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https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/03/thunderstorm-with-eye-popping-720gj-of-energy/ Thunderstorm with eye-popping 720GJ of energy Measured muon flux indicates thunderstorm reached a potential of 1.4GV. CHRIS LEE - 3/19/2019, 9:30 PM Nothing says "I love diving headfirst into a ditch" like your hair suddenly elevating to the tingly feel of electricity. Thunderstorms are amazing from inside a building, but they're scary if you're trapped outside. And, despite a good deal of observation, an element of mystery surrounds them. For instance, we know that lightning can produce free neutrons, antimatter, and gamma rays, but we don't have much idea of how that happens. That has partially changed thanks to an Indian muon telescope, called GRAPES-3—a classic example of a backronym. GRAPES-3 is designed to detect muons (a heavier cousin to the electron and positron) that are generated as gamma rays hit the Earth’s atmosphere. It is a relatively simple detector that has the benefit of covering a reasonable chunk of sky with good angular resolution. The detectors are also buried under a thick layer of concrete, so muons need to be quite energetic to get to them. Prediction: Lightning with a chance of telescopes: GRAPES-3 doesn’t actually care where the muons come from; it just happily counts away. Evidently, the scientists running the detector noticed that their data would always go a bit skewiff every time a thunderstorm passed over. Instead of ignoring this, the researchers (while keeping their heads low), installed a set of electric field monitors at various distances from the observatory and started logging electric field strength every time a storm passed over. That data could be easily compared to the muon detection rate. Unsurprisingly, storms are complex beasts, resulting in a lot of data that simply couldn’t be interpreted. Except for one storm. This is the story of that storm. more at link...... the paper: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.105101 Measurement of the Electrical Properties of a Thundercloud Through Muon Imaging by the GRAPES-3 Experiment ABSTRACT The GRAPES-3 muon telescope located in Ooty, India records rapid (∼10  min) variations in the muon intensity during major thunderstorms. Out of a total of 184 thunderstorms recorded during the interval of April 2011–December 2014, the one on December 1, 2014 produced a massive potential of 1.3 GV. The electric field measured by four well-separated (up to 6 km) monitors on the ground was used to help estimate some of the properties of this thundercloud, including its altitude and area that were found to be 11.4 km above mean sea level and ≥380  km2, respectively. A charging time of 6 min to reach 1.3 GV implied the delivery of a power of ≥2  GW by this thundercloud that was moving at a speed of ∼60  km h−1. This work possibly provides the first direct evidence for the generation of gigavolt potentials in thunderclouds that could also possibly explain the production of highest-energy (100 MeV) gamma rays in the terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.

Why would you be offended? It was a bit of humor referring to no one in particular.

Thanks for that pick-up. I suppose it highlights the fact that even science writers [as distinct from scientists] are prone to sensationalism in journalism at times.

NZ are 100% certain [within a week] to now update their gun laws in line with Australia's tough gun laws, and at the same time, wait for it, Australia is seriously considering making our tough gun laws even tougher. That would certainly eat at the craw of the NRA and Trump supporters I imagine. I did mention this in another thread.

Different? I'm pretty sure we have 99% of the dna a chimp does...although I'm also sure, with some, its much closer to 100%

Hit the nail fair square on the head! I'd put it another way and say for many people who are cowards, it is the vehicle they use. And while I'm a light hearted sort of bloke, who likes humor, I tend to fire back at any aggressiveness towards me, which at times, is not always fruitful or appropriate. I am now trying to curb my "giving them what they deserve" response and taking other more moderate courses of action. To sum up my personality, I'm a real nice bloke to genuine nice people, and a nightmare to bullies and anti science trolls.

