Black holes & quantum physics.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

Potassium permanganate, I believe, Chulla, if I remember correctly.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

It is the trick performed by Sister Briony to impress the Indian natives in the 1947 film Black Narcissus. A favourite film of mine, starring Deborah Kerr, Flora Robson and Kathleen Byron. Based on Rumer Godden's novel, albeit very loosely!

[Guest]

Another library memory.. both Narcissus books read during a hot summer in the 70's..prefer Conrad's it has to be said.

[colly0410 1,181]

In New Scientist they're speculating that dark matter could emit dark photons, with them being dark (if they exist) though they'll have a job finding them as they will be - err - dark. I'm trying to get my head around how a photon can be dark, guess what will be keeping me awake tonight...

[Guest]

Recent astrophysics have confirmed dark photons,I was lead to believe they come to 'light' under certain conditions, my son is fascinated by this subject..and reads papers by Wilson etc..

[Chulla 4,946]

#202. I have seen that picture twice, Jill, and for the life of me I cannot remember seeing that scene. Very good film, especially where Kathleen Byron gets tired of the religious lifestyle and puts some lippy on and goes bonkers.  Hard to imagine but all of the outdoor scenes were shot in England, not India.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

#206

 

Yes, the film was mostly a tribute to the cinematography of Jack Cardiff and the illusion of life in the Himalayas created by the use of hanging matte slides. The rains at the end were courtesy of the local fire brigade!

 

The trick with the potassium permanganate occurs when the sisters open the dispensary and all the locals turn up because they have been paid to attend. Sister Briony shows them some 'magic' which impresses them and then sends them all away!

[Oztalgian 3,265]

Used to dilute potassium permanganate crystals in water and then sprinkle it on the lawn. Apparently it made the worms "itch" and they came to the surface. Then we just picked them up, an easy way to get bait for fishing.

[Chulla 4,946]

Good mornin' Col, did you sleep well? If so I might make it difficult for you to sleep tonight. There is a school of thought - a bit akin to The Flat Earth Society in my opinion - that says that when we start on a journey, by rights we should never arrive. It goes like this:

 

Let's say the journey is going to be 100 miles (the distance does not matter). After 50 miles you are half way there, leaving another 50 to go. After 25 miles you are half way nearer in the remaining miles. After 12 1/2 miles you are half way nearer your destination within the remaining mails. And so it goes on until we get to the infinitely small quantum distances that keep being reduced by 50 per cent. You just do not ever get to your destination.

 

Sleep tight!

[FLY2 10,108]

I'm nearly asleep now Chulla !  LOL

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

#209

 

Chulla, I remember pointing out things like this to my old Irish maths teacher at The Manning. Her response was to chuck chalk at me and say I was an idiot!

 

She was very possibly correct but she was a lousy  teacher! 

[FLY2 10,108]

So are you saying that I'm going to live forever then Chulla ?  I hope so!

[colly0410 1,181]

# 209 Chula 

 

Yes I slept like a log (surprisingly) thanks, I went straight off... I remember James Burke in his connections program mentioning this, sort of makes sense & doesn't at the same time. Stephen Hawking said something like it hapens at a black hole event horizon in his book A Brief History Of Time... I've got The Magic Of Reality book by Richard Dawkins from the library to read in bed tonight, that may blow my brain up. I'll let you know if/when my brain blows up...

[Chulla 4,946]

Colly, time for be-byes again. Question: Why can't you project the colour black?

 

When you go to the cinema and see a black-and-white film, you will see a black image somewhere on the screen - usually clothing. In actual fact what you see is not black but the colour of the silver screen. It is the proximity of the surrounding greys and whites that fool the eyes into believing you are looking at black. There is a demonstration of this at the Film and Television Museum in Bradford. Presumably it was the same on the old TV pictures, but is it so with the modern LED screens?

