Book Report #35 – My Favorite Universe.
Begin: 6/23/2024
Finish: 7/5/2024
Title: My Favorite Universe.
Author: Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson
Why I choose to read this book:
This book discuss the 12 topics which affect the cosmic. These topics for which interest the public. Topic about the universe piques my interest. These topics improve my analytical and critical thinking skills.
What I learned from this book:
The lectures are thematically arranged into four groups: 1) Fundamental properties of matter and energy and forces on the cosmic stage. The same laws of Physics discovered on earth reveals themselves in the universe. 2) Cosmic Catastrophes – The destructive cosmic phenomena and role of catastrophe has played in the history of earth like Black Holes, Death of The Sun and Killer Asteroids. 3) The Big Bang – our understanding of the universe, how did the universe get here, how it evolved in the past and in the future. 4) Search for life in the Cosmos: Does life exist elsewhere, what environment would we expect to find life, what would life be like and would we recognize alien life if we saw it?
Fundamental Properties of Matter:
There are round things in the world. Yes, there are only a few things that are not round like crystal, fractured rocks, cubes. They have angles to them. They are very few things that make angles. Roundness is the result of forces that want to shade an object in such a way that the surface is minimized. Sphere is the shade that enclosed the largest volume with the least surface.
Whenever there is a vacuum, nature collapses down on it to get rid of the vacuum. This concept happens in the Cosmos. In The Cosmos, in fact nature loves a vacuum. We know that a pressure exist in the Cosmos that will never let the galaxy collapse into itself. The universe has an anti-gravity pressure operating on it, called Dark Energy.
There are some mysteries to density. Some common forms of matter in the universe have extremely high density example a white dwarf, Neutron star such as A Crab Nebula. The point of Infinite Density is in the center of a Black Hole.
Cosmic Catastrophes:
A spaghetti machine squeeze the dough in and out come the long strand of spaghetti, this phenomenon is know as spaghettification; it is what happens to matter that’s descending into a Black Hole. Matter can be squeezed until the atoms are next to each other; This is what forms a White Dwarf. Matter can be squeezed even closer until Nuclei are right next to each other – forming a Neutron Star, which is the densest matter we know. Evidence suggest that all Galaxies have Black Holes at the center, some more massive than others.
The Sun was born 5 billion years ago. The sun is going to live another five Billion years, so we are exactly mid-way. The Sun keeps its same base shape and same rate of energy output. When the Sun runs out of Hydrogen, three Helium Nucleus will fuse into nucleus of one Carbon atom. This fusion release more energy than the fusion Hydrogen to Helium, which force the expansion of the Sun, it will grow to fill the orbits of Mercury, then Venus then Earth. As Earth is engulfed, Earth will spiral down into the Sun and evaporate into a puff of smoke.
Earth has been slammed before by comets and asteroids. The most well-known impact Cretaceous – Tertiar (KT) Boundary – resulted in the extinction of the Dinosaurs, 65 millions years ago. The Dinosaurs were wiped out but small mammals survived and had a fresh ecosystem to populate. Without the planet-wide catastrophe, we would not exist today.
Onward To The Edge:
We came to learn whatever it is we determine to be true about the universe might only be a subset of a larger truth. The Big Band Theory makes three assumptions: the universe is expanding, the universe is cooling, the universe had a beginning.
All the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe were contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the point of a pin. The size is about the size of an atom.
Forged In The Stars:
It is true that with some elements, if we give them a Neutron they go unstable and they kick the whole Neutron out again. But if they have two Neutrons, they are stable and given time they will convert the Neutrons to Protons. We human being are made of star dust.
There are 100 billion stars in a Galaxy and there are 50 to 100 Billion Galaxies. the total number of ordinary stars is one sextillion, 21 zeros. The number of planets that can sustain life is rising through 100 in our solar system, more planets known outside our solar system. The prospect of finding live dramatically increased. We have DNA in common with every life form on earth.
How will this book contribute to my success upon release:
This book taught me a lot about our universe. This knowledge improves my analytical and critical thinking skills. These information will be taught to other communities which I hope to volunteer my services.
