Weird Science

[OldBob1957]

Science acting like science fiction

From the article;

"Washington State University physicists have created a fluid with negative mass, which is exactly what it sounds like. Push it, and unlike every physical object in the world we know, it doesn't accelerate in the direction it was pushed. It accelerates backwards."

The article is here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170417095534.htm

Stuff like this just fascinates me. Add more if you've got 'em.

--OB

[Nancy OShea]

Cool.  A super fluid. 

Did you ever play with mercury when you were little?

Nancy

[Trevor.Dennis]

I've just been reading about this on the BBC News, but your link has more detail.

Physicists observe 'negative mass' - BBC News

Absolutely fascinating, and it had me dreaming about anti-gravity, which is ridiculous on the face of it, but so are the properties exhibited by Washington State's strange fluid.  It's things like this that make me wish I was really young so that I might live to see the practical applications of this sort of science.  The BBC article mentions that a temperature very close to absolute zero is needed, but I suspect that is far from the most complex hurdle to completing these experiments. 

[OldBob1957]

Actually, much of particle physics is pretty darn counterintuitive, if not ridiculous, on the face of it. And yet experiment after experiment bears it out. Before 4 July, 2012 the Higgs Boson was just a theory. About 8 months ago at CERN one experimental result showed what MIGHT (stress that word might -- it has not yet been repeated) have been the fracturing of an electron; a particle heretofore believed to be a fundamental particle not able to be split into anything.

As Isaac Asimov is purported to have said;

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'."

[Trevor.Dennis]

OldBob1957  wrote

Actually, much of particle physics is pretty darn counterintuitive, if not ridiculous, on the face of it. And yet experiment after experiment bears it out. Before 4 July, 2012 the Higgs Boson was just a theory. About 8 months ago at CERN one experimental result showed what MIGHT (stress that word might -- it has not yet been repeated) have been the fracturing of an electron; a particle heretofore believed to be a fundamental particle not able to be split into anything.

Back when our digital interactions wre through the Usenet groups via 56K modems, I had a buddy Dr Ivan D Reid who worked at CERN, and told me that his dream was to prove the Higgs Boson.  Our common interest was the uk.rec.motorcycles Usenet group, and the Ixion mailing list.  Ivan used to stay with me when in the UK, and join us on motorcycle camping trips to Wales and the English Lake District, and track days at Cadwell Park.  One of my strongest memories Ivan was helping him climb a steep slope in Wales after his fear of heights left him frozen half way up. 

OldBob1957  wrote

As Isaac Asimov is purported to have said;

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'."

It troubles me that so much science is theory born out of mathematics.  I mean where do they start, and what do they base it all on?  I guess they have a number of known states, and discover tiny discrepancies (mysteries) and set out to find more theories that resolve and make it all fit together.  I think I'll have to go ask someone to explain it on Quora. Heck, why didn't I think of that before!?

[KJerryK]

I didn't know about Quora, so I went to take a look at https://www.quora.com/topic/Relativity-physics  and came across this odd verification of a basic tenet of the theory of relativity. Paraphrasing a long statement posted in answer to the question "What's the fundamental reason why the speed of light cannot be broken?" --

Nothing can go faster than the speed of light, because if an object was going faster than the speed of light you wouldn't be able to see it.

[Trevor.Dennis]

KJerryK  wrote

I didn't know about Quora, so I went to take a look at https://www.quora.com/topic/Relativity-physics  and came across this odd verification of a basic tenet of the theory of relativity. Paraphrasing a long statement posted in answer to the question "What's the fundamental reason why the speed of light cannot be broken?" --

Nothing can go faster than the speed of light, because if an object was going faster than the speed of light you wouldn't be able to see it.

There are some real gems on Quora, and some clever people post there, but by heck you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find the princess!  I am currently trying to find a method of filtering out posts that contain the word 'atheist', or any posts about religion in general.  That's going to take out more than half of what is posted there.

[KJerryK]

I forgot to say that I totally agree with this statement of yours.

Trevor.Dennis  wrote

It troubles me that so much science is theory born out of mathematics.

[Joseph Labrecque]

This troubled Tesla back in the day as well:

"Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality."