DOCSLIB.ORG

Matters of Light. Ways of Knowing in Enlightened Optics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Matters of Light. Ways of Knowing in Enlightened Optics Institute of Advanced Insights Study MattersMatters ofof Light.Light. WaysWays ofof KnowingKnowing inin EnlightenedEnlightened OpticsOptics Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis Volume 7 2014 Number 8 ISSN 1756-2074 Institute of Advanced Study Insights About Insights Insights captures the ideas and work-in-progress of the Fellows of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University. Up to twenty distinguished and ‘fast-track’ Fellows reside at the IAS in any academic year. They are world-class scholars who come to Durham to participate in a variety of events around a core inter-disciplinary theme, which changes from year to year. Each theme inspires a new series of Insights, and these are listed in the inside back cover of each issue. These short papers take the form of thought experiments, summaries of research findings, theoretical statements, original reviews, and occasionally more fully worked treatises. Every fellow who visits the IAS is asked to write for this series. The Directors of the IAS – Veronica Strang, Rob Barton, Barbara Graziosi and Martin Ward – also invite submissions from others involved in the themes, events and activities of the IAS. Insights is edited for the IAS by Barbara Graziosi. Previous editors of Insights were Professor Susan Smith (2006–2009) and Professor Michael O’Neill (2009–2012). About the Institute of Advanced Study The Institute of Advanced Study, launched in October 2006 to commemorate Durham University’s 175th Anniversary, is a flagship project reaffirming the value of ideas and the public role of universities. The Institute aims to cultivate new thinking on ideas that might change the world, through unconstrained dialogue between the disciplines as well as interaction between scholars, intellectuals and public figures of world standing from a variety of backgrounds and countries. The Durham IAS is one of only a handful of comparable institutions in the world that incorporates the Sciences, Social Sciences, the Arts and the Humanities. The focal point of the IAS is a programme of work associated with, but not exclusive to, an annual research theme. At the core of this work lies a prestigious Fellowship programme. This programme gathers together scholars, intellectuals and public figures of world standing or world-promise to address topics of major academic or public interest. Their mission is to anticipate the new and re-interpret the old, communicating across and working between disciplinary boundaries. Every year, the Institute invites as many as twenty highly creative individuals to spend up to three months in Durham. They are located in Cosin’s Hall, a magnificent and spacious 18th century mansion which, together with Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, forms part of Palace Green, dominating the World Heritage Site of Durham Peninsula. During their stay, Fellows engage with departments and colleges, deliver public lectures and seminars, and, above all, join an international community of researchers to address the theme selected for that year. Further details of the IAS and its Fellowship programme can be found at www.durham.ac.uk/ias/fellows Copyright The design and contents of Insights are subject to copyright. Copyright and Reproduction Rights in all submitted contributions remain with the authors, as described in the Author’s Copyright Agreement. Copyright and Reproduction Rights of all other material remain with Insights. Except under the terms of Fair Dealing (UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), the user may not modify, copy, reproduce, retransmit or otherwise distribute the site and its contents (whether text, graphics or original research concepts), without express permission in writing from the Institute. Where the above content is directly or indirectly reproduced in an academic context under the terms of Fair Dealing, this must be acknowledged with the appropriate bibliographical citation. The opinions stated in the Insights papers are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, or the staff and students thereof. Institute of Advanced Study Insights MATTERS OF KNOWING. WAYS OF KNOWING IN ENLIGHTENED OPTICS Research in optics was a multifaceted affair in the Enlightenment that produced all kinds of ideas about light and colour and practices to employ it. They provide a mirror for present-day practices and concepts of optics that seem to evade