Paradoxes

I may have used the term "paradox" in a previous post. Some of my viewers (meaning you) may wonder what on God's green Earth I'm talking about. There are many definitions of the word "paradox." One way to describe a paradox is that it is a contradictory statement. For example, "This sentence is false." It cannot be true and false at the same time, therefore it is a paradox.

Another example of the definition of "paradox" is that it is a situation with a counterintuitive outcome. One easy way to understand this is to drink a lot of water. This will cause you to become thirsty, but the exact opposite of this outcome should be happening. Using common sense, it would seem that your thirst would be quenched after drinking a large amount of water. So far, there is no explanation for this quite unusual outcome.

A third example of a paradox is "a claim that two contradictory ideas are true." One example of this is that not having a fashion sense is a fashion. Obviously, not having a fashion sense shouldn't be a fashion. There is really nothing we can do about this paradox.

One might wonder how many different definitions I can give of the word "paradox." Like I said before, there are many definitions of this word. If you have any different definitions of the word "paradox," please post them in the comments. Thank you.

Schrodinger's Cat

If you pay attention in high school science classes, you will probably hear about something called Schrodinger's cat. But if you listen even closer, you might hear what it is all about. This is not a theory, but more of a thought experiment. In a way, it can be confusing. Let me put in terms most people will understand.

Named for Erwin Schrodinger, it is often described as a paradox (a series of events that lead to a contradiction that defies logic, causing circular thinking). This paradox is a good example of something the observer effect affects.

Imagine a cat, hiding inside a sealed box with a flask of poison and a source of radioactive material. Due to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory, this means that until you look inside of the box, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. But when you look inside the box, the cat is either alive or dead. It is no longer alive and dead at the same time.

When Erwin Schrodinger was brewing this thought experiment, it was solely meant as a discussion of the EPR article, written by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. This paradox finally occurred to him in 1935. Said article was written about the oddity of quantum entanglement, which is a characteristic of a quantum state that is a combination of the states of two systems.

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The next post will be an explanation of paradoxes.

An Explanation of Astrophysical Science

There are very few people in the world that are even interested in astrophysics (also called astrophysical science). Many people say that they have no interest in science whatsoever because it's "too complicated" for them. For some, this is true. But there really are some science geniuses in the world. We see them walking their dogs, reading in the park, and shopping at the local mall. Some are astrophysicists. "What is astrophysics?," you may ask. Read on to find out.

While there are a lot of scientists in the world, we are lacking astrophysicists to explain the universe and how it works to the people out there that are curious. What we need are more people interested in the physical aspect of the Solar System, galaxies, and the other things that out there in the universe. We have a lot of people on the planet who want to know about these things, but they don't want to have to go through so many years of college to do this as their lifelong profession (it takes about 12 years to get a full PhD).

In simple terms, the universe is a never-ending mass of interesting things that have yet to be discovered by humans. It is built up of planets, moons, stars, and multitudes of galaxies. Unfortunately, most of these interesting things are light-years away. Also unfortunately, rocket scientists, NASA, and other world space programs have yet to invent an unmanned satellite that could get there without us having to wait millions of years to find out what it is out there. Plus, it would cost a lot of money to build.

The galaxies that are out there are probably some of the fascinating wonders of the universe. NASA and other space researching programs have discovered some of these using unmanned satellites that can go far distances in a short period of time (they have also done this to explore the other planets in this Solar System).

You may be asking, "How does any of this pertain to astrophysics?" That is because all of this is just the beginning of this explanation of the science of astrophysics!

Because of extensive research on physics, space, time, and the other aspects of the universe on the part of scientists, physicists, and other very important researchers, we have come to know many things about how the universe works and why it is what it is. We call this science "astrophysics," and we are continuing to explore it. Astrophysics is the study of the physics of and how things work in the universe. There are many, many branches of astrophysics, but explaining all of that would be time-consuming.

Astrophysics applies to pretty much everything in this universe. On a regular basis, we are making new discoveries and broadening our knowledge on the matter. When you look at a diagram of the Solar System, you are looking at a system that revolves around a medium-sized ball of gas that fuels practically everything inside the surrounding area. We are seeing astrophysical science at work. Knowledge on the matter of stars, planets, and other celestial beings is becoming more and more important to the global economy because science creates jobs.

I would like to see what knowledge on astrophysical sciences YOU have. In the comments below, tell me what you think of this article. I love knowing what people think of my work. The next post I publish will be about Schrodinger's Cat. Ta-ta, for now!

The Observer Effect

Hello, readers. Today, I've decided that I want to talk about the observer effect.

For those of you who do not know, the observer effect is relevant in quantum mechanics (which is also called quantum theory). The main idea of the observer effect is that when you go to observe something, the object that you are observing is changed by the manner in which you are observing it. One example of the phenomenon is checking the air pressure of your tires. It is extremely difficult to receive an accurate reading because it is difficult to do it without letting some air out of the tire.

However, the observer effect also affects thermodynamics, electronics, and particle physics. It is not exclusively used in quantum mechanics. In thermodynamics, a mercury thermometer must absorb or give up some sort of thermal energy to read body temperature, therefore changing the temperature of the body that is having its temperature measured.

In particle physics, for a electron or some other sort of atom to become a detectable particle, a particle that is the exact opposite must interact with it. In the case of an electron, the particle that must interact for it to become detectable is a photon. However, this interaction will cause the path of said particle to change. Because of this, it will interfere with the a particle physicist's detection of the electron.

In electronics, ammeters and voltmeters are wired in series or are parallel. Their presence affects the current or the voltage the two meters are measuring by presenting another load to the circuit, which will affect the transfer function or the behavior of the circuit itself. Even a passive device such as current clamp affects the current going through the circuit being measured due to the inductance being mutual.

But in quantum mechanics, the observer effect becomes much more complex and somewhat difficult to understand (Heisenberg himself didn't really understand it until further studying). A simple way to express this effect in quantum mechanics is Schrodinger's Cat, the famous thought experiment. There is a cat under a cardboard box. One is not aware if the cat is alive or dead before further observation. Until you lift up the box, the cat is alive and dead at the same time. This thought experiment is about as simple as the observer effect gets while explaining it.

There is a theory that all fictional characters are copied into an alternate universe and are real there and fictional here. Due to the observer effect, we have no simple way of proving the existence of alternate universes. Some scientists have claimed that black holes are wormholes into alternate universes (but this theory is also affected by the observer effect). The only way we could really test this theory is by sending an unmanned rocket ship into a black hole, but the rocket would cross the event horizon and would be destroyed by the black hole. Unless we figure out how to create a black hole-proof rocket ship (which would be the ultimate waste of tax dollars), we will never know if this is true.

Very few people find the observer effect, and an even smaller amount know what it is. Usually, only quantum scientists, physicists, electricians, and particle physicists find the observer effect the least bit useful. But I have a challenge for all of my readers. Try to apply the observer effect to your everyday life and post what you have applied it to in the comments below.