Astrophysicists have identified three possible fates for the universe, one is called the Big Crunch, where gravity takes over and begins to pull the cosmos back, compressing to one point. Another is the Big Rip, where the accelerative forces associated with Dark Energy causes it to expand at an every increasing rate until the galaxies, … Read more
Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) confirmed that the universe is mainly made of “Dark Energy” thought to be responsible for the current acceleration of its expansion. But what would happen if the rate of acceleration remained constant or increased with time? The answer according to some is a “Big Rip” in … Read more
The Balmer series or Balmer lines in atomic physics, is the designation of one of a set of six different spectral emission lines of the hydrogen atom whose energy levels can calculated using an empirical equation discovered by Johann Balmer in 1885. Later Neils Bohr sought to explain them by using the Rutherford model of … Read more
Einstein was often quoted as saying “If a new theory was not based on a physical image simple enough for a child to understand, it was probably worthless.” For example in his General Theory of Relativity he derived gravity in terms of a curvature in the geometry of space and time. Additionally he showed us … Read more
In 1933 Fritz Zwicky a Swiss astronomer, was trying to measure the mass of a galactic cluster using two different methods. First he tried to infer it from the rational speed of the galaxies around the center of the clusters. Just like kids on a merry-go-round have to hold on to avoid being ejected, galaxies … Read more