The Role of Private Enterprise in Putting Man into Space

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Thomas Sullivan

Has NASA, the monolithic space agency, failed in it’s quest to put man out into the cosmos. Will profit coupled with mans need to explore be the driving engine which sends man into the cosmos. Think about what has moved technology forward within the American society over the past 100 years or so. Was Orville and Wilbur Wright employed by the government. Of course not. Most of their research and development for the invention of the airplane took place within a small bike shop in western Dayton, Ohio, the birth place of aviation. Thomas Edison, who is accredited with 1,093 patents earning him the nickname “The Wizard of Menlo Park” used his own money to build the Menlo Park research labs in New Jersey. In 1889 Thomas Edison established the Edison General Electric Company. Thomas Edison is considered the most prolific inventor of our time and his inventions were created within the realm of private enterprise. Did the seed for the invention of the personal computer germinate within a government lab. The invention of the personal computer came from an assortment of various inventions and from the tinkering of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Job’s garage in an area now called Silicon Valley. Their tinkering led to the development of Apple Computers. The story of Bill Gates and the development of the Microsoft family of operating systems took place within private enterprise. The Windows family of operating systems is the most widely used on earth and has been a major player in bringing information technology to the developed world.

Examples of major technological advancement within the realm of private enterprise are numerous. Most major technological advancements within society have occurred outside the purview of government intervention. Governments were intended to govern the people. The governments role is to preserve the environment of freedom and democracy so that intellectual curiosity can flourish within this environment. The governments role is also to provide funding, and should not be in the nuts and bolts operation of putting man into space. The ingenuity of man within the realm of private enterprise has resulted in most of the technological advancements we enjoy today.

The cosmos will be explored by man operating from the base of private enterprise and the technology needed to explore the cosmos will be developed within that enterprise. Why is this so. NASA is an agency driven by fear of tragedy. More mishaps will decrease the probability of sufficient government funding. This cycle of fear, mishaps, and the hope for continual funding is one that seems to have no end. But mishaps are part of the business of putting explorers into space. What can better withstand the expected mishaps. A government agency or private enterprise. If a private enterprise fails, it’s competitor can step in to fill the gap and the engine of private enterprise can continue to push man into space. NASA is not a private enterprise competing within the world market place.

NASA is not what it used to be during the Apollo days. Given it’s current mind set and culture, it will be difficult within this framework to send man out into the cosmos as true explorers. They have given the nuts and bolts of putting man into space to private contractors. But these NASA contractors have the same NASA mind set because they are under the dominion of NASA. There is a fear of mishaps within contractors without true competition within the market place. NASA awards contracts to the lowest bidder. Does the lowest bidder provide the highest level of safety. Once a company is awarded a contract, they remain a NASA contractor for many years and simply become an extension of NASA. Therefore NASA becomes a autocratic agency with it’s arms extending outward to many companies. NASA’s manned space flight program can do no more then low earth orbit. Year after year of low earth orbit does not excite the American people. Astronauts today are no longer household names. An American president here and there will give a speech saying we are going to Mars. Even President Bush’s January 14, 2004 speech seems to have already been forgotten by the American public.

When we went to the moon this was the start of an exploration. A goal was set on May 25, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, during a speech before a Joint Session of Congress, to reach the moon before the end of the decade. NASA kicked into high gear and achieved one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of mankind. We took the first step into space and then just stopped. Since then all of the manned space missions have never gone beyond low earth orbit, and the American public becomes bored easily. To gain the American interest and support of the Apollo days, we must send true explorers out into space. NASA wants to take such small, time consuming incremental steps that by the time comes when the really exciting work begins, the American support and interest may be eroded to the point where NASA may no longer have the financial means by which to accomplish such an endeavor. Hence, the need for private enterprise to accomplish such an endeavor. If we are going to go into the cosmos, then lets do it and stop the futile activity.

A private enterprise is not a bureaucracy. If safety issues arise from qualified personnel within a bureaucracy, these issues may not resonate to the proper people within the organization. A case in point, the knowledge of a strong potential for a O-ring failure at low temperatures between the segments for the solid rocket boosters of the space shuttle, existed within the bureaucracy of NASA before the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. More specifically, this critical information in terms of probability of O-ring compromise was expressed by engineers at Morton Thiokol, the contractor for the development and production of the solid rocket boosters. This information never percolated upward from Morton Thiokol to the proper people within the NASA organization.

In private enterprise, which is non-bureaucratic by nature, a relatively small group of people are working toward a common goal. In this situation, safety issues which arise will be known by all members of the organization. Safety issues will not get lost in a bureaucracy. NASA depends on it’s contractors to deliver a high level of safety. A private enterprise depends on itself to provide a high level of safety. The structure of a private enterprise is more suited to the endeavor of sending out explorers into space. The government should award grants to the most promising companies with the understanding that the sending out of explorers into space does indeed benefit mankind.

Americans are at their best when they compete. Competition is an integral component of American society. What was the driving force that put us on the moon. It was the competition with the Russians. At the present moment in time, this type of competition does not exist. Although, it appears as if China may be a future competitor. Americans need to compete to accomplish something. It is competition which drives the advancement of technology. Why not let companies compete for government funding and let the research and development occur within these companies, and most importantly let them compete. These companies can have the same characteristics of any company that wants to produce a viable product. They will not be under contract from NASA and will operate as a separate private enterprise entity. A company can make money from space tourism and the same company can be involved in sending explorers out into space. Government grants can be awarded based on how strong the potential exists for space exploration. A company can be involved in space tourism, exploration, or can provide a research and development platform. This is the future of man’s endeavor into space.

Man will be exploring the cosmos with private enterprise being the driving engine. If one enterprise fails, one of the competing enterprises will win out. Sure there will be some disasters and risks will be taken because that is the nature of the business. But when unfortunate disasters or mishaps do occur, the private enterprise engine will not grind to a complete halt. Burt Rutan and his Scaled Composites team have taken the first steps toward this archetypical dream of exploring the cosmos, and they did it with a fraction of the budget that NASA uses and with a team of 130 or so people to boot. They won the Ansari X-Prize by sending a man into space and returning him safely to earth and then they repeated this within two weeks. An absolutely unbelievable accomplishment given the facilities and resources which were available to them. This could only occur within a society where freedom and democracy are regarded as a right to all individuals. The United States is such a society.

