The “ultraviolet catastrophe” was a turning point in our understanding of energy that lead to Max Planck’s quantum theory. Classical physics posited that hotter objects glow brighter, but it was not accurate when applied to objects glowing in the ultraviolet range of light. Objects glowing at this frequency were much lower in intensity. Planck theorised instead that energy is more like a currency, and high-frequency light needs more of it to shine, making its light intensity drop off. Read full article here
Science
‘Ghostly’ neutrinos provide new path to study protons
In groundbreaking research, an international collaboration of scientists from the University of Rochester have used a beam of neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. This feat, once thought impossible, provides scientists with a new way of looking at the small components of an atom’s nucleus and opens up a wealth of new information about the structure of an atom’s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. The researchers solved the challenge of harnessing neutrinos in large numbers by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms, and over nine years of data collection at Fermilab’s accelerator. Read full article here
Merv
March 25, 2023
