining my theory of everything... but leave it with me for a detailed view later I hope:lol::lol::lol:.


alex:):):)

alex

[sjastro]

Let me get this right, you are now saying the Universe is awash with the BE condensate?

There is a BIG problem with this argument. First of all we would go from the scenario of having too little mass in the universe to too much. The universe would collapse under it's own gravity and you and I wouldn't have this discussion. Secondly for the BE condensate to form the atoms need to be uniformally distributed. The Earth's motion through the condensate would disrupt the uniformity of the condensate (drag effect). As a result the MM test would show a massive difference in the speed of light in the direction of the Earth's motion as compared to the opposite direction.

Regards

Steven
http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/small (http://users.westconnect.com.au/%7Esjastro/small)

[xelasnave]

Steve said.......

Let me get this right, you are now saying the Universe is awash with the BE condensate?

No what I am saying is cold to any manner relevant... as it is cold out there could it be that such a condition varies the speed of light to a small degree that we have not yet contemplated... a curiosity presents to me in which I am trying to see possible effects and implications "out there".

I suppose the gravity push idea sees a Universe that exerts a pressure by way of particles ...when pressure enters the picture temp is relevant...and so you can perhaps appreciate my particular interest in the aspect of cold in space...

Anyways I have decided to write the book it will all be in that:lol::lol::lol:

Thanks Steve your input it is always so interesting and informative..nay educational for me.

alex:):):)

[Zuts]

Hi,

Correct me if i am wrong, but in high school I learnt that the speed of light is a constant for all observers in a particular medium. For example the speed of light in a vacum is higher than the speed of light in water which is higher than the speed of light in glass. The speed difference is responsible for the refraction effect and for rainbows.

This is a simple fact, no need to bring in Bose Einstein condensates or imply that interstellar objects are nearer or further away because of the proven fact that C is different in normal everyday mediums.

Cheers
Paul

[xelasnave]

Paul said

Correct me if i am wrong, but in high school I learnt that the speed of light is a constant for all observers in a particular medium

I cant correct you because I was not there when you learnt such however that is the way of it..and there is nothing in what you have said that I could disagree with..

alex:):):)