the
photon magazine
#2
The seco nd e TISB ditio 's fir n of st ph ysics pub licat ion
Computational Physics and French Demons pg
14 Need for Speed: Particle Physics
pg 18
T H E
P H Y S I C S
A V E N G E R S ! To celebrate the highest grossing movie of all time, Avengers: Endgame (after the re-release), we decided to dedicate our cover story to exploring the physics behind some of our favourite superheroes from the MCU. Enjoy! ON PAGE 25
O F
THOR ODINSON:
OUR ANCESTORS CALLED IT MAGIC BUT YOU CALL IT SCIENCE. I COME FROM A LAND WHERE THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME.
EDITORIAL
PAGE 3 FROM THE PHYSICS CLUB
co
PAGE 4
PAGE 12
STATES OF MATTER
NEED FOR PARTICLE SPEED PHYSICS PAGE 18
PAGE 17
PAGE 18
MICROWAVE'S HOW DO MICROWAVES MICROWAVES WORK? PAGE 20
COVER STORY
PAGE 24
ANT MAN
CAPTAIN AMERICA
PAGE 27
AWARDS
PAGE 32 PAGE 33
photon august'19 | p. 2
FROM THE HISTORY CLUB
PAGE 14
nt MAGNETARS
PAGE 22
STATUS UPDATE
JOKES
PAGE 6
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS AND FRENCH DEMONS
COMPUTERS AND IMAGES OF HOLES
PAGE 10
en
GREAT MINDS
PAGE 34
PAGE 28
IRON MAN
ts
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hey! Welcome to the second edition of The Photon Magazine!
Being hard-core Marvel fans, we couldn’t resist the urge to celebrate Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing movie ever. To commemorate this fantastic achievement, we decided to choose "The Physics of Avengers" for the cover story. After being amazed by the scenes, stunts and visual effects, we - being physics nerds - started to question how some aspects of the Avengers would be like if subjected to real-world scientific theories. With this curiosity, we tried to unravel the physics which lied behind some of our favourite superheroes. We hope you enjoy the feature, along with all the new and interesting content.
It was a lot of fun working on this edition, trying to incorporate the helpful feedback we got for the last edition while coming up with more intriguing content.
We would like to thank the editorial team, everyone who sent submissions regardless of whether they were included, and everyone else who played a part in this, no matter how small.
With that, we leave you to it. Read, observe, explore and dive deep into this excellent subject with this awesome new edition of The Photon Magazine!
Happy Reading!
From the Editor-in-Chief Aditya Gaur editorinchief@thephotonmagazine.co m
photon august'19 | p. 3
GREAT MINDS
LEVI LANDAU
ON OT H P P TO ER T I WR
BY AGASTYA RANA
Welcome back to the second edition of Great Minds. This time around, we'll be sharing the story of one of the most clever minds to grace the field of theoretical physics, both in research and teaching. Lev Landau was a Soviet physicist who made pioneering progress in multiple unique branches of physics, from quantum mechanics to superconducting fluids. Here's the story of his numerous contributions and quirks to physics as we know it. Even as a young child, Landau began to show signs of the intelligence that he later became known for.
photon august'19 | p. 4
He learnt calculus at 13, went to university at 14, and soon graduated at 19 from one of the foremost universities in physics in Soviet Russia
at
physics
the
clear,
time. he
With
was
his
then
instinct offered
for the
chance to travel abroad, where he met and worked
with
groundbreaking
physicists
of
the time - Neils Bohr, Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli
and
more.
knowledge
with
As
his
trips
these
to
other
discover leading
physicists of the time became increasingly frequent,
Landau
also
mastered
German
and French, mustering a decent command on English too.Â
After these highly productive trips, in which
Another one of Landau's quirks (without the
he
discussion
made
pioneering
inroads
into
of
which
Center
Scale", as it is now known. Landau ranked the productivity of physicists he knew on a
the
National
where
he
of
Scientific
Physics
headed
and
the
Department
of
physicist,
decade. He spent the later years of his life
logarithmic
at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute
productive,
for
Newton.
Problems,
superfluidity,
while
government
in
weapons.
where
also
the
a
Moving held
with
title
a
0
the
only
the
special
negative
being
given
down
a
Isaac
scale,
place
most
to
at
Albert
the
Russian
Einstein
nuclear
many of the brainchildren behind quantum
0.5,
and
of
mechanics, including Bohr, Heisenberg and Dirac, came in at 1. Landau placed himself
unheard of.
at
significant world
will
argue
his
lasting
of
of
physics
superfluidity,
array
scale,
was
of
physics
wide
on
scale
research
many
a
serving
worked
this
topics studied by a single physicist is almost
While
Such
he
Genius
scale of 0 to 5. Of course, with him being a
Theoretical Physics for the better part of a
Physical
"Landau's
be
Technology,
at
of
would
settled
Institute
that
article
incomplete)
Kharkiv
is
this
mathematical methods of QM and QED, he
for
that
impacts
was
which
the
his
he
won
most
on
the
theory
of
the
a
2.5,
Landau
later
did
productivity
name
2. his
to
upperclassmen
in
physics
and
early
1960s,
had
Landau's
resulted
in
insane
a
prolific
number of profound discoveries. Alas, this
world, as is Lifshitz. Starting in 1932, Landau
came to an end too; in early 1962, Landau
and
Evgeny
met with a tragic car accident which left
volume
him in a coma for two months. While he
Lifshitz,
former
student
began
comprehensive
to
and
friend
write
a
recovered to a large extent, his scientific
entirety of physics. Many of these volumes,
flair was hampered, which Landau himself
such
realized,
Classical
which
10
the
as
series
across
the
the
his
students
a
of
Nobel
is
familiar
to
use
below a four is not worth talking to."
By
a
himself
practical
grading: he remarked that "Anyone ranked
Prize in 1962, I would beg to differ. Landau
graduate
promoting
make
spanned
Mechanics,
Classical
making
a
statement
in
good
Theory of Fields and Statistical Mechanics,
humour: "I'm afraid my brain is just not the
are still used as graduate-level texts today.
same as what it was. I'll never again be able
The
intention
of
writing
these
books,
to
do
physics
like
Landau.
Maybe
I
could do physics like Zeldovich." - With the
however, was to provide the syllabus for one
latter
of the most notorious exams academia has
cosmologist and friend who Landau would
ever
always mock.
seen.
Aptly
yet
ironically
titled,
the
character
being
a
famous
Theoretical Minimum was a series of exams
As a tribute to our Great Mind, Landau's
that physics students were expected to pass
former
to
graduate
the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics
program at his school. Over the course of
in 1965, three years before Landau's death
27
due
earn
admission
years,
only
"Theoretical
into
43
the
people
Minimum".