If any good at all will come out of this evil extreme white supremacist nut, it is that NZ are now certain to bring their gun laws in line with Australia's tough gun laws, and Australia are very likely to toughen them even further. Other nations should take note.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/quantum-tunnelling-is-instantaneous-researchers-find Quantum tunnelling is instantaneous, researchers find: Researchers have found that electrons passing through solid matter in a quantum process known as “tunnelling” do so instantaneously. The finding, led by scientists from Australia’s Griffith University, contradicts previous experiments that suggested a degree of time elapses between the start and finish of a tunnelling event. The work is detailed in a paper in the journal Nature. Quantum tunnelling is one of the more bizarre differences between our everyday, classical world and the surprising realm of quantum mechanics. “If you lean on a wall, that wall pushes back in force so that you don’t go through it,” co-author Robert Sang says. “But when you go down to the microscopic level, things behave quite differently. This is where the laws of physics change from classical to quantum.” more at https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/quantum-tunnelling-is-instantaneous-researchers-find extract: “It came out to agree with the theory within experimental uncertainty being consistent with instantaneous tunnelling.” The precision of the clock to measure the tunnelling event was driven by the ultra-fast pulse of light in the attosecond laser – just a billionth of a billionth of a second long. The energy emitted by the laser during such a tiny amount of time is greater than that of the entire US power grid." the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1028-3 Attosecond angular streaking and tunnelling time in atomic hydrogen: Abstract The tunnelling of a particle through a potential barrier is a key feature of quantum mechanics that goes to the core of wave–particle duality. The phenomenon has no counterpart in classical physics, and there are no well constructed dynamical observables that could be used to determine ‘tunnelling times’. The resulting debate1,2,3,4,5 about whether a tunnelling quantum particle spends a finite and measurable time under a potential barrier was reignited in recent years by the advent of ultrafast lasers and attosecond metrology6. Particularly important is the attosecond angular streaking (‘attoclock’) technique7, which can time the release of electrons in strong-field ionization with a precision of a few attoseconds. Initial measurements7,8,9,10 confirmed the prevailing view that tunnelling is instantaneous, but later studies11,12 involving multi-electron atoms—which cannot be accurately modelled, complicating interpretation of the ionization dynamics—claimed evidence for finite tunnelling times. By contrast, the simplicity of the hydrogen atom enables precise experimental measurements and calculations13,14,15and makes it a convenient benchmark. Here we report attoclock and momentum-space imaging16 experiments on atomic hydrogen and compare these results with accurate simulations based on the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation and our experimental laser pulse parameters. We find excellent agreement between measured and simulated data, confirming the conclusions of an earlier theoretical study17 of the attoclock technique in atomic hydrogen that presented a compelling argument for instantaneous tunnelling. In addition, we identify the Coulomb potential as the sole cause of the measured angle between the directions of electron emission and peak electric field: this angle had been attributed11,12 to finite tunnelling times. We put an upper limit of 1.8 attoseconds on any tunnelling delay, in agreement with recent theoretical findings18 and ruling out the interpretation of all commonly used ‘tunnelling times’19as ‘time spent by an electron under the potential barrier’20.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/03/mini-tremors-detected-mars-first-time THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS—After months of delicate maneuvering, NASA’s InSight lander has finished placing its hypersensitive seismometer on the surface of Mars. The instrument is designed to solve mysteries about the planet’s interior by detecting the booming thunder of “marsquakes.” But just a few weeks into its run, the car-size lander has already heard something else: the minute tremors that continually rock our red neighbor. If marsquakes are the drum solo, these microseisms, as they’re known, are the bass line. The signal first became apparent in early February, as soon as the lander placed a protective shield over the seismometer, said Philippe Lognonné, a planetary seismologist at Paris Diderot University who heads the team that runs the instrument, in a talk here today at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. “We do believe that these signals are waves coming from Mars.” This is the first time, he said, that such microseisms have been detected on another planet. On Earth, microseisms are ubiquitous, caused largely by the sloshing of the ocean by storms and tides. Mars, despite the dreams of science fiction writers, has no present-day oceans. Instead, this newly discovered noise is likely caused by low-frequency pressure waves from atmospheric winds that rattle the surface, inducing shallow, longer-period waves in the surface, called Rayleigh waves, Lognonné said. more at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/03/mini-tremors-detected-mars-first-time :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Interesting article and find I must say...a few questions...[1] Do these microquakes indicate or confirm plate tetonics? or as suggested pressure waves known as Rayleigh waves? [2] If not, would the expected fully blown Mars quakes indicate or confirm plate tetonics? [3] If and when they are able to unstick the probe that has only achieved .3 meter before becoming stuck, then re-probe and get to the original 5 meters, allow for more accurate confirmation of what causes these microquakes or as defined in the article, microseisms? [4] And finally, with regards to these microseisms on Earth, could they affect the search for gravitational radiation? Although the confirmation of GW170817 observed with EMR and light would indicate that aLIGO and the other detectors are achieving what they set out to do. Any discovery/detection of Mars quakes would need to be accurately confirmed and assessed as distinct from quakes caused by meteorites and/or landslides...are they capable of accurately discerning those possibilities?

