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Topic Review
Virus Nanotechnology
Virus nanotechnology is the use of viruses as a source of nanoparticles for biomedical purposes. Viruses are made up of a genome and a capsid; and some viruses are enveloped. Most virus capsids measure between 20-500 nm in diameter. Because of their nanometer size dimensions, viruses have been considered as naturally occurring nanoparticles. Virus nanoparticles have been subject to the nanoscience and nanoengineering disciplines. Viruses can be regarded as prefabricated nanoparticles. Many different viruses have been studied for various applications in nanotechnology: for example, mammalian viruses are being developed as vectors for gene delivery, and bacteriophages and plant viruses have been used in drug delivery and imaging applications as well as in vaccines and immunotherapy intervention.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Physicist and Christian
Physicist and Christian: A Dialogue Between the Communities (1961) is a book by William G. Pollard. Much of the attention given to the book such as its review in Time (magazine) magazine has been attributed to the fact that Pollard was not only a well-respected physicist but also an Anglican priest. The book deliberately avoids specific subject matter differences, focusing on religion and science both as human communities. An important theme is the idea that human knowledge—scientific or religious—can be developed only by those, like Pollard, who have "fully and freely" given themselves to a human community, whether to the physics community or Christian community or some other, e.g., the United States Marine Corps. Also an important theme is Pollard's argument and cautions against a cultural norm in which scientific knowledge would be objective and public, on the one hand, while religious knowledge would be subjective and private, on the other.
  • 245
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Timoshenko Beam Theory
The Timoshenko beam theory was developed by Stephen Timoshenko early in the 20th century. The model takes into account shear deformation and rotational bending effects, making it suitable for describing the behaviour of thick beams, sandwich composite beams, or beams subject to high-frequency excitation when the wavelength approaches the thickness of the beam. The resulting equation is of 4th order but, unlike Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, there is also a second-order partial derivative present. Physically, taking into account the added mechanisms of deformation effectively lowers the stiffness of the beam, while the result is a larger deflection under a static load and lower predicted eigenfrequencies for a given set of boundary conditions. The latter effect is more noticeable for higher frequencies as the wavelength becomes shorter (in principle comparable to the height of the beam or shorter), and thus the distance between opposing shear forces decreases. If the shear modulus of the beam material approaches infinity—and thus the beam becomes rigid in shear—and if rotational inertia effects are neglected, Timoshenko beam theory converges towards ordinary beam theory.
  • 1.3K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Transwiki:Relative Density
Template:Twwp-2 Relative density is a dimensionless ratio of the densities of two materials. The term specific gravity is similar, except that the reference material is water. A relative density can help quantify the buoyancy between two materials, or determine the density of one "unknown" material using the "known" density of another material. Mathematically, relative density is expressed as: where [math]\displaystyle{ G }[/math] is the relative density, and [math]\displaystyle{ \rho }[/math] is the densities of the two materials in the same units (e.g., kg/m³, g/cm³). Relative density is dimensionless, since it is a ratio between two quantities of same unit. If the ratio is greater than 1, the object will be heavier than the same volume of the reference. If it is less than 1, it will be lighter than the reference. It is important to specify the reference material when reporting a relative density, but when the reference material is not specified it is usually understood to be water at 3.98 ° C.
  • 810
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fundamental Interaction
In physics, the fundamental interactions, also known as fundamental forces, are the interactions that do not appear to be reducible to more basic interactions. There are four fundamental interactions known to exist: the gravitational and electromagnetic interactions, which produce significant long-range forces whose effects can be seen directly in everyday life, and the strong and weak interactions, which produce forces at minuscule, subatomic distances and govern nuclear interactions. Some scientists hypothesize that a fifth force might exist, but these hypotheses remain speculative. Each of the known fundamental interactions can be described mathematically as a field. The gravitational force is attributed to the curvature of spacetime, described by Einstein's general theory of relativity. The other three are discrete quantum fields, and their interactions are mediated by elementary particles described by the Standard Model of particle physics. Within the Standard Model, the strong interaction is carried by a particle called the gluon, and is responsible for quarks binding together to form hadrons, such as protons and neutrons. As a residual effect, it creates the nuclear force that binds the latter particles to form atomic nuclei. The weak interaction is carried by particles called W and Z bosons, and also acts on the nucleus of atoms, mediating radioactive decay. The electromagnetic force, carried by the photon, creates electric and magnetic fields, which are responsible for the attraction between orbital electrons and atomic nuclei which holds atoms together, as well as chemical bonding and electromagnetic waves, including visible light, and forms the basis for electrical technology. Although the electromagnetic force is far stronger than gravity, it tends to cancel itself out within large objects, so over large (astronomical) distances gravity tends to be the dominant force, and is responsible for holding together the large scale structures in the universe, such as planets, stars, and galaxies. Many theoretical physicists believe these fundamental forces to be related and to become unified into a single force at very high energies on a minuscule scale, the Planck scale, but particle accelerators cannot produce the enormous energies required to experimentally probe this. Devising a common theoretical framework that would explain the relation between the forces in a single theory is perhaps the greatest goal of today's theoretical physicists. The weak and electromagnetic forces have already been unified with the electroweak theory of Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg for which they received the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics. Some physicists seek to unite the electroweak and strong fields within what is called a Grand Unified Theory (GUT). An even bigger challenge is to find a way to quantize the gravitational field, resulting in a theory of quantum gravity (QG) which would unite gravity in a common theoretical framework with the other three forces. Some theories, notably string theory, seek both QG and GUT within one framework, unifying all four fundamental interactions along with mass generation within a theory of everything (ToE).
