1

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 09/11/2024 16:08:16 »

I am fairly sure the first law is sacrosanct and will never be broken. I can foresee the possibility of very limited cases where the second law does not hold- these will be highly contrived scenarios and I don't reckon any great usefulness will arise from these. Bottom line, I don't think future generations will find a significant way around these laws. Ewe may hold a different opinion but we won't fall out over it.

They may be able to ' bend' the rules a little....maybe they can transfer energy from one place where the physics are different.......... to us. 

2

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 09/11/2024 16:05:18 »

By eliminating all losses such as friction it is, in principle, possible to make a contraption that would exhibit perpetual motion. It would, however,  be totally impossible to harvest any energy from this.

Maybe in the future they will be able to produce fusion machines...energy problem sorted. 

3

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 30/10/2024 13:17:36 »

I am sure our descendants will figure it out, hopefully pre self annihilation. What we know now was magic just a few hundred years ago so I have every faith in human ingenuity to discover what we deem impossible now.

4

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Is it Just Hadrons that The Large Hadron Collider...collides ?

« on: 29/10/2024 18:15:10 »

Hi, I'm Neil. how are ewe ?


What is so special about Hadrons ?
Are there other particles on the menu to be collided too ?
How do they store the particles ?....are they kept in a test tube or something ?
How many particles are fired at one time ?




Thank ewe




Sheepy
xx

5

Physiology & Medicine / Re: What Happens To White Cells After They Have Dealt With An Infection ?

« on: 29/10/2024 18:05:02 »

Blood cells (of any type) are fairly short lived, so the white cell counts go down by attrition and lack of many more being produced after their need is gone.  The counts return to normal levels around 5-25 days after infection is cleared, depending on the sort of infection involved.

Red cells might live 4 months. White cells have a life expectancy of only a few days, so if you stop making them in abnormal quantities, their numbers quickly decrease to normal levels.

I have given a unit of red blood cells, and that has the longest wait time before I'm allowed to donate again. Giving whole blood, plasma, platelets, all have shorter wait times.
I've not heard of giving white cells, but I know that early in the covid days before the vaccines came out, whole blood from a person who had recently gotten over a covid infection was in serious demand to serve as a treatment for the more dire cases.

I too donate blood. Every three months. Not allowed to do any sooner here in the UK. A nurse once told me that she was not a fan of blood donation as it puts a strain on the bone marrow !....anyway. Thank you Halc. Could a white blood cell come to the end of it's life whilst it is fighting bacteria ?...do they just get reabsorbed ?

Thank you chum

6

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 29/10/2024 18:01:07 »

It makes them perpetual, but not machines because any model of an atom that invokes movement must require that movement to be essentially random. Heisenberg rules!

Maybe  in the future, our descendants will be able to harness the power of this motion to make a perpetual machine ?

7

Physiology & Medicine / What Happens To White Cells After They Have Dealt With An Infection ?

« on: 29/10/2024 16:04:06 »

Dear all,


As a sheepy I of course know everything there is to know about my immune system . It's obvious isn't it ? Wooly Cloud With Legs = Complete Knowledge of Everything......... Obvious....blatant even !!!


HOWEVER, as the proud proprietor of more than 10 white blood cells I realised a gap in my scholarship.....What happens to White Blood Cells After They Have Defeated Bacteria ?...do they just carry on doing their thing or go for an MOT** ?...or retire ?


 
Whajafink ?








**M.O.T =a test that any vehicle in the UK over three years old must take in order to make sure that it is safe and in good condition (the abbreviation for Ministry of Transport?

8

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Are Atoms Perpetual Motion Machines ?

« on: 29/10/2024 15:41:04 »

This got me thinking from my other thread regarding the absolute zero and motion of quantum stuff.Why does Quantum Stuff Still Move At Absolute Zero ? | Naked Science Forum


Seeing as Atoms are always moving because they always have energy  !

1: Where does the energy come from ? 2: Does this make atoms (et al) Perpetual Motion Machines ?




Thank You
Quantum Entangled Wooly Cloud !

9

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why does Quantum Stuff Still Move At Absolute Zero ?

« on: 29/10/2024 15:33:30 »

Hi.

    I'm fairly sure we've had some other threads discussing temperature and the sorts of issue that @neilep has raised.

This is a short summary of how I see the current situation.   Note that  (i)  I'm only one person and don't claim any special expertise in this field of study,    (ii)  It is apparent that our notion of temperature is changing, so that whatever is said here will probably change again in a few years.


Summary:

    Historically temperature was understood in many different ways.   One simple approach is that temperature was the thing you measure when you stick a thermometer into something.   Problems with this approach were too numerous to mention.  For example, how do you build a reliable thermometer?   Sticking a thermometer into some liquid is reasonably easy but sticking a thermometer into some solid is often impossible.  How do you ensure you're getting good thermal contact etc?      In the very old days, some things just didn't have a temperature if you couldn't stick a thermometer into it.
     At a later time,  let's say between 1848  (when Lord Kelvin was developing his Kelvin scale) and 2019 (when the weights and measures commitee redefined temperature) it was quite popular to define and consider temperature using a thermodynamic approach.   That actually worked quite well.
    Since May 2019,  international agreement has been to define temperature based on a Kinetic Theory approach.   That's not my fault, it's just what was done by the weights and measures committee and whoever establishes the SI units for Science.   They wanted to improve our definition and undertstanding of temperature and it was thought that basing temperature on this theoretical framework would make it more objective and absolute.   Just to be clear about this - the modern Kelvin scale is NOT the one that Lord Kelvin developed, we kept the name but ditched most of the notions that Lord Kelvin used.

     We have a great model and good understanding for this kinetic theory approach  IF  the substance is an ideal gas.   The trouble is that most things are NOT ideal gases.   We have a few other reasonable classical models for other things but by no means do we have a good classical model for the microscopic behaviour of everything.
     One very important thing to note is that the sort of microscopic mechanics that is used in these models and that the weights and measures committee have declared we MUST use,  are based on classical mechanics and NOT quantum mechanics.    This is a problem because some things are evidently quantum mechanical but we never-the-less have to do some translation into an equivalent classical system when we assign a temperature to that system.   As mentioned already, we have some good classical microscopic models for some things but sometimes we just do not have any such model that we can use.   Overall, the attempt by the weights and measures committee to make temperature more objective and absolute have caused as many problems as they may have hoped to solve.

   Reference:   Spend the time reading Wikipedia's entry for "temperature" and you'll get some idea of how temperature has been redefined.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature.     That Wikipedia entry has been edited and adjusted since the last time I looked at it about 1 year ago.   As mentioned, it is very likely to keep changing in the near future.


   Anyway, one answer or reply we can offer to the OP is the following:
You just aren't allowed to use a quantum mechanical model for the substance you are trying to assign a temperature to.   You would HAVE to translate the behaviour of your substance into some classical microscopic model.    What you'll then end up with is a temperature that says something about the average kinetic energy per particle, even if it's a total abstraction to imagine that anything like individual classical particles could be found in this substance or thing.
    In your case, despite your assertion that this thing has temperature 0 k, it probably won't be and can't be 0 k.  You probably can't obtain an official temperature of precisely 0 Kelvin unless the zero point energy of your thing actually is 0 and the corresponding classical model would have particles with 0 kinetic energy.

Best Wishes.

(Last edit to fix some spelling errors).

WOW...Thank you very much . I will indeed read the Wikipedia article.

10

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why does Quantum Stuff Still Move At Absolute Zero ?

« on: 29/10/2024 15:10:12 »

One thing I noticed about your questions is that absolute zero is a theoretical limit. There's a reason no experiment has been done at absolute zero or 0 deg K.

It has to do with the so-called Planck energy of quantum particles; none of these is ever at 0 deg K, because then it would have no rest energy or ground state. It wouldn't be a particle any more.

Thank you very much for your kind response. How can absolute zero be given a definition and a temperature if it can never be reached ?

11

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Why does Quantum Stuff Still Move At Absolute Zero ?

« on: 18/10/2024 18:52:03 »

Dearest Quantologists,


Absolute Zero is well cold !!Colder than my freezer and that is currently set at -18c (-0.4F) which is.....freezing !!


I found out recently that even at absolute zero quantum thingies still move !!


Look,



"Hi I'm Quanty and I'm moving despite it being rather chilly"




Here is a quantum thingy that I took a photo of with my 1976 SX-70 Polaroid when I set my Freezer to -273.15c just moments ago.
I took video too and it was moving. This is true because I said so.




So, two questions really, why does quantum stuff still move at 0K ? and therefore, should absolute zero be even lower than -273.15c ?








I dunno.....do ewe ?




Hugs and shmishes


mwah mwah


Sheepy
xx

12

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How Do Bees Say That The Source Of Food Is Now Empty ? Or Don't They ?

« on: 22/05/2024 19:24:19 »

Dearest Beekeepers and Bee-ologists,


As a sheepy I of course know everything there is to know about Bees.  I know this because  they are the second letter of the alphabet.



B-Sharp telling B-Minor where the nosh it just moments ago.




Bees get their nosh by telling each other where it is.  Take a look at the above photo for the proof.




So, when the nosh has all gone, how do they let the others know ? does it just get lost in new messages of new food locales ? Last thing you want is traffic jam on one petal !!




So, whajafink ? do they somehow cancel the locale or not ?




Thank ewe for BEEing so kind.


Sheepy
xxxxxxxxx

13

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / How Old is Soil ?

