The science lover in Me
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Since my childhood i have always been fascinated towards science. Sci-Fi is my favourite category of books and i always prefer reading a scientific article over any other piece of news.
My roommates call me a veteran doctor as I love watching animal documanteries.
I have always had few questions in my curious mind that i never got a platform to ask, I agree this is not a appropriate platform , but just in case someone hears my SOS.
Here is what the scientist in me ponders at:
In some sense I feel humans are unlucky -
1. We have only one moon to see ? Well this i know why
For the below questions i'll be grateful if someone provides me answers.
2. Why is there only a single species of homo sapiens left on earth? One of the most strangest thing I find is that only same species can reproduce naturally.
3. What property of oxygen makes it the only element be a life giver?
4. The age of the universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years. It means that the farthest light we have ever seen has come from objects that far. What if there are still parts of universe from where light still hasn't reached us. In case in future, if light from such areas reaches us, will we have to revise the age of universe?
5. How is the speed of light an exact number? Where as many constants in physics are approximated.
speed of light = sqrt(magnetic constant*electric constant)
The exact values of these constants are known which makes speed of light a exact number.
6. What makes the absolute zero temperature the lowest achievable temperature? What happens to the substance at absolute zero?
7. How is matter just being created from nowhere,universe is ever expanding, is there so much energy still left in universe which is getting converted to matter?
I will leave my list of questions here. Hoping that some one might throw some light on these.
A trivia: A voting was conducted to choose two most important mathematical equations. Top two finalists were:
1. Pythagoras Theoram :
2. Equation of relativity : E = mc2
speed of light = sqrt(magnetic constant*electric constant)
The exact values of these constants are known which makes speed of light a exact number.
6. What makes the absolute zero temperature the lowest achievable temperature? What happens to the substance at absolute zero?
7. How is matter just being created from nowhere,universe is ever expanding, is there so much energy still left in universe which is getting converted to matter?
I will leave my list of questions here. Hoping that some one might throw some light on these.
A trivia: A voting was conducted to choose two most important mathematical equations. Top two finalists were:
1. Pythagoras Theoram :
2. Equation of relativity : E = mc2
Posted by :ubuntu at 1:33:00 PM
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Huh ! Let me go into the past and find out answer of some of the question:
5. Speed of light can be exact, because light get reflected by all the objects and we can certainly measure when it is reaching to source back. Off course, we need a right timer and we have that :)
6. Abs. zero is not yet achieved but theory says object will lose complete heat energy at this point. no heat energy means no radiation, no molecule movement, that further means no reaction.... and so on. One can bet, object will not poses any feature at 0 K
Question related to death and birth are something which Sci.'st guess and based on their assumption they try to give a meaning of life. And so with the universe expansion and contraction. 30 percent of ppl believe that big bang theory itself is not correct. And yes it is, it is not able to reply lots of questions, lot of things which is happening in univ. but BB theory is silent.
3. I think the combustion properties of Oxygen make it a life giver. All major classes of structural molecules in living organisms, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, contain oxygen, as do the major inorganic compounds that comprise animal shells, teeth, and bone.
By the way, who says Oxygen is only life giver. It is life giver only for aerobic organisms and not for anaerobic ones.
Alright... Am again on the same topic as above.
When I delved into this I eventually hit my favorite site(Howstuffworks) and discovered that Oxygen is not the only life giver. It's actually the composition of air that keeps us going. Follow this link:
Is it harmful to breathe 100-percent oxygen?
Nice na?
Wait for my other answers.
The questions are pretty interesting though!
First its a 'veterinarian' doctor or vet. Not a 'veteran' which means experienced.
Who said Oxygen is only life giver? You are thinking of life as you know it. You need life, may be a bacteria on moon doesn't. Or maybe some alien on mars! May be.
(My colleague Chandra Golla is saying that I am hurting your feelings,not right. Is it?)
ok .. this is getting interesting ..
@Asty .. Thanks for correcting my choice of words.
Yes you definitely hurt me by comparing such a complex life with something in Mars. :-)
Anyways, this question was specific to living beings with hemoglobin.
Or if i change the question, what property of hemoglobin makes it suitable for oxygen?
@Rathee - Well, I agree there are anaerobic life forms too ..but what I had in mind was lives with hemoglobin.
Btw, just reading through hemoglobin on Wikipedia ...could it be as simple as that it has just happened that hemoglobin is compatible with oxygen and thats why it has become a life saving element.
After all earth's atmosphere had oxygen in it before life developed, so the life would have adapted to whatever elements it could have found.
See i am a great believer of Theory of evolution and anthropic principal.
Any comments?
little more info on hemoglobin. Iron can bind with oxygen atoms, so hemoglobin is suited for transportation.
Well hemoglobin is not the only thing carrying oxygen, in other living creatures , many other proteins carry oxygen in less complex life, but all have one thing common i.e oxygen.
So question still remains same , what does oxygen has which makes it life saver (in aerobic cells).
:-)