Making the point that even in 1920, 12 months after Einstein gained "Newton like notoriety" after GR was validated, fanatical antisemitism was evident. Agreed, we have a number of hypotheticals and are both looking back at this in hindsight. My thoughts are, supported I believe by what I have presented, is that antisemitism, was consciously or unconsciously, part of such a fanatical exercise as publishing a "book" entitled "A Hundred Authors Against Einstein" If antisemitism was not the prime motivator, it would have been more prudent and correct to entitle the book, "A Hundred Authors Against Relativity"

Happy St Patrick's Day, begosh and begorra!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY6N2vEA6pI

"Doesn't seem to be" may have been all part of a plot, knowing the possible repercussions from a regime that openly indulged in thuggery. Taking that with the facts that only 12 months earlier, Einstein had been lauded as the Newton of his age for the confirmation of his prediction, based upon GR, that light would be bent by the gravitational field of the sun. Granted, none of us were privileged as to the motivations, but when one examines the fanatical antisemitism of the Nazi's and open thuggery they indulged in, plus the situation as reported being full of mathematical incompetence, hubris," and an accumulation of naive errors, as being unintentionally funny, one might wonder how learned scientists would leave themselves so open for criticism in later ages. I believe I have, and I believe that has been supported in the link I gave. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1111/1111.2194.pdf And all I'm proposing, without having any inside first hand knowledge, is that due to the climate in Germany at that time, antisemitism, along with other reasons already mentioned, need be on the table when looking for motivation. Questions I would be asking, and I don't think I have researched this as thoroughly as you, are where were the hundred authors residing at the publishing of this hundred authors against Einstein, and why did they go to the extent of anti Einstein meetings to poo poo SR/GR when from where I sit, the science did not detract or interfere with the NAZI regime and manifest, other then Einstein was a Jew.

While I certainly appreciate the research you have undertaken, the fact remains that Germany at that time, and prior, was being dominated by anti semitism and that the Nazis were already well and truly indulging in thuggery to get there point across. Yes, certainly scientific conservatism and opinions on philosophical grounds probably also played a part. Your own Wiki link says "the contributions to the book are a mixture of mathematical–physical incompetence, hubris," and "Hans Reichenbach described the book as an "accumulation of naive errors", and as "unintentionally funny", can also likely be construed as due to antisemitism. All, I believe played a part. Again I submit for consideration the following...https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-excerpt1/ also..... https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1111/1111.2194.pdf Reactionaries and Einstein's Fame: “German Scientists for the Preservation of Pure Science,” Relativity, and the Bad Nauheim Meeting: Two important and unpleasant events occurred in Albert Einstein’s life in 1920: That August an antirelativity rally was held in the large auditorium of the Berlin Philharmonic, and a few weeks later Einstein was drawn into a tense and highly publicized debate with Philipp Lenard on the merits of relativity at a meeting in Bad Nauheim, Germany. I review these events and discuss how they affected Einstein in light of new documentary evidence that has become available through the publication of Volume 10 of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Introduction On August 27, 1920, the front page of the Berliner Tageblatt, a widely-read Berlin daily newspaper, carried a statement by Albert Einstein (1879-1955): Under the pretentious name “Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Naturforscher” [“Working Society of German Scientists”], a variegated society has assembled whose provisional purpose of existence seems to be to degrade, in the eyes of nonscientists, the theory of relativity, as well as me as its originator.... I have good reason to believe that motives other than the striving for truth are at the bottom of this business. (If I were a German nationalist with or without a swastika instead of a Jew with liberal international views, then...). <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Agreed. I certainly am not critical of Lasker, other then his probably conservatism with regards to relativity at that time, I'm simply saying there was and had been for years an antisemitism feeling above and beyond in Germany at that time, backed by thuggery agaisnt any perceived opponents. I mean an anti Einstein rally? really! [from my link....]"The Anti-Einstein Rally at the Berlin Philharmonic The anti-Einstein campaign kicked off on August 6, 1920, with an inflammatory article in the Tägliche Rundschau, a Berlin daily newspaper: “Herr Albertus Magnus has been resurrected”;6 he has stolen the work of others and has mathematized physics to such an extent that fellow physicists have been left clueless. Furthermore, the article continued, Einstein had undertaken a propaganda campaign by which he had cast a spell both over the public and over academic circles--but in reality relativity was nothing but fraud and fantasy. The author of the piece was Paul Weyland (1888-1972, figure 1), an obscure right-wing publicist and talented rabble-rouser-- one of the shadier products of postwar Berlin. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yep, the correct appropriate answer to that question. Which is why I generally reply to similar questions that the BB was the evolution of time and space, as we know them. Although you covered that with "its undefined"