Burt Rutan has said that he has never worked a day in his life. He only plays. His passion for his work is what produces results. Burt Rutan and his team represent the core of what makes the United States the greatest country in the world. May be terrorist can get it through their thick heads that freedom does work. Most importantly, Scaled Composites has shown the world what private enterprise can accomplish. Even if Scaled Composite’s endeavors never go beyond earth orbit, they have taken the first step within the proper mind set and culture, and this is what will put man into the cosmos. This mind set and culture of pure unadulterated intellectual curiosity is what really will put man into the cosmos. Not NASA’s mind set of fear.

NASA has played it’s important role by lighting the torch in sending man to the moon. We are now at a point in the history of mankind where that torch should be passed to private enterprise. The developer of the Ansari X-Prize I’m sure shares my thoughts. God has placed the planets and all the stars within the universe there for a reason. It is God’s intention for us to move outward into the final frontier. We do this to fulfill the natural curiosity that God has given to us and in the process we better the lot of mankind. Lets go…

Author Bio
Thomas Sullivan, the author of this article is an IT Consultant/Search Engine Optimizer, Pilot, and Space Enthusiast. He manages the website Pilot Portal USA – Pilot Weather Briefing, Flight Schools USA, Aviation Directory. Send questions or comments to Thomas Sullivan. His email address can be found on his website.

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Aliens: Where SETI Astronomers Can Find Them

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

SETI, or Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has been an ongoing endeavor for many decades. In the early days, it was expected to be a quick success, so much so that national governments even helped fund these projects. Like the Moon race, there was something of a “find E.T.” race. All that is gone now. Government funding has virtually evaporated around the globe. The explanation is simple: no one likes a perpetual failure. The few remaining SETI efforts have to count on private funding to scrape along. Well, the objective of this article is to come to the rescue of the last of the SETI astronomers, to tell them where they can find E.T. so that they can regain the world’s respect.

That last sentence was not meant to be cynical. As noted in my article “Decoding Book Resurrects the Ancient Astronaut Theme,” author Morten St. George claims that some of the prophecies of Nostradamus are of alien origin, and that those prophecies tell us how to calculate the galactic coordinates of where E.T. came from. In a follow-up interview, I posed the following question to St. George: Do you agree that contact with intelligent aliens could be of immense importance to humankind? He agreed. Then I asked: Do you agree that this is more important than your selling a few copies of your cryptic thinking book? He agreed. This article will be a little longer and a little more technical than the others.

According to St. George, three prophetic stanzas combine to provide information about E.T.’s location. The first of these is stanza number I-81. Here, the first four words of the fourth verse are the most relevant: “Kappa, Thita, Lambda, mors.” St. George says he has an etymological dictionary that defines “mors” as the “bite of a scorpion.” Consequently, Kappa, Theta, and Lambda are the names of three stars in the tail section of the constellation Scorpius. (Note that the use of Greek letters for star names postdates Nostradamus). It’s a star arrow, and Lambda is the arrow head. Elsewhere, the prophecies name three cities to form an arrow circling around the globe; thus, St. George believes the three stars should be viewed as points on a sphere.

Where does the star arrow point? St. George says he followed the star arrow upwards on a star map and it hit or passed close to a dark cloud called Barnard 72, for which he already had other indications. So that’s the answer. E.T. came from or near Barnard 72. But we’re not done yet. We’re looking for precise coordinates.

The second stanza is numbered IV-32. According to St. George’s decoding, this stanza tells a story: Once upon a time, Triton, Pluto, and Charon formed a triple planet system with a distinct orbit around the Sun. Then one day, the aliens came along, grabbed hold of Triton, and pushed it into a retrograde orbit around the planet Neptune. In route to Neptune, Pluto and Charon hung on for a while, then broke loose and drifted off into a new orbit. When did this happen? St. George says the aliens were here in 580 A.D., so that would be his guess for the date of these planet manipulations.

I mentioned that I had read on the Internet that Pluto has been downgraded, that it is no longer considered a planet. St. George responded: “I believe that was because they found that Pluto didn’t clear away debris in its orbit. But since 580 A.D., a contemporary date in terms of solar system history, Pluto in its new orbit would have made only a handful of complete orbits around the Sun, hardly enough time to clear away much debris. In any case, the astronomers got it all wrong. What they should really be looking for is Triton’s original orbit, a cleared-out orbit with no planet in it. And I doubt that we’re talking about an orbit at the outer edges of the solar system. Triton’s original orbit may have been closer to the Sun than Neptune. They need to figure out where Triton could have been in 580 A.D., then they will know where to look for that orbit.”

Why did the aliens move Triton? A display of power? St. George remarked that the star arrow only provides longitudinal coordinates. We also need to know the latitude . The planets have to be in the right position at the right time. And the three stars too, for that matter.

The last stanza of the three stanzas is numbered IV-33. It begins: Jupiter closer to Venus than to the Moon, appearing in full whiteness. According to St. George, Earth and Jupiter would have to be pretty much on opposite sides of the Sun for this to be true, and the full Moon (more likely seen from the Alien Planet than from Earth) serves as a timer. The alignment is Alien Planet, Sun, Moon.

The next line of IV-33 goes: Venus hidden under the whiteness Neptune (discovered more than two hundred years after the death of Nostradamus). Note that there’s no “of” between whiteness and Neptune. Meanwhile, the French words following “hidden” (used elsewhere in the prophecies to cryptic ends), “soUS la bANcheUR,” allows the extraction of “Uranus.” Thus, the whiteness (partial rather than full) is Uranus, not Neptune, and we have a second alignment: Alien Planet, Uranus, Venus.

