October 15, 2015 Saturday
Bedtime Story
How the Sun Shines
Hans Bethe did not waste his time at the conference.
At the conference was another mathematical physicist
Charles Critchfield who would later do his PhD under Edward Teller.
Along with Critchfield, Bethe sat down and thought of
the possible reactions in the sun that might follow the proton-proton chain
reaction.
By end of the conference they both worked it out and
jointly published a paper in 1938 in the journal Physical Review.
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If you see the reactions above, they do go beyond
helium but still end up in explaining only the origins of only Lithium and
Beryllium.
The origins of heavier elements were still elusive.
It must be brought to your attention mon ami that
astrophysics was not the area of interest of Hans Bethe.
Yet one must note that the science of big, i.e.
astrophysics and the science of miniscule, i.e. nuclear physics are intimately
related.
Once again I need to emphasize nature does not come in
subjects of artificially divided different sciences.
Bethe on returning to Cornell began to think deeply
about this topic of solar chemistry and sun’s source of energy.
Unlike Ralph Alpher and Gamow, he was not thinking on
the lines of origin of elements but more on the working of the sun and to
explain its composition.
Our sun was shown experimentally to contain traces of
carbon, nitrogen and oxygen yet it was still unexplained how.
The very next year in 1939 working once again with
Critchfield, they had it worked out!
In just a year!
By the way mon ami, if you think these silly,
non-productive, good-for-nothing men were essentially just theorizing dreamy
ideas about the workings of stars, you could not be more wrong.
Uncle Sam would use the services of all these
mathematical physicists in a surprising manner far far away in the mountainous
terrain and desert state of New Mexico.
Stay tuned to the voice of
an average storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
Another great educator and teacher that I am aware of is Professor
Subhashish in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, he actually does and teaches real
mathematics and physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All
his books can be downloaded for free through this link.
For
entertainment may I suggest Kids Songs channel.
The Los Alamos County in the state of New Mexico had at one time (or perhaps still has) housed the greatest mathematical physicists in 1930s and 1940s
In 2010 its population was a mere 17,950 with lowest level of child poverty compared to any county of the United States
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