Neutrino Hunters

Neutrino Hunters PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374709424
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Winner of the Canadian Science Writers Association Science in Society Book Award One of the Best Physics Books of 2013, Cocktail Party Physics Blog, Scientific American Detective thriller meets astrophysics in this adventure into neutrinos and the scientists who pursue them The incredibly small bits of matter we call neutrinos may hold the secret to why antimatter is so rare, how mighty stars explode as supernovae, what the universe was like just seconds after the big bang, and even the inner workings of our own planet. For more than eighty years, adventurous minds from around the world have been chasing these ghostly particles, trillions of which pass through our bodies every second. Extremely elusive and difficult to pin down, neutrinos are not unlike the brilliant and eccentric scientists who doggedly pursue them. In Neutrino Hunters, the renowned astrophysicist and award-winning writer Ray Jayawardhana takes us on a thrilling journey into the shadowy world of neutrinos and the colorful lives of those who seek them. Demystifying particle science along the way, Jayawardhana tells a detective story with cosmic implications—interweaving tales of the sharp-witted theorist Wolfgang Pauli; the troubled genius Ettore Majorana; the harbinger of the atomic age Enrico Fermi; the notorious Cold War defector Bruno Pontecorvo; and the dynamic dream team of Marie and Pierre Curie. Then there are the scientists of today who have caught the neutrino bug, and whose experimental investigations stretch from a working nickel mine in Ontario to a long tunnel through a mountain in central Italy, from a nuclear waste site in New Mexico to a bay on the South China Sea, and from Olympic-size pools deep underground to a gigantic cube of Antarctic ice—called, naturally, IceCube. As Jayawardhana recounts a captivating saga of scientific discovery and celebrates a glorious human quest, he reveals why the next decade of neutrino hunting will redefine how we think about physics, cosmology, and our lives on Earth.

Neutrino Hunters

Neutrino Hunters PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 144341428X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
The incredibly small bits of matter we call neutrinos may hold the secret to why antimatter is so rare, how mighty stars explode as supernovas and what the universe was like just seconds after the big bang. They even illuminate the inner workings of our own planet. For more than eighty years, adventurous minds from around the world have been chasing these ghostly particles, trillions of which pass through our bodies every second. Extremely elusive and difficult to pin down, neutrinos are not unlike the brilliant and eccentric scientists who doggedly pursue them. Ray Jayawardhana recounts in Neutrino Hunters a captivating saga of scientific discovery and celebrates a glorious human quest, revealing why the next decade of neutrino hunting could redefine how we think about physics, cosmology and our lives on Earth.

Neutrino Hunters

Neutrino Hunters PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374709424
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
Winner of the Canadian Science Writers Association Science in Society Book Award One of the Best Physics Books of 2013, Cocktail Party Physics Blog, Scientific American Detective thriller meets astrophysics in this adventure into neutrinos and the scientists who pursue them The incredibly small bits of matter we call neutrinos may hold the secret to why antimatter is so rare, how mighty stars explode as supernovae, what the universe was like just seconds after the big bang, and even the inner workings of our own planet. For more than eighty years, adventurous minds from around the world have been chasing these ghostly particles, trillions of which pass through our bodies every second. Extremely elusive and difficult to pin down, neutrinos are not unlike the brilliant and eccentric scientists who doggedly pursue them. In Neutrino Hunters, the renowned astrophysicist and award-winning writer Ray Jayawardhana takes us on a thrilling journey into the shadowy world of neutrinos and the colorful lives of those who seek them. Demystifying particle science along the way, Jayawardhana tells a detective story with cosmic implications—interweaving tales of the sharp-witted theorist Wolfgang Pauli; the troubled genius Ettore Majorana; the harbinger of the atomic age Enrico Fermi; the notorious Cold War defector Bruno Pontecorvo; and the dynamic dream team of Marie and Pierre Curie. Then there are the scientists of today who have caught the neutrino bug, and whose experimental investigations stretch from a working nickel mine in Ontario to a long tunnel through a mountain in central Italy, from a nuclear waste site in New Mexico to a bay on the South China Sea, and from Olympic-size pools deep underground to a gigantic cube of Antarctic ice—called, naturally, IceCube. As Jayawardhana recounts a captivating saga of scientific discovery and celebrates a glorious human quest, he reveals why the next decade of neutrino hunting will redefine how we think about physics, cosmology, and our lives on Earth.

