{"id":966,"date":"2017-03-24T00:49:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T00:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=966"},"modified":"2024-05-30T19:19:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T19:19:17","slug":"baryons-gravity-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Baryons, Gravity Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#cern\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170321-_95244729_c0119559-particle_physics_experiment_artwork-spl-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>These are exciting, or disquieting, times.<\/p>\n<p>Which it is depends partly on how much a person likes living in a world where scientific knowledge is rapidly changing.<\/p>\n<p>I like it, a lot.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#cern\">CERN&#8217;s New Omega Baryons<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#baryons\">Baryons, Quarks, and Empedocles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#luminiferous\">Luminiferous Aether \u2014 or \u2014 There&#8217;s More to Learn<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#gravity\">Gravity Wave Mission Gets Green Light: Maybe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#looking\">Looking Beyond the Standard Model<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#remembering\">Remembering Phlogiston<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Since this is a &#8220;religious&#8221; blog, I&#8217;ll be discussing \u2014 briefly, for me \u2014 how my faith relates to experiments using CERN&#8217;s Large Hadron Collider and science in general.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"making\"><\/a>Making Sense<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/bulldogs-transgenics-and-a-robot\/#tampering\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/ggmain20140113-detail-w-cprt-165.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>An ardent Christian once told me that the sun goes around Earth, &#8216;because the Bible says so.&#8217; He was right: assuming that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P5O.HTM#PENT.JOS.10.12\">Joshua 10:12<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P5O.HTM#PENT.JOS.10.13\">13<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PEU.HTM#WISDB.JOB.9.7\">Job 9:7<\/a> are utterly devoid of metaphor and written with a contemporary literalist&#8217;s viewpoint.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t make that assumption. I don&#8217;t &#8216;put my faith in&#8217; science either. Putting knowledge, or anything else, in God&#8217;s place is a very bad idea. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c1a1.htm#2113\">2113<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c1a1.htm#2114\">2114<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, fearing knowledge doesn&#8217;t make sense. Not to me. Studying this universe and developing new tools are part of being human. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2292\">2292<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2295\">2295<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re <strong>supposed<\/strong> to be curious. <strong>Truth can&#8217;t contradict truth<\/strong>, so honest research can&#8217;t threaten informed faith. Besides, this universe is filled with opportunities for greater admiration of God&#8217;s creation. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#159\">159<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p1.htm#214\">214<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p1.htm#217\">217<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#283\">283<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p5.htm#341\">341<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>New knowledge sometimes forces us to reevaluate our assumptions. That&#8217;s been happening a lot lately.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s easier to decide that the new facts can&#8217;t be so because they&#8217;re not what we &#8220;always&#8221; knew. But like I said: that doesn&#8217;t make sense. Not to me.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"anaxoras\"><\/a>Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Aristotle and Aristarchus<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#psalms\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/BiblicalCosmologies.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>The pillars of the earth in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P6W.HTM#HIS.1SAM.2.8\">1 Samuel 2:8<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PEU.HTM#WISDB.JOB.9.6\">Job 9:6<\/a>, and the dome of heaven in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PJY.HTM#WISDB.PSA.150.1\">Psalms 150:1<\/a>, reflect ancient Mesopotamian cosmology. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#psalms\">December 2, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/faith-the-universe-and-wisdom\/#waters\">August 28, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/__PEL.HTM\">Job<\/a> was written somewhere after <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sennacherib#The_.22Babylonian_problem.22\">Sennacherib<\/a> solved his &#8220;Babylonian problem&#8221; by destroying Babylon, but before <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anaxagoras\">Anaxagoras<\/a> tried <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Squaring_the_circle\">squaring the circle<\/a>. About two dozen centuries later, the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lindemann%E2%80%93Weierstrass_theorem\">Lindemann Weierstrass theorem<\/a> proved that was impossible, and that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Books_of_Samuel\">1 Samuel<\/a> was compiled about the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/__PFS.HTM\">Psalms<\/a> were composed before <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nebuchadnezzar_II\">Nebuchadnezzar II<\/a> captured Jeconiah&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(597_BC)\">Jerusalem<\/a>, some after, and all before <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes#Rise_to_power\">Antiochus IV Epiphanes<\/a> took over Syria.