IV-33 has one more line: From Mars struck through the white granary. Since Neptune was left hanging at the end of the preceding line, it should come into play here, meaning Neptune from Mars struck through the white granary. According to St. George, the “white granary” refers to a star cluster called the Pleiades, which happens to lie at the opposite side of the sky from Barnard 72. Until recently, St. George thought the planetary arrow to Barnard 72 commenced with Mars, so he not yet had a chance to check out if a Mars, Neptune, Pleiades alignment, or a Pleiades, Mars, Neptune alignment, is even feasible.

Overall, there are only a limited number of possibilities. IV-33 gives us two inner planets, Venus and Mars, and two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune. Mars lines up with Neptune to hit the Pleiades, and Venus lines up with Uranus to hit the Alien Planet. Depending upon the Pleiades direction, Uranus and Neptune need to be together on the same side of the solar system or on directly opposing ends of the solar system. Also remember to check that you’re viewing a full Moon from the Alien Planet, and that Jupiter is closer to Venus than the Moon at the same time. When? The skies and planets are in constant motion. In what year does all this happen?

St. George is convinced that the date of the given configuration should somehow or somewhere be provided in the prophecies. Other than the stanza number, 433, we have 580, 700, 703, 882, 883, 1204, 1559, 1571, 1607, 1609, 1649, 1666, 1689, 1690, 1700, 1727, 1781, 1813, 1832, 1858, 1859, 1861, 1928, 1952, 1955, 1979, 1982, 1999, 2001, and 2006. The years 1571, 1607, 1781, 1859, and 1982 were astronomy related. St. George suspects one of the later years is more likely mainly because astronomers may not have accurate data the position of the outer planets in earlier times. “We have to assume that they want us to get it right, and precision is clearly required here.”

2006? What happened in 2006? St. George replied: “Absolutely nothing. 2006 was a second, inferable date in a London catastrophe stanza. The date does not necessarily have to come from an astronomy stanza. It can be provided elsewhere.”

Please excuse the digression. My final question was: Do you realistically expect SETI astronomers to take you up on this coordinate stuff? St. George responded: “Yes. It would be foolish of them not to. The way they’re going now, their odds of finding E.T. are not even one in a billion. If my theories merely reduce the odds to one in a thousand, their chances improve immensely. Moreover, I think they’ve forgotten; SETI was originally based on the premise that there are lots of intelligent civilizations out there, which in turn implies that at least one of them should have succeeded in exploring the entire galaxy by now.”

So there you have it, SETI astronomers, go forth and become famous, work out the coordinates, point your radio telescope there, and tell the world you heard from E.T.!

Author Bio
By Gersiane De Brito with special thanks to Morten St. George and the http://www.crypticthinking.com website.

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Decoding Book Resurrects the Ancient Astronaut Theme

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

Several decades ago, books by insurance salesman Erich von Daniken caused an international sensation as he depicted photographs of large-stone edifices hard to believe built by primitive humans. His dreams of ancient astronauts, however, soon faded into oblivion as archeologists came up with proof that primitive humans could have constructed the pyramids and like structures without alien assistance. Nonetheless, the possibility of other types of evidence for ancient astronauts cannot be discarded.

Overtly a cryptography and deception tactics book, Morten St. George’s Incantation of the Law Against Inept Critics: A Guide to Cryptic Thinking takes up the ancient astronaut gauntlet. But there’s no stone here. Now, it’s not a question of what the ancient astronauts did, but of what they left behind. Deception cryptography leads the way. The only known deployment of this unique form of cryptography is to be found in forty two prophetic stanzas published by Nostradamus in the 16th century. So was Nostradamus an alien? Hardly, but St. George’s book asserts he was the last guardian of an alien artifact.

What’s the evidence?

First, a breakthrough decoding of the forty two stanzas in which numerous contemporary events are not only accurately recounted but also systematically dated. St. George concludes there is no longer any doubt about whether or not the future was foreseen. It was, and likewise we are witnessing the powers of a super-civilization.

Second, the discovery that the forty two stanzas (perceived as a book of divine revelation) were secretly guarded, known to, and commented upon by a cabalistic sect during medieval times. St. George says these forty-two revelations predate Nostradamus by centuries, and now there is a “book of light” in the picture, not “light” like in “enlightenment” but literally composed of light, black fire on top of white fire. This describes the artifact that survived to reach Nostradamus.

Third, back to the prophecies, which come forth and tell us the name of their author and when they were written. According to St. George, they were written in the sixth century, a thousand years before the time of Nostradamus.

Why is there no record of alien arrival in the sixth century? St. George responded we are referring to creatures with two arm appendages and four fingers at the end of each, but other than that, they landed as helmeted aquatics and didn’t remotely look like humans. He says it is a myth that intelligent aliens have to be hominoids, and it is likewise a myth that the only road to technology is the road taken by humans. “In the Dark Ages, these aquatics would have been stoned as demons in most places, and if there were any reference to them, religious censorship would have obliterated it.”

Then, how do you know that they had four fingers? St. George replied, “I said they would have been stoned as demons in most places, not in all places. Archaeologists are far from perfect. They have no idea how to distinguish the drawing of an aquatic extraterrestrial from the drawing of a masked witchdoctor. Maybe some of them had suspicions but didn’t speak out, fearing for their career or whatever. Extraterrestrial intelligence and civilizations more advanced than ours are terrifying concepts for segments of human society.”

There are many unsolved mysteries in world history. Is this another one? St. George emphatically asserts: “No! These extraterrestrials were no fools. Besides who and when, the prophecies also tell us where, that is, where they came from.” He says the prophecies provide data for a star arrow rising upwards from southern skies and for a planetary arrow moving outwards from the solar system, and where these arrows collide would be the point of contact.

Then there will be contact? St. George has no doubts about the matter: “Yes. My unsophisticated astronomy software can only provide approximate coordinates, but one day astronomers will work out the precise coordinates and point a radio telescope there, and there will be contact. To provide us with coordinates and not allow contact would be deceitful, and they have no reason to be deceitful on this. Else, why bother to interfere with us at all?”

Author Bio
By Gersiane De Brito with special thanks to Morten St. George and the www.crypticthinking.com website. Look for follow-up article called “Aliens: Where SETI Astronomers Can Find Them.”