Neutrino

Neutrino PDF Author: F. E. Close
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199695997
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Neutrinos are perhaps the most enigmatic particles in the universe. These tiny, ghostly particles are formed by the billions in stars and pass through us constantly, unseen, at almost the speed of light. Yet half a century after their discovery, we still know less about them than all the other varieties of matter that have ever been seen. In this engaging, concise volume, renowned scientist and writer Frank Close gives a vivid account of the discovery of neutrinos and our growing understanding of their significance, touching on speculative ideas concerning the possible uses of neutrinos and their role in the early universe along the way. Close begins with the discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel and Marie and Pierre Curie, the early model of the atom by Ernest Rutherford, and Wolfgang Pauli's solution to that problem by inventing the concept of neutrino (named by Enrico Fermi, "neutrino" being Italian for "little neutron"). The book describes how the confirmation of Pauli's theory didn't occur until 1956, when Clyde Cowan and Fred Reines detected neutrinos, and reveals that the first "natural" neutrinos were finally detected by Reines in 1965 (before that, they had only been detected in reactors or accelerators). Close takes us to research experiments miles underground that are able to track neutrinos' fleeting impact as they pass through vast pools of cadmium chloride and he explains why they are becoming of such interest to cosmologists--if we can track where a neutrino originated we will be looking into the far distant reaches of the universe.

How to Destroy the Universe

How to Destroy the Universe PDF Author: Paul Parsons
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 1623652464
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
If you thought physics was all about measuring the temperature of ice in a bucket or trying to fathom what E=mc2 means, think again. How to Destroy the Universe and 34 other really interesting uses of physics demystifies the astonishing world of physics in a series of intriguing, entertaining and often extraordinary scenarios--that explain key physics concepts in plain and simple language. You'll find out how to save the planet from energy shortages by mining the vacuum of empty space, engineer the Earth's climate to reverse the effects of global warming, and fend off killer asteroids just like Bruce Willis and his vest. You'll learn essential survival skills such as how to live through a lightning strike, how to tough it out during an earthquake and how to fall into a black hole without being squashed into spaghetti. And you'll discover some plain old cool stuff like how to turn lead into gold, how to travel to the centre of the Earth, how to crack supposedly unbreakable codes and how to use physics to predict the stock market. So if you want to get to grips with science behind relativity, antigravity and parallel universes, or if you are really more interested in learning how to teleport, travel through time or achieve immortality, this is the perfect introduction to the amazing world of modern physics.

The Science of Shakespeare

The Science of Shakespeare PDF Author: Dan Falk
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250008786
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
William Shakespeare lived at a remarkable time—a period we now recognize as the first phase of the Scientific Revolution. New ideas were transforming Western thought, the medieval was giving way to the modern, and the work of a few key figures hinted at the brave new world to come: the methodical and rational Galileo, the skeptical Montaigne, and—as Falk convincingly argues—Shakespeare, who observed human nature just as intently as the astronomers who studied the night sky. In The Science of Shakespeare, we meet a colorful cast of Renaissance thinkers, including Thomas Digges, who published the first English account of the "new astronomy" and lived in the same neighborhood as Shakespeare; Thomas Harriot—"England's Galileo"—who aimed a telescope at the night sky months ahead of his Italian counterpart; and Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, whose observatory-castle stood within sight of Elsinore, chosen by Shakespeare as the setting for Hamlet—and whose family crest happened to include the names "Rosencrans" and "Guildensteren." And then there's Galileo himself: As Falk shows, his telescopic observations may have influenced one of Shakespeare's final works. Dan Falk's The Science of Shakespeare explores the connections between the famous playwright and the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution—and how, together, they changed the world forever.