<\/p>\n<p>All of them were written for and by folks living just west of Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that it&#8217;d be surprising if Old Testament imagery <strong>didn&#8217;t<\/strong> reflect Mesopotamian culture and traditions. It&#8217;s what folks living in that part of the world were familiar with.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"celestial\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Celestial_spheres#History\">Celestial spheres<\/a> go back to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anaximander\">Anaximander&#8217;s<\/a> cosmology. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aristotle\">Aristotle<\/a>, about two and a half centuries later, also thought Earth was nested in concentric spheres.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aristarchus_of_Samos\">Aristarchus of Samos<\/a> suggested that Earth goes around the sun, and suspected that stars were other suns. He lived around Aristotle&#8217;s time, but didn&#8217;t get listened to nearly as much.<\/p>\n<p>The notion that folks accused Aristarchus of sacrilege got started nearly two millennia later. I&#8217;ll get back to that.<\/p>\n<p>Aristotle&#8217;s geocentric model held up pretty well, with tweaking by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ptolemy\">Ptolemey<\/a> and others, for something like 18 centuries.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"from\"><\/a>From Copernicus to Oort<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolaus_Copernicus\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/Nikolaus_Kopernikus-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolaus_Copernicus\">Copernicus<\/a> took a look at what we had been observing, and decided that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aristarchus_of_Samos\">Aristarchus of Samos<\/a> had the right idea.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johann_Albrecht_Widmannstetter\">Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter&#8217;s<\/a> lectures about Copernican <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolaus_Copernicus#Heliocentrism\">heliocentrism<\/a> got the attention of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pope_Clement_VII\">Pope Clement VII<\/a> and several cardinals in 1533.<\/p>\n<p>One of the cardinals, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nikolaus_von_Sch%C3%B6nberg\">Nikolaus von Sch\u00f6nberg<\/a>, urged Copernicus &#8220;to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Copernicus had pretty much finished writing &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/De_revolutionibus_orbium_coelestium\">De revolutionibus orbium coelestium<\/a>&#8221; by 1532, but insisted on delaying publication until after his death. There&#8217;s a story behind that, it&#8217;s not the usual one, and that&#8217;s yet another topic, for another day.<\/p>\n<p>Copernicus <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolaus_Copernicus#Death\">died<\/a> in 1542. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pope_Gregory_XIII\">Pope Gregory XIII<\/a> used Copernican tables in his <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pope_Gregory_XIII#The_Gregorian_calendar\">calendar reform<\/a> \u2014 there&#8217;s a story or two about that \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Galileo_Galilei\">Galileo<\/a> got into trouble with an Inquisition. He was convicted of being insufficiently Aristotelian in 1616, and a legend was born.<\/p>\n<p>A little later, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gilles_M%C3%A9nage\">Gilles M\u00e9nage<\/a> translated <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Plutarch\">Plutarch&#8217;s<\/a> &#8220;On the Apparent Face in the Orb of the Moon,&#8221; and goofed.<\/p>\n<p>Plutarch wrote that Cleanthes, who saw the sun as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cleanthes#Physics\">divine<\/a>, opposed the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aristarchus_of_Samos#Heliocentrism\">heliocentric<\/a> view. Cleanthes <strong>jokingly<\/strong> told Aristarchus that he should be charged with impiety.<\/p>\n<p>M\u00e9nage messed up the grammar. In his translation the joke was a flat-out accusation. The translation came shortly after the Galileo and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Giordano_Bruno\">Bruno<\/a> trials. I talked about European politics last week. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/fast-radio-bursts\/#faith\">March 17, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I suspect part of the problem was a shaky grasp of distinctions between poetry, science, and faith. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/fast-radio-bursts\/#copernicus\">March 17, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/epiphany-sunday\/#seeking\">January 8, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#psalms\">December 2, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johannes_Kepler\">Johannes Kepler<\/a> refined the Copernican model. He finished his &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johannes_Kepler#Astronomia_nova\">Astronomia nova<\/a>&#8221; 1605, but couldn&#8217;t publish until 1609: thanks to a legal wrangle over use of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tycho_Brahe\">Tycho Brahe&#8217;s<\/a> data.<\/p>\n<p>Isaac Newton added his <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion\">laws of motion<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Newton%27s_law_of_universal_gravitation\">law of universal gravitation<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kepler%27s_laws_of_planetary_motion\">Kepler&#8217;s laws of planetary motion<\/a>. They are still pretty good models, close approximations to what we observe.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scientific_law\">laws<\/a>&#8221; in the sense that they describe how the universe works under specific conditions. Newton didn&#8217;t invent motion or gravity, of course. What he did was describe, mathematically, how both work.