SMALLER THAN THE SMALLEST

A needle point, we may be able to observe by naked eye. The bacterium is comparable to the needle point. It can be observed clearly using microscope. It"s size ranges from 0.5-5*10^-6 m (micrometer). There are good and bad bacteria. The diseases caused by bad bacteria can mostly be treated with the antibiotics. Also, the bacteria can be filtered out by 'reverse osmosis' etc,.

Next we have virus in the size of 20 to 400 nano meters( 10^-9 m). They are the smallest life on the planet. There are no good viruses. They cause common cold to AIDS. Their symptoms can only be treated. The body should have good immunity to survive.

Bacteria and viruses are made up of cells which in turn made up of molecules and atoms. The molecules are in the order of nano meter. So the nanotechnology means technology based on molecules.

One water molecule is made up of one hydrogen atom and two oxygen atom. Size of the atom is around 10^-10 m . Hydrogen atoms are the most abundant in the universe. They are also the simplest atoms just containing one proton and one electron. The size of the proton is about 10^-15 m.

Next, down the line; We come to electron which is the smallest thing we can play with. The radius of the electron is estimated to be 3*10^-15 m. The size of subatomic particles are not sharp. They are "fuzzy and wavy" according to physics.

Next the neutrino. This particles strike the earth continuously from the cosmos. They are the lightest. Their mass is less than one millionth that of electron. Since they are unimaginably small, they pass easily through all the materials including our body.

What is the smallest length we can measure? It is Planck's length or Planck's constant which is 1.6*10^-35 m. Below this classical physics breaks down. No instrument ever can be built to measure the length smaller than Planck's constant.

Planck's time is the time taken by the light photon to travel the Planck's length. It is 10^-43 second. It is the smallest interval of time we ever able to measure.

Comments

THE EARTH, A SUPER ORGANISM

JOIN MY COURSE: "Become a programmer in a day with python" A man called 'love lock' (what a name) proposed a theory called Gaia theory, named after Greek Goddess. It says, "Earth is a self-regulating organism like a human being. The organic life in it interacts with in-organic matter and maintains atmosphere, temperature and environment". Hence the earth is still suitable for the life to thrive. Imagine, in a particular place, there are lot of flowers. Some flowers are white and some are darkly coloured. We know, white reflects light and heat while dark absorbs the same. White flowers can thrive in hot climate. But dark flowers requires cold climate. The absorption and reflection balances and the environment reaches average, warm temperature at which both the flowers can co-exist. This is the essence of "Gaia" theory. On our earth, ...

DISORDER IS THE "ORDER OF THE DAY"

Imagine a balloon full of air. The air molecules are moving randomly inside the balloon. Let us pierce the balloon with a pin. The air rushes out. Why should not the air molecules stay inside the balloon safely and ignore the little hole? That is not the way the world works. The molecules always "want to occupy as many states as possible". Hence the air goes out in the open to occupy more volume. The things always goes into disorder (entropy) and the disorder increases with time. The above statement is what we call "second law of thermodynamics". Consider a cup of coffee on the table. Suppose the heat from entire room flows to your cup of coffee, the coffee will boil and the rest of the room will freeze. Freezing means bringing things to order and arrangement. It violates the second law. Hence it will never happen. Hence heat must flow from high ...

CASINO'S GAME

Let us find out how the casino survives with mathematics. Say, your friend invite you for a game of dice. You must bet (wager) 2 dollars. If you roll 'six' you will get back 8 dollars. The game will go on for 30 rounds. All sounds good. The probability of rolling 'six' is 1/6. Since the game will be played for 30 times, the 'expected win' is 30*1/6 = 5. That is, you are expected to win 5 rounds out of 30. Hence your gain will be 5 * 8 =40 dollars. ok. This also implies that you will loose 25 rounds. Hence your loss will be 25*2 =50 dollars. Your net gain will be gain-less = 40-50 = -10 dollars. For 30 rounds, the loss is -10 dollars, Hence, for one round =-10/30 = -1/3 dollars. There will be a loss of -1/3 or 0.33 dollars per round. It is not a fair game. Let us make a simple formula to calculate 'Pa...

sciencecapsules

Search This Blog