The Physics Behind Biological Inspired Robot

(Different Than you Would Expect)

https://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_my_seven_species_of_robot#t-69991

`strider robot that swings leg under body 

In the video the describe how they were inspired by real life concepts, but took a different twist on the idea. The recognized that humans do not actually use the muscle to lift their leg and put it down the same Way a robot would. We swing out leg to save energy. It starts with swing of the leg and the catch of the weight. The concept is called passive locomotive. It is the potential energy of the swing to the kinetic energy in the landing of the foot. They took this concept into a three legged robot. Instead of having it walk in an awkward leg and use a lot of energy, the third legs swings between. The two front and under the body itself so the bossy does a 180 persay (potential energy) and catches the weight of the falling robot( kinetic energy). Now it saves energy and works as a human or biological animal would.

The next robot they decided to design they considered it reinventing the wheel. The wheel has spokes that move in and out to longer lengths, while just rolling. It has all of the spokes move in to make it seem like a small wheel conserving every, but when different. Terrain comes, it thinks and adapts to the size and chooses a course to get through the obstacle

As for tuning, instead of having separate wheel axles having it turn per say, whichever way it needs to turn, the wheel will get smaller, so it naturally begins to turn this way

Physics of Golf

Physics of Golf

Overview:

• Involves forces and aerodynamics, occurring during the hitting of the ball, during its flight through the air, during the run of the ball and during the putt.
• Having the “perfect golf shot” is not just swinging the club as fast as possible to make it go far.
• To understand the physics of the golf swing you must understand the mechanics of rotational motion.
• When an object travels around in a circle it moves outward, if unconstrained.
• The club is subjected to the effects of centripetal acceleration.
• By uncocking your wrists during the golf swing, the club will move radially outward.
• The players hands are "passive" since they exert no twisting force on the club.
• Uncocking the wrists allows the golf club to "straighten out", and in the process gain additional speed.
• At the top part of the swing, the golf club remains at a fixed angle relative to his arms.
• But in the bottom part of the swing, the golf club begins to "release" and the angle between it and your arms begins to rapidly increase, and the club moves radially outwards as a result.
• At the bottom of the swing the golf club is almost perfectly parallel to his arms.
• One must maintain their grip in a fixed position so that the club maintains a constant angle with his arms.

Sweet Spot:

• In order to hit the ball at the best possible trajectory and distance, the ball must make contact with the “sweet spot” of the club head.
• It is ideal for the line of action of the impact force to pass through the center of mass of the club head.
• The center of mass is actually a very tiny area so the closer the ball is to this area the better the shot.
• If the impact force is overly offset from the center of mass of the club head, then their is an overly eccentric impact.
• Resulting in an excessive rotation and vibration.
• Rigid bodies that eccentric forces, whose line of action is offset from their center of mass, create a torque which causes the body to rotate is a physics property.
• An overly eccentric impact can cause the ball trajectory to deviate from its intended path.
• Energy is also lost due to vibration.
• Hitting the ball in the sweet spot will result in minimal club head twisting and minimal club vibration.
• It lasts roughly 0.0005 seconds and the force of impact can be up to 2000 pounds.

Optimal Loft Angle Of Golf Club Head:

• The loft angle is the angle between the club head face and the vertical plane.
• Also the driving distance is the distance the ball travels through the air plus the distance it travels after it lands.
• The loft angle affects the ball launch angle, the launch speed, and the rate of backspin of the ball.
• The greater the club head speed, the lower the optimal dynamic loft angle.
• The dynamic loft angle is the loft angle of the clubface during impact.
• The dynamic loft angle is not equal to the club face loft angle when the club head is at rest on the ground.
• The difference between the two angles is due to the flexing of the golf club shaft during impact.
• At the top of the swing, the shaft bends back causing the club head to lag behind. This is due to the inertia of the club head.
• When impact occurs the club head is turned several degrees ahead of the position it would have had if the shaft had not flexed.

Aerodynamics Of Ball Flight:

• The dimples on a golf ball create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air over the ball's surface.
• This reduces air resistance which results in the ball traveling a farther distance than a smooth ball would
• The airflow over the ball follows smooth streamlines until some point beyond the halfway distance
• This creates a turbulent boundary layer and turbulent eddies form inside a resulting wake region.
• The airflow over the rotating ball follows smooth streamlines until some point beyond the halfway distance
• At this point the turbulent boundary layer separates and turbulent eddies form inside a resulting wake region.