<\/p>\n<p>A &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theory\">theory<\/a>&#8221; can be <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theory#Philosophical_theories\">philosophical<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Theory#Scientific_theories\">scientific<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Political_philosophy\">political<\/a>. The latter is, arguably, philosophical. A <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scientific_theory\">scientific theory<\/a> explains some aspect of the natural world.<\/p>\n<p>Scientific theories can be tested, which brings me to the early 20th century.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1992\/11\/12\/us\/jan-h-oort-dutch-astronomer-in-forefront-of-field-dies-at-92.html\">1929<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jan_Oort\">Jan Oort<\/a> measured positions and motions of stars. He said that our sun wasn&#8217;t the center of this galaxy. He was right about that.<\/p>\n<p>He also noticed that estimates of the total mass of our galaxy&#8217;s stars, gas, and other observable matter, couldn&#8217;t account for the observed rotation speeds. There isn&#8217;t enough observable mass, and it&#8217;s not in the right places.<\/p>\n<p>One of the less-improbable explanations for Oorts &#8216;missing mass&#8217; is dark matter.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"dark\"><\/a>Dark Matter?<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150416-FirstNeutrinoEventAnnotated-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>&#8220;Dark matter&#8221; is stuff that doesn&#8217;t absorb, reflect <strong>or<\/strong> emit light or other electromagnetic radiation. That makes detecting it really hard.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have known about one sort of dark matter, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino\">neutrinos<\/a>, since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino#Direct_detection\">1956<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Neutrinos are subatomic particles with no electric charge. They have mass, probably, but it&#8217;s tiny even compared to other subatomic particles. Since they&#8217;re electrically neutral, magnetism won&#8217;t affect neutrinos.<\/p>\n<p>But the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Weak_interaction\">weak subatomic force<\/a> does affect them, and so does gravity. They&#8217;re produced during radioactive decay and nuclear reactions, like what happens in our sun&#8217;s core.<\/p>\n<p>So far, scientists are pretty sure many or most dark matter particles are WIMPs (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Weakly_interacting_massive_particles\">Weakly Interacting Massive Particles<\/a>). Or maybe something else.<\/p>\n<p>We may learn that dark matter isn&#8217;t what causes the effects we&#8217;ve observed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter#Alternative_theories\">Other explanations<\/a> include mass in other dimensions, with gravity having an effect across all dimensions. This might explain why gravity is such a very weak force. It takes moon- and planet-size concentrations of mass to produce serious gravity fields.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe we&#8217;re looking at defects in quantum fields. Or maybe Newton&#8217;s and Einstein&#8217;s descriptions of gravity need another major tweak, or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Unruh_effect\">Unruh<\/a> radiation horizons generate inertia.<\/p>\n<p>Dark matter is mostly theoretical at this point. Other explanations are even more so.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"cern\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">1. <\/span>CERN&#8217;s New Omega Baryons<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39333376\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170321-_95244729_c0119559-particle_physics_experiment_artwork-spl-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Equinox Graphics\/Science Photo Library, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39333376\">LHC: Five new particles hold clues to sub-atomic glue<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPallab Ghosh, BBC News (March 20, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>The Large Hadron Collider has discovered new sub-atomic particles that could help to explain how the centres of atoms are held together.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The particles are all different forms of the so-called Omega-c baryon, whose existence was confirmed in 1994.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Physicists had always believed the various types existed but had not been able to detect them &#8211; until now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The discovery will shed light on the operation of the &#8216;strong force&#8217;, which glues the insides of atoms&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omega_baryon\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170323-471px-Omega_Baryon-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;d like to explain exactly how <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omega_baryon\">Omega baryons<\/a> work, and how \u03a9<sub>c<\/sub> baryons differ from \u03a9<sub>b<\/sub> and \u03a9<sub>b<\/sub> ones. The folks at CERN <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omega_baryon#Recent_discoveries\">learned<\/a> their masses and widths, but not their quantum numbers.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a start, but just a start.<\/p>\n<p>We still don&#8217;t know how, or if, they help us understand the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuclear_force\">strong force<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Murray_Gell-Mann\">Murray Gell-Mann<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yuval_Ne%27eman\">Yuval Ne&#8217;eman<\/a> found theoretical reasons to look for quarks in the early 1960s. So did <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/George_Zweig\">George Zweig<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A whole bunch of scientists published &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/adsabs.harvard.edu\/abs\/1964PhRvL..12..204B\">Observation of a Hyperon with Strangeness Minus Three<\/a>&#8221; in 1964, which apparently is what Omega-c quarks were called then.