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Big Bang Booming – Back to the Future

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Michael Strauss

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. This ancient description of the creation of the universe found in the Book of Genesis may be accurate after all. The big bang theory describes the beginning of the universe as having been precipitated from an infinitesimally small point. In this small volume, all matter and energy was concentrated until its contents exploded in either a smooth expansion or an incredibly violent energetic explosion that formed the planets, stars and galaxies. Originally this theory had competition from what is called the ’steady state’ theory whereby the universe is forever expanding and new matter and energy is created spontaneously within the space left by the receding galaxies. However, empirical observations have directed astronomers and scientists into the acceptance of the big bang model. But how did we get to this point in our understanding?

In the early part of the twentieth century the American astronomer Vesto Slipher and the German Carl Wirtz made some important astronomical discoveries. Using spectral analysis, Slipher deciphered the mixtures of gases contained in planetary atmospheres as well as nebulae. What distinguishes his findings is the discovery that most if not all galaxies outside of our own demonstrate what is called a ‘Red Shift.’ This shift is simply a change in the wavelength of the light emitted by those objects under investigation towards a longer wavelength. Wirtz similarly catalogued many red shifts of the nebulae which he chose to study. But it was still to early for them to realize the full potential meaning of their observations. That would wait until Einstein’s General Relativity would be interpreted by other scientists through further mathematical analysis.

His contemporaries demonstrated to Einstein that his new Theory of General Relativity published in 1916 was not compatible with a ’static’ universe of space time. The theory predicted an expanding or collapsing universe but not a fixed cosmos. Because he personally believed the universe to be an invariable space time continuum, Einstein engaged in a degree of scientific legerdemain. To correct what he perceived to be as ‘flaws’ in his theory he added the contrivance of a cosmological constant known as lambda to force the static universe into reality. Einstein’s view of perfection in an unchanging space time continuum had led him down a blind alley as much as Aristotle’s concept of perfection had brought that great philosopher into the error of believing in a static Earth at the center of the universe.

But even with the addition of the cosmological constant lambda, the universe was still found to be unstable and this whole affair would later be viewed by Einstein as his “greatest blunder.” His cosmological acrobatics behind him, Einstein yielded the stage to others for a clearer understanding of his own theory. It fell to Alexander Alexandrovich Friedmann to consider the consequences of General Relativity without the constant lambda interfering with his study of these relationships. In doing so, the Russian mathematician and cosmologist derived the solution which predicts an ever expanding cosmological structure (1922), a prediction which was disagreeable with Einstein’s concept of universal perfection. A couple of years later, Friedmann published his findings in “About the Possibility of a World with Constant Negative Curvature of Space.” But the entire hypothetical construct still lacked a complete verbalization mathematically and theoretically.

Enter the Reverend Father Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest from Belgium. Rev. Fr. Lemaitre provided the equations necessary to formulate the basis of Big Bang theory in his work entitled “Hypothesis of the Primeval Atom.” He postulated that the universe began as a primordial atom of infinitesimal volume and enormous mass energy as well as space and time and everything else comprising the future universe. At some point the universe began with the explosion of this super atom. Lemaitre published his theoretical ideas between the years 1927 and 1933 and speculated that the movement of the nebulae demonstrated the validity of the explosion of his cosmic super atom. Unfortunately, he also wrongly believed that cosmic rays might be an after effect of the super atom’s big bang. These are now known to be generated not from a universal conflagration but from galactic sources unrelated to the big bang.

However, the new theory still lacked a major source of observational support. This would be provided by Edwin Hubble’s observations of the redshift of galaxies. Taking up where Slipher and Wirtz left off, Hubble employed a novel technique to discern the properties of the galactic movements. By choosing to observe stars that are known as Cepheid Variables he could more accurately make measurements. Cepheids are a type of star that brighten and darken and lighten back up in regular periods of time that are well known. Cepheids that have identical cycle times of brightening darkening and brightening again also have identical or nearly identical luminosity. Thus, if one compares the length of the cycle to the amount of light apparent to the observer it is possible to accurately prepare an estimate of the distance to the cepheid.

In this manner, Hubble had found that the nebulae or galaxies exhibited a galactic red shift; in other words, that galaxies were receding away from ours at a speed which is correlated directly with the distance between our vantage point and the galaxy being studied. The further away the galaxies were the faster they appeared to be going in moving away from us. The results of these investigations is now known as Hubble’s Law. Essentially, this law states that universe is in an ever expanding mode whereby the intergalactic distances continue to grow without bound into infinity. Hubble’s Law depends upon the shifting of the wavelength of light and after having been delineated in 1929 has been subsequently proven over and over again. Further, Hubble’s constant has been recalculated to a more ‘perfect’ value and retains a great probability of being ‘recomputed’ in the future based upon new observations.

Thus, it should be clear to the reader that our scientists have a fateful habit of introducing their preconceived notions of beauty into their models. From Aristotle’s static Earth to Einstein’s greatest blunder, the constant which forces a static universe, we proceed only from the wisdom of our weak minds. The more things change the more things stay the same. Man’s hubris knows no limits in our attempts to understand things without the wisdom to comprehend its underlying meaning. Humble we are not. We are making the same mistakes we always have. Back to the future. To be continued…

Author Bio
Michael Strauss is an engineer and author of Requiem for Relativity the Collapse of Special Relativity, a serious critique on the fallacies of Special Relativity. To contact the author visit: www.relativitycollapse.com

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E=mc2 is Wrong – Einstein’s Special Relativity Fundamentally Flawed

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Michael Strauss

Is Albert Einstein’s Special Relativity incompatible with the very equations upon which science’s greatest theory is built? New observations made by many scientists and engineers appear to contradict the great German scientist’s ideas. Apparently there are implicit contradictions present within Relativity’s foundational ideas, documents and equations. One individual has even pointed that quotations from the 1905 document and Einstein’s contemporaries as well as interpretations of the Relativity equations clearly and concisely describe a confused and obviously erroneous theory. It is time therefore, for science to update its thinking on this theory with a comprehensive analysis of the history leading up to, during and after that revolutionary year of Special Relativity.

