1

Chemistry / A Question of oxidization in grape wine and not wine made from oranges.

« on: 10/02/2021 17:55:30 »

I made wines from grapes and citrus fruits last year, I had a lot of oranges, so have a lot of orange wine, as well as other types of wines.

All grape wine oxidizes over night if left exposed to the air. My Orange wine does not appear to oxidize if left exposed to the air. Why is this the case?

Has it anything to do with the level of antioxidants in oranges being greater than those in grapes, or is there more too it? My Orange wine is quite strong, could the extra alcohol have something to do with it?

2

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How did mink catch Covid-19? And what threat do their mutations pose?

« on: 08/11/2020 18:40:55 »

In view of the recent, covid-19 mutation in minks transmitted to humans, and some pets catching Covid-19 from their owners. Minks are not rodents and are cut and paste “Mustelids belong to the large order Carnivora, which means they are actually more closely related to other members of Carnivora, like dogs, cats and bears, than to rats and mice.” Other members in the weasel family include polecats, badgers, minks, martens, black-footed ferrets, wolverines and otters"

How did the mink get covid? Human to mink transmission or some other route?

I understand in the UK ,sewage has been monitored to locate covid-19 outbreaks. I have not checked this little factoid, but see know reason why I might have been misinformed.

Rats live in sewers, could rats contract a mutation of covid-19. They have in the past been responsible for transmitting plagues, and are everywhere. Rats do not obey social distancing rules made by politicians, if they contracted the disease or a mutation, could they overcome human social distancing  rules?

3

Chemistry / Can Sulphites be removed from wine other than by adding hydrogen peroxide?

« on: 02/10/2020 14:55:01 »

Potassium metabisulphate is added to wine as a preservative and is referred to as sulphites

Can Sulphites be removed from wine by any other mechanism other than adding hydrogen peroxide.

Evaporation in cooking and aeration are suggested. Ethanol Alcohol starts to evaporate at about 78C. At what temperature do sulphites evaporate if at all?.
 

4

Chemistry / Could H2S produced in wine be influenced by the source of added sulphur?

« on: 29/06/2020 21:02:54 »

Wine making involves the addition of sulphates to kill of harmful bacteria and preserve the wine.

On occasion H2S can be produced in the wine due to badly nourished yeast.

SO2 added to wine comes in liquid solution H2SO3, and as Potassium metabisulphate K2S2O5. These react with the wine producing SO2.

Could H2S produced in wine making be in any way influenced by the source of SO2 in the wine?

5

New Theories / where is your consciousness located?

« on: 14/03/2020 16:17:27 »

Where is the consciousness located ?

The following might appeal to pantheists, buddhists hindus, or newagers perhaps and maybe even scientists.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/think-well/201906/does-consciousness-exist-outside-the-brain
"Hence, in Fenwick’s view, the brain does not create or produce consciousness; rather, it filters it. As odd as this idea might seem at first, there are some analogies that bring the concept into sharper focus. For example, the eye filters and interprets only a very small sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum and the ear registers only a narrow range of sonic frequencies. Similarly, according to Fenwick, the brain filters and perceives only a tiny part of the cosmos’ intrinsic “consciousness.”
Fenwick is not a physicist, so I dredged the following link, the mind of wigners friend which supports the Fenwicks theory.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23040667?read-now=1&seq=1
The key points central to the article are
"A. My body with its internal nervous system(explored to any future degree of physiological completeness) functions as a pure mechanism according to the laws of nature. Further more quantum mechanics is the ultimate basis of the mechanism.

B. I am aware that by incontrovertible direct evidence of knowledge (information) entering my consciousness."

Would any one like to comment, where is your consciousness? what is it?

6

Chemistry / What is the difference between Phosphate and Phosphorous ?

« on: 11/03/2020 17:59:47 »

What is the difference between Phosphate and Phosphorous
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus

7

Complementary Medicine / How many foods are there that help Arthritis sufferers?

« on: 08/03/2020 09:08:30 »

I have a friend who has just developed rheumatoid arthritis. Painful swellings of various joints.

She has heard cider vinegar and honey, may help. link on the subject https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323074

This cider vinegar and honey diet was originally published by Margaret Hills SRN back in the 1970's. Many people claim to have been cured.

Certain foods such as Citrus fruits, and wine, are said to cause flare ups of Rheumatoid arthritis.

My questions are

1) are there any other foods that may have a similar effect to cider vinegar and honey ??

2) what foods or drinks are likely to cause attacks of rheumatoid arthritis?? 

3) she has heard drinking brandy or stout is OK is this right?

8

Marine Science / Could Portuguese Men of war deter whales and dolphins

« on: 09/08/2019 11:33:49 »

I am currently in the Azores islands, middle of the Atlantic Ocean for those not good at Geography.

This year huge numbers of Portuguese men of war have appeared around the Azores. Very few Whales have been observed and there are not as many Dolphins as are usual. Could the Whales and Dolphins be being forced away by plagues of Portuguese men of war. The other thing noted is the sea temperature here is 4C higher than seasonal norms ie 23C as opposed to 19C. Could the water temperature be causing the Whales and Dolphins to go elsewhere, and could it also be supporting the bloom of Portuguese men of war.

Edit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war

Edit 2 Photos
https://www.google.pt/search?q=Caravelas+Azores+warning&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0keSC2PXjAhWQDxQKHYOaC88QsAR6BAgIEAE&biw=1366&bih=619

Edit 3 I am guessing since Dolphins and Humans are mammals and Portuguese men o war are toxic to humans, and can be lethal if too many stings are received. A similar effect likely will be observed with dolphins, as they are approx. the same size as a human depending on species. How about a big whale a Blue, Sperm or Hump back, perhaps a sting in the eye when it is the size of a dinner plate might be a painful deterrent.

9

Just Chat! / What impact will BREXIT have on Science & Society?

« on: 04/08/2019 09:43:01 »

Moderator Note: This was split off from:
 Which scientists say we've just 18 months to "save planet from climate change"?
Which is still available on the original thread, at:
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=77444.0#lastPost

The function of pensioners like me is to prevent those who prefer dogma to logic, from ruining the world for our descendants.

Was it a majority of pensioners that voted for Brexit, many of whom are now dead a year later?

10

New Theories / Are all photons mediated in the same way through the quantum vacuum

« on: 14/07/2019 14:48:42 »

If I am understanding QED correctly, which I suspect I am not.

A dielectric is an insulator that can be polarized by electric fields.

QED suggests the quantum vacuum can be polarized like a dielectric via virtual photons, and transmit forces such as electrical charge, momentum etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED_vacuum

I understand a real photon has no charge, whereas a virtual photon can transmit charges via polarizing the vacuum of space. Is it zero point energy that is being polarized or virtual particles modelled by the HUP or both.

Real photons maintain their properties from A to B. Virtual photons appear to lose intensity as their polarized field radiates from the source through the quantum vacuum. Is this correct?

Edit Perhaps not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_polarization
 
Virtual photons are considered off shell, are real photons on shell in that they can transfer momentum? 

11

New Theories / Hot Big Bangs and Cold little Bangs

« on: 08/05/2019 17:27:48 »

Thread Moved

12

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can Special Relativity be derived from Newtonian Mechanics?

« on: 06/05/2019 16:53:38 »

Can Special Relativity be derived from Newtonian mechanics? 

https://futurism.com/newtonian-physics-vs-special-realtivity

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Physiology & Medicine / Can contaminants in food cause water retention?

« on: 16/04/2019 17:38:58 »

What contaminants/additives in food can cause water retention? Many of my friends recently have commented that they find eating many but not all wheat based foods, causes them to go into water retention, with symptoms like fat fingers, gaining a couple of kilos over night, feeling lethargic etc. They never experienced this when they were younger.
 
Does aging make you less tolerant to certain foods and additives or toxins in your food.

Things like over doing the salt intake can cause water retention. Glyphospate is a salt which is used on wheat, and apparently found in all foods today. Could some salts cause more water retention than others. 
https://detoxproject.org/glyphosate-in-food-water/ Are some salts better for us than others. Monsanto claims Glyphospate is less harmful than normal salt, is this verifiably true.

Are there other chemicals in the food chain that could cause water retention perhaps. Preservatives, stabilizers, flavourings etc.

Any ideas ?

14

New Theories / Big Suck Theory, can a Black hole contract space, and destroy energy.

« on: 14/04/2019 13:57:45 »

Hawking radiation results when two virtual particles become separated, due to gravity.

During the inflationary stage of spatial expansion matter likely came into existence via the separation of virtual particles, causing a hot big bang and expansion of the universe to what we have today.

Could Black Holes cause the reversal of the Hot Big Bang?

Could a BH bring fundamental particles close enough together to destroy each other, not unlike virtual particles which borrow energy from the vacuum of space via the HUP and then repay it. According to Hawking if they become separated they become real, can this be reversed at high enough pressures.

Inside a BH could the contraction of space (destruction of dark energy) cause particles to come together at rates exceeding the speed of light, without violating relativity, in a similar way to expansion of the universe via dark energy is causing galaxies at the outer edges of the universe to move away from us in excess of c?

Things moving at c do not experience time, things in excess of c may experience time reversal inside a BH, how does this affect their existence. ?

Does QCD give any insight into what might happen with spacial contraction inside a BH?

Does the HUP still apply inside a BH, it does not appear to take gravity into acount?

15

New Theories / Can a photon be visualized ?

« on: 07/04/2019 12:38:06 »

Can a photon be visualized?

We can describe a photon as having both wave and particle properties, and predict mathematically what it will do.
The double slit experiment shows clearly it has wave properties.

Quote from: chiralSPO on 05/04/2019 17:32:11
We can use different models to account for the different speeds of light in different materials--one model essentially views the photon as being absorbed and re-emitted repeatedly, and one model just looks at the effective permittivities (both electric and magnetic), and uses that to calculate the speed of light. Both models predict the same speeds (as far as I know), but sometimes it is better to use one model than the other.

This is a little like something I was mulling over a little while ago, and never found any conclusive answers on. Can space be viewed as a material? Ie can a photon passing through free space, be viewed as being absorbed and re-emitted by virtual particles? Thus maybe re-producing a wave effect via a jittery movement through space from virtual particle to virtual particle ?  .

Does anything come out of Feynman diagrams on this? I have not found any answers from my searches.

16

New Theories / Emergent TOES

« on: 21/03/2019 12:45:34 »

Would any body like to discuss/comment on the following perhaps none standard model physics.

Space time might be emergent

The utube is a bit pop science and dumbed down, but it is amusing. The following link is by Sean Carroll and puts some meat on the subject of emergent space time.
http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2016/07/18/space-emerging-from-quantum-mechanics/

It seemed reasonable to me, that if Hawking radiation would create particles near black hole then the inflationary stage of the universe might sperate virtual particles in a similar way. After eventually googling the correct things I found some interesting links on Particle creation https://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.05523.pdf

Particle creation during inflationary stage of the universe https://counterbalance.org/cq-fab/abigb-frame.html?client=ctns2

"An alternative way of looking at the ripples is also instructive. High-energy physics tells us that vacua, including that of inflation, are busy places. According to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, “virtual” pairs of photons and matter-anti-matter particles are spontaneously created out of nothing and annihilating one another even in so-called “empty” space. This microscopic seething of the vacuum normally goes unnoticed because the fluctuations are short-lived: pairs appear and disappear quickly and on average have no measurable effect. Circumstances are essentially altered in inflation, however; now pairs are torn apart by the rapid expansion of space and, once separated, cannot find one another to annihilate. They therefore must become “real,” frozen into the fabric of the Universe for all time. Their associated energy fluctuations are the tiny ripples - seized by inflation and blown up to what will ultimately become, in our day, galaxies and superclusters. "

Preceding all the above I stumbled across Eric Verlindes emergent gravity theory.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02269

Does a mechanism for particle creation during inflation and the emergence of space time and gravity now give us a theoory of everything? What would it take for all of this to become standard model physics?

Edit I forgot to include Penroses Conformal Cyclic Universe on the original post,  so I will add it for comments also.  Its a theory that has been around for a while, a bit like Penrose  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_cyclic_cosmology