<\/p>\n<p>Quarks come in six flavors: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top. Gell-Mann got the spelling of &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quark#Etymology\">quarks<\/a>&#8221; from a line in &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Finnegans_Wake\">Finnegans Wake<\/a>.&#8221; I&#8217;m not entirely sure how he got the &#8220;kwork&#8221; sound. Zweig called the particles &#8220;aces,&#8221; but hardly anyone calls them that now.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m also not sure why many scientists stopped using pretentious names for new stuff in the &#8217;60s, but I rather like the change of style.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"baryons\"><\/a>Baryons, Quarks, and Empedocles<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baryon#Properties\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170323-560px-Baryon-decuplet-small-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"From Trassiorf, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Trassiorf, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission)<\/span><br \/>\n(The baryon decuplet, left; and octet, right.)<\/p>\n<p>If an astronomer says something is a baryon, it&#8217;s probably matter that&#8217;s not dark matter.<\/p>\n<p>If an physicist says something is a baryon, it&#8217;s a hadron that&#8217;s not a meson.<\/p>\n<p>The physicist&#8217;s baryons have 3 quarks.<\/p>\n<p>Mesons have 2 quarks, more accurately a quark and an antiquark. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sfermion#Squarks\">Squarks<\/a> are hypothetical particles that may or may not exist. I made an unnecessarily-long but incomplete set of links to more than you need to know about this stuff.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve learned quite a bit since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empedocles\">Empedocles<\/a> said there are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Classical_element\">four elements<\/a>: earth, water, air, and fire. That&#8217;s not an entirely-inaccurate way to describe the four <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/State_of_matter\">states of matter<\/a>: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.<\/p>\n<p>Except that there&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Superfluidity\">superfluid<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate\">Bose-Einstein condensate<\/a>, and other weird stuff, too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aristotle\">Aristotle<\/a> added a fifth element, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aether_(classical_element)\">aether<\/a>. It&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Akasha\">akasha<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sanskrit\">Sanskrit<\/a>, and that&#8217;s yet again another topic. Or maybe not so much.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"luminiferous\"><\/a>Luminiferous Aether \u2014 or \u2014 There&#8217;s More to Learn<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/800px-On_the_Relative_Motion_of_the_Earth_and_the_Luminiferous_Ether_-_Fig_3-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Isaac Newton suggested a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Corpuscular_theory_of_light\">corpuscular theory of light<\/a> 1704. In 1718 he suggested that an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aether_theories#Luminiferous_aether\">aethereal medium<\/a> accounted for diffraction.<\/p>\n<p>Augustin Fresnel&#8217;s wave theory of light treated light as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Huygens%E2%80%93Fresnel_principle\">waves<\/a> traveling in an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aether_drag_hypothesis\">aether<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment\">Michelson\u2014Morley experiment&#8217;s<\/a> failure to detect &#8220;ether wind&#8221; in 1887, 1902 to 1905, and the 1920s, was the first strong evidence that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Luminiferous_aether\">luminiferous aether<\/a> doesn&#8217;t exist.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in the 20th century, scientists learned that at very small scales, matter and energy acts like particles <strong>and<\/strong> waves: and started working the bugs out of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quantum_mechanics\">quantum mechanics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I keep saying this: we have a great deal more to learn. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/mars-aliens-and-seti\/#alone\">December 16, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-minden-monster-what-killed-lucy\/#great\">September 23, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"gravity\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">2. <\/span>Gravity Wave Mission Gets Green Light: Maybe<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-38897697\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170321-_88507135_esa_lisa_pathfinder_ltp_coreassembly_1280-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From ESA, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;A cutaway impression of the laser interferometer system inside Lisa Pathfinder&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-38897697\">Gravity probe exceeds performance goals<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nJonathan Amos, BBC News (February 18, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>The long-planned LISA space mission to detect gravitational waves looks as though it will be green lit shortly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Scientists working on a demonstration of its key measurement technologies say they have just beaten the sensitivity performance that will be required.