basic notions of light and optics and are much richer than the basic textbook theories. This paper discusses three cases of enlightened optics. They came right after the classic formulations of the wave theory by Huygens and the particle theory by Newton; but these theories were largely irrelevant for these pursuits. The three-colour printing that Le Blon invented presented an alternative understanding of the nature and mixing of colours, based on visual perception. The burning lenses of Tschirnhaus showed the material effects of light, and consequentially its material nature. The barometric light displayed by vacuum glass spheres evaded every explanation but gave rise to the invention and investigation of electricity. These original inroads into optics may inspire present-day researchers to think anew about light and colours. n secondary school the physics of light was saved until last. The dual nature of light offered Ia glimpse into the strange world of modern physics that lay well beyond the A-levels. Light showed how physics could grasp the impalpable: being two things at the same time. The true nature of particle/wave duality was in the mathematical physics of sophisticated modelling and experimentation. That was well beyond our reach, but we had got the idea. The chosen few who would go into university physics might hear that a photon is a wave packet and a wave is a set of photons that go around together, and might learn to work them through. It remains to be seen whether this promise of higher understanding is fulfilled. Conceptions of what a photon is vary widely among physicists.1 At the end of the day the particle/wave probably gives no answer at all as to the question of what light is. The aspiring student will be disappointed even further (Lange, 2002). Many physicists are not particularly interested in the nature of light (and other natural entities). In modern physics the question ‘what is the nature of light?’ is generally not considered a scientific question at all. The quest for the nature of things ended with the advent of energy physics: science was no longer about essences, it was about conversions and effects (Kuhn, 1959; Smith, 2003). Rather than asking what heat is, in 1848 William Thomson, the later Lord Kelvin, asked what it can do; answering that it can do work (Thomson, 1848). With Einstein all attempts at understanding the ether were put aside: no sensible thing can be said about the nature or existence of the world beyond our instruments. The ignoramus and ignorabimus of du Bois-Reymond was expanded to an epistemic imperative ‘we should not want to know’ (du Bois-Reymond, 1912). Reality should not be written off from modern science too soon, however. Concepts of the nature of things are important for devising experiments, concocting hypotheses and interpreting effects. Picturing things as real helps in getting to intellectual grips with phenomena. Scientists need epistemic tools to investigate phenomena (de Regt, 2009). How do inquirers comprehend light when thinking about its properties, creating effects, manipulating experiments? This article addresses this question in an oblique manner, by making a detour to the optics of the 2 Institute of Advanced Study Insights eighteenth century. The creative ways in which Enlightened students of optics got to grips with various phenomena gives us an idea of the diversity, inventiveness and profusion of the epistemic tools employed by natural inquirers then and now. Beginnings ccounts of the nature of light usually refer to Huygens and Newton for the origins of wave Aand particle conceptions. Basically this is correct; regarding light, the new mechanistic understanding of nature of the seventeenth century crystallised in their theories. In Traité de la Lumière (1690) Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) elaborated the idea that light consists of waves in an all-pervading ether. The key to his theory was his principle of wave propagation: an exact mathematical description that allowed for the explanation of the properties of light by means of geometrical derivation (Dijksterhuis, 2004). Newton’s Opticks (1704/1717) was an entirely different affair: rather than expounding an explanatory model for the properties of light it contained an experimental investigation of a range of new phenomena of light and colour. Central to it was the discovery that Newton had presented to the world in 1672: white light is a mixture of colours that can be separated into a spectrum by means of refraction in a prism – or raindrop for that matter. In Opticks, Newton extended his experimental account of light and colours to the interference patterns in thin layers of oil, soap, glass and air, as well as diffraction. Newton regarded claims about the unobservable nature of things, such as Huygens’s waves, to be speculations that should not be allowed to enter into proper science. As a result, in Opticks he defined the nature of light in terms of the rays that one sees. Only as an afterthought, in a series of probing ‘queries’ at the back of Opticks, did he reflect upon the nature of light. He made his private thoughts clear to his readers in the form of a rhetorical question: ‘Are not the Rays of Light very small Bodies emitted from shining Substances?’ (1717, p. 345). Newton considered a particle conception of light a better option than the ethereal waves of Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens and others: ‘Are not all Hypotheses erroneous, in which Light is supposed to consist in Pression or Motion, propagated through a fluid Medium?’ (p.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rediscovery of the Elements — a Historical Sketch of the Discoveries
    REDISCOVERY OF THE ELEMENTS — A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DISCOVERIES TABLE OF CONTENTS incantations. The ancient Greeks were the first to Introduction ........................1 address the question of what these principles 1. The Ancients .....................3 might be. Water was the obvious basic 2. The Alchemists ...................9 essence, and Aristotle expanded the Greek 3. The Miners ......................14 philosophy to encompass a obscure mixture of 4. Lavoisier and Phlogiston ...........23 four elements — fire, earth, water, and air — 5. Halogens from Salts ...............30 as being responsible for the makeup of all 6. Humphry Davy and the Voltaic Pile ..35 materials of the earth. As late as 1777, scien- 7. Using Davy's Metals ..............41 tific texts embraced these four elements, even 8. Platinum and the Noble Metals ......46 though a over-whelming body of evidence 9. The Periodic Table ................52 pointed out many contradictions. It was taking 10. The Bunsen Burner Shows its Colors 57 thousands of years for mankind to evolve his 11. The Rare Earths .................61 thinking from Principles — which were 12. The Inert Gases .................68 ethereal notions describing the perceptions of 13. The Radioactive Elements .........73 this material world — to Elements — real, 14. Moseley and Atomic Numbers .....81 concrete basic stuff of this universe. 15. The Artificial Elements ...........85 The alchemists, who devoted untold Epilogue ..........................94 grueling hours to transmute metals into gold, Figs. 1-3. Mendeleev's Periodic Tables 95-97 believed that in addition to the four Aristo- Fig. 4. Brauner's 1902 Periodic Table ...98 telian elements, two principles gave rise to all Fig. 5. Periodic Table, 1925 ...........99 natural substances: mercury and sulfur.
    [Show full text]
  • Potion Making by Sam Gayton I Hope You Find These Resources and Activities Useful
    Potion Making by Sam Gayton I hope you find these resources and activities useful. There are two different activities that I’ve included here. You’re welcome to use or adapt them in any way you see fit. All of the resources are linked to my book The Snow Merchant, which is a story that features alchemy. You might like to read about alchemy in the All About Alchemy sheet — or you could read the first few chapters of Potion Making The Snow Merchant. by Sam Gayton Suitable for: 7 years and above. Type of activity: art, storytelling, writing Aim: to increase pupils’ confidence around hands-on activities, story-telling and writing. Activity 1: Potion Making Watch the video, and get ready to become an alchemist! Once you’ve made your potions, there are all sorts of extension activities you could try: writing down a recipe, or even trying to create a story that begins with someone drinking your potions — either on purpose, or accidentally! Activity 2: Using Music To Inspire Writing Choose a track from the list provided, sit back and listen, then listen to it again while writing with the accompanying writing prompt. Happy potion-brewing! Sam. Sam Gayton Sam is the writer of fantasy-filled children’s books, including Hercufleas and The Last Zoo. He delivers workshops for schools as part of Pop Up Festival. Find out more about Sam here: www.samgayton.com POTION MAKING BY SAM GAYTON PAGE 1 / 10 Activity 1 Potion Making. All About Alchemy What exactly is alchemy, anyway? Well… like Dr John Dee, the court astronomer and adviser to Elizabeth I.