As this is the 100 year anniversary of the original release of Special Relativity, a review of the original assumptions, documents and ideas which led to the acceptance of this theory is timely and warranted. Every year millions of students are taught this theory without a critical analysis of Relativity. Relativity Theory consists of its two variants Special Relativity and General Relativity and is considered the cornerstone of modern physics.

Albert Einstein borrowed from the ideas of Fitzgerald, Lorentz and Voigt to create a new concept of the universe. His first work in this regard later came to be known as Special Relativity and contained many controversial ideas which today are considered axiomatic. Amongst these are Length Contraction, Time Dilation, the Twin Paradox and the equivalence of mass and energy summarized in the equation E=mc2.

This equation became the shining capstone of the new theory along with its first & second postulates, namely, that the laws of nature are the same from all perspectives and that the speed of light ‘c’ is constant in a vacuum regardless of perspective. Further, the theory also predicted an increase in mass with velocity. Numerous examples have been given of the ‘proof’ of the validity of Special Relativity.

Most notably, experiments using particle accelerators have sped particles to incredible velocities which apparently provide confirmation of Einstein’s theory. However, doubts remain in the scientific community who have never totally given up the comfort of a Newtonian world view. This is readily apparent in that they refer to the Newton’s ‘Law’ of Gravitation whilst Special Relativity (SR) and General Relativity (GR) are given the polite attribution ‘The Theory of’ or simply SR ‘theory’ and GR ‘theory.’ Einstein would continue working on the ideas of Special Relativity until producing the aforementioned even more controversial treatise.

In his later more comprehensive work called the Theory of General Relativity (1916), Einstein proposed a major re-thinking of cosmology. He conceived of a space time continuum that is curved by mass; in other words, planets, stars, galaxies and other stellar objects cause a curvature of space time. The movement of these objects are determined by the aforementioned curvature.

As a result of these ideas, our understanding of geometry, math, physics, science and the universe would never be the same. However, some scientists are reporting that speed of light is not constant from different experimental observations. One has even reported errors in the fundamental equations. If so, this would require a major rethinking of the known cosmological models and assumptions of modern physics.

Author Bio
Michael Strauss is an engineer and author of Requiem for Relativity the Collapse of Special Relativity. To contact the author visit: www.relativitycollapse.com

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“We Don’t Know What We are Talking About” – Nobel Laureate David Gross

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Michael Strauss

Last December (’05), physicists held the 23rd Solvay Conference in Brussels, Belgium. Amongst the many topics covered in the conference was the subject matter of string theory. This theory combines the apparently irreconcilable domains of quantum physics and relativity. David Gross a Nobel Laureate made some startling statements about the state of physics including: “We don’t know what we are talking about” whilst referring to string theory as well as “The state of physics today is like it was when we were mystified by radioactivity.”

The Nobel Laureate is a heavyweight in this field having earned a prize for work on the strong nuclear force and he indicated that what is happening today is very similar to what happened at the 1911 Solvay meeting. Back then, radioactivity had recently been discovered and mass energy conservation was under assault because of its discovery. Quantum theory would be needed to solve these problems. Gross further commented that in 1911 “They were missing something absolutely fundamental,” as well as “we are missing perhaps something as profound as they were back then.”

Coming from a scientist with establishment credentials this is a damning statement about the state of current theoretical models and most notably string theory. This theoretical model is a means by which physicists replace the more commonly known particles of particle physics with one dimensional objects which are known as strings. These bizarre objects were first detected in 1968 through the insight and work of Gabriele Veneziano who was trying to comprehend the strong nuclear force.

Whilst meditating on the strong nuclear force Veneziano detected a similarity between the Euler Beta Function, named for the famed mathematician Leonhard Euler, and the strong force. Applying the aforementioned Beta Function to the strong force he was able to validate a direct correlation between the two. Interestingly enough, no one knew why Euler’s Beta worked so well in mapping the strong nuclear force data. A proposed solution to this dilemma would follow a few years later.

Almost two years later (1970), the scientists Nambu, Nielsen and Susskind provided a mathematical description which described the physical phenomena of why Euler’s Beta served as a graphical outline for the strong nuclear force. By modeling the strong nuclear forces as one dimensional strings they were able to show why it all seemed to work so well. However, several troubling inconsistencies were immediately seen on the horizon. The new theory had attached to it many implications that were in direct violation of empirical analyses. In other words, routine experimentation did not back up the new theory.

Needless to say, physicists romantic fascination with string theory ended almost as fast as it had begun only to be resuscitated a few years later by another ‘discovery.’ The worker of the miraculous salvation of the sweet dreams of modern physicists was known as the graviton. This elementary particle allegedly communicates gravitational forces throughout the universe.

The graviton is of course a ‘hypothetical’ particle that appears in what are known as quantum gravity systems. Unfortunately, the graviton has never ever been detected; it is as previously indicated a ‘mythical’ particle that fills the mind of the theorist with dreams of golden Nobel Prizes and perhaps his or her name on the periodic table of elements.

But back to the historical record. In 1974, the scientists Schwarz, Scherk and Yoneya reexamined strings so that the textures or patterns of strings and their associated vibrational properties were connected to the aforementioned ‘graviton.’ As a result of these investigations was born what is now called ‘bosonic string theory’ which is the ‘in vogue’ version of this theory. Having both open and closed strings as well as many new important problems which gave rise to unforeseen instabilities.

These problematical instabilities leading to many new difficulties which render the previous thinking as confused as we were when we started this discussion. Of course this all started from undetectable gravitons which arise from other theories equally untenable and inexplicable and so on. Thus was born string theory which was hoped would provide a complete picture of the basic fundamental principles of the universe.

Scientists had believed that once the shortcomings of particle physics had been left behind by the adoption of the exotic string theory, that a grand unified theory of everything would be an easily ascertainable goal. However, what they could not anticipate is that the theory that they hoped would produce a theory of everything would leave them more confused and frustrated than they were before they departed from particle physics.

The end result of string theory is that we know less and less and are becoming more and more confused. Of course, the argument could be made that further investigations will yield more relevant data whereby we will tweak the model to an eventual perfecting of our understanding of it. Or perhaps ‘We don’t know what we are talking about.’