The
passed
this
respect
and
students
to
sustained
in
contributions
whose
names
immortalized
paper
and
Most
of
stuck
these
written
outside
names
on
a
piece
Landau's
would
later
of
office.
become
quantum
colleagues
complications
admiration were immense for those 43 souls were
and
the to in
world
founded
from
injuries
car
accident.
physics
have
our and
knowledge in
His been
of
textbooks
the that
thousands of students read every year..
big names in the field.
photon august'19 | p. 5
FROM THE HISTORY CLUB
THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS
TON PHO P TO TER WRI
HARI KRISHAN CHOUDHARI
The 16th of July, 1945. A small group of 10 men
stood
atop
a
hill
in
the
barren
desert of New Mexico, facing a modest steel structure 20 miles in the distance. Suspended
from
small
sphere and
steel
this
structure within
was the
a
48-
kilogram capsule lay the fate of the free world, the culmination of years of effort by a combined force of three nations. As the
seconds
scientists
counted
atop
the
hill
down, placed
the bets.
Some believed the experiment would be a
colossal
predicted One
man
failure,
twice
the
applied
while expected
large
another results.
amounts
of
sunscreen, causing the other men and the guards to become uneasy. But as the seconds counted down to the moment of truth, the observers laid down on the ground with their feet facing the Trinity site
and
simply
waited.
As
the
countdown approached one minute, one of the men, Isidore Rabi, said to the man lying next to him,
photon august'19 | p. 6
photon august'19 | p. 7
Kenneth
Griesen,
"Nope"
was
"Aren't
Griesen's
countdown
you
nervous?"
reply.
As
the
reached
model considered for the atomic bomb was a gun-type fission weapon codenamed Thin Man.
10
seconds, Griesen suddenly blurted out to his
This design involved shooting a hollow bullet of
neighbor Rabi, "Now I'm scared." Three, two,
radioactive
one, and Sam Allison cried out, "Now!"1
Plutonium 239, through a hollow cylinder onto a
material,
such
as
Uranium
235
or
spike which fills its center, hence triggering a He
had
from
finally
prying
arrived.
eyes,
Empty,
with
isolated,
exceptional
far
natural
nuclear
their
mountains
number
the
Oppenheimer
distance:
conveyed
it
his
was
perfect.
preference
for
the site to the engineers present with him. It
These
substances
are
isotopes, I.e. radioactive and unstable forms of
beauty and a view of the Sangre de Cristo in
explosion.
original of
elements
neutrons
containing
than
a
standard.
different The
issue
presenting itself to the scientists was the nature of the material used for the bullet.
had poor access roads and a less than ideal water supply, but it’d do.
The primary source of radioactive material for these scientists were the facilities at Oak Ridge,
Construction began at the site, converting it
Tennessee.
into a state-of-the-art research laboratory.
was extremely costly and difficult to scale up to
Oppenheimer’s
an industrial level: Uranium 235 was required,
number
of
original
personnel
estimate
required
for
stood
the
at
50
and
this
The
enrichment
made
up
just
0.71%
naturally
long to produce an acceptably high quantity.
and
year. All
of this
far
too
next
The other alternative was Plutonium 239, first
infrastructure,
and
produced at the X-10 graphite reactor at Oak
manpower was channeled toward the pursuit
Ridge. However, the extraction of this isotope
of
also
a
single
Atomic
goal: the
Bomb.
For
this
5700
take
the
effort,
to
would
of
1943, 3500 people were living in Los Alamos, jumped
it
there
occurring
number
and
Uranium
scientists and 50 technicians. By the end of
this
Uranium,
of
creation was
the
of
the
first
Manhattan
240,
resulted which
in
large
quantities of Plutonium
undergoes
spontaneous
fission
at
Project in full swing, and the laboratory at
thousands of times the rate of plutonium-239.
Los
The extra neutrons it released meant that there
Alamos,
New
Mexico
was
its
beating
heart. This project carried with it the hope of
was
the USA and its allies of a swift end to the
plutonium in a gun-type fission weapon would
an
Second World War, which was approaching
detonate
too
its most crucial moments at the time.
formed,
producing
explosion But
throughout
this
period
soon
many
high
after a
times
a
probability
critical
mass
"fizzle"—a smaller
than
that
was
nuclear a
full
puzzle
explosion. This meant that the Thin Man bomb
challenged the great minds assembled at the
design that the laboratory had developed would
laboratory. The original
not work properly.
photon august'19 | p. 8
a
unacceptably
However,
mathematician
John
von
Neumann
40
seconds
later,
the
shock
wave
hit
the
arrived at a potential solution to this problem.
observers, knocking over one man and being
His
bomb
felt over 100 miles away. They had done it. At
implosion
5:30 PM, July 16th, 1945, the world entered the
alternative
using
design
for
an
Plutonium was known
atomic
as
an
type weapon. The specifics of its functioning
Atomic age.
are far too complex for me to explain in this article, but in short, a core of plutonium would
However, the celebrations soon died out as the
be
men
surrounded
Alternating would
with
detonation
rapidly
high of
compress
the
explosives.
these
explosives
plutonium
realized
accomplished.
core,
history,
ensuring the chain reaction began at the right
destroy
moment.
recounted,
exactly For
mankind itself. a
the
what first
possessed
As
Robert
verse
from
they
time
the
in
had human
capability
Oppenheimer the
to
later
Bhagavad
Gita
entered his mind at that moment. It was the And so the stage was set for the first ever test
words
of
Vishnu
as
he
revealed
himself
to
of an atomic bomb in human history, known as
Prince Arjuna: “Now I am become Death, the
Trinity. The site chosen was the bombing range
destroyer of worlds”.
of Alamagordo, south of Los Alamos in New Mexico. A prototype of the bomb, codenamed
The 9th of August, 1945. An implosion bomb
“The
ranch
codenamed “Fat Man”, a more sophisticated
tests
version of the Gadget, falls from a Boeing B-
Gadget”,
house
was
close
were
assembled
in
the
site,
to
conducted
and
a
instrumentation
29
Superfortress
the
Japan.
47
slumbering
seconds later over 30,000 people are dead,
from
the
seconds
tower ticked
holding down,
the
Sam
20
gadget, Allison
miles
Nagasaki,
upon
VIPs
from Compania hill,
of
“Boxcar”
calibrated. At last, on June 16th 1945, the 10 watched
city
bomber
as
the
and 60,000 injured. The effects of this on the
cried
out
population of the city are evident to this day.
“Now”, and...
Though the debate about the justification of the use of the atomic bomb rages even today,
A searing flash of light, changing from purple
the lesson learned from its creation still holds
to green to blue to violet to gold, lit up the
its worth today: that physics is far more than a
desert
subject one learns in class. It holds the fate of
of
Alamogordo
with
instantaneous
intensity. It lighted every peak, crevasse and ridge
of
the
nearby
mountain
range
with
human civilization in its hands.
a
clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined.
photon august'19 | p. 9
ASTRONOMICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE DOPPLER EFFECT TON PHO P TO TER WRI
FROM THE PHYSICS CLUB YASH CHAUHAN
The concept of ‘Doppler Shift’ has many
Astronomers
applications,
galaxy
shifted
in
but
it
wavelength
is
fundamentally
when
a
body
is
moving further or closer to the point of reference. emitting
If
an
organisation
radiation
has
a
that
radial
is
velocity
use
found
the
by
redshift
using
of
the
the
exact
wavelength emitted and absorbed by the
body.
