consequences and significance report

Each person researches the same topic using a different resource (must be a serious source: e.g., a book, NOVA show on video, etc. – not website, Wikipedia page, or children’s book!) and then shares what they found with their group to build a community resource of knowledge. As a group you should start by choosing what resources you will use and determining reasonable and equitable assignments (about 200-250 pages). For a long biography, for example, it may be appropriate for one person to take the first half and another to take the second half.  Or it may be that only certain chapters of a book are relevant.

Each person turns in a separate document consisting of the “index card notes” they took on their resource. In particular focus on the questions asked in part B, keeping in mind that your group will be focusing on these components in the second part of the project. Your notes must have contributions to each of these areas. When you find an idea that will be useful to record, note the page number (or for a video, the time) and give a summary of the idea in your own words (distill a paragraph or page on the idea into a sentence or two of your own). If there is a brief beautiful quotation (you would only have a few), you can include that, too, being sure to enclose it in quotation marks to mark it as a direct quotation and not your own phrasing of the idea. (Note: If your report contains nothing more than what could be found on Wikipedia or similar sites, it will not be accepted.) This document should be 3 full pages (single spaced within each item, with a single blank line between items, 1” margins, 11-12 point standard font). On the top, list your source (e.g., title, author, year for a book; for another type of source, there must be enough information that it could be easily found by the reader) and how you accessed it.

It is important that you put the ideas from the book in your own words. If you can distill the ideas into your own words, then you show some understanding of it; if you only give direct quotations, then you are just pulling quotations, not ideas; if you give direct quotations without marking them as direct quotations, you are plagiarizing (see the Academic Integrity policy in the syllabus). Taking a direct quotation and just changing a few words is not putting the information in your own words and will be considered plagiarism.

Be sure to record the meaning of the information you have collected. For example, if you record “Scientist X and scientist Y had a feud”, this is useless information. What was the feud about? What positions did they take and why? Similarly, do not record anything that you don’t understand what it means – or better, figure out what it means and then record your understanding (in your own words). Part A is graded based on your selection of what to record (is it important, relevant?) and how well you record it in a way that will be useful to your group members (is there meaning to it or is it just a fact with no context or explanation?).

“Black Holes and Baby Universes” by Stephen Hawking.

I have already done part A. Need part B

Black Holes and Baby Universes

The “Black Holes and Baby Universes”, Stephen Hawking talks about the concepts of the baby universes. The book is a collection of great essays both scientific and personal written in order to give an explanation of the modern theories of the universe. Stephen provides a personal account of his childhood and the desire to join either Oxford or Cambridge.

Unfortunately, he was diagnoses with a motor neurone disease, which shocked home. He has tried to live a normal life despite the condition, and he felt that he should not worry about the diagnosis since it prevents him from doing a few things (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.19).

It was shocking when he realized that he had been diagnosed with an incurable disease and may likely cause his death within a few years. Having spent almost two weeks in hospital where a series of tests were conducted in order to come up with a definitive diagnosis, it was devastating to get the news that the condition was incurable (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.20).

It was during his time of hospitalization that he witnessed a boy died of leukemia, and he came to realize that he was in for the worst. He consoled himself that some people may be even worse than he may and his condition did not present with symptoms that made him feel sick. He usually remembered the young boy when he pitied himself for the incurable disease (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.20).

Stephen felt that his dreams were shattered when he was diagnosed with the terminal illness. He had been bored with his life before the diagnosis and felt that there was nothing worthy that he can do. It all happened in a dream and he came to realize that he could be having something worthwhile to do and he could make a sacrifice in order to save other people. It was a fact that he was going to eventually die and it would be worth to do something good (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.21).

In life is it essential to realize our value and make use of the opportunities we are given. People should strive to make a difference in other people’s lives in small ways they are able to. Hawking was able to realize his worth in that he could use his life to help others. The author had motor neurone disease for all his entire adult life. However, this did not prevent him from living a happy life with a happy family and productive work. He managed to get adequate support from his wife and children including different individuals and organizations. He was glad that the condition did not progress faster and end his life (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.24).

This communicates the essence of having hope in life no matter how difficult the situations are in our lives.

It is essential to embrace change in life since change is inevitable. Advances in technology have brought a wide range of changes and made our lives a bit simpler and easier. More advances are to come and the role of human initiatives and creativity cannot be underestimated (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.25).

Science and technology have transformed the work and we need to embrace this fact. The society should understand the benefits of science in order to help them make informed decisions. Experts in science should not be left with the monopoly of scientific knowledge and skills, but other people in society should be equipped with the scientific knowledge. This is because, in the modern world, everything is driven by technology and science.

It is vital to learn to scientific basics so that we do not remain in the dark. For example, scientific knowledge can be presented in different forms to ensure that they lay people understand. The scientists can only understand complex terms and concepts. The public should change its attitude towards science since it is more beneficial than harmful (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.26-28).

Different benefits can be derived through the application of scientific knowledge and concepts.

Further, the author notes in one of his essays that the end of theoretical physics is close and we would achieve a unified, consistent and complete theory of physical interactions. Different predictions have been made on the end of physics and we would be able to have a complete understanding in terms of continuum mechanics (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.42-43).