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  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
NASA Heliophysics
NASA Heliophysics is an aspect of NASA science that enables understanding the Sun, heliosphere, and planetary environments as a single connected system. In addition to solar processes, this domain of study includes the interaction of solar plasma and solar radiation with Earth, the other planets, and the galaxy. By analyzing the connections between the Sun, solar wind, and planetary space environments, the fundamental physical processes that occur throughout the universe are uncovered. Understanding the connections between the Sun and its planets will allow for predicting the impacts of solar interaction on humans, technological systems, and even the presence of life itself. This is also the stated goal of Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Research.
  • 391
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
KIC 8462852
KIC 8462852 (also Tabby's Star or Boyajian's Star) is an F-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Cygnus approximately 1,470 light-years (450 pc) from Earth. Unusual light fluctuations of the star, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness, were discovered by citizen scientists as part of the Planet Hunters project. In September 2015, astronomers and citizen scientists associated with the project posted a preprint of an article describing the data and possible interpretations. The discovery was made from data collected by the Kepler space telescope, which observes changes in the brightness of distant stars to detect exoplanets. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the star's large irregular changes in brightness as measured by its light curve, but none to date fully explain all aspects of the curve. One explanation is that an "uneven ring of dust" orbits KIC 8462852. In another explanation, the star's luminosity is modulated by changes in the efficiency of heat transport to its photosphere, so no external obscuration is required. A third hypothesis, based on a lack of observed infrared light, posits a swarm of cold, dusty comet fragments in a highly eccentric orbit, however, the notion that disturbed comets from such a cloud could exist in high enough numbers to obscure 22% of the star's observed luminosity has been doubted. Another hypothesis is that a large number of small masses in "tight formation" are orbiting the star. Furthermore, spectroscopic study of the system has found no evidence for coalescing material or hot close-in dust or circumstellar matter from an evaporating or exploding planet within a few astronomical units of the mature central star. It has also been hypothesized that the changes in brightness could be signs of activity associated with intelligent extraterrestrial life constructing a Dyson swarm. The scientists involved are very skeptical, however, with others describing it as implausible. KIC 8462852 is not the only star that has large irregular dimmings, but all other such stars are young stellar objects called YSO dippers, which have different dimming patterns. An example of such an object is EPIC 204278916. New light fluctuation events of KIC 8462852 began in the middle of May 2017. Except for a period between late-December 2017 and mid-February 2018 when the star was obscured by the Sun, the fluctuations have continued (As of July 2018).
  • 2.2K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Speckle Interferometry
Speckle imaging describes a range of high-resolution astronomical imaging techniques based on the analysis of large numbers of short exposures that freeze the variation of atmospheric turbulence. They can be divided into the shift-and-add ("image stacking") method and the speckle interferometry methods. These techniques can dramatically increase the resolution of ground-based telescopes, but are limited to bright targets.
  • 726
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
On Ghost Imaging Studies for Information Optical Imaging
To understand, study, and optimize optical imaging systems from the information-theoretic viewpoint has been an important research subfield. However, the "direct point-to-point" image information acquisition mode of traditional optical imaging is lacking in "Coding-decoding" operation on the image information, and limits the development of further imaging capabilities. On the other hand, ghost imaging (GI) systems, combined with modern light-field modulation and digital photoelectric detection technologies, behave more in line with the modulation–demodulation information transmission mode compared to traditional optical imaging. This puts forward imperative demands and challenges for understanding and optimizing ghost imaging systems from the viewpoint of information theory, as well as bringing more development opportunities for the research field of information optical imaging. Here, several specific GI systems and studies with various extended imaging capabilities will be briefly reviewed. 
  • 495
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Polar Moment of Inertia
The polar moment (of inertia), also known as second (polar) moment of area, is a quantity used to describe resistance to torsional deformation (deflection), in cylindrical (or non-cylindrical) objects (or segments of an object) with an invariant cross-section and no significant warping or out-of-plane deformation. It is a constituent of the second moment of area, linked through the perpendicular axis theorem. Where the planar second moment of area describes an object's resistance to deflection (bending) when subjected to a force applied to a plane parallel to the central axis, the polar second moment of area describes an object's resistance to deflection when subjected to a moment applied in a plane perpendicular to the object's central axis (i.e. parallel to the cross-section). Similar to planar second moment of area calculations ([math]\displaystyle{ I_x }[/math],[math]\displaystyle{ I_y }[/math], and [math]\displaystyle{ I_{xy} }[/math]), the polar second moment of area is often denoted as [math]\displaystyle{ I_z }[/math]. While several engineering textbooks and academic publications also denote it as [math]\displaystyle{ J }[/math] or [math]\displaystyle{ J_z }[/math], this designation should be given careful attention so that it does not become confused with the torsion constant, [math]\displaystyle{ J_t }[/math], used for non-cylindrical objects. Simply put, the polar moment of inertia is a shaft or beam's resistance to being distorted by torsion, as a function of its shape. The rigidity comes from the object's cross-sectional area only, and does not depend on its material composition or shear modulus. The greater the magnitude of the polar moment of inertia, the greater the torsional resistance of the object.
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  • 14 Nov 2022
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