Citation: "Physics Of A Golf Swing." Real World Physics Problems. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

Jared Blatt

Mr. Gray

Period G

22 November 2016

Why Leaves Change Color

Nov.28.2016


If you are lucky, you live in one of those parts of the world where Nature has one last fling before settling down into winter's sleep. In those lucky places, as days shorten and temperatures become crisp, the quiet green palette of summer foliage is transformed into the vivid autumn palette of reds, oranges, golds, and browns before the leaves fall off the trees. On special years, the colors are truly breathtaking.

How does autumn color happen?

For years, scientists have worked to understand the changes that happen to trees and shrubs in the autumn. Although we don't know all the details, we do know enough to explain the basics and help you to enjoy more fully Nature's multicolored autumn farewell. Three factors influence autumn leaf color-leaf pigments, length of night, and weather, but not quite in the way we think. The timing of color change and leaf fall are primarily regulated by the calendar, that is, the increasing length of night. None of the other environmental influences-temperature, rainfall, food supply, and so on-are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with Nature's autumn palette.

Where do autumn colors come from?

A color palette needs pigments, and there are two types that are involved in autumn color.

• Carotenoids, which produce yellow, orange, and brown colors in such things as corn, carrots, and daffodils, as well as rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas.
• Anthocyanins, which give color to such familiar things as cranberries, red apples, concord grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.

How does weather affect autumn color?

The amount and brilliance of the colors that develop in any particular autumn season are related to weather conditions that occur before and during the time the chlorophyll in the leaves is dwindling. Temperature and moisture are the main influences.

A succession of warm, sunny days and cool, crisp but not freezing nights seems to bring about the most spectacular color displays. During these days, lots of sugars are produced in the leaf but the cool nights and the gradual closing of veins going into the leaf prevent these sugars from moving out. These conditions-lots of sugar and lots of light-spur production of the brilliant anthocyanin pigments, which tint reds, purples, and crimson. Because carotenoids are always present in leaves, the yellow and gold colors remain fairly constant from year to year.

The amount of moisture in the soil also affects autumn colors. Like the weather, soil moisture varies greatly from year to year. The countless combinations of these two highly variable factors assure that no two autumns can be exactly alike. A late spring, or a severe summer drought, can delay the onset of fall color by a few weeks. A warm period during fall will also lower the intensity of autumn colors. A warm wet spring, favorable summer weather, and warm sunny fall days with cool nights should produce the most brilliant autumn colors.

The chlorophyll breaks down, the green colordisappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. At the same time other chemical changes may occur, which form additional colors through the development of red anthocyanin pigments.



Joohee Lee

Sound and Music

Sound Waves and Music 

craig kelleher 

Sound is produced when something vibrates. This vibrating body causes the objects around it, water, air, and other things to vibrate. Vibrations in air are called traveling longitudinal waves, which we can hear. Sound waves consist of areas of high and low pressure called compressions and rarefactions, respectively. Shown in the diagram below is a traveling wave. The shaded bar above it represents the varying pressure of the wave. 

Lighter areas are low pressure, rarefactions, and darker areas are high pressure, compressions. One wavelength of the wave is highlighted in red. This pattern repeats indefinitely. The wavelength of voice is about one meter long. The wavelength and the speed of the wave determine the pitch, or frequency of the sound. Wavelength, frequency, and speed are related by the equation...

speed = frequency * wavelength

The fact that sound travels at 343 meters per second at standard temperature and pressure, speed is considered a constant. Therefore, frequency is determined by speed / wavelength. The longer the wavelength, the lower the pitch. The 'height' of the wave is its amplitude. The amplitude determines how loud a sound will be. Greater amplitude means the sound will be louder.

HOW DO PEOPLE HEAR THESE SOUNDS?

1. Sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through the ear canal, which leads to the eardrum.
2. The eardrum vibrates from the incoming sound waves and sends these vibrations to three tiny bones in the middle ear. These bones are called the malleus, incus, and stapes.
3. The bones in the middle ear amplify, or increase, the sound vibrations and send them to the cochlea, a snail-shaped structure filled with fluid, in the inner ear.  
4. Once the vibrations cause the fluid inside the cochlea to ripple, a traveling wave forms along the basilar membrane. Hair cells—sensory cells sitting on top of the basilar membrane—ride the wave. Other hair cells near the cochlea detect higher-pitched sounds, such as a loud screech Those closer to the center detect lower-pitched sounds, such as a large dog barking.
5. As the hair cells move up and down, very small hair-like projections (known as stereocilia)  bump against an overlying structure and bend, creating en electrical signal. 
6. The auditory nerve carries this electrical signal to the brain, which turns it into a sound that we recognize and understand.