However, this has not come to pass due to the discovery of quantum mechanics and atomic physics. Having a unified theory in physics will not allow us to make detailed predictions, but this can only apply to the most straightforward situations. People will say that there is an achievement of goals of theoretical physics if we manage to get a completed and unified theory in physics (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.44).

This will act like a complete set of laws that will be used as a reference point in many areas. The scientists keep pushing for new limits and trying to get new mathematical strategies.

Salam-Weinberg had a breakthrough and came up with a theory that gave the need to search for a renormalizable theory for strong interactions between particles (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.50).

It was necessary to get a neutral theory that will combine the renormalizable theory for strong theory and the theory for electromagnetic and weak interactions (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.50).

It is essential to have a quantum theory of gravity if we need to describe the origin of the universe and explain the initial conditions of the universe instead of just engaging the anthropic principle. Quantum theory will be vital in answering questions such as the beginning and the end of times which is predicted by the classical general relativity (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.54).

In addition, some other events such as the big bang could have signified the start of time that could be related in some way to quantum physics. Hawking feels that we still have singularities but different individuals can continue time based on mathematical approaches (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.54).

It is worth noting that it will be very difficult to get the quantum theory of gravity since in order to come up with a unifying theory between the different categories of interactions (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.56).

The only hope that remains is to extend the general relativity referred to as the supergravity. Supergravity is part of the quantum field theory of the subatomic particles explaining their interactions based on the symmetry of the particles referred to a supersymmetry. The theories of supergravity were developed in order to come up with a unified field theory needed in describing the four basic forces (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.60).

Quantum field theory is important in predicting the force-carrier particles being exchanged in the interaction between particles of matter.

We are still in the progress of looking for a unified theory that will explain everything in the universe. Einstein came up with the theory of relativity in 1905 and it is currently referred to as the special theory of relativity. This theory is used to describe the movement of objects through space and time (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.62).

This is one of the theories which we belief changed what we think about time and space including reality itself. Time and space were combined in the special theory of relativity. An individual can decide to move on different paths in space and time, but it would be difficult to modify space and time backgrounds (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.65).

Einstein’s discovery was a success since transformed how we think about space and time. This eliminated the passive background that allowed the events to take place (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.65).

Space and time could no longer be tough that it runs forever without being affected by the events in the universe. These are now dynamic quantities that are influenced by the happenings in the universe, and these events can influence them. This led to the emergence of properties of mass and energy (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.65).

Initially, people tend to believe that the universe is static and time and space were curved on themselves, which could prevent the universe from continuing forever. The original equations by Einstein on general relativity made a prediction that the universe is either contracting or expanding. This made Einstein add additional terms to the equation relating energy and mass in the universe to space and time curvature. The added term was called cosmological term with a repulsive gravitational force (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.67).

Even when the cosmological term is present or not, matter led to the space-time curvature, which was a problem not identified earlier (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.67).

Heisenberg came up with the uncertainty principle indicating that you cannot measure the accurate state of a system, but you can use the probabilities based on different outcomes. The elements of randomness or chance disturbed Einstein so much (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.70).

This is because Einstein could not believe that physical laws have failed to make a definite and unambiguous prediction of the outcomes. But still, it can be argued that the uncertainty principle and quantum phenomenon is unavoidable, and this is evident in every branch of physics. The classical theory by Einstein does not include uncertainty principle since Einstein could not believe that the physical laws are allowing uncertainty by being ambiguous and indefinite (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.70).

It was essential to come up with a theory that will combine the uncertainty principle and general relativity. Einstein used the common-sense view that a system must have a definite history and this is the source of his problems with uncertainty principle and quantum mechanics (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.71).

The black hole could be as a result of the curvature of the universe. This is because of the fact that matter can curve itself to the extent that it would be cut off from the entire universe (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.68).

The region created after the matter has curved and cut off from the universe is what is referred to as the black hole. Objects would then fall into the black hole and had no chances of escaping. This would eventually lead to the collapse when the objects are trapped inside the black hole (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.67-68).

Einstein disputed the fact that there would be a collapse since he was disturbed by the implication of the collapse of the black hole (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.68).

If Einstein’s theory of general relativity is combined with the quantum principle, it will lead to the prediction of radiation in the black homes. This can be used to explain that gravitational collapse is not a dead end, which had been thought of initially (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.72).

It is difficult to explain the origin of the universe since many people have tried to come up with their own theories. Based on the religious views, it is believed that the universe was created which is often disputed by the scientific view. Some use the evolution of culture and technology to justify the origin of the universe. The prediction of the beginning of the universe based on the biblical date and the last ice age are having almost the same prediction. It is now evident that the universe and the entire earth is changing with time (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.78).

However, Greek philosophers such as Aristotle who disputed the concept that the universe had a beginning could have been against this idea. It can be noted that the universe could not have been uniform and homogenous since this could be against the uncertainty principle (Hawking & Hawking, 1994, p.89).

Reference

Hawking, S., & Hawking, S. W. (1994). Black holes and baby universes and other essays. Random House.