Universe Tidbits

Interesting (at least to me) information about the universe we live in (Credit Instant Egghead Guide to the Universe by J.R. Minkel). I’ll have more of these tidbits as time goes on.

Electrons are elementary particles. They cannot be broken down into smaller particles. Protons and neutrons, on the other hand, are made up of smaller particles called quarks.

The most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and helium.

You can actually buy samples of most of the elements on line, even some radioactive ones. http://www.elementsales.com is just one place they can be obtained.

A single air molecule at room temperature collides with other molecules more than a billion times per second.

When helium is chilled to nearly -459 degrees F, it loses all viscosity and becomes a superfluid, capable (among other things) of climbing up the sides of a container.

When you stretch a rubber band, it heats up. You convert mechanical energy into heat, which warms the rubber band. Sometimes you can feel the heat by touching the band to your lips after you stretch it.

No one violates the second law of thermodynamics, which is the law of entropy. Simply stated, it says that entropy can never be reversed…that disorder in the universe continues to increase. Even living things don’t violate the law. They (we) are highly-ordered, but we derive our order by creating more disorder around us than we contain within us. (Right now, I’m thinking of Pigpen in the Peanuts comic strips.)

If a hydrogen atom nucleus were the size of a common marble, it’s corresponding electron (hydrogen atoms have only one electron) would lie about 100 yards away. All the rest is empty space.

Neutrons are unstable outside of the nucleus of an atom. Left to themselves, they would decay into protons in about 15 minutes average.

In nuclear fusion (that’s what powers stars), the helium atom created from the fusion of two hydrogen atoms weighs 0.7% less than the original two hydrogen atoms. The missing mass was converted into energy. Einstein was right. Mass does equal energy and energy does equal mass (E = mc2).