This allows people to listen to music with the different amplifications and sounds produced. The ear takes the traveling sound waves, concentrates the vibrations and allows us to hear all types of sounds, including all the separate genres of music. 

Fire Lasers: The New Christmas Lights

Laser Christmas Lights 

Traditional Christmas lights may look very pretty, but set up can be a hassle. Christmas lights can now be set up using lasers. Instillation is simply sticking a small device in the yard.

Laser Christmas Lights                                       Traditional Christmas Lights 

How Does One Laser Create Multiple Spots?

Diffraction

When a wave passes through an opening, it re-radiates. This is called diffraction. This is not noticeable if the wavelength is the same size as the opening. You get noticeable effects if the size of the opening is similar to the size of the wavelength that you want to show.

Interference

Interference is the result of two waves from different sources at the same place and time. If both have the same peaks in the same spots then same amplitude will add together, creating one wave with twice the amplitude (Constructive Interference). Another type of interference is called destructive interference, this happens when the peaks of the waves do not happen at the same spot. The example of destruction interference is impossible because two waves to come from different locations at some point in space is impossible.

Constructive Interference 

Destructive Interference 

Diffraction Grating

Diffraction grating is accomplished by a series of tiny holes on a glass plate. When light is placed on this glass plate, the light will diffract in a way that they will expand when they go out the holes. The light will be seen as different rays of light. By changing the angle that light comes out of the slits, you can get different path length differences.

Conclusion

In simplistic terms, when a single wavelength of light is shown through multiple slits it creates the multiple laser dots you see on your house or trees or whatever you direct the laser on. This is how the Christmas lights are created through lasers.

Theory that challenges Einstein's physics could soon be put to the test

Theory that challenges Einstein's physics could soon be put to the test

Einstein's Theory of Relativity: 

This video explains Einsteins Theory of Relativity. 

Einsteins theory of special relativity sets of the speed of light, 186,000 mile per second (300 million meters per second), as a cosmic speed limit. Some researchers think they may have broken this limit and the implication are mind blowing. 
Einstein observes that the speed of light remains the same in any situation, meaning that space and time could be different in individual situations. 

A few researchers have suggested that the speed of light is not a constant but instead the the speed of light could have been much higher in this early universe. 
Professor Joao Magueijo has made a prediction that could be used to test Einsteins theory's validity. 

Structures in the Universe: 

All structures in the universe are formed from fluctuations in the early universe. These fluctuations are tiny differences in density from one region to another. The records of fluctuations are imprinted in the cosmic microwave background- in the form of a 'spectral index.' 

Professor Joao Magueijo: 

"The theory, which we first proposed in the late-1990s, has now reached a maturity point – it has produced a testable prediction. If observations in the near future do find this number to be accurate, it could lead to a modification of Einstein's theory of gravity. The idea that the speed of light could be variable was radical when first proposed, but with a numerical prediction, it becomes something physicists can actually test. If true, it would mean that the laws of nature were not always the same as they are today."

Professor Magueijo uses the theory of fluctuations to say that fluctuations were influenced by a varying speed of light in the early universe. 

By testing the theory of light we can also take a closer look at the rival theory of inflation.
The theory of Inflation states that the early universe went through an extremely rapid expansion phase, mush faster than the current rate of expansion of the universe.

                         Professor Joao Magueijo theory will challenge Einsteins theory of Relativity. 

Gabriella Pedro
Mr. Gray
Physics .1 -Period G
November 27, 2016

World's Smallest Magnifying Glass

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have created a magnifying glass which has the ability to focus light in on single atoms, which is about a billion times more tightly than my other magnifying glasses.

This amazing feat was accomplished by researchers from Cambridge who partnered with researchers from Spain. They were able to use conductive gold nanoparticles to create an ex,trembly small optical cavity that was only large enough to include a single molecule. Then, they were able to confine light to less than a billionth of a meter in order to view the atom. According to Felix Bemz, the lead researcher, the researchers "had to cool our samples to -260°C in order to freeze the scurrying gold atoms,". This amazing discovery should allow scientists to open a whole new door into the world of catalysts chemical reactions. It will also allow them to build larger molecules out of smaller atoms, and also have a much better understanding of certain molecules as a whole. This is an amazing discovery and will push Chemistry and physics into a whole new direction.