Even
wavelength
small
can
tell
changes
us
a
in
celestial
body’s recessive velocity.
relative to an observer, the wavelength of the
emission
depending getting
shorten
upon
closer
observer.
will
This
whether
or
further
change
or the
away
in
lengthen, body from
is the
wavelength
is
known as the Doppler effect or shift. When an object is moving closer to an observer, then the emission lines will be ‘blueshifted’ (the
wavelength
of
the
emission
will
be
This could also help to analyse what type of entity it is (exoplanet, binary, etc.). Doppler
shift
is
cosmological
different
redshift
from
in
which
galaxies and stars are moving away from
us
from
Earth,
the
which
expansion
point
is
and
of
view
caused
by
acceleration
of the
of
the
shortened, shifting towards the blue end
Universe.
of the spectrum). On the other hand, when
when a galaxy is moving away from us
an object is moving further away from an
causes
observer, then the emission lines will be
causes
‘redshifted’
the
side of the spectrum, as shown below.
emission will increase, shifting towards the
This is because the photons have to
red end of the spectrum ).
travel
(
the
wavelength
of
The
a it
change to
for
galaxies
redshift
in
move
longer are
that
occurs
spectra
towards
durations
moving
and
the
as
further
red
the
away
relative to the position of the Earth. This is why the increase in wavelength is
due
to
the
expansion
of
the
Universe.
This
image
shows
how
recession
velocity is calculated, therefore. This demonstrates
the
relationship
between redshift and velocity, which are directly proportional. This relates to Hubble’s law in which the galaxies furthest away from us are moving the fastest relative to the Earth’s position. The expansion factor of the Universe is equal to 500 km/sec/Mpc, which is the value of Hubble’s constant.
photon august'19 | p. 10
The
second
trend
of
image
the
Universe
as
correlation
shows
expansion there
is
of
a
between
the
There
the
spectra
strong
distance
and recessive velocity. However,
are
also
of
other
distant
factors
celestial
that
can
bodies
such
impact as
gas
pressure wherein area of high pressure causes the spectra
to
thicken
and
become
less
sharp
(
pressure broadening ).
there is another form of redshift called
‘gravitational
which
was
Albert
initially
Einstein
in
redshift’
proposed his
by
‘General
In high-pressure regions of space such as stars, there are
more
energy
state
Theory of Relativity’. Gravitational
spectral
redshift occurs at areas in space
thickness
with
extreme
gravitational
collisions,
the
decreases,
lines. of
so
Another
active
thereby factor
spectral
lines
mechanical
uncertainty’
regarding
levels
quantifiable
lifetimes
the
radiation
broadening
the
affects
the the are
the
‘Quantum energy hence
E
the
to
original width of a line ( very narrow ). The final factor that affects the width of the spectral lines is
always
the
travel
but
energy
at
they
to
the
have
avoid
gravitational frequency
lengthen
the
escape the gravity. Photons must
light,
must
of
that is,
effects where the wavelength of
with
lifetime
speed to
the
field,
must
large
scale
turbulent
motion
of
the
single
particles in the gas from the reference point of the
intense
observer.
so
change
of
expend
its rather
The
Universe
is
not
only
expanding
but
also
than its velocity. This causes the
accelerating constantly. This is due to an unknown
photon to shift towards the red
substance called dark energy that constitutes over
end of the spectrum, hence the
70% of all the mass in the observable Universe. This
name
For
expansion of the Universe leads us to the conclusion
powerful
that celestial bodies are moving further away from
gravitational
radiation
emitted
redshift. in
gravitational areas such as near
the
black
their movement in their local systems.
holes,
the
gravitational
point
of
reference
of
the
Earth,
disregarding
redshift is very large and is given by the following equation where z is the gravitational redshift.
References:
http://astronomy.swin.edu. au/cosmos/G/Gravitationa l+Redshift
http://hosting.astro.cornell. edu/academics/courses/as tro201/hubbles_law.htm
https://i.stack.imgur.com/iu 7q4.png
photon august'19 | p. 11
FROM THE CODING CLUB
Computers and Images of Holes ROHAN GUPTA
You may have heard of the first-ever image of a black hole, or even seen it, but do you know what went on under the hood to actually construct this?
Katie
Bouman,
a
key
computer
scientist
behind this discovery, answers “We have spent an enormous amount of time making sure that what we were seeing was actually real and not just something that, even subconsciously,
Perhaps you’ve heard that the team of
we might have imposed on the data.”
scientists
telescopes
It was later noted, in an interview, that to
from around the world to ‘act as a single
remove the possibility of bias shared by the
telescope’ and capture this breathtaking
entire
image.This might have led you to wonder
imaging
what
all
each working on a different sort of algorithm.
these images, filtering out noise in the
They were not allowed to communicate with
form of atmospheric disturbances. Surely
one another.
used
exactly
a
it
bunch
was
of
that
combined
team,
the
experts
project into
split
four
its
computer-
different
groups,
this sparse, noisy data meant that there could be an infinite number of possible
Indeed,
images?
likely no bias in generating the images, but it
Furthermore,
how
was
it
it
is
good
to
know
more
image that was so similar to what we
algorithms
which
were
“choose the most likely set of images”. How
to
seeing
represented as?
black
holes
does
a
computer
said
distinguish
the
was
generates
were
in
there
possible that they indeed generated an
used
interest
that
to
actual
impartially
“noise”
thousands of seemingly random images?
photon august'19 | p. 12
from
TECHNOLOGY
The
answer
Bouman’s
(and
more)
algorithm
is
found
named
in
CHIRP,
continuous image and not chunks of data.
Bouman
cleverly
envisioned
which was built around the idea that
samples of images as spikes of signals
black
background
and designed her algorithm so as to
shadow of hot gas. Bouman would then
cover the spikes with an ‘envelope’ to
attempt
machine-learning
smooth
the
algorithm to fill gaps in data produced
image.
Think
by telescopes from around the world.
blanket over your knees.
holes
to
Through
the
leave
use
a
a
process,
Bouman,
singles of
to
it
a
as
coherent
spreading
a
along
with her team, identified and tackled
Lastly,
and
perhaps
three major issues adding to the clarity
important
and success of their algorithm.Consider
Multiple deep learning-based models
a regular 3 bit interface. It can be in
were trained on massive amounts of
2^3 = 8 possible configurations, out of
astronomically
which we select one.
black
problem
hole
-
the
most
removing
‘normal’
bias.
images
simulations.
The
and
primary
idea was to feed similar data to each The first issue they needed to solve is
of these models in hopes of receiving
that each telescope received the signal
similar
at
validate results.
different
times
due
to
their
reconstructed
images
to
placement on Earth. The interference of the data tended to be inconsistent
CHIRP
with
one
techniques
here
was
radio
another. the
waves
The
breakthrough
realisation from
three
that
when
telescopes
and
employs within
presents
construct baseline
cancel
telescopes)
the
distortion
from
the
computer sound
images
multiplied together, it would effectively out
a
revolutionary
method
from
very
interferometry imaging.
to
long
(multiple
By
using
Bayesian
Another unique and lucrative property
cleaning
of qubits is entanglement:
smoothening
and clears various benchmarks in the
continuity.
they
With
had
each
to
deal
with
field
of
telescope,
they
mention
data,
validating
a
climate.
