Universe

Examples of student responses:

(1) Answer: Because the earth has big gravity which holds in the elements. And it has a dense core which provides the gravity. Also because of the centrifugal force, so that the earth is in the shape of a near sphere.

(2) Question: Are we alone in the universe?Answer: Not likely. There are several hundred billion stars in our galaxy, hundreds of billions of galaxies in our observable universe. Some galaxies have livable environment for being. Universe could be large beyond our expectation and there are many phenomenon in the world that can not be explained like Crop Circle.

(3) Why do planets orbit around the sun?•The reason planets orbit around the sun is related to the reason an object falls to the earth when it is dropped•The mass of the sun is much greater than the rest of the planets in our solar system and therefore so is its gravitational pull•The large gravitational pull of the sun keeps planets around it in orbit•The planets do not burn up in the sun as they are moving sideways as well as being pulled towards the sun•The sideways motion along with the gravitational pull towards the sun leads the planets to orbit around the sun

(4) The solution must lie in some kind of advanced and more efficient solar panel-like structure. This structure could exist in space or within earths atmosphere. I'm not sure how this answer might more meaningful and accurate as all solutions are extremely hypothetical. But reading about idea's like the Dyson sphere is certainly an exciting prospect to fantasize about (See https://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.04376.pdf).

What is inside a black hole?

A black hole is a region in space that has a gravitational force that is so strong that no matter or radiation (such as light) can escape from it (1). Because nothing can escape, these black holes cannot even be seen. The activity of the strong gravity affects the stars and gas around the black hole- and that is how they are identified by scientists (2). The event horizon is thethreshold around a black hole where the escape velocity surpasses the speed of light- and Einstein's theory of special relativity states that nothing can travel faster through space than the speed of light (3). Therefore, no human or satellite could ever survive past the event horizon, which is why humans have no real idea of what is inside a black hole. There are theories of course, such as black holes containing potential wormholes which are shortcuts in space-time which would allow for going back in time (4).

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole(2) https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html(3) https://www.space.com/black-holes-event-horizon-explained.html(4) https://www.space.com/20881-wormholes.html

Question: Are we alone in the Universe?

Decomposition of question:1.What is the definition of "alone"? Lack of Alien species?2.How do we define the type of living things we are looking for?3.What evidence do we look for in other planets to convince ourselves that the planet is habitable?4.Besides our predetermined conditions (eg. Water and Oxygen) that sustains life, can alien species thrive on other harsh conditions? Eg. Micro-organisms that can survive without oxygen.5.What is the probability of locating a human-habitable planet?

Answers:1."Alone" refers to the absence of any other living organisms in the entire Universe. Humans on Earth are the only living organism in the entire Universe.2.It simply refers to micro-organisms or single-cell organisms. It does not only refer to other highly intelligent and technologically advanced alien species that is typically portrayed in Hollywood films.3.Water. It can come from the form of ice deposits or underground water. Oxygen. For respiration in carbon-based living organisms.4.Remains to be determined. For example, Loriciferans are organisms found on Earth's muddy sea bottoms. These habitats are devoid of oxygen but Loriciferans have been found to thrive under such conditions. Perhaps, there are alien organisms similar to Loriciferans in planets that we have not yet explored. Source: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170125-there-is-one-animal-that-seems-to-survive-without-oxygen5.According to a research done by Adam Frank and Woody Sullivan, it says that humanity is not a rarity in the Universe. The probability of the event where life originates on a world, evolves into complex organisms, and finally become technologically advanced is at least 1.7 × 10^-11. Therefore, if the probability of a habitable planet is one-in-a-million, then there are probably tens of thousands of planets that could be human-habitable, and the closest one could be less than a thousand light years away. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/05/10/what-are-the-odds-of-finding-earth-2-0/#683b1c465c3c

Why does Earth have multiple layers and do they differ in composition and size?

Decomposing Questions:1.What are the layers that we know of currently on Earth?2.Do other planets have multiple layers like Earth?3.How do we know that there are multiple layers?4.How do we define these layers?

When relating to the question that I had, I found that there was no absolute answer that scientists have found to find out the reason behind multiple layers. What we do understand is that there exists a Crust, Mantle, and an Outer/Inner Core. There are multiple reasons that Earth and other planets have multiple layers, which are discussed by UCSB, with beliefs ranging from lightest materials being in the Crust to heaviest in the core, the layers being formed by the effects of gravity. We are able to measure the sizes of the layers through seismic readings and as a result, we can help supplement the idea that we can measure the size of the mantle and the crust. Another method of measurement of the sizes of the different layers is through scientific experiments through "Diamond Anvil Cell" experiments (PSU). As a result, one fact that we know generally is that the Crust under the Continents is the thickest and the Crust under the oceans is the thinnest (Sharp). This is defined as a theory, as it is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can be repeatedly tested and verified with the scientific method (using the right tools). The why regarding the size of the layers of the Earth is again widely debated in the field (UCSB). Finally, According to the article by Tim Sharp in Space.Com, I found that other planets, such as Venus and Mars, also have different layers with potentially differing compositions. While there is no definite answer to the question that we can be 100% sure of, I have gotten closer in understanding the prevailing theories behind this question.

https://www.space.com/17777-what-is-earth-made-of.htmlhttps://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth520/content/l4_p3.htmlhttps://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3248

Next MyCourses assignment 2 due Friday, January 24!(Starting now, all assignments will count!)