Mathematical Curiosities

Mathematical Curiosities PDF Author: Alfred S. Posamentier
Publisher:
ISBN: 1616149310
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Most people agree that math is important, but few would say it's fun. This book will show you that the subject you learned to hate in high school can be as entertaining as a witty remark, as engrossing as the mystery novel you can't put down--in short, fun! As veteran math educators Posamentier and Lehmann demonstrate, when you realize that doing math can be enjoyable, you open a door into a world of unexpected insights while learning an important skill. The authors illustrate the point with many easily understandable examples. One of these is what mathematicians call the "Ruth-Aaron pair" (714 and 715), named after the respective career home runs of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. These two consecutive integers contain a host of interesting features, one of which is that their prime factors when added together have the same sum. The authors also explore the unusual aspects of such numbers as 11 and 18, which have intriguing properties usually overlooked by standard math curriculums. And to make you a better all-around problem solver, a variety of problems is presented that appear simple but have surprisingly clever solutions. If math has frustrated you over the years, this delightful approach will teach you many things you thought were beyond your reach, while conveying the key message that math can and should be anything but boring.

Child of the Universe

Child of the Universe PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Make Me a World
ISBN: 1524717541
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Perfect for fans of The Wonderful Things You Will Be and That's Me Loving You, this picture book by a renowned astrophysicist is a lyrical meditation on the preciousness of one child and the vastness of the universe. Just like the sun gives shine to the moon, you light up the world beyond this room . . . You are grand and marvelous, strong and mysterious. The history of the world is in your fingertips. A lyrical meditation on the preciousness of one child and the vastness of the universe, this gorgeously illustrated picture book shares the immensity of a parent's love along with the message that we are all connected to the broader cosmos in important and intimate ways. A perfect bedtime read-aloud, Child of the Universe is a book to cherish forever. The author is an astrophysicist who has been fascinated by the universe since he was a child. As a parent, he has developed a new appreciation for the deep connections between billions of years of cosmic evolution and this one tiny human.

The Particle Hunters

The Particle Hunters PDF Author: Yuval Neʼeman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521476867
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
A second edition of one of our best popular physics titles.

Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds PDF Author: Ray Jayawardhana
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400846544
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
An insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars—thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the latest findings--including his own—that are challenging our view of the cosmos and casting new light on the origins and evolution of planets and planetary systems. He reveals how technology is rapidly advancing to support direct observations of Jupiter-like gas giants and super-Earths—rocky planets with several times the mass of our own planet—and how astronomers use biomarkers to seek possible life on other worlds. Strange New Worlds provides an insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet hunters, our prospects for discovering alien life, and the debates and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research. In a new afterword, Jayawardhana explains some of the most recent developments as we search for the first clues of life on other planets.

Hunting the Faster than Light Tachyon, and Finding Three Unicorns and a Herd of Elephants

Hunting the Faster than Light Tachyon, and Finding Three Unicorns and a Herd of Elephants PDF Author: Robert Ehrlich
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000587991
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
In 1905, Albert Einstein declared speeds greater than light to be impossible. This book describes the author’s decades-long search for the hypothetical subatomic particles known as tachyons that violate this principle. This book is a scientific detective story. The crime is speeding—that is, the possible breaking of the cosmic speed limit, namely the speed of light, as stipulated by Einstein. This detective story is also a memoir written by a member of a band of "tachyon hunters." The author’s pursuit of tachyons has been met with skepticism from most physicists, who note correctly that no such superluminal particles have ever been surely observed and that there have been many false sightings. Nevertheless, considerable circumstantial evidence for tachyons has already been published and an ongoing experiment could decide the issue in the next few years. This book is written for the general reader, containing humor and eliminating jargon whenever possible, and will also be of interest to scientists. The hunt for the tachyon will fascinate all readers who approach the study of physics with curious and open minds.