Furthermore,
model,
science
and
novel
technique,
computer its
a
unbiased
and image
CHIRP
vision,
sets
not
verification
to of
only see a single slice of the night sky.
Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.
They needed a way to reconstruct the
Perhaps
data as a
scientists to take over the media?
it
is
time
for
computer
photon august'19 | p. 13
ARTICLES
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS AND FRENCH DEMONS
PH
OT TO ON WR P ITE R
From the dawn of time, the endless expanse
A computational physicist’s job is to create a
of
computer
the
void
has
both
captivated
and
program
the
until a mere sixty years ago that man was
program can accurately predict what would
able
occur. Primarily, the field of computational
this
empyrean
dominion
of
of
had
simulating our reality and predicting possible
matched our ambition, and we went further
scenarios; This allows to conduct much time
than we had ever gone before. But both this
consuming
fascination and this project are of a time
virtually,
long
car.
gone;
we
Age,
now
our
live
capability
in
the
age
of
and
around
the
the
physics
Atomic
centred
scenario,
god. Finally, with the newfound technology the
is
individual
given
parameters
enter
an
that
entranced the human mind. But it was not
to
of
such
expensive
such
as
of
experiments
crash
Computational
notion
testing
physics
is
a also
convenience where quick doorstep delivery
extensively used to model outer space; this
is far more critical than anything beyond our
allows
visible
universe without having to leave our planet
grasp.
With
this
newfound
lust
for
to
understand
space
explore arises. Could we, perhaps, one day
simulations
explore
perfect substitute, it does help us prevent
radiance
from
the
all
its
comfort
magnificent
of
our
living
many
exploration. are
our
near
problems
current
being
from
ever
experimentation is required. Ultimately, real
universe at our fingertips? Complicated
testing is necessary to prove a theory, but
tasks such as this are precisely what the vast
we
and
experiments are likely to be the most fruitful.
recently
emergent
field
computational physics is all about.
photon august'19 | p. 14
of
less
a
eternal beauty and magnitude of an endless
least
least,
to
occurring,
at
the
alternative
room? Is it possible, then, to have all the
can
at
Although
nowhere
lower-level so
cheap
our
of how to modernize this ancient desire to
in
a
observe
and
cosmos
therefore,
and
speed and instant convenience, the question
the
is,
us
determine
real-life
which
ARTICLES
But as we grow more capable of simulating
Although the player does not know where
our reality, we may then be able to broaden
precisely each number belongs, by satisfying
our
number
understanding
simulating
of
physics
constraints
(i.e.
a
name
may
not
appear twice in the same column) they are
physics engine, which was just released last
able to deduce the exact position of each
year,
number. This exercise in logic is similar to
papers
already
to
been
prove
The
by
IllustrisTNG
has
experiments.
just
used
numerous the
how computers satisfy physical constraints to
nature and formation of black holes. To
simulate reality, i.e. if force is applied to part
virtually conduct experiments as well as to
of
accurately portray the universe, a simulation
accelerate.However, simulations, as to make
requires
our predictions rely on the notion that our
our
several
by
current
theories
laws
of
on
physics
to
a
ball,
the
physical laws and equations to predict an
correct.
outcome. Say for example, that a ball is in a
example with the ball, if we were to believe
vacuum 10m above the surface of Earth, by
that a = Fm or any other false notion, our
using the fundamental equations of motion
prediction of how the ball would fall would
we may deduce the exact moment that the
be wrong. Similarly, if the fundamental laws
ball will hit the ground. It is thousands of
of physics within a simulation are incorrect,
calculative
then the simulation would no longer be an
make
up
used
the
in
complex
the
such
as
physics
field
this
that
simulations
today.
Similarly,
accurate
us
return
portrayal
computational
laws
of
to
our
physics
of
must
understanding
predictions
the
ball
compute an output. Given a scenario, it uses
Let
of
entire
physics
the
is
previous
reality. Overall
relies
on
both
a
computational physics need not always be
mastery of physical laws and the ability to
computerized,
efficiently
have
the
and
more
it
just
often
exceptional
is
as
and
they
faster
translate
algorithm.Lastly,
those
laws
the
into
question
an of
calculative ability. Another necessary
computational physics ultimately boils down
calculative
to
procedure
is
constraints. A
constraint
condition
must
that
be
the is
use
essentially
satisfied
for
of a our
the
universe. That
we
the
particles
of
restraints
is
in
the
game
are
aware
Sudoku. In the game a player must fill a 9x9
given
square
attributes,
grid
with
numbers
from
1-9
while
following certain constraints, i.e. the same
is,
are
nature
there
of
fixed
our
physical
laws that govern our universe whether or not
simulation to hold true. A typical example of use
deterministic
in
of
the
closed
momentum then
them? If
is
and there
there
system
both
other only
are
one
two with
physical possible
way for them to react?
number may not appear twice in a row.
photon august'19 | p. 15
61 .p | 91'tsuguA notohp
ARTICLES
In a deterministic universe, yes, as there are
The
constraints as to how particles may respond,
therefore, be though to be the creation of a
and
Laplace’s Demon. This goal will allow us to
immutable
energy,
or
laws
as
anything
to
how
computational
physics
may,
accurately predict and model everything in
electrons must always repel each other). If
our universe, from the mitosis of cells to the
such is the case, then in any closed system
nature
with a finite number of particles, each with
precisely what will happen on a subatomic
fixed
level.
attributes,
behaves
of
(i.e.
physical
else
matter,
goal
there
should
only
of
Supernova
So,
conclusion,
if
you
know
house, pick up a book on Philosophy.
laws
governing
the
without
can
explore
specific
galaxy
we
be one outcome. Therefore, if we were to the
the
in
as
know
want
leaving
to the
universe, we should be able to predict the future. If we were to know the exact physical attributes of every particle in a human brain, then
we
can
react. And reactions,
as this
predict our
how
they
thoughts
are
implies
that
also
shall
chemical we
can
predict what the brain shall think. This also boils down the concept of randomness to us, not knowing the physical attributes and laws of a system. For example, it is already well known that when the exact conditions of a coinflip
are
known,
we
may
accurately
predict the outcome of the flip. So, what if we
were
to
significant
apply
scenarios,
predict/simulate create
our
this
logic
could
the
we
entire
Matrix?This
is
to
more
one
day
universe
the
exact
or
idea
presented by famous French mathematician and
physicist
Pierre-Simon
Laplace. In
his
thought experiment of Laplace’s Demon, a Laplace’s Demon is an entity that knows both the
specific
physical
laws
governing
the
universe and the exact physical attributes of every
particle
able
to
present. The
predict
every
Demon
event
is
that
then may
subsequently occur, basically predicting the future.
photon august'19 | p. 16
By Rishi S Papani
ARTICLES
STATES OF MATTER Classical states:
·
Photonic matter: in some rare conditions
Solid: the particles are very close together,
called quantum nonlinear media, photons-
and the solids have a definite shape and
the
particles
volume.
