This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
Actually, scientists sometimes act like dummies. Let me count the ways.
The problem with science is the same as it is for religion. They tend to rest on their laurels, claiming that they have all the answers. The truth is that they don't, and a good scientist will admit this. Religion calls it faith and demands that you believe it without proof. Science would never get away with that.
Let's look at some examples.
Up until recently, it was assumed by cosmologists that supernovae were responsible for the heavier elements in nature. I'm referring to the higher atomic weight elements like gold, platinum, and uranium. It turns out that a single experimental result ended up putting that theory into the trash. This event was called the kilonova, an explosion that happened 130 million light years away and caused a loud signal at the LIGO, a huge interferometer device near Pisa, Italy. The signal was the strongest one detected, and it was caused by gravity waves, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein. Simultaneously, a large gamma ray burst was discovered from the same source. Cosmologists realized that this was the result of two neutron stars colliding.
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I've already covered this event in my chapter titled: Neutron Star Crash.
Neutron stars result from the collapse of the core of a giant star that goes supernova. A neutron star has a mass of 10 to 29 solar masses but a radius of only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), which means they are really dense. This results from the fact that they are made from neutrons that are mashed together in strange forms. Neutrons are very tiny compared to the size of an atom. Neutron stars are very energetic and spin at extremely high rates, giving off all sorts of radiation. They also have very strong (millions of times greater than Earth's field) magnetic fields.
When two neutron stars collide, the energy released if off the scale. They emit the strongest gamma ray bursts, along with very strong X-ray emissions. As it turns out, the spectra of the above mentioned collision revealed the existence of heavier elements like gold. In fact, it was estimated that the amount of gold produced by this collision resulted in ten times the mass of Earth in gold. This makes sense because the atomic number of gold is 79 and the stable isotope is 179, so it has a lot of neutrons, which is the case of the higher elements. Neutron stars are made from neutrons.
Now, cosmologists say that the collision of neutron stars is how the higher elements are produced. I'm not so sure that this is right. It could be that much of the heavy elements are created this way but it might not be the only source.
Another example, one that I'm exploring is the case of quantum gravity.
Before Einstein, there were four major forces in nature: electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and gravity. Everything made sense. However, Einstein threw a monkey wrench into this idea. He said that gravity isn't a force. It's the result of the curvature of space by massive objects. This stymied physicists from formulating a unified theory to tie all four forces together in a theory of everything.
The main reason that this unification idea is stuck is because of quantum physics, which deals with the very tiny world of particles. There are two theories to deal with this attempt to make gravity behave: String theory and Loop Quantum Gravity theory. As expected, scientists are lined up on each side proclaiming that they're right and the other guys are wrong. This sounds a lot like religion to me.
I just read a great book about quantum gravity by Lee Smolin. He has the good sense to present both theories (and a third called the Holographic theory) and proclaim that we don't have a unification theory yet. They're still working on it. This is the right thing to say. Science has barely scratched the surface of how the universe works. There are many questions but few answers. And, questions are the way that science works. We observe things around us and ask how they work. Science is employed to answer the questions.
Some of the basic questions are: Is space and time continuous or is it made from particles or atoms or whatever? How does gravity work down at the Planck level? Did the universe result from a singularity or did it come from a bounce of an older universe? Does a black hole contain a singularity or is it a wormhole to a white hole? These are very interesting questions without solid answers.
Answers in physics means math. There has to be mathematical equations that describe the theory and allow calculations that match observations. And, I can assure you that the math is very complex. It's giving me a grade-A headache.