« on: 20/05/2024 11:11:06 »

Hi All,


I'm Sheepy how are ewe ?
Excellent, now that we are all best friends I'd like to find out how old soil is. Soil is my all time favourite dirty earthy stuff that things grow in.



Some Soil  And A Plant Being Best Friends Just Moments ago.


As ewe can see, soil and plants are also best friends like ewe and me.


So, How Old Is Your Regular Bog-Standard Garden Soil ?


whajafink ?




Neil
xxxx

14

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Do Fish Salivate ?

« on: 17/05/2024 16:25:26 »

Dearest Fishy Peeps,


Nothing like a pescatarian feast to keep all the vege-matics happy eh ?


My oral cavity is drooling just thinking about it ?


If a Fishy sees a very tasty morsal, does it salivate too ?




Can Fish and Whales and all that underwater life salivate ?

whajafink ?


Thanky everyone .




Sheepy
Buoyant Sheep  In Charge Of Salivation Kweschuns

15

Physiology & Medicine / Is Anything Passed Down To baby Via Surrogacy ?

« on: 17/05/2024 14:18:51 »

Dear Surrogacyologists,


Surrogacy is a real fine thing for girlies to do.  I asked one and she said she was fine....so there you have it QED.




With the body of the female sheeporting the life of the infant, is anything at all passed down from the surrogate to the child ?


If, not...how not ?


Thank ewe for kind assistance.




Sheepy
xxxxxx

16

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Where are the round rocks on Mars ?

« on: 17/05/2024 14:06:07 »

They probably never existed, or haven't yet evolved.

Rocks tend to fracture with straight edges. You need the erosive action of grit-laden water or wind to polish them into smooth shapes, and Mars seems somewhat deficient in both.

The alternative source of mineral rotundity can be a volcanic eruption of liquid that freezes slowly as it descends through a viscous atmosphere. but again Mars isn't the best place to manufacture lead shot by that traditional process.   

Umpteen years ago the New Scientist published a question about the distribution of flat stones on a seashore. My 6-year-old son pointed out that all the good ones will have been thrown into the sea by small boys, so you won't find many above the high water mark. Extrapolating from that wisdom, and from the Apollo program of exporting human stupidity to other planets, I think you might find round rocks inside the so-called craters that form the Mars crazy golf course. 

Your son is amazing !

I would have thought over the zillions of years with all the epic sand storms  that weathering would have happened by now. However, I acquiesce to your your sons prodigious wisdom ! 😉

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Where are the round rocks on Mars ?

« on: 17/05/2024 11:55:58 »

Dearest Marsologists,


As a sheepy I maintain a rotund, circular, plumpy figure.   So there I was, day dreaming about all things round when it dawned on me that I don't recall seeing circular rock deposits on Mars.
As a firm believer in empirical study I caught the bus to Mars and it's true!.. Where are all the round rocks ?



Mars with no round rocks just minutes ago !!

So, have all the Flerfs gone up there to remove them ? or are there no round rocks on Mars ?


Please to be letting me know

Thank ewe hugs

Sheepy
xxxxxxx

18

General Science / Re: Science Photo of the Week

« on: 14/05/2024 14:31:51 »

.

19

Physiology & Medicine / Why Make Scar Tissue Instead Of Bog-standard Tissue To Heal ?

« on: 14/05/2024 13:17:58 »

Dearest Scarologists and 'Hoo-Har' (Kwik Kwiz...why am I saying "Hoo Har" ?)






Take a look at Samantha's scar !



Samantha's scar last Wednesday evening circa 23:14. She was drinking tea.


Why doth da body make da scar tissue innit ? (attempting to attract 'street-kids' to enjoy science) you feel me ?

Ok, why does the body make scar tissue that lasts forever and just not regular tissue  ?

Scars come in all shapes ,sizes and textures etc....wouldn't it just be easier to just heal back to normal. does not the liver do this ?


whajafink ?


Hugs and shmishes


Mwah mwah

neil
xxxxxx
Scar-ed of Scars

20

Physiology & Medicine / How Do the Immune Cells Detect The Invading Infection ?

« on: 14/05/2024 13:01:21 »

Dearest Science Peeps Of Academic Gravitas,


See the picture below ? A genuine non-doctored bona-fide picture of a real cell defending the body.









A genuine non-doctored bona-fide picture of a real cell defending the body as just mentioned in the above sentence just moments ago

How do the cells know where the infectious cells are ? and how do they even move to apprehend the the offending cells ? Do they ' uber' it ? use Waze ? ask directions ?  I dunno !!


Do ewe know ?

I went and asked a prisoner as he was inside a cell and he had no idea !!


Thank ewe for your kind service in shedding some light here.


Hugs

shmishes

mwah mwah

Neil
xxxxxxxx

Immune immune, you're not a cartoon
Defending the body from infectious doom
But how do you know where the enemy lies ?
And your method of travel what does it comprise ?