are
massless,
Liquid: the particles are more loosely held than
that
of
solids,
and
they
have
definite volume but no definite shape.
a
·
that
make
and
up
usually
light
don’t
waves, interact
with each other- can behave as if they had mass, and interact with each other, and can form photonic “molecules”.Think
Gas: the particles are very loosely held and
of the photonic matter like the matter that
they have no definite shape or volume.
makes
Plasma: they are hot ionized gases, but are
not
called
gases
because
they
can
aren’t
up
lightsabers.
really
sure
if
Except
it
can
scientists
decapitate
people yet.
self-generate magnetic fields and electric
Quantum matter: it gives rise to electricity,
currents, unlike gases.
something called “quantized Hall voltage”. A
Modern states: Excitonium:
·
the
quantum
spin
Hall
state
(currently
theoretical, but who knows what it could state
where
an
electron
be
in
the
future?)
the
devices
that
development
in
lose less energy and heat up less. That
atom,
but
isn’t)
tend
to
stay
in
a
localized region and are attracted to each
means
other by electrostatic forces.
and
Degenerate matter: a highly dense state of
emission of heat.
fermionic
Bose-Einstein
matter
(fermions
include
the
longer
electronic
allow
and a hole (a place an electron could be an
of
may
lives
basically
all
for
phones,
electronics,
condensate:
laptops
with
This
is
less
a
low
particles that makes up protons, neutrons
energy phase that is not present in nature,
and electrons- quarks and leptons) where
because it needs a temperature very close
particles must have really high states of
to zero Kelvin- absolute zero. The phase
kinetic energy and are under really high
occurs
pressure.This matter can be found in white
(particles
dwarf stars and neutron stars.
above] like photons and gluons) all inhabit the
when
same
a
that
large
number
aren’t
quantum
of
bosons
fermions
state
and
[look
basically
become one single wave or particle.
By Shristi Kulkarni
photon august'19 | p. 17
ARTICLES
NEED FOR SPEED Particle physics, or high energy physics,
But that all might change sooner than we
concerns itself with the interaction and
think.
behaviour
Scientists
particles energy.
of
the
that The
smallest
constitute
current
detectable matter
Standard
and
Model
in
recently
at
MIT,
tested
technology
new
that
machine
could
CERN
learning
revolutionize
the
method
made
compilation at the Large Hadron Collider.
of
24
elementary,
irreducible
data
and
particle physics holds that all matter is up
of
Fermilab,
The
their respective anti-particles). However,
collisions per second and parsing through
while the Standard Model is the currently
all
dominant
collisions
in
particle
physics,
its
the
initiates
data is
about
collected
without
proved.Â
sophisticated
technology.
sets
become
larger
the
necessity
case
can
be
made
that
particle
physics has one of the biggest knowledge gaps of all branches of modern physics, which
is
urgency step
why to
there
close
towards
this
is
an
gap.
this
increasing
One
goal
crucial
was
the
construction of the Large Hadron Collider, which
has
been
breakthroughs
in
the
instrumental field,
one
of
in the
either
analysis
million
from
these
incomprehensibly
mechanisms have not been conclusively
The
40
and
particles called fermions (12 particles and
theory
collider
computation
powerful
of
is
tough
computers
and
Now, more
as
data
complex,
improvements
becoming
or
in
data
evident.
This
machine learning system is an important step
in
the
direction
of
boosting
computing power to isolate data sets of collisions
that
could
potentially
be
of
interest to scientists. Compared
to
existing
methods,
this
machine learning tech boosts processing
most notable ones being the confirmation
speeds
of
Boson,
methods can process 1 image per second,
often referred to as the ‘God Particle’, in
the new technology can go through 600
2012.
in
the
properties
Due
demand
to
for
of
the
the
the
Higgs
immense
use
of
the
utility
and
collider,
it
produces massive amounts of data, which under current computing standards takes excruciatingly
long
to
evaluate.
photon august'19 | p. 18
analyze
and
the
up
to
same
developed
175
time.
by
times.
The
teaching
While
current
technology the
was
system
to
identify a specific post-collision pattern that indicated the presence of top quarks, one of the 24 fermions of the standard model.
ARTICLES
PARTICLE PHYSICS The success of this technology bodes well for
particle
physicists,
as
it
will
Answers to the puzzles from the last edition
significantly decrease the time it takes for the data of relevant particle collisions to be
isolated,
especially
considering
the
upgrades that the LHC is undergoing. It is currently shut down for upgrades and will be
reopened,
tentatively,
in
spring
Answer 1 Twenty
steps
because
the
are
ladder
still
above
and
boat
water,
both
rise
with the tide.
of
2021, when it will resume operation. As a result
of
currently
the
enhancements
being
made,
the
that
LHC
are
will
be
producing even more data than it already does.
By
some
estimates,
it
will
be
producing 20 times as much data as early as 2026. Additionally, the images that will be
taken
after
extremely
high
upgrades resolution,
will
have
which
only
makes matters worse on the computing front,
but
makes
them
undeniably
more
Answer 2 Student
B
is
correct.
The
blocks
will
experience the same retarding force due to friction. We specified that the blocks slide at constant speed, so, as they aren't accelerating, the net force on each block as it slides is zero. The contact area must support the same weight in both cases, so the normal force is the same for both, and so are the forces due to friction.
exciting on the physical one. By the estimates of some scientists and engineers, the LHC will require at least 10 times
as
much
computing
power
as
it
already possesses for it to function at an acceptable
pace.
The
development
of
new machine learning technology like this is a massive achievement for both particle physics
and
indication
computing
that
machine
and
is
a
learning
clear is
way to go for data analysis at the LHC.
the
By Yash Panjwani
photon august'19 | p. 19
Microwaves ubiquitous might
TO N TO WR P ITE R
are
among
appliances
take
MICROWAVE'S MICROWAVES
PHO
ARTICLES
them
for
the
ever
made.
granted
reheat
yesterday’s
leftovers,
truly
a
remarkable
feat
Ever
wonder
how
they
most
of
You
while
but
you
they’re
engineering.
work
and
make
things hot so fast? Ever wonder why they
The
waves
used
in
a
microwave
are
standing waves because if they weren’t, they
would
themselves
reflect in
and
interfere
unnecessarily
with
complicated
ways. This property of the radiation used in microwaves can be used to find out the
almost blow up when you forget to take
wavelength
the tin foil off your food? Do you want to
microwave. Place a tray of cheese in the
know how to measure the wavelength of microwave
radiations
using
cheese?
If
you do, then read on.
The
critical
of
radiation
found
in
a
microwave. Keep the plate on top a cup so the dish doesn’t rotate. After heating the cheese for a while, you should notice
difference
between
a
that it has some uncooked spots on it. This
microwave and any other heating device
is
is the microwave is able to heat a body
microwaves
evenly simultaneously. Whereas an oven,
nodes and antinodes. Antinodes are areas
for example, would have to heat an entity from outside to inside, the microwave is able to heat up the body inside and out at the same time. This is because of the
because use
the to
standing heat
up
waves
things
has
of maximum energy, so the most heating occurs at these locations whereas nodes are areas of minimum energy, so the least
bodies.
heating occurs there. Taking the distance
Microwaves, as the name suggests, emit
between two uncooked spots of cheese
microwave
can
unique
way
microwaves
radiation.
microwave
radiation
electromagnetic
that
nothing
but
radiation, field
directions.