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The European Space Agency (Esa), which will operate the billion-euro mission, is now expected to &#8216;select&#8217; the project, perhaps as early as June&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"einstein\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gravitational_wave#Astrophysics_implications\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/Wavy-329.gif?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Einstein said that <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gravitational_wave\">gravitational waves<\/a>, ripples in the curvature of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spacetime\">space-time<\/a>, should exist. That was in 1916.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gravitational-wave_astronomy\">Detecting<\/a> the things is very <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gravitational_wave#Difficulties\">difficult<\/a>, since their effects are very small and easily masked by &#8216;noise&#8217; from other sources.<\/p>\n<p>The first indirect evidence of gravity waves came from analysis of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hulse%E2%80%93Taylor_binary#Discovery\">Hulse-Taylor binary&#8217;s<\/a> orbit. That happened in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LIGO\">LIGO<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virgo_interferometer\">Virgo interferometer<\/a> collaborations announced the first <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First_observation_of_gravitational_waves\">direct observation<\/a> of gravity waves on February 11, 2016. The signal, GW150914, came from a merging <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Binary_black_hole\">black hole binary<\/a>. It changed the 4-kilometer-long LIGO arm&#8217;s length by a thousandth of the width of a proton.<\/p>\n<p>The second, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GW151226\">GW151226<\/a>, came on December 26, 2015. The the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced it on June 15, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Detecting gravity waves is as big a step for <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gravitational_wave#Astrophysics_implications\">astronomy<\/a> as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Galileo_Galilei\">Galileo&#8217;s<\/a> use of the telescope and the first <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radio_telescope#Early_radio_telescopes\">radio telescopes<\/a>. Depending on who&#8217;s talking, that would be the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Karl_Guthe_Jansky#Radio_astronomy\">Jansky-Bell Laboratories<\/a> antenna, built in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radio_telescope#Early_radio_telescopes\">1932<\/a>; or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tesla_Experimental_Station\">Tesla Experimental Station<\/a>, built in 1899. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/mars-aliens-and-seti\/#tesla\">December 16, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Radio_astronomy#History\">Or maybe<\/a> Johannes Wilsing and Julius Scheiner&#8217;s 1896 efforts, or Oliver Lodge&#8217;s between 1897 and 1900.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"looking\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">3. <\/span>Looking Beyond the Standard Model<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-28218775\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170321-_76145545_super2-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From SPL, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;The stage has been set for some years for the detection of super particles. But so far they have been a no show.&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-28218775\">LHC scientists to search for &#8216;fifth force of Nature&#8217;<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPallab Ghosh, BBC News (July 10, 2014)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>The next couple of years will be make or break for the next big theory in physics called supersymmetry &#8211; SUSY for short. It might make way for a rival idea which predicts the existence of a &#8216;fifth force&#8217; of nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Next Spring, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) resumes its experiments, scientists will be looking for evidence of SUSY. It explains an awful lot that the current theory of particle physics does not. But there is a growing problem, provocatively expressed by Nobel Laureate George Smoot: &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-14680570\">supersymmetry has got symmetry and it&#8217;s super but there is no experimental data to suggest it is correct<\/a>.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;According to the simplest versions of the theory, supersymmetric particles should have been discovered at the LHC by now. One set of null results prompted Prof Chris Parkes, of the LHCb to quip: &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-20300100\">Supersymmetry may not be dead but these latest results have certainly put it into hospital<\/a>&#8216;&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"standard\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Model#Phenomena_not_explained\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150408-400px-Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model\">Standard Model<\/a> of particle physics has been around for about a half-century. It does a pretty good job of describing the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, plus subatomic particles like photons, quarks, and neutrinos.<\/p>\n<p>But it doesn&#8217;t include gravity, or a dark matter particle that fits what we&#8217;ve observed so far.