Bro I Can’t Come To The Phone Right Now, Neptune Has A Moon That Shines Like A Star.

Newton's Three Laws of Motion

What are they?

Generally speaking, Newton's Three Laws of Motion are some of the most important laws in science. They are the fundamentals, and they are necessary for basic physics. They may seem complicated and jargon-y at first, but they are actually very understandable once broken down. So let's go over them!

Law of Inertia

Newton's Law of of Inertia states that "An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force." 

First, let's go over inertia, which this law is about. Inertia is the tendency of objects to remain the same. So basically, what this law is saying is that an object that is not moving, will stay not moving, and an object that is moving will continue moving in the same direction and speed that it is going. The last phrase in this law, "unless acted on by an unbalanced force" is basically just saying that due to inertia, objects will remain the same unless another force (eg. gravity, friction, air resistance, etc.) changes/affects the object. 

For example: a marble rolling on the floor will continue rolling in the same direction and at the same speed. Common sense says this makes no sense because obviously, the marble would eventually stop rolling. This is because although it may not seem as obvious, there actually is a force acting on the marble--friction from the floor. The friction acting on the marble slows it down until it eventually comes to a stop. 

Law of Acceleration

Newton's Law of Acceleration states that "The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied."

Most times Newton's Second Law is summarized as the equation F = ma, where F = net force in a system, m = mass of object(s), and a = acceleration of object(s). This law is pretty simple, it mostly is just saying that the force applied to an object depends on the acceleration of the ojbect and the mass of the object, or any other variation of this statement. In practice, you just need to input the necessary information into this equation to solve for the unknown variable. One lovely thing about F = ma is its simplicity; it only requires basicaly algebra to solve and is easy to remember. It also merits a mention that of all the equations you need to memorize for school, this is one of the most important ones (especially for physics), it should be up there in your brain with c^2 = a^2+b^2 and the quadratic formula. 

Here's an example: If a 5 kg bowling ball is rolling down the bowling alley with an acceleration of 2 m/s^2, what is the force being applied to the bowling ball? To solve this simple problem, you can input the mass and acceleration of the bowling ball into F = ma, so F = 5 kg * 2 m/s^2, meaning the force applied to the bowling ball is 10 kg m/s^2, or 10 N.

(Note: Force is usually in N, or newtons, and kg m/s^2 = N)

Law of Action and Reaction

Newton's Law of Action and Reaction states that "Whenever one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite on the first."

You've probably have heard the saying "What goes up must come down" before. Well, this law isn't too far off from that, and the concept is pretty similar. This law is actually pretty self-explanatory; it's basically saying that for every action force, there will be an opposing reaction force that is the same strength and in the opposite direction. The law also stipulates that the two objects in the action/reaction force pair are acting on two DIFFERENT objects (so an object won't exert a reaction force unto itself). It's pretty simple when put in words, but this law is best explained using examples. 

For instance: If you jump off a skateboard, you will go forward (the skateboard is pushing you), and the skateboard will go backwards (you are pushing the skateboard). 

Another example: When you jump on a trampoline, you go up and you will notice that the trampoline will (temporarily) go down. 

Summary

This graphic from Owlcation.com describes Newton's Laws quite well: 

Star Formation: Omega/Carina/Lagoon 

© Hubble/Chandra

Breathtaking...🤩

Cosmic clouds in Orion © ESO

Radio view closeup of Milky Way center © J.C. Munoz-Mateos

Since I’ve been posting/reposting images that referencing the James Webb Space Telescope, I thought I’d add some comments (from Wikipedia) about it.

JWST was launched on December 25, 2021 is intended to succeed the Hubble. It’s first images were released on July 11, 2022.

Paraphrased from Wiki, “JWST was is a designed to conduct infrared astronomy. Its the largest optical telescope in space with greatly improved resolution and sensitivity that allows it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. “

Webb's First Deep Field image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 (released on 11 July 2022)

Neptune’s rings in infrared © JWST

Scientists find remains of cannibalized baby planets in Jupiter's cloud-covered belly

The finding settles a long-standing debate about the gas giant's formation.

Jupiter’s innards are full of the remains of baby planets that the gas giant gobbled up as it expanded to become the behemoth we see today, scientists have found. The findings come from the first clear view of the chemistry beneath the planet’s cloudy outer atmosphere.

Despite being the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter has divulged very little about its inner workings. Telescopes have captured thousands of images of the swirling vortex clouds in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere, but these Van Gogh-esque storms also act as a barrier blocking our view of what’s below.

“Jupiter was one of the first planets to form,” in the first few million years when the solar system was taking shape around 4.5 billion years ago, lead researcher Yamila Miguel, an astrophysicist at Leiden University in The Netherlands, told Live Science. However, we know almost nothing for certain about how it formed, she added.

In the new study, researchers were finally able to peer past Jupiter’s obscuring cloud cover using gravitational data collected by NASA’s Juno space probe. This data enabled the team to map out the rocky material at the core of the giant planet, which revealed a surprisingly high abundance of heavy elements. The chemical make-up suggests Jupiter devoured baby planets, or planetesimals, to fuel its expansive growth.

Continue Reading.

Worm Saliva Breaks Down Tough Plastic

Polyethylene, a durable plastic, is widely considered one of the worst forms of plastic pollution, but chemicals found the saliva of the wax worm may hold the key to breaking it down. One hours worth of exposure to the saliva breaks down the plastic by the equivalent of years worth of weathering.

There are two enzymes responsible for this degradation, and it’s believed that they are the first effective agents found in nature.

Polyethylene comprises 30% of production of a wide range of materials such as pipes, flooring, and bottles. Its hardiness comes from its resistance to oxygen. In order to get oxygen into the plastic, it has to be treated with UV light, but, the wax worms saliva seems to have a similar, if not improved, effect.

Wax worms are well known for destroying honey bee hives, and researchers say that its this ability to destroy hives that may hold the key to their ability to degrade plastics.

The study, published in the journal, Nature, is led by a team of Spanish researchers, who now want to research further into the degradation of polyethylene by wax worm saliva, and hope that one day, people may be able to have a home kit that they can use to breakdown the polyethylene at home.

Source: BBC News, written by Matt Magrath , and, Sanluis-Verdes, A., et al., (2022). Wax worm saliva and the enzymes therein are the key to polyethylene degradation by Galleria mellonella. Nature Communications, 13(1). Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33127-w (Accessed: 5th October 2022)

“How to Identify that Light in the Sky ” Is the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day of today, November 14, 2021