REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Something Deeply Hidden (Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime

By: Sean Carroll

Narrated by Sean Carroll

Carroll touches on the theoretical history of Quantum Mechanics.  He notes the fundamental objection to Quantum Mechanics raised by Einstein and his followers.

The many experiments on Quantum Mechanics have proven its validity as a theory of time, space, and motion in the sub-atomic world. 

His answer is to acknowledge its truth by adhering to the Schrodinger equation which insists that a cat in a box is both dead and alive.  Carroll argues that scientists waste their time challenging Schrodinger’s equation.  Carroll suggests the cat in the box is both dead (actually Carroll prefers asleep) and alive.

Carroll argues that probability is an essential ingredient of Quantum Mechanics but he explains it is not the “probability” often understood by the public.  Carroll’s view of probability is in knowing our human limitation of not being able to look at nature outside of what we understand as nature.

What Carroll suggests is other worlds are created because of the nature of Quantum Fields that are the essence of everything that exists in the universe.

Carroll explains particle physics were once considered the holy grail of understanding nature.  Now, there is wide recognition that fields; not particles, are the building blocks of nature.  Every particle vibrates like a string and emits a wave that permeates all space; including a vacuum where no particles exist. 

Carroll’s books are excellent physics primers for non-scientists because they reduce science complexity to understandable examples; at least most of the time.  (Space-time remains a mystery to me; even with Carroll’s valiant effort to explain it.) He may not be right about everything he explains, and a listener/readers’ interpretation of his writing may be wrong, but Carroll’s explanations are fascinating. 

Feynman is said to have had the ability to explain the complexity of physics to the non-scientist. Carroll is today’s Feynman.  

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Great Courses Lecture Series

Chemistry and Our Universe

Presented by Ron B. Davis Jr., Ph.D. Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry Georgetown University

Davis’s lectures are well done.  Davis provides a lot of information with a summary of what has been said at the end of each lecture.  His lectures offer interesting facts about chemistry, the world’s origin; its survival, and hopeful continuation.  Where it loses some of its utility for a non-chemist is in calculations for chemical reaction, equilibration, and energy expenditure.  Not that these calculations are not important, but they become too detailed for the merely curious.

The role of atoms in chemistry is explained at the sub-atomic level of neutrons, protons, and energy producing electrons.

On the 7^th lecture, Davis notes the fascinating history and utility of the periodic table.  As of 2002, the known elements on the periodic table come to 118. Over 90 of those elements are naturally occurring.  They are organized in the periodic table by number of protons (atomic number) in each nucleus with hydrogen being first (no. 1) and oganesson (a synthetic chemical) being the last (no. 118).

Davis explains the importance of the periodic table by their grouping.  The groups are vertically and horizontally organized with each family of atoms beginning in a line from left to right and in columns from top to bottom.

The horizontal line reflects one of seven periods. Each atom in these periods has the same number of electron shells (aka orbitals) constituting the same energy level.  To a degree, the horizontal rows share the same chemical characteristics. 

The vertical rows begin with hydrogen and are generally classified as groups.  The first group is classified as Alkali metals.  The far right which is row 18 are called noble gasses; beginning with helium. 

Elements in the same family (the vertical row) have the same electron configuration in their outer shell.  A shell is what is called a valence shell, an orbiting electron around a nucleus.  Elements in the same family tend to have a shared chemistry. 

Davis notes that the vertical orientation of the periodic table indicates electrons get farther from the nucleus as you go down the table.  The effect is to lower ionization energy as you go down the group; making electrons more easily released to other atoms.  However, Davis notes this is not an iron clad rule; i.e. there are exceptions. 

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima were uncontrolled fission events that destroyed buildings and contaminated the environment. To date, fission has been found to be a viable source of energy but admittedly dangerous, and in disasters, highly polluting.

However, fusion has not been achieved because of the high energy demand (heat) required to compel atoms to fuse.  Only the heat of the sun has successfully produced fusion. The hope is that a method of cold fusion will be discovered.  The fundamental point made by Davis is that the production of nuclear energy is all chemistry.

In the next lectures, Davis addresses polymers, medicinal chemistry, poisons, chemical weapons, fuels, and explosives. 

He also notes chemistry is used to directly attack or fool human cancers that invade human DNA.  These compounds have the potential for curing cancer.

Poisons are next.  Davis notes that poisons have been around since the beginning of recorded history.  He explains there are three classifications for this category of chemicals; e.g. poisons, toxins, and venoms.

Poisons are substances that cause death, injury, or harm at a molecular level.  The key to their effect is dosage.  Toxins are substances produced within living cells that are contracted by touching or ingesting plants, or by contact with animals carrying microorganisms that cause disease. Davis explains venoms are secretions produced by animal’ or insect’ predators for defense or predation.

Fuels are lightly touched on by Davis with an examination of the discovery of fire; beginning with wood and progressing through other carbon-based materials. 

War is noted as impetus for the weaponization of chemicals, and explosives.  A listener is introduced to Fritz Haber, a Jewish German genius that introduced chlorine gas (phosgene) to WWI.  Haber became known as the father of chemical warfare. 

Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist invented and patented dynamite. However, Davis notes high explosives were first discovered by Christian Schonbein in 1846. Schonbein’s discovery, like many chemical discoveries noted by Davis, is accidentally found when Schonbein spills hydrochloric acid in his lab and wipes it up with cloth apron.  He puts the apron next to a stove to dry it out and it bursts into flame.

Gunpowder cotton is discovered with Schonbein’s accident.  The problem is that gunpowder cotton was too volatile.  It is left to Nobel to come up with a stabilizing compound for gunpowder cotton to create sticks of dynamite.  Nobel invents an igniter fuse to start the explosive potential of dynamite. Further discovery by Nobel leads to nitroglycerin and plastic explosives in the late 19^th century.

Davis ends his lectures with the chemistry of earth.  He notes how life may have begun with chemical building blocks introduced to earth from fragments of meteorites.  Meteorites are created from exploding stars.    Where water exists, he argues organic life is possible. Davis concludes–human exploration of the Universe holds hope for the future.