Britney Spears, 1999 |
Britney Spears, 2004 |
Posted on 04/12/2005 6:41:33 AM PDT by flevit
Physical constants are one of the cornerstones of physics – sacred numbers which we know to be fixed – but what if some of these constants are changing? Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005, Dr Michael Murphy of Cambridge University will discuss the "fine structure constant" – one of the critical numbers in the universe which seems to be precisely tuned for life to exist – and suggest that it might not be constant after all.
Dr Murphy has used the largest optical telescope in the world, the Keck telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, to study light from distant quasars. This light has been travelling across the universe for billions of years, and seems to show that the fine structure constant, often known as "alpha", may be varying over time.
The fine structure constant governs the electromagnetic force which holds all atoms and molecules together. Scientists have known for many years that if its value was slightly different, life could not exist. Only the very tiniest changes over time could be tolerated, and most scientists believe that alpha today is the same as it always has been.
The constant also affects the absorption fingerprint of atoms, which can be detected when light shines through gas clouds. Murphy has used quasars as incredibly distant light sources, whose light encounters gas clouds on its way to Earth. The light takes time to reach Earth, so he sees the fingerprints as they were billions of years ago. By comparing these fingerprints with those obtained in experiments on Earth, he concludes that alpha has changed by about one part in two-hundred-thousand during the last 10 billion years.
Other researchers have published results which suggest that alpha does not change. However Dr Murphy's work is the most detailed survey ever performed. He says that the internal checks in his method, which other research groups did not use, make this the most reliable measurement to date.
Murphy is careful not to claim that the case is closed, and he says that nobody can really say that alpha varies until another type of experiment has confirmed it. "We are claiming something extraordinary here," says Murphy, "and the evidence, though strong, is not yet extraordinary enough."
Ah – the old “variable constant” trick…
We're Dooooooooomeed, I tell ya, DOOMED
I seriously hope that was just a play on words on the part of the author. If not, this guy is in dire need of remedial scientific/mathematics education.
So then, if this constant is in fact changing, life does not exist?
(These guys had better get their act together.)
It's Bush's fault.
Well, there goes MY vacation...
Bingo!
OK that's it. You guys do not exist, everybody off my cloud.
I'm not all that worried God doesn't change...
The (GOD)fine structure constant governs the electromagnetic force which holds all atoms and molecules together. Scientists have known for many years that if its value was slightly different, life could not exist. Only the very tiniest changes over time could be tolerated, and most scientists believe that alpha(GOD) today is the same as it always has been.
Yes,but....suppose "alpha" varies consistently about a fixed
value...then life could exist "most of the time"...with
periods of non-life...(i.e. life exists on weekends only)
aha...this concept also explains the dinosaur extinction....
Well, I certainly hope life doesn't cease to exist on the same day an asteroid hits earth, Yellowstone erupts, giant tsunamis wipe out the continents, the new ice age descends.....
Women and minorities hardest hit ...
I did feel an additional itch in my morning scratch. Woe are we.
"...the alpha and the omega..." Makes more sense, huh?
There is nothing sacred, sacrosanct or supernatural about physical constants. They are simply anchor points in the mathematical description of the universe.
...which we know to be fixed –...
Given current data.
...but what if some of these constants are changing?
Then the math will have to advance to conform to the advance in observation.
ping
It is, subject-wise, but with a different article and title: How Einstein may have got the theory of relativity wrong.
| Britney Spears, 1999 |
Britney Spears, 2004 |
Isn't one of Murphy's corollaries, "Constants aren't, variables dont"?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.