https://www.astrosociety.org/publication/a-universe-from-nothing/

Have read all that you have mentioned other then Dawkin's book, and have Thorne's BH's and Time Warps also as my favourite. I failed to mention, that the bestest book, [period] that I have ever read was "The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Not so much about the title as such, but a grand historical account of late 19th century and 20th century physics/chemistry, from Curie, Becqueral and Rhotegen, to Meitner, Rhuterford, Szillard, Bethe, Bohr, through to the incredible gathering of the world's greatest brains under R.J Oppenheimer, and the Manhatten project. Anyone all interested in how science logically progresses from when radioactivity was first realised, this book is a must.

Like religions, it is based on unsupported myth, without any supporting evidence.

The evidence for the BB tells us that the universe evolved from a hotter, denser state at t=10-43 seconds to what we see today, 13.83 billion years later. Science/cosmology explains the formation of matter, the elements, stars, planets, galaxies etc with reasonable competency. Before that, at this time we can only make an educated hypothesis. This is one that I believe holds promise. https://www.astrosociety.org/publication/a-universe-from-nothing/ Why is there something rather then nothing? That's just the way the cookie crumbles. What really needs to be defined, is what is nothing imo.

Bingo! https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0192512104038166 Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust WILLIAM I. BRUSTEIN AND RYAN D. KING ABSTRACT. It is commonly accepted that the years 1899–1939 represent a highpoint in anti-Semitism in western societies. What factors account for the wave of extraordinary anti-Semitism after 1899? Was the rise of antiSemitism between 1899 and the Holocaust uneven? Did anti-Semitism vary in content and intensity across societies? Did Germans embrace antiSemitism differently from French, Italian, Romanian, and British citizens? Data drawn from the annual volumes of the American Jewish Year Book are used to examine these questions systematically. Pooled timeseries analyses suggest that variation in anti-Semitism over time and across countries was largely a function of economic conditions and Jewish immigration, and to a limited extent of the rise of leftist parties. The Nazi's were thugs that were practicing their thuggery before the 30's. As clever as a chap as he may have been, he still would have probably felt pressure to sign. If he had other reasons for not accepting relativity, it may have simply been the same reasons of going against convention that Einstein himself had trouble in accepting with regards to the dynamic universe that GR pointed to. The over riding point though was the anti semitism feeling and the economic strife Germany was suffering after WW1. Certainly no concrete evidence invalidating GR. Here is an excellent detailed account of how science was disrupted in pre war Germany. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-excerpt1/ extract: "By 1922 the situation had deteriorated to such a degree that Einstein declined to speak at a session of the Society of German Scientists and Physicians in Leipzig, fearing that his life might be in danger. This wasn’t paranoia. In June the Jewish foreign minister of the Weimar government Walther Rathenau, who Einstein knew well, was assassinated in Berlin by two ultra-nationalist army officers. Lenard had refused to lower the flag of his institute at Heidelberg as a mark of respect for the murdered minister, and as a result he had been dragged from his laboratory by an angry mob of students. Lenard narrowly escaped being thrown into the River Neckar, but the distressing ex­perience only deepened his anti-Semitism. When he was reprimanded by the university, he announced his resignation in disgust. He soon withdrew it when he discovered that the shortlist for his replacement consisted of two “non-Aryans”—James Franck and Gustav Hertz,5 who had won the Nobel Prize together in 1925—and an experimen­talist sympathetic to England, Hans Geiger, who had worked with Rutherford in Manchester. In the end Lenard clung on at Heidelberg until 1929, when he was replaced by Walther Bothe. Lenard’s colleagues made Bothe’s life so miserable, however, that he moved to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Lenard so dominated the physics institute at Heidelberg that it was named after him in 1935."