Microwaves
Given is
electromagnetic
changing
heat
can
is
its
continuously
Keep
this
only
heat
in
mind. bodies
allow
you
to
find
the
distance
between two nodes of the waves in the microwave, and so you can find out the frequency and wavelength of microwaves this way. This unevenness in heating due
because
to the nature of standing waves is why
water is a polar molecule. When water
microwaves have turntables. The rotating
containing
moisture.
This
is
molecules are placed in the continually changing
electromagnetic
fields,
their
extreme natures cause them to rock back and
forth
molecular
rapidly
friction
thereby
which
body in the microwave.
photon august'19 | p. 20
heats
causing up
the
motion spreads the heat evenly.
HOW DO MICROWAVES WORK? How
do
microwaves
the
Now, with all this out of the way, why does
radiation required to heat up things up?
keeping metal in a microwave cause it to
The answer to that is the magnetron. The
spark?
magnetron consists of a solid metal rod
held in the microwave. It’s only metal with
acting as the cathode surrounded by a
sharp edges. Metals contain free mobile
ring-shaped
electrons
anode.
produce
ARTICLES
Between
these
two
Well,
not
all
(which
metal
is
why
they
conduct
electricity).
When
is passed through the cathode, it heats
microwave,
the
up. When it is hot enough, the electrons
electrons to move around. When the metal
“boil” off and move across the vacuum to
has sharp edges, electrons crowd around
the positive anode. This entire apparatus
these points, and if the concentration of
is placed under a magnetic field created
electrons increases enough, the electrons
by two magnetic that surround the system.
discharge
This magnetic field causes the electrons
which
to spiral in the circular space between the
you can keep spoons in the microwave,
cathode and anode. The anode produces
but
grooves along its inner surface. So, when
edges. Now, that’s how microwaves work.
electrons spiral around the cavity, they hit
Think
the slots periodically. When the electrons
engineering going on the next time you
are in contact with a part of the anode,
reheat your food. Come again next time
that
to find out more about the science behind
part
of
negatively created
the
anode
charged.
between
elements
of
the
it
becomes
Hence, and
anode.
a
more
more
field
is
causes
not
radiation
the
lower
sparks.
forks.
about
are
when
components is a vacuum. When electricity
into
they
sparks
This
Forks
all
the
kept
causes
in
the
these
potential is
the
have
physics
air,
reason
sharp
and
everyday appliances.
positive
However,
as
electron spiral is continuously moving the location of the more negatively charged areas is also always changing, and so by extension the electric fields between the grooves are ever changing. The rate at which they are changing is designed to created
microwaves
of
the
desired
frequency.
By Rithvik Chandra Papani
photon august'19 | p. 21
ARTICLES
WHAT ARE MAGNETARS AND Side
note
‘science
-
If
you
books’,
guys
you
read
a
should
lot
of
already
It’s all this degeneracy pressure that causes the blast “that puts the super in supernova”.
understand the book reference I’ve made — apologies for more to come.
Now, if this pressure is too high, we get a black hole. But that’s not what we want to
Neutron stars are a variant of dead stars.
talk about.
When a ginormous (like eight times bigger than the Sun) star is dying because it runs
Now back to the Neutron star is a city-sized
out
ball made up of atomic nuclei that spins. For
of
fuel
in
its
core,
it
momentarily
countenances Gravity to win and make the
more
star’s core crush itself, tenser and tighter.
(There’s
With unimaginable amounts of pressure, the
make yourself aware of)
helium
present
starts
to
fuse,
on
Neutron a
nice
stars,
Pasta
head
to
analogy
Wikipedia. you
should
combing
oxygen and carbon until it too, runs out.
Now
the
about
spinning.
These
stars
spin
That marks the official end of the fusion
about a few hundred times in one second.
process in a regular star such as our own Sun.
However,
the
said
ginormous
stars
Let that sink in.
keep collapsing, rising up the periodic table with exceedingly intense and brief reaction
With all this complicated stuff, we have pretty
phases,
insane
up
till
nickel
unyielding
chunk
formed
the
of
iron.
nickel
and
iron
is
too,
due
to
fields
lurking
around
these
protons
and
stars weird
level. Yes, despite the name, neutron stars
lot
also
star
residue the
fact
without
magnetic
material left to react with. But there’s still a
and
core,
now
properties of physics due to densities of that
of
stellar
This
any
core,
in
and
around, that
crushing
no
fusion
the now
have
magnetic
fields.
I
mean,
guys,
these things are DENSE. No joke. Like really
releases energy means that there is nothing
dense.
left to resist the collapse.
sometimes even light falls into orbit around a
The
Gravity
is
so
strong
that
Neutron star. So, collapsing happens — a lot of it. The iron
and
nickel
nuclei
(yes,
nuclei.
Atoms
All
of
us
know
the
more
you
squeeze
a
are long gone) break apart. Electrons get
magnet, the denser it becomes, and the field
shoved into protons, transforming them into
gets stringer. Now think about that on a scale
neutrons,
of
and
“the
neutrons…
stay
neutrons.”
a
Neutron
Moreover,
there
star are
squished more
level
dense.
complex
physics
reactions going on inside, so that adds to the There’s a lot more collapsing that happens, and we are, in the end, left with a ball of neutrons.
photon august'19 | p. 22
magnetic field.
ARTICLES
WHY WE SHOULD ALL CARE Just to put into perspective how strong that
but
is:
molecular structure. In the words of Mr Paul
it
will
just
disintegrate
your
entire
Earth’s Magnetic field – 1 Gauss
Sutter, “In a magnetar’s field, you just kind
Sun’s Magnetic field – a few hundred Gauss
of…dissolve”.
(varies on the location from the surface) MRI – 10,000 Gauss
Lucky
for
us,
Magnetars
have
a
relatively
A Neutron star – A Trillion with a capital T
short life span of about 10,000 years. Then
Gauss
they just retire long-term to being our friendly neighbourhood Neutron star.
Finally,
we
have
now
reached
the
Magnetars.
Why
should
almost
you
certainly
care?
Recently,
witnessed
a
we
have
black
hole
As the name suggests, it’s an even more
swallow a Neutron star. We don’t really know
magnetic
A
a whole lot about what goes inside one of
version
Quadrillion
of
the
Gauss.
Neutron
1,000
those and why what happens and the way it
Trillion times stronger than the field we exist
does. Not only is this a leap for gravitational
in. This very easily makes them producers of
waves related study, but this discovery may
the
also allow us to look into what exactly goes
Strongest
That’s
star.
about
Magnetic
Field
in
the
Universe.
into the making of a Neutron star and why it
These fields are strong enough to destroy
turns
the
“natural”
forms
of
interesting, we might even learn more about
The
charges
in
atom
an
atoms
completely.
respond
to
the
field, just because of the sheer strength of
out
the
way
it
does.
