Had the privilege of going to the African Institute for Mathematical Science for this lecture on particles. What I found out is that the nose and tongue can sense particles but the eyes and ears can sense waves. Not so sure whether temperature is a wave or a particle or something else but we do speak about heat waves. But it all has to do with time. Now all of these things operate in a field which our sensors can detect. If two different particles meet they can blend. Some waves dissipate but others others continue forever..these if I recall correctly are called solitons. For example if a barge is travelling up a canal and it suddenly stops the bow wave continues along the canal without dissipating. You can follow it on your bicycle and you will tire out before the wave stops. In fact if the canal went for ever so would the wave. But why do the waves of a stone thrown into a pool fade away into the distance? Makes you think does it not? You can get particle accelerators too. This talk certainly got me interested in this new field.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 07:39:02 +0000
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