Plagiarism

Fully 53 per cent of 15,000 undergraduates who participated in a Canada-wide survey published in 2007 in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education admitted they’d cheated on written work at least once in the preceding 12 months. Two-thirds of those cases involved copying sentences without citation.Yet the same survey suggests the higher ranks of academe are far from pristine. Fully 35 per cent of 1,318 graduate students surveyed admitted to cheating on written work—some of whom likely hold tenure-track positions today. Meanwhile, a growing number of academic fraud cases involving fully tenured professors have been making the news.

Fully 53 per cent of 15,000 undergraduates who participated in a Canada-wide survey published in 2007 in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education admitted they’d cheated on written work at least once in the preceding 12 months. Two-thirds of those cases involved copying sentences without citation.Yet the same survey suggests the higher ranks of academe are far from pristine. Fully 35 per cent of 1,318 graduate students surveyed admitted to cheating on written work—some of whom likely hold tenure-track positions today. Meanwhile, a growing number of academic fraud cases involving fully tenured professors have been making the news.

Source: www.macleans.ca

“After concluding an investigation into McGill psychology professor Barbara Sherwin’s alleged academic fraud, the University has officially reprimanded her for failing to acknowledge a ghostwriter involved in drafting one of her articles.”

Source: www.mcgilldaily.com

“Dr.” Annette Schavan

“Dr.” Annette Schavan

Picture: dpa

kidshealth.org

I am in

A. Arts/Humanities/Social Sciences

B. Medical related

C. Economics/Finance/Management

D. Sciences

E. Engineering

F. Other

Is plagiarism a criminal offense?

A. Yes

B. No

Is Rewriting a paragraph by changing many words plagiarism?

A. Yes

B. No

What is plagiarism (in order of importance)?A. Copy and Paste

something in a reportB. Rewording but keeping

the same contentC. Copy an assignment but

referencing the original contributor

D. Use lecture notes by including figures w/o references

E. Use exam questions taken from uncited sources

F. Use uncited sources in a presentation

Who decides in cases of plagiarism (in order of importance)?

A. The lecturer

B. The university administrators

C. Lawyers

D. Students

E. Editors

F. Artists

Is downloading music from the sharing sites legal ?

A. Yes

B. No

Is downloading music from the sharing sites plagiarism ?

A. Yes

B. No

Is copying a TV show on a DVD legal?

A. Yes

B. No

Is Copying and pasting a sentence by shakespeare

A. Illegal

B. Plagiarism

C. both

In practice:

You can copy and paste as much as you want as long as you properly identify the sources. If possible, cite original and scientific references (better than websites). A direct quote should be clearly identified, by using, for example, “A human being is part of a whole called by us Universe” (A. Einstein).

However, if you only copy and paste stuff without a unifying picture, analysis and interpretation of what you want to convey, this is not considered a meaningful contribution.

Question: Are we alone in the universe?

Do you believe in extra-terrestrial UFOs?

A. Yes

B. No

C. Maybe

31

Tesla measured the first out of space radio signal

Ref: André Waserwiki

Tesla measured the first out of space radio signal

In 1967 PhD student Jocelyn Bell discovered the source of the radio signal (pulsar)

Ref: André Waserwiki

39

Reflections on the discovery of pulsars

(pulsating radio stars)

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

University of Oxford Astrophysics

And

Mansfield College

1967 - 8The actual discovery

40

41

First build your radio telescope(through hail, rain and sunshine)

2048 81.5MHz λ/2 antennae (16 E-W rows of 64 + 64), 1000+ wooden posts, 120 miles/192 km wire and cable, area 57 tennis courts. Grant £12k. 6 people for 2 years.

Typical working conditionsfor a PhD student?

The 4.5 acre* radio telescope(*1.8 hectares), looking W

• Interferometric array; phased with delay cables; operated with 4 beams. Valve phase-switching receiver!

Data analysis

No computer!

3-pen chart paper

• 100’ (30m) / day

• 400’ (120m)/sky scan

• 3.3 miles (5.3km) total

Discovery of pulsars II

• Occasionally ¼” (0.5 cm) in the 400’ (120 m) showed an unusual signal.

• ‘Occasionally’ = 15% of the occasions that part of sky observed

High-speed recording

Centre trace shows pulsed nature of emission