    [Show full text]
  • Differential Geometry
    Differential Geometry J.B. Cooper 1995 Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 CURVES AND SURFACES—INFORMAL DISCUSSION 2 1.1 Surfaces ................................ 13 2 CURVES IN THE PLANE 16 3 CURVES IN SPACE 29 4 CONSTRUCTION OF CURVES 35 5 SURFACES IN SPACE 41 6 DIFFERENTIABLEMANIFOLDS 59 6.1 Riemannmanifolds .......................... 69 1 1 CURVES AND SURFACES—INFORMAL DISCUSSION We begin with an informal discussion of curves and surfaces, concentrating on methods of describing them. We shall illustrate these with examples of classical curves and surfaces which, we hope, will give more content to the material of the following chapters. In these, we will bring a more rigorous approach. Curves in R2 are usually specified in one of two ways, the direct or parametric representation and the implicit representation. For example, straight lines have a direct representation as tx + (1 t)y : t R { − ∈ } i.e. as the range of the function φ : t tx + (1 t)y → − (here x and y are distinct points on the line) and an implicit representation: (ξ ,ξ ): aξ + bξ + c =0 { 1 2 1 2 } (where a2 + b2 = 0) as the zero set of the function f(ξ ,ξ )= aξ + bξ c. 1 2 1 2 − Similarly, the unit circle has a direct representation (cos t, sin t): t [0, 2π[ { ∈ } as the range of the function t (cos t, sin t) and an implicit representation x : 2 2 → 2 2 { ξ1 + ξ2 =1 as the set of zeros of the function f(x)= ξ1 + ξ2 1. We see from} these examples that the direct representation− displays the curve as the image of a suitable function from R (or a subset thereof, usually an in- terval) into two dimensional space, R2.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolute-Involute Partner Curves According to Darboux Frame in the Euclidean 3-Space E3
    Fundamentals of Contemporary Mathematical Sciences (2020) 1(2) 63 { 70 Evolute-Involute Partner Curves According to Darboux Frame in the Euclidean 3-space E3 Abdullah Yıldırım 1,∗ Feryat Kaya 2 1 Harran University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics S¸anlıurfa, T¨urkiye 2 S¸ehit Abdulkadir O˘guzAnatolian Imam Hatip High School S¸anlıurfa, T¨urkiye, [email protected] Received: 29 February 2020 Accepted: 29 June 2020 Abstract: In this study, evolute-involute curves are researched. Characterization of evolute-involute curves lying on the surface are examined according to Darboux frame and some curves are obtained. Keywords: Curve, surface, geodesic, curvature, frame. 1. Introduction The interest of special curves has increased recently. Some of these are associated curves. They are curves where one of the Frenet vectors at opposite points is linearly dependent to the other curve. One of the best examples of these curves is the evolute-involute partner curves. An involute thought known to have been used in his optical work came up in 1658 by C. Huygens. C. Huygens discovered involute curves while trying to make more accurate measurement studies [5]. Many researches have been conducted about evolute-involute partner curves. Some of them conducted recently are Bilici and C¸alı¸skan [4], Ozyılmaz¨ and Yılmaz [9], As and Sarıo˘glugil[2]. Bekta¸sand Y¨uceconsider the notion of the involute-evolute curves lying on the surfaces for a special situation. They determine the special involute-evolute partner D−curves in E3: By using the Darboux frame of the curves they obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions between κg , ∗ − ∗ ∗ τg; κn and κn for a curve to be the special involute partner D curve.
