Category: Measurement
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Limits of measurements… Limits of out self…
The limits of classical measurements of mechanical motion have been pushed beyond expectations in recent years. But the sensitivity that we can achieve using purely conventional means is limited. For example, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics implies the presence of “measurement backaction”: the exact knowledge of the location of a particle invariably destroys any […]
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Measuring laws…
One of the fundamental physical constants, the ‘weak axial vector coupling constant’ (gA), has now been measured with very high precision for the first time. It is needed to explain nuclear fusion in the sun, to understand the formation of elements shortly after the Big Bang, or to understand important experiments in particle physics. With […]
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How much do you weight?
Scientists measure the weight of our galaxy using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite. It seems that the Milky Way weighs in at about 1.5 trillion solar masses, according to the latest measurements. Only a few percent of this is contributed by the approximately 200 billion stars in the Milky […]
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Moon bright…
Scientists put the Moon to work daily as a calibration source for space-based cameras that use the brightness and colors of sunlight reflecting off our planet to track weather patterns, trends in crop health, the locations of harmful algal blooms in oceans and much more. The information sent from Earth-facing imagers allows researchers to predict […]
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Wise vs. Clever.
She learned to read, then for a challenge she taught herself Spanish – at the tender age of 2. Her parents took her to the doctor, where IQ tests put her in the top 2% of test-takers, with an IQ of 160 – the same as Albert Einstein’s. Her doctors told a reporter that her […]
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