Author Bio
Michael Strauss is an engineer and author of Requiem for Relativity the Collapse of Special Relativity. To contact the author visit: www.relativitycollapse.com

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General Hydroponics

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Ranbhir Bhalla

General Hydroponics was established in 1970’s by a group of innovative scientists, engineers and technicians with a view to take forward the revolutionary concept of Hydroponics. Today General hydroponics is a leading name in the hydroponics field. They have factories all over North America and Europe. Hydroponic cultivation by NASA on the International Space Station is done with assistance from General Hydroponics.

Hydroponics is an innovative technique for soil-less cultivation of plants in nutrient rich solutions. Hydroponics has some typical advantages over the conventional methods like the plants are healthier and grow mature early. They require less space and even if the gardener is out for a long time the plants don’t suffer. Hydroponics consume less space and water.

General Hydroponics products are used for hi-tech gardening, commercial crop production and for agricultural experiments in laboratories and Universities across the globe. The scientist and nutritionists at General Hydroponics are currently developing new hydroponic systems and perfecting nutrient formulas. These techniques and nutrient formulae will enhance yield, flavor and vitamin & mineral content in food crops. The Farm Division at General Hydroponics is testing many varieties of plants for growth rate, yield, flavor, nutrition, appearance, shelf life and hydroponic viability. Various techniques for growing top-quality crops of higher nutritional value are in experimental stages.

Three basic hydroponics techniques are used by General Hydroponics. In the first one, called nutrient film technique, roots of plants are suspended in nutrient mixture containing trough. The second one called aeroponics includes suspension of plants in mist and nutrients are supplied through an air pump. The third technique is aggregate system. The roots of plants are placed between inert materials like clay pebbles or foam chips dipped in nutrient solution.

Since hydroponics are not grown in soil they rely on nutrient solution mixed in water for their growth. Standard fertilizers are simply inadequate for them. Thus specially formulated fertilizers like General Hydroponics Nutrients are used for them. These are hydroponic fertilizer mixtures used under pH buffer of pH range 5 to 6. The nutrient mixture is changed every two weeks and during this time only more water is added to the plant. This is so because if the concentration of nutrient solution rises above a certain level this might burn the plant roots. General Hydroponics Nutrients are reliable, adaptable and pH buffered hydroponic nutrients. NASA uses their Flora-Series for space flight experiments.

Author Bio
I write Atrticles on Hydroponics systems. Find more information regarding Hydroponics products log on to www.77hydro.com

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Robot Toy: The New Generation Play Tool

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Thomas Champeval

Gone are the days when children satisfied themselves with simple games of hopscotch or tag. Heck, there are practically no more “simple toys” in the toy market nowadays wherein it’s slowly being dominated by more and more complicated contraptions. From toy PDA electronic models to enhanced walkie talkies, children nowadays have more discerning taste when it comes to their playing pleasure. So in an age wherein cellphones and digital cameras are just all too common, what’s really the buzz about the wonders of a robot toy? What makes a robot toy tick? And probably, most important, what makes a robot toy click? To put things simply, an electronic robot toy is an extremely sophisticated piece of technology especially for children who have always been used to playing with either plastic, wooden or plush toys.

Things are indeed a changin’ nowadays, a robot toy is practically what each and every kid, well boys that is asks for in his wish list.

Starting with the very hip and ultra high-tech robot toy, Robo Sapien which promises to be a whole more than just a simple robot toy. A smart robot toy like this actually tries to break the mold ordinary plastic robot toys that only has blinking lights and beeping sound effects. Robot toys that are available in the market today are far more sophisticated than that especially since they’ve been able to make these robot toys more interactive. A very important factor when it comes to ensuring its saleability in this rapidly changing world of toy commerce.

Video games have been a common staple when it comes to electronic toy gadgets for children, however these cannot be considered as a robot toy. The once popular Tamagotchi may look and feel like a video game but it is actually in fact a robot toy as well. What’s differentiates the Tamagotchi from being a video game you might ask? Well for one thing, video games are just electronic role playing mind games wherein you have a specific goal or task that must be taken care of while a robot toy like the Tamagotchi is actually highly dependent on the interaction between the Tamagotchi and the user. The Tamagotchi is actually a simulation of what is supposed to be of an animal, just like ordinary toy robots which are mock-ups of human beings while a video game is merely an audio visual device that is used to play games.

There are actually all sorts of robot toys available in the market today, from highly sophisticated, not to mention, costly, Robo Sapien to outdated Tamagotchis to high tech robot toy pets that have caused quite a stir even in Japan wherein people don’t really have that much time to take care of a real dog. Robo pets have been creating a lot of buzz in the toy market because of its highly innovative design and almost life like actions, Robo pets usually comes in either a pet dog or a pet cat. It can play fetch, run, heel, even bark at you.

This robot pet has certainly come a long, long way from the old wind-up robot toys that used to be every kid’s fancy. Come to think of it, not only children are getting into the whole robot toy craze, with many grown adults now getting more and more hooked to the highly sophisticated robot toys in the market. Considering that adults do have the spending power as compared with children who are still reliant on their parents’ mercy, toy companies are also trying to come out with robot toys that can be appreciated by adults as well.

Author Bio
For a robot toy or a roomba robot vacuum, please visit RobotShop.ca.

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The Invisible Ether and Michelson Morley

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Mike Strauss

The concept of the invisible ether or ‘aether’ is an old concept dating to the time of the ancient Greeks. They considered the ether as that medium which permeated all of the universe and even believed the ether to be another element. Along with Earth, Wind, Fire and Water Aristotle proposed that the ether should be treated as the fifth element or quintessence; this term which literally means ‘fifth element’ has even survived down to the present day to explain an exotic form of ‘dark energy’ which is crucial in some cosmological models. These ideas spread throughout the world until the advent of a new springtime in scientific thought. The first person in the modern era to conceive of the idea of an underlying ether to support the movement of light waves was seventeenth century dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens.