    [Show full text]
  • The Phosphorus Story: Sustainable Nutrient Management at the Robert W
    The Phosphorus Story: Sustainable Nutrient Management at the Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility Englewood PWO Seminar – February 7, 2019 Dan Freedman, MWRD Nate Brown, Stantec Agenda • Background on Phosphorus • Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility Background • The District’s Phosphorus Initiative • Liquid Stream Phosphorus Removal • Solids Stream Phosphorus Recovery • The Future of Phosphorus Management Background on Phosphorus (The Most Interesting Element in the World) The Lucifer of Liege by Guillaume Geefs Image by Luc Viatour What even is Phosphorus? • In Greek mythology, Phosphorus was the god “Light Bringer” otherwise known as The Morning Star (aka the planet Venus) • The Latin translation of Phosphorus is Lucifer Image source ‐ John Lemieux, flickr.com Image source ‐ https://lystek.com/ The Alchymist, In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Alchymical Astrologers How was Phosphorus by Joseph Wright of Derby first discovered? • Discovered in 1669 by Hennig Brand whilst searching for the “philosopher’s stone” • Brand attempted to create the stone through distillation of salts by evaporating urine • Through the process he produced a material that made a brilliant white light, hence the name phosphorus Image source ‐ https://lystek.com/ Why is Phosphorus important? “Life can multiply until all the phosphorus is gone, and then there is an inexorable halt which nothing can prevent. We may be able to substitute nuclear power for coal, and plastics for wood, and yeast for meat, and friendliness for isolation—but for phosphorus there is neither substitute nor replacement.” ‐Isaac Asimov from Asimov on Chemistry Image source ‐ John Lemieux, flickr.com Image source ‐Image source ‐ https://lystek.com/ https://lystek.com/ Image source – DC Comics Who is Phosphorus? While working at a nuclear power plant, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Computer-Aided Design and Kinematic Simulation of Huygens's
    applied sciences Article Computer-Aided Design and Kinematic Simulation of Huygens’s Pendulum Clock Gloria Del Río-Cidoncha 1, José Ignacio Rojas-Sola 2,* and Francisco Javier González-Cabanes 3 1 Department of Engineering Graphics, University of Seville, 41092 Seville, Spain; [email protected] 2 Department of Engineering Graphics, Design, and Projects, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain 3 University of Seville, 41092 Seville, Spain; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +34-953-212452 Received: 25 November 2019; Accepted: 9 January 2020; Published: 10 January 2020 Abstract: This article presents both the three-dimensional modelling of the isochronous pendulum clock and the simulation of its movement, as designed by the Dutch physicist, mathematician, and astronomer Christiaan Huygens, and published in 1673. This invention was chosen for this research not only due to the major technological advance that it represented as the first reliable meter of time, but also for its historical interest, since this timepiece embodied the theory of pendular movement enunciated by Huygens, which remains in force today. This 3D modelling is based on the information provided in the only plan of assembly found as an illustration in the book Horologium Oscillatorium, whereby each of its pieces has been sized and modelled, its final assembly has been carried out, and its operation has been correctly verified by means of CATIA V5 software. Likewise, the kinematic simulation of the pendulum has been carried out, following the approximation of the string by a simple chain of seven links as a composite pendulum. The results have demonstrated the exactitude of the clock.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Report 2010-12
    RESEARCH REPORt 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Cover: Aurora borealis paintings by William Crowder, National Geographic (1947). The International Geophysical Year (1957–8) transformed research on the aurora, one of nature’s most elusive and intensely beautiful phenomena. Aurorae became the center of interest for the big science of powerful rockets, complex satellites and large group efforts to understand the magnetic and charged particle environment of the earth. The auroral visoplot displayed here provided guidance for recording observations in a standardized form, translating the sublime aesthetics of pictorial depictions of aurorae into the mechanical aesthetics of numbers and symbols. Most of the portait photographs were taken by Skúli Sigurdsson RESEARCH REPORT 2010—2012 MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Introduction The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) is made up of three Departments, each administered by a Director, and several Independent Research Groups, each led for five years by an outstanding junior scholar. Since its foundation in 1994 the MPIWG has investigated fundamental questions of the history of knowl- edge from the Neolithic to the present. The focus has been on the history of the natu- ral sciences, but recent projects have also integrated the history of technology and the history of the human sciences into a more panoramic view of the history of knowl- edge. Of central interest is the emergence of basic categories of scientific thinking and practice as well as their transformation over time: examples include experiment, ob- servation, normalcy, space, evidence, biodiversity or force.
