Friday, November 21, 2008

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right

Thu Nov 20, 6:56 pm ET
e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right AFP/File – People walk past a giant sculpture featuring Albert Einstein's formula "E=mc2" in front …

PARIS (AFP) – It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists.

A brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms.

According to the conventional model of particle physics, protons and neutrons comprise smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons.

The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five percent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 percent?

The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons.

In other words, energy and mass are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905.

The e=mc2 formula shows that mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass.

By showing how much energy would be released if a certain amount of mass were to be converted into energy, the equation has been used many times, most famously as the inspirational basis for building atomic weapons.

But resolving e=mc2 at the scale of sub-atomic particles -- in equations called quantum chromodynamics -- has been fiendishly difficult.

"Until now, this has been a hypothesis," France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said proudly in a press release.

"It has now been corroborated for the first time."

For those keen to know more: the computations involve "envisioning space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice, with discrete points spaced along columns and rows."

Gas, OMG, WTF, WOW

Fancy Stuff





Weenie Dog




So, this is what really bored people do for fun.

Math Club Stupidity






So, they put a sign for a math club event on an area where no one can get it down, easily. However did this was either very tall or just otherwise very bored.

Supreme Nachos



Harvey's, the little mexican food joint down by the lakes between the HPR/Admin Building and the Library has the best nachos you can get for $3. They come with gooey cheese, your choice of beef or chicken, guacamole and sour cream, refried beans or pinto beans. Good stuff.

Nature

Nature shots - Because I was Bored











Halloween Fun

I know it's late, but I finally got it posted - also check down for some updated older entries.





I tried to do some nerdy pumpkins. I have tux the mascot of all things Linux and even nerdier, I put that the area of a circle = Pi r squared. Funny huh..

Elevator Outage

Not to be outdone by having a single elevator failure yesterday, now both elevators of the RBN are offline. Stuck on the first floor. This is too funny. I for one believe with the severity of these outages, about 1 or 2 a month, we should get this elevator recalled or be reimbursed. The elevator company should give back every cent this elevator cost and provide free service until it is repaired. This is simply unacceptable.

I don't have a clue

I'm so very tired. It's almost all the time now.