Saturday, November 13, 2010

2. Physics of matter: Through the looking glass (draft 2)

(referred to Robert Heinlein’s book Job: A Comedy of Justice here)


There seems to be a natural progression in the sciences, from supposition and myth to hard, sustainable truth. For example, there is a branch of physics dealing with very small, subatomic particles, which is known as quantum mechanics. This particular branch of physics was ultimately an evolution in thinking from chemistry. We knew there was complex stuff in the world around us, compounds that could be broken down. For example, we knew that water could be broken down into two gases -- hydrogen and oxygen (hence, the familiar chemical symbol for water, H2O). We also knew that hydrogen (the H) and oxygen (the O) were as simple as it could get in terms of observable, physical stuff.

Chemistry was the science of mixing together and breaking apart elements and compounds. It was the science of examining the reactions that occurred between these elements and compounds. It wasn't until much later that scientists figured out that atoms of an element could themselves be broken down. Atoms could be broken into electrons, protons and neutrons. That's about as far as we can get in conventional chemistry. Chemistry understands that compounds like water (H2O) are combinations of elements that are held together, glued together, by sharing electrons. From its chemical formula, we understand that water is composed of two atoms of hydrogen as noted by the H2 and one atom of oxygen denoted by the O, glued together by their electrons forming a single water molecule. that molecule of three atoms is the smallest component to water you can possibly get before it breaks down. It's from there that chemistry evolves into physics.

How did these atomic components stick together? What mysterious properties bound atoms together? And, if we discovered that an atom could be broken in parts, could those parts be further subdivided? That was the birth of the area of physics known as quantum mechanics. The world becomes a very strange place as we entered the world of quantum mechanics. It is a little bit like being Alice and traveling to Wonderland through the looking glass. As we enter the world of quantum mechanics, the rules of reality as we know them twist and turn in strange ways.

We have long known about atoms, protons, neutrons and electrons. What, until recently, we had a very dim understanding of was the nature of those objects, once thought to be elementary and indivisible. We now know that those components of an atom are made up of even smaller components called quarks. We have now conclusively proven that there are six types of quarks called, somewhat whimsically, by their scientist discoverers as: up, down, strange, charmed, top, and bottom. These six types of quarks also have anti-quarks, which have the same properties but the opposite electrical charge.

Shining a Light on Stuff.

Before we move on, and talk more about matter, let's take a look at light. Now be prepared to have the world get even stranger. Scientists have long known that under certain conditions photons , the smallest units of light, behave as a particle. You can smash a photon into and object, breaking that object. On the other hand, if you look at a photon through a different lens, it appears to be a wave, not a particle. there is even an experiment you can do at home with nothing more than scissors, cardboard and a light bulb, which we will describe later, which allows you to view a photons of light as particles and as waves! This dual existence was certainly very strange, and thought to be a property of only light. We thought like was unique.

Foold again! Very recently, scientists have discovered that quarks also seem to exhibit the same duality. Quarks, in fact, are very much like photons. Generally, they look like particles -- little tiny specks of matter. However, when viewed another way quarks, like photons, exhibit behaviors that only could be the behavioral of a wave.

Further through the looking glass!

Now, try to wrap your brain around this. It gets really strange when you think of your coffee cup, your pen, your automobile, even you, is made up of a series of waves instead of a series of particles! We see each other, and the world around us, as particles. However, this weird duality also means that we are made up of waves and extend in all directions. Seeing me as me just happens to be the way the human mind works. What I see with my eyes bears only a passing, partial and incomplete relationship to reality! What we see is apparently an illusion. This is enough to make your head hurt.




1. Why Do We Think The Way We Do? Myths, Theories and Reality (Draft 2)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
-- Arthur C. Clarke


Some interesting Progressions:
  • Myth > Philosophy > Science > Technology
  • Hypothesis > Theory > Law or Reality
  • Alchemy > Chemistry > Quantum Mechanics (Physics of subatomic particles)
  • Astrology > Astronomy > Cosmology (Physics of space & the universe)

I will anticipate your first question. What is a Progression?

A progression is the evolution of an idea or set of ideas. The first progression we list is the evolution of an idea or concept from myth to philosophical idea to science or technology. We express this as: Myth > Philosophy > Science & Technology, read as Myth to Philosophy to Science and Technology.

Another major model for a progression, into which many instances fit, is Hypothesis > Theory > Law or Reality. The hypothesis is the idea. One might state a hypothesis as, "It appears that A. is the way it is because of B." A hypothesis is simply an idea or concept based on observation or, as Albert Einstein liked practice, thought experiments. A theory, on the other hand, is an internally testable and consistent set of rules that describe the behavior. Reality, on the other hand, is the way things are. It may or may not prove to be consistent with the theory. At some point, current convention in science is to call a theory, proven correct over time, a law -- such as the law of gravity.

It is interesting that physics tells us that the universe progresses from order to disorder through a process known as entropy. Why is it that we, as humans, view a progression of reality that is counter to entropy? We see the progression from myth to science. We see the progression from viruses to single celled plants and animals to very large, complex beings such as humans. We see the progression from rocks containing iron to steel to millions of components to a finished automobile. How is it that our perception of the universe, our perception of reality stands in such stark contrast to entropy and physics?

Specific Programs.

Now that we understand the concept of a progression, there are two particular progressions that are fascinating. The first is the progression Alchemy > Chemistry > Quantum Mechanics (Physics of subatomic particles) and the second is the progression Astrology > Astronomy > Cosmology (Physics of stars, planets and galaxies).

Believe it or not, the evolution from alchemy or astrology to physics has not relegated either alchemy or astrology to extinction. In fact, even in the 21st century, both alchemy and astrology continued to be practiced. Alchemy is largely underground, hidden from public view. Astrology, on the other hand, has its popular conception such as those daily newspapers snippets with which we are all familiar, which largely obscure the practice of astrology as a serious, semi-scientific practice.

Both alchemy and astrology are alive and well. However, the general public has very little understanding of these ancient studies. Many organizations today still exist which study alchemy. However, what we have discovered is that at one time alchemy was described as the science of turning lead into gold. What we have learned in the years since is that alchemy evolved from a science, with its own language, to a language unto itself, a code, a cipher to express concepts and ideas that were persecuted by the population at large. The same can be said for astrology.

For many years I studied the modern implications of alchemy. It is only recently that I've learned that astrology has a similar, parallel history. Studying these histories and the evolution of these quasi-sciences, or perhaps better described as philosophies, gives us some interesting glimpses into reality. For when we look at reality through the lens of the branches of physics called cosmology and quantum mechanics, the science of physics becomes as strange, as weird and as unbelievable as the general concepts of astrology and alchemy.

The world, reality, science is stranger than we could ever possibly believe!