    [Show full text]
  • James Clerk Maxwell
    Conteúdo Páginas Henry Cavendish 1 Jacques Charles 2 James Clerk Maxwell 3 James Prescott Joule 5 James Watt 7 Jean-Léonard-Marie Poiseuille 8 Johann Heinrich Lambert 10 Johann Jakob Balmer 12 Johannes Robert Rydberg 13 John Strutt 14 Michael Faraday 16 Referências Fontes e Editores da Página 18 Fontes, Licenças e Editores da Imagem 19 Licenças das páginas Licença 20 Henry Cavendish 1 Henry Cavendish Referência : Ribeiro, D. (2014), WikiCiências, 5(09):0811 Autor: Daniel Ribeiro Editor: Eduardo Lage Henry Cavendish (1731 – 1810) foi um físico e químico que investigou isoladamente de acordo com a tradição de Sir Isaac Newton. Cavendish entrou no seminário em 1742 e frequentou a Universidade de Cambridge (1749 – 1753) sem se graduar em nenhum curso. Mesmo antes de ter herdado uma fortuna, a maior parte das suas despesas eram gastas em montagem experimental e livros. Em 1760, foi eleito Fellow da Royal Society e, em 1803, um dos dezoito associados estrangeiros do Institut de France. Entre outras investigações e descobertas de Cavendish, a maior ocorreu em 1781, quando compreendeu que a água é uma substância composta por hidrogénio e oxigénio, uma reformulação da opinião de há milénios de que a água é um elemento químico básico. O químico inglês John Warltire (1725/6 – 1810) realizou uma Figura 1 Henry Cavendish (1731 – 1810). experiência em que explodiu uma mistura de ar e hidrogénio, descobrindo que a massa dos gases residuais era menor do que a da mistura original. Ele atribuiu a perda de massa ao calor emitido na reação. Cavendish concluiu que algum erro substancial estava envolvido visto que não acreditava que, dentro da teoria do calórico, o calor tivesse massa suficiente, à escala em análise.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Note Weston Solutions, Inc
    PROJECT NOTE WESTON SOLUTIONS, INC. To: Canadian Radium & Uranium Corp. Site File Date: June 5, 2014 W.O. No.: 20405.012.013.2222.00 From: Denise Breen, Weston Solutions, Inc. Subject: Determination of Significant Lead Concentrations in Sediment Samples References 1. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Technical Guidance for Screening Contaminated Sediments. March 1998. [45 pages] 2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Emergency Response. Establishing an Observed Release – Quick Reference Fact Sheet. Federal Register, Volume 55, No. 241. September 1995. [7 pages] 3. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry Division Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances. Atomic Weights of Elements: Review 2000. 2003. [120 pages] WESTON personnel collected six sediment samples (including one environmental duplicate sample) from five locations along the surface water pathway of the Canadian Radium & Uranium Corp. (CRU) site in May 2014. The sediment samples were analyzed for Target Analyte List (TAL) Metals and Stable Lead Isotopes. 1. TAL Lead Interpretation: In order to quantify the significance for Lead, Thallium and Mercury the following was performed: 1. WESTON personnel tabulated all available TAL Metal data from the May 2014 Sediment Sampling event. 2. For each analyte of concern (Lead, Thallium, and Mercury), the highest background concentration was selected and then multiplied by three. This is the criteria to find the significance of site attributable release as per Hazard Ranking System guidelines. 3. One analytical lead result (2222-SD04) of 520 mg/kg (J) was qualified with an unknown bias. In accordance with US EPA document “Using Data to Document an Observed Release and Observed Contamination”, 2222-SD03 lead concentration was adjusted by dividing by the factor value for lead of 1.44 to equal 361 mg/kg.