Many others followed in expressing their opinions on the ether concept. Whilst Isaac Newton disagreed with Huygens wave theory he also wrote about the ‘aethereal medium’ although he expressed his consternation in not knowing what the aether was. Newton later renounced the ether theory because in his mind the infinite stationary ether would interrupt the motions of the enormous masses (the stars and planets) as they moved in space. This rejection was reinforced by some other problematical wave properties which were not explicable at the time; most notably, the production of a double image when light passes through certain translucent materials. This property of matter known as ‘birefringence’ was an important hurdle to be overcome for a proper understanding of the wave nature of light.

Some time later (1720) whilst working on other astronomical issues related to light and the cosmos, English scientist James Bradley made observations in hopes of quantifying a parallax. This effect is an apparent motion of foreground objects in comparison to those in the background. Whilst he was unable to discern this parallax effect he happened to reveal another effect which is prevalent in cosmological observations; this other effect is known as stellar aberration. Bradley was able to easily describe this aberration in terms of Newton’s particle theory of light. However, to do so in light of the wave or undulatory theory was difficult at best since to do so would have required a ‘motionless’ medium; the static nature of this ether concept was of course the property which had originally caused Newton’s denial of the idea.

But Newton’s acolytes would find themselves in a difficult position when it was shown that birefringence could be explained through another interpretation of the nature of light. If light was treated as being in a side to side action or ‘transverse motion’ then birefringence could be attributed to a light wave rather than the particle or corpuscular theory of Newton. This along with the detection of an interference effect for light by Thomas Young in 1801 renewed the ascendancy of the wave theory of light. These findings however carried with them all of the preconceived notions prevalent in the scientific mind. Since it was assumed that waves like water and sound waves required a medium of propagation, it was similarly assumed that light still needed a medium or ether for its waves to be transmitted across the universe.

However, further problems would afflict the ether theory. Because of the unique properties of a transverse wave it became apparent that this hypothetical explanation required the ether to be a solid. In response, Cauchy, Green and Stokes contributed theoretical and mathematical observations to an ‘entrainment’ hypothesis which later came to be known as the ‘ether drag’ concept. But nothing would give more impetus to these ideas than when James Clerk Maxwell’s equations (1870s) required the constancy of the speed of light (c). When the implications of Maxwell’s equations are worked out by physicists, it was understood that as a result of the need for a constant speed of light only one reference frame could meet this requirement under the teachings of Galilean Newtonian relativity. Therefore, scientists expected that there existed a unique absolute reference frame which would comply with this need; as a result, the ether would again be stationary.

As a consequence, by the late nineteenth century the aether was assumed to be an immovable rigid medium. However, earlier previous theories existed as to the nature of the aether. One of the most famous of these is known as the ‘aether drag’ hypothesis. In this concept, the aether is a special environment within which light moves. Also, this aether would be connected to all material objects and would move along with them. Measuring the speed of light in such a system would render a constant velocity for light no matter where one tested for light’s speed. This ‘aether drag’ idea originated in the aftermath of Francois Arago’s experiment which appeared to show the constancy of the speed of light. Arago believed that refractive indexes would change when measured at different times of the day or year as a result of stellar and earthly motion. In spite of his efforts, he did not notice any change in the refractive indexes so measured.

Many other experiments would follow; these were performed in order to find evidence of the aether in its many different abstractions. However the most important of these was conducted by american scientists Michelson and Morley. Their experiment considered another alleged effect of a different aether theory which came to be known as the aether wind. Since the aether permeated the entire universe, the earth would move within the ether as it spun on its axis and moved within the solar system about the sun. This movement of the earth with respect to the aether gave rise rise to the idea that it would be possible to detect an ‘ether wind’ which would be sensed because of the aforementioned movement. Thus, their experiment was essentially an attempt to detect the so-called ether wind. This mysterious zephyr would be nearly impossible to detect because the aether only infinitesimally affected the surrounding material world. Michelson first experimented in 1881 with a primitive version of his interferometer; a mechanism designed to measure the wave like properties of light. He would follow this by combining forces with Morley in the most famous ‘null’ experiment of physics.

In this investigation, Michelson utilized an improved version of his interferometer device. Michelson’s apparatus would help him win the Nobel prize for his optical precision instruments and the investigations carried out with them. His most important study being what became known as the Michelson Morley experiment of 1887. Michelson and Morley used a beam splitter made of a partially transparent mirror and two other mirrors arranged horizontally and vertically from a light source. When a beam of light traveled from a source of coherent light to the half-silvered mirror (the semitransparent mirror) it is transmitted to either of the horizontal or vertical mirrors. When the light returned to the eyepiece of an observer the separately returning light waves would combine destructively or constructively. This phenomenon is known as the interference effect for light. It was hoped that a shifting of the interference fringes from that which was normally predicted would be able to ascertain the existence of the aether wind.

To detect this effect, the Michelson interferometer was prepared in such a manner as to minimize any and all extraneous sources of experimental error. It was located in a lower level of a stone edifice to eliminate heat and oscillatory effects which might comprise the experimental results. Additionally, the interferometer was mounted atop a marble slab that was floated in a basin of mercury. This was so that the apparatus could be moved through a variety of positions with respect to the invisible ether. But despite their many preparations the experiment did not yield the expected fringe patterns. Thus, Michelson and Morley concluded that there was no evidence for the existence of the ether. Others would replicate the experiment in different incarnations which modified the premise of the experiment. Each and every one returning a similar negative result. Modern theorists have taken these results and those of many other experiments as being indicative of the non-existence of the aether. However, even the negative result of Michelson Morley has come in to question as far back as 1933.

In that year, Dayton Miller demonstrated the fact that even though the duo’s experiment had not specifically found the expected range of interference patterns, they had found an interesting little noticed effect. Miller then went on to suggest that Michelson Morley had found an experimental sine wave like set of data that correlated well with the predicted pattern of data. He also described how thermal and directional assumptions inherent in the experimental arrangement may have impacted badly on the fringe interference data. Thus, the test may have been performed in an imperfectly conceived experimental setup and with a built in mathematical bias against the detection of an appropriate outcome. Thus, in the future the aether theory in some form or another may still be sustainable as a foundational theory of physics.