What’s
more
black holes! So it’s better if you knew the basics.
it. They stretch into needle-thin rods as their proximity
to
a
Magnetar
increases.
With
atoms all haywire, it means that just about all
chemistry,
our
brilliant
teachers
Nonetheless,
I
think
Magnetars
are
pretty
cool.
have
taught us fails. These fields can activate enormous blasts of high-intensity radiation. They don’t sound too friendly.
Let’s
say
you
were
to
go
close
to
a
Magnetar, say about 1,000 km. The field is so
strong
with
bioelectricity
will
not
(make
only
disrupt
nerve
your
impulses
“hilariously” useless),
By Dhruvi Hiren Parekh
photon august'19 | p. 23
The Physics of
To celebrate the highest grossing movie of all time, Avengers: Endgame (after the re-release), we decided to dedicate our cover story to exploring the physics behind some of our favourite superheroes from the MCU. Since, we can't possibly cover all of them, a few have been chosen based on their relevance with physics. Enjoy!
photon august'19 | p. 24
photon august'19 | p. 25
Ant-Man by Aditya Gaur
According to the origin story in Ant-Man, the
Let’s try the other possibility, where the mass
suit reduces the separation between atoms.
scales with your size. You will weigh around
This
separation
mass
remains
means the
that
same.
the
amount
of
0.03 grams, resulting in you flying away with
density
is
winds from human breath. Also, at the scale
Since
mass/volume, a drastic decrease in volume
of
will make you very dense, about 150,000x the
viscous, so being stuck in a drop of water will
density
be like being in chocolate syrup (except for
of
Osmium. white
the
This
dwarf
densest
density (a
star
is
element on
that
a is
on
scale so
earth,
ants,
fluids
will
act
21,000
times
more
with
a
the chocolate). However, you will be able to
dense,
it
walk on water since the surface tension will
collapses in on itself due to gravity). And all
be
the
gravitational
breaking. There is another upside; you will be
acceleration/area) exerted due to this great
very fast, thanks to the Froude number. The
mass on an area as small as a pixel on the
Froude
screen you might be reading this on, will be
force required to make your leg swing divided
way too much for your legs to handle. The
by your weight. By shrinking yourself down and
very few materials on earth like diamond and
keeping your Froude number fixed, you will
carbon fibre will be able to bear such high
take 12 times more steps than usual, and your
pressure.Along with this, the vocal cords on
strides being 66% bigger, will make you 20
this scale will be much smaller, causing the
times faster than average.
pressure
(=
Mass
x
able
to
number
support
is
equal
to
you
the
vibrations having much shorter wavelengths. Since
frequency
frequency
of
=
your
speed/wavelength, voice
will
be
very
the high
(about 12-26 kHz as compared to the regular 85-180Hz), meaning it will be too high pitched for anyone to comprehend, which won’t really matter, since your body will get crushed due to its inability to support its weight.
Click for an interesting video about this
photon august'19 | p. 26
without
centripetal
Captain America by Hari Choudhari
Steve
Rogers,
has
Now, what happens when the shield hits a
been holding off bad guys with his vibranium
poor pawn of whatever evil force is trying to
shield since the Second World War, and he’s
stop
had a pretty good track record with it. I mean,
anticlimactic
it even stopped Mjolnir in its tracks. But that
recipient is likely to suffer only bruises and
shield
some
isn’t
aka
just
a
“Captain
defensive
America”,
weapon:
Cap
Cap
this
time
answer
seriously
hurt
around? is:
pride,
not
as
Well,
the
much.
The
its
force
is
chucks it around almost as often, bouncing it
equivalent to that exerted by a professional
off floors and walls and slicing robots in half.
boxer’s punch. Nevertheless, if that blunt rim
But just how good is his shield at being an
of the shield hits a dude in the head, there’s a
offensive
good
weapon?
Let’s
examine
two
chance
he’s
not
waking
up
for
the
aspects: how the shield bounces off things,
foreseeable future.
and what happens when a minor “bad guy”
So, that’s the physics behind what happens
extra gets whacked by it.
when the Captain throws his shield. Though
When objects collide with other objects, their kinetic energy has to be converted into some other form, as the total amount of energy in a collision remains constant by the law of conservation of energy. This can be heat or sound, but there is little evidence of this in actual movie scenarios. The only alternative is that the kinetic energy is transferred into elastic potential energy, which then changes back into kinetic energy – this is the process which causes objects to bounce. The degree to which a substance will bounce this way is determined by its Coefficient of Restitution (COR). Most metals are quite elastic until a point at which they deform too much, and this point is reached at as low as 0.1 metres per second. However, the Vibranium used in the shield has an extremely high yield strength, dramatically increasing the COR and causing the shield to bounce at high speeds.
we won’t be able to see him in action in any upcoming movies (Rest in Peace), we hope that you have a better understanding of how the First Avenger kicks butt. If you would like to know more, please refer to the videos in the links below.
photon august'19 | p. 27
I AM IRON MAN Is Iron Man’s Suit Possible in Real Life?
With a dramatic conclusion of The Infinity Saga (the first twenty-three movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) with Avengers Endgame, we bid adieu to various childhood heroes, including the likes of Captain America and Iron Man. Moreover, throughout all the emotional responses that sprang up after the conclusion, fans of the MCU couldn't help but reflect back at the 11 years of wonder and excitement that the saga gifted them. Along with all the superhero actions and drama that these movies brought along, however, a fair share of science fiction ideas were unravelled. Magnetic levitation, vibration absorbent metals, time travel, advanced artificial intelligence were all fascinating scientific ideas that were present in the movies, but, personally, the most engaging of the concepts was incidentally the first concept: Tony Stark's suit. Since the release of the first iron man movie, various arguments related to the feasibility of an Iron Man's suit have been taken up. Intrigued, I decided to write a small article on the feasibility of an Iron Man's suit in real life, in terms of physics only.
photon august'19 | p. 28
photon august'19 | p. 29
First off, to keep things simple, I focused on
Unless a system of inertia damping emerged,
the Iron Man's suit used in 'The Avengers', the
there would be no way a person can fly in
Mark 7. The suit could be categorized into
such a suit. In terms of material, iron man's
having
exoskeleton would be most likely made out of
flight,
different
aspects:
the
weapons,
artificial
intelligence
finally,
the
power
source
exoskeleton,
(mainly
the
and
a nickel-titanium alloy called Nitinol. Nitinol is
arc
light enough not to weigh Iron Man down as
reactor). We
he's flying around in the sky, and it can be
have,
man
reformed after sustaining damage. As for the
for
design of the suit, far more complex designs
humans. He has gone deep into oceans, flown
exist today, so it would be easier to design it,
into
considering advancements in 3D printing and
survive
countless
in
non-suitable
space
objects,
times,
and
with
damage,
been
Stark
almost
seen
iron
environments,
crushed
with
escaping
every
various
with
time.
minimal
Hence,
the
design processes. Iron man's thrusters enable him to fly around
properties of the exoskeleton must include a
freely,
feature of creating atmospheric pressure for
direction. The jet pack is the closest thing in
the man inside, as well as being exceptionally
real-world
strong
Stark's
Powered by compressed gases or turbojets,
armour must function as a full-pressure space
the simple principle of Newton's Third Law of
suit -- regulating oxygen, temperature and air
Motion,
pressure. Such environmental suits have been
opposite
in
physics
and
durable.
development
In
as
other
early
words,
as
the
1930s.
in
any
angle
science
"Every
in
to
relation
Iron
action
reaction" behind
Man's
has
an
presents
the
to
working
gravity's
thrusters.
equal
itself of
as
and the
jetpacks.