Peyton Phillips

Physicists Twist Light, Send 'Hello World' Message Between Islands

Physicists Twist Light, Send 'Hello World' Message Between Islands

When people communicate with each other over electronic devices billions of bits are being sent from one person to the other, containing the information. A recent study has concluded that by bending light waves and filling them with information, it will act as a more efficient method of communication.

There are four ways to get information in and out of light. Radio is a form of light as well as lasers used in  fiber optics. Using the amplitude of the wave, like in AM radio, the wave's frequency, FM radio, and the phase and polarization used in fiber optics with the combination of the first two. These degrees of freedom, as they're called, unfortunately limit how much information can be sent and opened. 

This is the problem that an international team from the University of Vienna wanted to see if they could encode information into the angular momentum of a light wave and send it far enough to be useful, sending it 88 miles (142 kilometers) between two observatories in the Canary Islands.

Mario Krenn, a doctoral student at the University of Vienna and the lead author of one of the two studies outlining the results, said "When we do an additional degree of freedom, you can use the same channel  [a wavelength of light], and increase the amount of information by a factor of n,". "n" can be described as the number of "modes" in the light's angular momentum. Modes are integer multiples of angular momentum measurements. A transmission with five modes, for example, and 10 channels, would now have the capability of sending five times as much information as the original 10 channels could. 

A good explanation of how the scientists did this experiment is thinking of shining a flashlights over a dark surface. When there is no other light present the flashlight makes a ring of light, or a circle. Basically, the scientists did the same thing, except they just made the ring of light into the words "Hello World", and they also used a laser. 

The main problem scientists before them had was making sure the angular momentum of the wave could go far enough. Previous scientists thought that angular momentum was subject to the humidity and air pressure, making it an unreliable method. Fortunately, it isn't and surprised scientists when the information was received over 3km away. Weirdly, it still isn't clear why is goes so far or how it works, as we know is that it does.  

A Rocket Engine That Seems to Break a Law of Physics...But Works

Eliza Mahoney
Physics .1 Per. G
23 November 2016
Blog Post #3


It has long been a dream of NASA scientists to create an engine that could propel astronauts to Mars in 70 days without burning any fuel. Now, a new paper written by astrophysicists at NASA's Eagleworks Laboratories, says that this idea might really work. The astrophysicists tested an electromagnetic propulsion system, or "EM drive", that creates thrust by simply bouncing microwaves around a cone-shaped copper chamber. Somehow the engine works to move things, even with no propellant in and no exhaust out.

Newton's third law of motion is, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

A traditional jet engine works according to Newton's third law of motion: hot gases are driven out of the back of the plane, which produces a thrusting force, propelling the plane forward. But, the EM drive produces a thrusting force by the impact of photons on the walls of the copper cavity. A real-life example of this would be moving a car just by pounding on the windshield! 

Somehow, the Eagleworks scientists report that the EM drive created 1.2 millinewtons of thrust per kilowatt of electricity pumped in. That amount of electricity could come from solar panels in a spaceship! 

Could this experiment, that defies a central law of motion, actually lead to a completely new spaceship engine? Or, could it just be a dead-end project charged by fantasy? We will have to see! 

 

Optical Clock Tested in Space for the First Time:

        Although many people do not think about it, a GPS uses physics to find a location and a timestamp. A GPS uses microwave frequencies to transfer times stamps from on location to another. A GPS system does this by sending these frequencies through, typically, 4 different satellites till it gets to your phone or device. When the GPS finds timestamps it allows for  the GPS to know where you are in relation to the location you desire to go to and creates route and directions on how to get there.
     To create a more accurate timestamp and quicker way to find locations researchers tested a optical clock in space which can retrieve information much faster than microwave frequencies. This test was successful for the first time after several attempts. This test flew the optical clock into the space and took about 6 minutes. Now that the test has been completed researches are already working on creating and more efficient and accurate GPS system.


Below: image of the optical clock being flown into space:


     New advances on this current subject state that researchers plan test an updated optical clock in 2017 to make even more improvements to the GPS system!

Lily Poor
Period: G
November 22, 2016



NASA's New Rocket Engine that Breaks a Law of Physics

Physics Blog 3

Recently, astrophysicists at NASA wrote a paper on the testing of an electromagnetic propulsion system, an "EM drive", that generates a small amount of thrust by bouncing microwaves around a cone-shaped copper chamber. No object or substance is needed to fuel this, no exhaust comes out, yet the engine can make objects move. This development has contradicted Newton's third law of motion, being that it goes against what Newton concluded.

Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This principle explains how jet engines work; as hot gasses are expelled out the back of the plane, they produce a thrusting force that moves the plane forward. The Em drive differs in a sense that its trust seems to come from the impact of photons on the walls of the copper cavity. The bouncing of microwaves in the copper chamber propel the object forward to the propulsion qualities that the cone shape has.

According to the Eagleworks scientists at NASA, their machine generated 1.2 millinewtons of thrust per kilowatt of electricity pumped into the engine. Although that is a fraction of the thrust produced by the lightweight ion drives that are used in many of NASA's spacecrafts, it is a lot more than the few micronewtons per kilowatt produced by light sails (another force of thrust used).

The basis of this process was founded by a British engineer named Roger Shawyer. He claimed that microwaves inside the cavity create an imbalance of radiation that pushes against the walls and generates thrust. There is no theoretical explanation for how this type of engine works, and not all sources of experimental error have been removed.

This contradicts Newtons third law of motion because there is a reaction, yet no initial action causing the engine to have thrust. As the Washington Post writes, "Its thrust seems to come from the impact of photons on the walls of the copper cavity. That would be like moving a car forward by just banging against the windshield." As banging the windshield would only cause slight damage to the car, it would simply not move it forward. Yet the EM drive takes the same idea, however the effects are much different, where radiation coming from the cone shaped copper has an outward force.

This EM drive would eventually allow NASA to thrust spacecrafts over a distance without expelling any gasses. There isn't a need for gas or fuel as other rockets work, therefore the rocket holding the EM drive could allow NASA to reach new feats and stay in space longer.

Video on the EM Drive and Newtons third law of motion

Baylor Wallace

November 22, 2016

Molecular Imaging

Becca Reilly
November 20, 2016

Molecular Imaging Hack Makes Cameras Faster

             A Rice University technique is able to grab images of chemical processes faster than most laboratory cameras are able to capture them. Super temporal resolution microscopy, (STREM) is the technique that allows researchers to view and gather information about fluorescing molecules at a frame rate that is 20 times faster than the typical lab cameras.
            The Rice researchers, including chemist Christy Landes and electrical engineer Kevin Kelly, started with a microscopy technique that views molecules that are smaller than most microscopes can see at "super resolution". Landes says, "Super-resolution microscopy lets us image things smaller than about half of visible light's wavelength - around 250 nanometers... but she noted a barrier: "You couldn't take pictures of anything faster than your frame rate". The Rice lab's new technology uses a rotating phase mask to encode fast dynamics in each camera frame, which will help researchers understand processes that occur at interfaces as they move along two-dimensional surfaces.
              The maximum charge-coupled device cameras have a maximum 10 to 100 milliseconds maximum frame rate. Other techniques like electron microscopy can see materials at the super-resolution microscopy and does not destroy the fragile samples in the process. The technique manipulates the phase of light to give the image a more complicated shape. By manipulating the phase over time, it is possible to encode faster time resolutions within a slow image frame. This being said, the Rice researchers designed and built a spinning phase mask. With the spinning phase mask, the resulting images capture dynamic events happening faster than the camera's frame rate. The shape of each image within a frame gives it a distinct time stamp. 


                The technique uses a quality of microscopy that is familiar to a blurry picture that was taken. Point spread functions are a measure of the shape of images in and out of focus. Shifting in and out of focus happens easily when the subjects are as small as molecules. The size and shape of the blur that comes from the shifting in and out can tell researchers how far from the focal plane the subject is. Phase-mask engineering makes it possible to make focus-dependent blur easier to detect by having a distinct point spread functions. STREM also uses the point spread function that changes from the spinning mask to collect temporary information. With the new technique discovered by Rice researchers, it changes the lobes angels to reveal the time an event has occurred within a time frame.

The Universe doesn't follow the rules.

According to Newton's law, and object in motion remains in motion at the same speed and direction until acted upon by an outside force. We know on Earth, when you through a ball, it will slow down and fall due to friction and gravity. Even in our solar system, planets' rotation and spin are affected by gravity and different objects that could affect them. But the Universe doesn't follow the rules...

The Big Bang was a giant cosmic explosion that sent debris (planets, stars, dust) flying in all directions. Because this debris weighs so much, you would think that it would eventually start to slow down as it is affected by gravity and outside forces right? Wrong.

