Posts Tagged ‘Robert Boyle’

Quantum Leap: The Standard Model, part 2

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 009.
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So the question is, “what is Elemental?” In 1661, Robert Boyle determined that something that can’t be broken-down by a chemical reaction is an element, a notion, according to Wiki, that held for almost 300 years and a definition I still recall from high school chemistry class. This was a major moment in the process of understanding what the underlying building blocks of life are. Now, for the first time, man had a tool and a way to codify his approach to answering the questions of what is fundamental.

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Quantum Leap: The Standard Model

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 008.

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With all of the unverified hypotheses regarding black holes, dark matter, and dark energy permeating the general discussions regarding particle physics, I thought it might be good to step back and take a look at what is actually known and tested in the world of quantum mechanics.  To do this, we need to take a look at The Standard Model.

When we seek to understand what is fundamental to life around us, it is a question of what exactly is the essence of our physical world.  If you break matter and energy down to the smallest component what is it that we are dealing with?

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