Perhaps it is best to leave with these ideas as expressed in 1920 by Einstein who stated that he believed the ether theory to still be relevant to his ideas on space and time:

“More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether. We may assume the existence of an ether”

he continued:

“Recapitulating, we may say that according to the general theory of relativity space is endowed with physical qualities; in this sense, therefore, there exists an ether”

and finally:

“According to the general theory of relativity space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there not only would be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time (measuring-rods and clocks), nor therefore any space-time intervals in the physical sense. But this ether may not be thought of as endowed with the quality characteristic of ponderable media, as consisting of parts which may be tracked through time. The idea of motion may not be applied to it.”

Author Bio
Michael Strauss is an engineer and author of Requiem for Relativity the Collapse of Special Relativity, a serious critique on the fallacies of Special Relativity. To contact the author visit: www.relativitycollapse.com

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Galactic Mystery – Matter – On the Dark Side

Posted by | Posted in Science | Posted on 08-09-2009

By: Mike Strauss

Heralding a new age in the cosmos, Norwegian Kristian Birkeland predicted that the universe likely consisted of an exotic component that would later be called dark matter. His comments about this subject matter appeared in a description of the Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition (1902-1903). Birkeland’s ideas about the Expedition were published in the fateful year of 1913 which would see the rise of the socialist Federal Reserve System and the Income Tax in the United States of America, two key components of the communist manifesto. Evolutionary processes were in motion throughout all fields of endeavor. Economics, politics, science and the hearts and minds of men and women were in the balance whilst relativism not truth held sway over the modern imagination. Cosmology would suffer from the same ‘evolutionary’ mindset and Birkeland wrote as much:

“We have assumed that each stellar system in evolutions throws off electric corpuscles into space. It does not seem unreasonable therefore to think that the greater part of the material masses in the universe is found, not in the solar systems or nebulae, but in “empty” space.”

In this fashion, Birkeland predicted that because of the ‘evolutions’ present within the cosmos most of the matter in the universe must be found in ‘empty’ space rather than that which is observable in stellar objects. It is currently believed that only four percent of the universe is of this ordinary visible stellar type. Further, about a quarter of the universe is made up of the ubiquitous dark matter with the rest of the cosmos being filled with the even more bizarre dark energy. It was Fritz Zwicky, a swiss astrophysicist working for Caltech, who would further the concept of dark matter through the aegis of the Virial Theorem.

This mathematical relation is a formula which bounds the energy of a set of particles. In another dark year in the steady evolution to slavery since 1933 saw the removal of gold from the accounts of american citizenry, Zwicky used the Virial Theorem in an attempt to ascertain the validity of the dark matter hypothesis. He focussed his attention on the Coma galactic cluster and his analysis provided prima facie confirmation for the existence of dark matter. By evaluating the amount of movement of those galaxies at the periphery of the cluster he was able to approximately surmise the aggregate of all the matter therein.

He was astonished to learn that this sum total of mass is different from a separately computed estimate. This other value was obtained by analyzing the sum total of galaxies and the brightness of the Coma cluster. Juxtaposing this value with the periphery computation he observed that there was a discrepancy of at a minimum four hundredfold. Since the galaxies were insufficiently massive to cause the computed orbital velocities there must be some other mechanism to explain this phenomena. This conundrum became in the scientific lexicon the missing mass problem. Zwicky had established the need for the existence of an invisible source of mass hitherto unknown which must provide the necessary gravitational effect for the cluster.

Thus, it is a fact of the current state of cosmology that the greatest set of evidence for dark matter comes from this galactic gravitational data. Scientists have even made galactic curves describing the rotational properties of stars versus the distance from the galactic center. When the gravitational data is plotted it can be shown that only a small portion of the observed speeds are explicable by classical computations. In other words, there is a scarcity of visible mass in the observed galaxies to attribute the sum total of gravitational effects to visibly observable stars planets and galaxies. Thus, the simplest way to explain this galactic mystery of insufficient mass is to hypothesize a non-detectable type of mass known as dark matter which can be the cause for the gravitational effects.

As more and more data is collected on these and other aspects of the universe, formulae and cosmological postulates are generated describing the results so obtained. Fulfilling the requirements of the aforementioned aspects leads some scientists to propose several different types of dark matter. The four main types of dark matter are called 1- baryonic dark matter; 2- warm dark matter; 3- cold dark matter and 4- hot dark matter. Dark matter ranges from the known to the predicted, from black holes to brown dwarfs to the massive compact halo objects (MACHOs), the neutrino, axions, WIMPS or weakly interacting massive particles and the esoteric neutralino. However, there is an alternative explanation for the gravitational effects which originally created the dark matter concept.

If an incomplete understanding of gravitation is factored into the picture, then it can be asserted that the dark matter interpretation is incorrect because some other cause is generating these phenomena. Several different contending theories have been developed to describe the observed galactic data. In particular, one of the main competing explanations is given by scalar tensor theories which try to combine the teachings of quantum mechanics with gravity. Amplifying these ideas leads to a variety of exotic ideas which challenge our most fundamental notions of physics and astronomy. Other concepts go even further and have been the subject of interest for astronomers like Dr. Riccardo Scarpa since these allow for a cosmology without the inclusion of the enigmatic dark matter.

Dr. Scarpa works at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago Chile using the Very Large Telescope Array at Paranal. With all of his experience in this field, it is interesting to note some of his most recent comments on the superfluous dark matter:

“Dark matter is the craziest idea we’ve ever had in astronomy. It can appear when you need it, it can do what you like, be distributed in any way you like. It is the fairy tale of astronomy.”

In view of these comments one should ask if another scientific idea might be on the verge of collapsing. Indeed, astronomers are routinely using these other theoretical principles on a daily basis in infrared observatories around the world. Thus, it is very likely that we are simply wrong about all of this dark matter. It is within all probability that the only dark matter that we will ever find is that ignorant dark matter between our ears.

Author Bio
Michael Strauss is an engineer and author of Requiem for Relativity the Collapse of Special Relativity, a serious critique on the fallacies of Special Relativity. To contact the author visit: www.relativitycollapse.com

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