As a matter of fact, its the exact opposite, the expansion of our universe is actually speeding up. This is due to Dark Energy. Dark Energy is a widely accepted theory that describes a force that repels the effects of gravity. Predictions show that about 73% of the universe is made up of this substance. This was discovered by studying the light from distant supernovae, astronomers saw
that the supernovae's host galaxies are flying away from each other at increasing speed. This discovery disproved the popular belief that the universe was slowing down.

A New Form of Light

A New Form of Light

Paige Giffault

Light is everywhere and we have been studying light and ways to measure and identify it for centuries. There are many different forms of light that have been identified, consisting of radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet light, x rays, and gamma rays. All these forms of light follow specific rules relating to angular and linear momentum.

However, recently, Irish scientists claimed to have discovered a new form a light that does not confine to these rules. For all known forms of light listed above, the angular momentum, which is how much light rotates. Until now, this measurement has always been an integer multiple of Planck's constant, which is "a physical constant that sets the scale of quantum effects". For this new form of light, this scientists have discovered that its angular momentum is not a whole number.

In an attempt to look for way to improve optical communication and transmit light, these scientists passed light through crystals. This resulted in beams of light with a twisted structure; the beams had an angular momentum of a half number. To further test the shocking results, a device was created that measured the angular momentum of the beam. Again, the measurement was discovered to be one half of Planck's constant, defying the fixed rules of physics for light.

This is a huge breakthrough in science and physics and broadens our understanding of light. Hopefully, this could lead to improvements and advancements in security and internet connections. Like any new discovery, research still needs to be done and many more experiments must be conducted to further validate and verify the accuracy of these results.

The physics behind a hockey shot 🏒

Hockey shots can hit speeds of over 100 miles an hour. The reason why they are able to go so quick is thanks to the flex technologie behind the hockey stick. These sticks are made of carbon fibre which have the capability to flex itself. The way you use it is by flexing the stick by putting a certain weight on it and when you release that weight, the stick comes back to its original form with an incredibly fast speed. That movement by the stick lets the puck fly at such a speed. 

They make hockey sticks with a different ability to flex to be able to fit people of all ages and strengths. The stiffer the stick is, the more it has an ability to come back to it's original form faster. In consequence, the stronger you are, the faster your shot is. (Shea Weber, the player with the fastest shot, is Canadien and play for Montreal. He has a shot of 108 mph!)

Gravitational Waves

Gravitational Waves

Through an experiment called Advanced Ligo, scientists have recently discovered gravitational wave signals- ripples in the fabric of spacetime. This phenomenon was first predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein. For 75 years, physicists have been working on discovering and proving the existence of gravitational waves. The kinds of instruments they had to use were so precise that they could detect a distortion in space a thousandth the diameter of “one atomic nucleus across a 4km strip of laser beam and mirror”.

The source of gravitational waves come from the collision of two black holes. Scientist used very sensitive detectors and listened for 20 thousandths of a seconds as two black holes, one 35 times the mass of the sun, circled around each other. Through this they learned how starts perish: “the two objects had begun by circling each other 30 times a second. My the end of the 20 millisecond period the two black holes had accelerated to 250 times a second before the final collision and a violent merger took place.

A gravitational wave is the rippling out from a massive collisions- like that between two black holes- that can be detected through the stretching and contracting of space and time.

Professor Alberto Vecchio of the University of Birmingham, pointed out that gravitational waves carry completely different information so they have opened a new way of listening to a broadcast channel .This allows them to discover phenomena they have never seen before. He also stated that this observation marked three milestones in physics: “the direct detection of gravitational waves, the first detection of a binary black hole, and the most convincing evidence to date that nature’s black holes are the objects predicted by Einstein’s theory.”

It only too 20 milliseconds, using the upgraded instrument, to catch the merger of two black holes, at a distance of 1.3 billion light years away. But it took months to check the signal and make sure the evidence matched the theoretical template.  This discovery is a major milestone in both science and history.

How the Ligo system works:

1. A single layer laser beam is split and directed down two identical tubes, 4km long
2. Mirrors reflect the twin beams back to a detector
3. Back inside the detector, the laser beams arrive perfectly aligned
4. Recombines, they cancel each other out
   
   
   
   
   

Detecting Gravity Waves:

1. When spacetime is distorted by a gravity wave, the two tubes change length. One tube stretched as the other contracts over and over until the wave has passed.
2. As the distance fluctuates the peaks and troughs of the two returning laser beams moves in and out of alignment
3. The recombined waves no longer cancel each other out. Light reaches the detector and the gravity wave can be measured