    [Show full text]
  • “From Bone Valley to 'Far Places': a Global Environmental History of The
    Edward D. Melillo – Please do no cite or copy without author’s permission “From Bone Valley to ‘Far Places’: A Global Environmental History of the 1919 Phosphate Miners’ Strike in Mulberry, Florida” Edward Melillo, Amherst College Introduction In her 1942 autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, writer Zora Neale Hurston vividly depicted the miners of Polk County, Florida, their “sweating black bodies, muscled like gods…. They go down in the phosphate mines and bring up the wet dust of the bones of pre-historic monsters, to make rich land in far places, so that people can eat.”1 Hurston’s narrative suspended readers between the immediacy of sinew and bone and the remoteness of the “far places” that reconstituted their soils with fertilizer from Florida’s phosphorus-rich fossil deposits. Among the sites where Hurston gathered folklore for the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s was the town of Mulberry, thirty-two miles (52 km) east of Tampa in Polk County. This railroad outpost in Florida’s “Bone Valley” region—a zone where phosphate-laden skeletons accumulated millions of years ago when much of the area was beneath the ocean—has long been a place where the gritty labors of a southern community converged with the demands of distant environments.2 This article chronicles a 1919 strike during which 3,000 black and white miners from the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers targeted seventeen of 1 Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (1942; New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 147. 2 On May 6, 1935, United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the WPA by Executive Order #7034.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pope's Rhinoceros and Quantum Mechanics
    Bowling Green State University ScholarWorks@BGSU Honors Projects Honors College Spring 4-30-2018 The Pope's Rhinoceros and Quantum Mechanics Michael Gulas [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Mathematics Commons, Ordinary Differential Equations and Applied Dynamics Commons, Other Applied Mathematics Commons, Partial Differential Equations Commons, and the Physics Commons Repository Citation Gulas, Michael, "The Pope's Rhinoceros and Quantum Mechanics" (2018). Honors Projects. 343. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/343 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@BGSU. The Pope’s Rhinoceros and Quantum Mechanics Michael Gulas Honors Project Submitted to the Honors College at Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with University Honors May 2018 Dr. Steven Seubert Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics, Advisor Dr. Marco Nardone Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Advisor Contents 1 Abstract 5 2 Classical Mechanics7 2.1 Brachistochrone....................................... 7 2.2 Laplace Transforms..................................... 10 2.2.1 Convolution..................................... 14 2.2.2 Laplace Transform Table.............................. 15 2.2.3 Inverse Laplace Transforms ............................ 15 2.3 Solving Differential Equations Using Laplace
    [Show full text]
  • The History of the Periodic Table
    9/25/2019 The History of the Periodic Table Chemistry Section 5-1 Targets for Today Describe the concept of alchemy Describe early scientific breakthroughs in the discovery of elements Explain how the modern periodic table is constructed. 1 9/25/2019 The Discovery of Elements The world is made out of stuff People have known and named specific elements since ancient times Earliest elements discovered Ex. Gold, silver, tin, copper, lead, mercury 2 9/25/2019 I discovered something, but what is it? Early alchemists isolated some elements from compounds, though they didn’t know they had the first pure element. Alchemy – a scientists whose goal is to turn basic metals (ex. Copper) into gold 3 9/25/2019 The first true element - Phosphorus In 1669 an alchemist in Hamburg, Germany named Hennig Brand was the first person to discover an element and know what it was. Hennig Brand He discovered phosphorus after isolating it from urine… over 1,200 gallons of it! As he boiled it down in an attempt to make a “sorcerer’s stone,” a yellowish- green powder remained 4 9/25/2019 Phosphorus Characteristics Atomic # 15 White powder that emits a faint glow when exposed to oxygen Only water and calcium make up more of your bodies weight John Davy (1788-1829) Davy discovered a love of chemistry at age 19, and became one of the most celebrated chemists of his day. He discovered a number of elements, including: calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and others. 5 9/25/2019 John Davy (1788-1829) Other discoveries Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) Inventions One of the first light bulbs Miner headlamps 6 9/25/2019 Radioactive Elements In 1891 the first radioactive elements was discovered – Uranium (#92) Its unusual properties were not discovered until much later.
    [Show full text]