Travelling for 12 months at 99.999% c and returning to Mother Earth would see time on Earth to be around 223 years in the future compared to you the traveler. http://www.emc2-explained.info/Time-Dilation/#.XIl66VQzY2w

The title of the thread is [until now] something I was totally ignorant of, but a very interesting article and example of how science is done........ https://phys.org/news/2019-03-geologic-evidence-theory-major-cosmic.html Geologic evidence supports theory that major cosmic impact event occurred approximately 12,800 years ago March 13, 2019 by Sonia Fernandez, University of California - Santa Barbara: The researchers found evidence of cosmic impact at the Pilauco dig site in a suburb of the Osorno province in Chile Credit: Courtesy image When UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett and colleagues set out years ago to examine signs of a major cosmic impact that occurred toward the end of the Pleistocene epoch, little did they know just how far-reaching the projected climatic effect would be. "It's much more extreme than I ever thought when I started this work," Kennett noted. "The more work that has been done, the more extreme it seems." He's talking about the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, which postulates that a fragmented comet slammed into the Earth close to 12,800 years ago, causing rapid climatic changes, megafaunal extinctions, sudden human population decrease and cultural shifts and widespread wildfires (biomass burning). The hypothesis suggests a possible triggering mechanism for the abrupt changes in climate at that time, in particular a rapid cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, called the Younger Dryas, amid a general global trend of natural warming and ice sheet melting evidenced by changes in the fossil and sediment record. Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-03-geologic-evidence-theory-major-cosmic.html#jCp the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-38089-y Abstract: The Younger Dryas (YD) impact hypothesis posits that fragments of a large, disintegrating asteroid/comet struck North America, South America, Europe, and western Asia ~12,800 years ago. Multiple airbursts/impacts produced the YD boundary layer (YDB), depositing peak concentrations of platinum, high-temperature spherules, meltglass, and nanodiamonds, forming an isochronous datum at >50 sites across ~50 million km² of Earth’s surface. This proposed event triggered extensive biomass burning, brief impact winter, YD climate change, and contributed to extinctions of late Pleistocene megafauna. In the most extensive investigation south of the equator, we report on a ~12,800-year-old sequence at Pilauco, Chile (~40°S), that exhibits peak YD boundary concentrations of platinum, gold, high-temperature iron- and chromium-rich spherules, and native iron particles rarely found in nature. A major peak in charcoal abundance marks an intense biomass-burning episode, synchronous with dramatic changes in vegetation, including a high-disturbance regime, seasonality in precipitation, and warmer conditions. This is anti-phased with northern-hemispheric cooling at the YD onset, whose rapidity suggests atmospheric linkage. The sudden disappearance of megafaunal remains and dung fungi in the YDB layer at Pilauco correlates with megafaunal extinctions across the Americas. The Pilauco record appears consistent with YDB impact evidence found at sites on four continents.

I see Time dilation is a result of curved spacetime, and the further a clock is from the source of the gravity [the higher gravity potential] the faster time will appear to go compared to a clock in lower gravity potential. Whereas tidal gravitational effects are more pronounced at lower gravity potentials then higher. OK! Just checked and I can see where my post agreeing with you , was actually in error in that I was on a different page! Apologies for any confusion.

Agreed. Most in this country are now waiting for a reply/decision from the Vatican. He was the Pope's chosen one and ran the Vatican's finances. ps: He has appealed the decision and that will be heard in June...Until then, he is behind bars under protective custody.

You have totally and completely missed the point. You need to go back and read my posts and others again, and stop making excuses. And please stop trying to drag religion or similar beliefs into this. If you need to discuss Einstein's beliefs in such, start a thread. They are well known actually and certainly did not pertain to any magical pixie in the sky.