However, the oxygen tanks associated roughly
Meanwhile, in order for an Iron Man suit to
estimate to about 14 to 18 pounds, too heavy
either levitate above the ground or fly, it must
for flight, especially considering long hours.
conserve momentum. It must eject a mass at a
Meanwhile,
velocity such that its own mass will achieve
already
the
been
researchers
at
Technology
are
spacesuit
problem solved:
In
working to
related
on
be
spaceship.
Countermeasure
pressure
Massachusetts
designed
pressurized
of
a
some
other
velocity.
A
very
heavy
rocket
of
slowly moves away from the Earth by expelling
skin-tight
propellant at very high velocity. It takes a lot
in
Gravity
Spacesuit
news,
Institute
worn
The
has
inside
a
of propellant to do this, so we build rockets to
Loading
have stages, so they can also shed the mass
(GLCS)
is
of
propellant
tanks
once
those
tanks
are
designed to put pressure on the bones in an
empty. Hence, if we ever produce a functional
approximation of Earth's gravity. In spite of
Iron Man, that first-generation Iron Man will
such technologies, the exoskeleton would be
move quite slowly and have to stop to refuel
near
or recharge very often.
impossible,
inertia.
The
thanks
to
sudden
the
effect
acceleration
of or
deceleration while flying in the suit would be completely
unsuitable
for
inside.
photon august'19 | p. 30
human
beings
Next,
and
the
most
the
There comes into being, as a result of this
weapons Iron Man's suit possesses. One of the
reaction, a difference in mass of the products
key
its
and
reactants.
of
the
groundbreaking
components
repulsor
of
beams,
interesting
the
Iron
and
so
Man
that's
far,
suit
a
is
kind
This
gets
explained
equation
through
of
Einstein,
technology we may not have anything like for
E=mc2. However, the conditions for nuclear
a very long time (if ever). The repulsors are
fusion to take place are more than 1,000,000
units connected to the power source, to get
Kelvin and 1,000,000 Pascals. Such extreme
their energy, and it can be used as a flight
conditions cannot be generated in any place
source
on the Earth's crust, and definitely not on an
function
as
well
is
as
a
weapon.
propulsion.
The
Its
primary
repulsor
style
of
exoskeleton
of
a
person.
Furthermore,
the
energy is created by taking excess electrons
number of byproducts which would form, and
and
the
turning
them
into
muons
which
can
amount
of
heat
and
light
energy
penetrate deep into the atomic matter, are
produced, would almost surely result in energy
then fed to the hands and chest piece of any
distribution,
iron man suit. The suit then can generate the
Hydrogen bombs, whenever the reactor would
powerful blasts by generating plasma through
be made use of.
an electric current and firing the plasma and
Therefore, to finally answer the question, the
muons,
current
technology
useless
in
by
properties.
utilizing
their
However,
one
electromagnetic of
the
greatest
similar
to
we
relation
to
present-day
possess the
Iron
Man's
be suit.
based on the movie adaptations, would turn
trying
out to be inertia-less generators. Missiles are
between
something very common to today's world but
some
are still heavy enough to prevent the ability to
exoskeleton with regulated pressure, jetpacks
fly to a large extent (providing excess weight).
that
The
weapons,
power
source
that
is
minimize the
cases,
assist
are
and
the
flying,
technology the
latter,
development
and
succeeding.
small
but
However,
and
in
of
an
deadly taking
energy
to develop. It is a tiny device that creates
requirements and the concepts of inertia and
power and supplies energy on a magnitude
momentum deem it nearly impossible to make
unheard
such a suit.
answer
the
questions
the
movies
raised
on
try
the
to
consideration,
the
the
gap
most complicated and the hardest technology
into
question:
is
the
Obviously,
important
underway
present at the heart of the suit is by far the
of.
most
in
the
former like
research
would
However, to
current
of
physical flaws here is that the repulsors, solely
self-sustaining
the
that
source
arc
of
reactor's
arc
reactor by playing on the concept of nuclear fusion.
In
hydrogen,
nuclear is
fusion,
converted
into
matter, helium,
mainly through
literal fusion with another hydrogen atom or molecule.
Pratyush Sahu
photon august'19 | p. 31
Gravity. It's a downer. Sir Isaac Newton was sitting under a tree one fine day, trying to figure out how gravity works.
AND THEN IT HIT HIM
JOKES! compiled by Shrishti Kulkarni and Pulkit Dalmia
A neut r and asksro,n"Hwaowlksminuctoh afoba r a ink?" The bartedr nder replies, "For you, no charge." photon august'19 | p. 32
Status Update SNAPSHOTS:
Abhimanyu Ramesh Sathya Grade 12
LIGO, Virgo and other gravitational wave detectors may be the key to unlocking the nature of Dark Matter. A recent study by a team of Japanese researchers suggests that the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that collide with the mirror + interferometer in a gravitational wave generator could excite them. The data could then be used to detect how detectability of such an interaction. If a method for isolating dark matter signals is developed, new generation GW wave detectors, with their higher sensitivity, could be used to unravel the nature of Dark Matter, which in turn, could enlighten us to the shadowy parts of the Universe’s past, present and future.
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Aryan Gupta Grade 12
Particle physicists will be holding their breath in March, when the Japanese government is expected to announce whether it will host the International Linear Collider (ILC). Over a decade in the making, the ILC is pegged as the successor to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). By colliding electrons with positrons, the 20 km linear collider is designed to study the Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012, in unprecedented detail. A verdict to build the ILC in Japan was expected in December 2018, but the Japanese government postponed a decision late last year for further deliberations. You and 407 people liked this. Leave a comment...
photon august'19 | p. 33
Congratulations to HARI KRISHAN CHOUDHARI GRADE
12C,
TISB
for writing the best submission of Photon#1 May 2019 GALILEO'S
CRUCIFIX
as voted by our readers PHOTON TOP WRITER
Click here to view the top 5 on Medium
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photon august'19 | p. 35
WERNER HEISENBERG
NOT ONLY IS THE UNIVERSE STRANGER THAN WE THINK, IT IS STRANGER THAN WE CAN THINK
editorial board co-founder & editor-in-chief co-founder head of creative design head of marketing head of human resources head of content management correspondents proofreader special thanks
aditya gaur aryan gupta pulkit dalmia nishk sewani hari krishan choudhari rithvik papani shrishti pankaj kulkarni akshath dhama mr. ajay shukla