The 321 Anomaly

Your answer to my initial question was much appreciated, swansont. It makes sense that antimatter would annihilate itself, especially since that was possibly what happened early on in our universe's history (with the obliteration of the majority of the Cosmos' atoms that existed prior to this primordial annihilation). I wasn't aware that matter-antimatter annihilation gave rise to the occurrence of gamma rays.

It seems cogent enough for me to mention that my comprehension of relativity isn't necessarily very in-depth. However, a rudimentary understanding of it can be summarized by the following: The relativity theories are basically about converting matter into energy and vice versa. The proverbial E=mc^2 equation, in a sentence, would be something along the lines of: "Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared", with the "c" representing the constant of the speed of light (186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second). I'm not entirely sure of how to make a distinction between the special and general relativity theories, apart from knowing that Einstein published papers on them ten years apart (if memory serves me correctly, the former was in 1905 and the latter in 1915). Additionally, I think relativity posits that time is relative, and that theoretically if a spacefaring vessel were traveling at light speed and was further accelerated, its mass would become infinite.

Actually, self-transcendence was included in the hierarchy when I learned about it in a psych course I took this past fall. What is it in particular, apart from it being pre-scientific, that led you to believe it's an inaccurate model?

It has come to my attention that Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs places self-actualization and self-transcendence as the two most exalted reaches of one's psychological evolution, in a manner of speaking. I am wondering specifically what steps would be required in working toward reaching these concepts. I gather that self-actualization in particular refers to one becoming their "best self" and that self-transcendence refers to improving and/or being of service to the world/universe as a whole and making a difference in the grand scheme of things. I can be fairly confident that setting (and ultimately reaching) long term goals may very well be a prerequisite to achieving (or almost achieving) self-actualization, but what further insights can be offered regarding a course of action that would lead to self-actualization and its successor, self-transcendence?

Some rather intriguing/thought-provoking philosophic texts with which I am familiar (and which I recommend) include the following: "The Will To Power" and "Beyond Good & Evil" (both by Friedrich Nietzsche), "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, "The Discourses" (and "The Prince") by Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Perennial Philosophy", "The Doors of Perception", and "Heaven & Hell" (all three by Aldous Huxley), and "On The Soul" by Aristotle.

To the best of my understanding, nuclear fission occurs when the nuclei of fissionable isotopes (such as thorium-232, U-235, plutonium-239, etc.) are bombarded by neutrons and split into either krypton & barium or antimony and niobium. My colloquial/superficial research also indicates that as far as nuclear fusion, the process transpires when the nuclei of deuterium and tritium collide/coalesce, creating helium and giving off energy. My question is this - if an antimatter device were to become practical, what would be its general mechanism theoretically? It seems to me that positrons would probably be involved seeing as how they are one of the more well-known subatomic antimatter particles. Obviously the underlying science of atomic weapons is nuclear fission. Additionally, it is an established fact that the technical underpinnings of thermonuclear devices/hydrogen weapons are largely nuclear fusion, but presently no team of scientists has effectively innovated as far as antimatter devices.

Let me preface this by saying that I've just recently begun studying physics. Okay, so I'm wondering about electromagnetism. Since the photon is both a quantum of light and the carrier of the electromagnetic force, then how is it that the electromagnetic force is able to function in an environment where there is no light? If there was an absence of the electromagnetic force, then molecules and atoms would no longer hold together, which suggests that once the light was switched off in a room, matter could not exist in that room. The only explanation I can come up with is that there is another type of photon that is not emitted from a light source.

I've been curious about time travel for a while now. Is it be possible? If so, how can it be done? I think that if one is able to manipulate the space-time continuum, that might be the way to do it, though I must admit I cannot began to imagine how someone is to go about doing such a thing. Another idea of mine is that if someone is able to externalize the reversal of a clock or wristwatch, then maybe it can be done. A while back, I read a little bit of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (the chapter about time travel) and I didn't understand a whole lot of it, but I've watched programs on the History channel that discuss theories regarding wormholes possibly causing those who enter them to enter a different time period.

I think having cognitive abilities that are very advanced is one quality of a genius. If one is able to proficiently utilize their memory, judgment, and perception to succeed in accomplishing great intellectual feats, I believe that makes them a genius. The Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to the Brain discusses different ideas concerning what it means to be intelligent. One of these ideas was that the ability to solve analogies (a psychometric factor, as the book indicates) is one determinant of intelligence. To me this seems like a fair statement. But on the whole, I summarize a genius as one who fulfills their potential to become an intellectual powerhouse, and I believe many people have that potential.

I was reading about scenarios for the possible fate of the universe and I learned about the Big Crunch scenario. I learned that in this scenario, the expansion of the universe slows to a halt and reverses. Now, I know that space and time are one fabric (space-time.) This makes me wonder if during this scenario time reverses as the universe contracts. If so, would the events that are happening now eventually occur again in reverse during the process of the Big Crunch?

Thanks for filling me in, guys. When writing my previous post, I had forgotten that many physicists maintain that our universe started after the death of another universe. When I asked someone the question from my last post, he told me that astronomers found out the temperature of the universe so soon after the big bang by using cosmic microwave background radiation. Upon researching that, I learned that cosmic microwave background radiation reveals the beginning of the structure of the universe one hundred thousand years AFTER the big bang. Martin, I believe the book in that link you posted was the book I was referring to. I recall seeing "Eyewitness Companions" on the cover, so that must be it.

Okay, so I recently started looking at a book on astronomy. The name of the book is Astronomy, and the author is Ian Ridpath. In the part of this book that gives information about the big bang theory, it states that a hundred billionth of a yoctosecond after the beginning of time, the temperature of the universe was 1,800 trillion trillion degrees. What I'm wondering is - how do astronomers know this?

Someone once told me that if you drink an enormous amount of water, you will hallucinate. I don't understand why consuming excessive quantities of water would induce a hallucination, but I certainly believe that binging on water is a bad idea. I believe it would be foolish to put your health in jeopardy for the sake of perhaps experiencing a false sensory perception.

Greetings and salutations, people of scienceforums.net. My name is Anthony, but I prefer to be called Tony. I look forward to contributing these forums. =)