 

You can project a very dark colour, such as navy blue, so why not black? Why does black trap all light and very dark colours not so? Black can be made by mixing the primary colours in the correct quantities, so why doesn't it project.

 

Sleep tight Colly.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

#214

 

You absolute rotter, Chulla!  The poor bloke is now going to be up all night, pacing the bedroom carpet!  

[colly0410 1,181]

Chulla, my Dad said I asked him  when I was a nipper "where does the dark go when you switch on the light?" He said "I couldn't answer you" lol. Remember reading a technical book on TV & it said "In nature the contrast range is 1000's to 1, however in the UK 405 lines system the range is only 10 to 1, & the black level floats all over the place because of the mean level AGC system used!" & if you remember those 405 screens were a sort of mid grey-ish when the telly was turned off, yet we'd see a perfect-ish black & white picture. I suppose it's impossible to project a black figure as there's nowt to project, to see it you'd have to have some surrounding light to contrast with the black. Yup no sleep for me, lol..

[loppylugs 8,427]

Like trying to take a picture of a black dog.  Amost impossible to get much detail.  Even his eyes are dark.  Doesn't matter how much you try to adjust the brightness / contrast.

[PeverilPeril 3,278]

The most effective colour in most conditions when fly fishing is black. All to do with contrast. Even in the dark, a black fly in or near the waters surface is the most effective, 

I suspect that the trout that I fish for have all got a Masters in Quantum Physics 

 

 

[colly0410 1,181]

Had a swan to the library today: got a book on how quantum physics is used in everyday objects, & t'other on quantum biology. They should keep me quite & out of mischief for a while...

[colly0410 1,181]

Well I read some of my quantum physics book last night (SWMBO turned my light off & made me go to sleep when I started nodding off) & a use I'd never thought of was a 'laser sparkplug!' A pure quantum physical device. Instead of an electrical spark to ignite the petrol/air mixture in an engine they use lasers, they claim more power, cleaner burning & less CO2 in exhaust. I'll be reading it later tonight if I'm not too exhausted as I'm going for a meal with my old army mates later on. Hope I don't end up in front of the CO in the morning, lol..

[notty ash 370]

Lots of things are very mysterious without quantum physics, like how plants get so much energy out of photosynthesis. Even our sense of smell, which people thought had been sussed out a very long time ago turns out not to work the way we were all told at school. Quantum Physics is everywhere!

[colly0410 1,181]

Notty Ash said "Quantum physics is everywhere!" 

 

That is so so true, so many things use quantum tunneling & quantum superposition to do their things. It's a fascinating subject, (well it is to me). I've only just started the book so if I spot owt else of interest I'll post...

[colly0410 1,181]

Well I've finished the 1'st book & very interesting it was. Nature has been using quantum physics since the big bang & probably before, & we're inventing new uses all the time . There are 3 main models/theories of how quantum physics works: Electrons, quarks, gluons, bosons etc are particles; that they are waves; & that they are fields, they even use the phrase 'particle/wave duality. All 3 models/theories seem to explain what goes on at the quantum level, but they can't all be reality as they seem to contradict each other. Scientists being human develop their pet theories & argue & even fall out with those who support other models/theories than their own, you only have to read New Scientist or Scientific American to know this. I personally don't think we'll ever truly know the reality of quantum physics, but that isn't going to stop us looking is it?

[notty ash 370]

The unpredictability is all part of the fun.

[colly0410 1,181]

So true Notty Ash. A lot of people don't like science because when you make a discovery more mysteries pop up, my late in-laws were like that, they said it frustrated them that they didn't get a final answer. When I said "that's what I like about science; "the mystery" they looked at me as thought I was a bit mad. There's a song called "There are more questions than answers!" & that is so true about quantum physics. At the end of the book the last chapter was about quantum computing & how they're trying to get it to work, I'd take a bet that it's already working quite well & being used to break codes & ciphers by the NSA & GCHQ. If they are they're not going to tell us are they?