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why scientists are working on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Model\">Physics beyond the Standard Model<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Physics beyond the Standard Model <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Model#Phenomena_not_explained\">may explain<\/a> quite a few things \u2014 like where <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mass_generation\">mass comes from<\/a>, why gravity happens, why half the baryons we observe aren&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baryon_asymmetry\">antimatter<\/a>, and what <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter\">dark matter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_energy\">dark energy<\/a> are.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supersymmetry\">Supersymmetry<\/a> relates bosons, that have integer-valued spin; and fermions, with half-integer spin. Each particle from one group would be associated with a particle from the other, known as its superpartner. The difference between their spins would be a half-integer.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a huge over-simplification.<\/p>\n<p>Supersymmetry may tie up all the Standard Model&#8217;s loose ends.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"remembering\"><\/a>Remembering Phlogiston<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/explorepahistory.com\/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-16D6\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/1-2-16D6-25-ExplorePAHistory-a0l6y1-a_349-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Or the Standard Model and Supersymmetry may turn out to be like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phlogiston_theory\">phlogiston<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phlogiston_theory\">Phlogiston<\/a> was a pretty good way of explaining combustion in 1667.<\/p>\n<p>Around the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Phlogiston_theory#Challenge_and_demise\">1780s<\/a>, new tech and analysis showed that some metals <strong>gain<\/strong> mass when they burn. Phlogiston theory said they should get lighter as the &#8220;phlogiston&#8221; escapes.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists who liked the phlogiston theory said that phlogiston must have negative mass, or at least was lighter than air.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of that century, only a few chemists still used the term &#8220;phlogiston.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley\">Joseph Priestley<\/a>, the inventor of soda water and discoverer of oxygen, was one of the phlogiston diehards.<\/p>\n<p>He also tried <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley#Religious_controversialist\">combining<\/a> determinism, materialism, causation, and necessitarianism; and helped get <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joseph_Priestley#Founder_of_Unitarianism\">Unitarianism<\/a> started.<\/p>\n<p>Priestley was sure that a proper understanding of the natural world would promote human progress. I agree that it&#8217;ll help.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m also sure that respecting humanity&#8217;s transcendent dignity and everyone&#8217;s well-being<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup> is an option \u2014 and not dependent on our scientific understanding. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/natural-law-our-rules\/#building\">February 5, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/authority-superstition-progress\/#progress\">October 30, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/amos-and-social-justice\/#real\">September 25, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Priestley also thought understanding the natural world would bring about the Christian Millennium. I think that&#8217;s wildly improbable, at best.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the name, by the way, he wasn&#8217;t Catholic. At all.<\/p>\n<p>The point is that the Standard Model may be a pretty good description for how particle physics works.<\/p>\n<p>Or, like phlogiston, new facts may show that it was a good idea that didn&#8217;t reflect reality.<\/p>\n<p>Again, I&#8217;m quite sure that there&#8217;s a great deal left to learn.<\/p>\n<p>Vaguely-related posts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/fast-radio-bursts\/\">Fast Radio Bursts<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 17, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/making-a-universe-why-bother\/\">Making a Universe: Why Bother?<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 29, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/alchemy-science-life-and-health\/\">Alchemy, Science, Life, and Health<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(October 16, 2016)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/europa-mars-and-someday-the-stars\/\">Europa, Mars, and Someday the Stars<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(September 30, 2016)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/faith-the-universe-and-wisdom\/\">Faith, the Universe, and Wisdom<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 28, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Shedding light on dark matter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cowan%E2%80%93Reines_neutrino_experiment\">Cowan-Reines neutrino experiment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter_halo\">Dark matter halo<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter_halo#Rotation_curves_as_evidence_of_a_dark_matter_halo\">Rotation curves as evidence of a dark matter halo<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dark_matter_halo#Theories_about_the_nature_of_dark_matter\">Theories about the nature of dark matter<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino\">Neutrino<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino#History\">History<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino#Pauli.27s_proposal\">Pauli&#8217;s proposal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neutrino#Direct_detection\">Direct detection<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> You don&#8217;t need to know this, but maybe it&#8217;s interesting. Or maybe not:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baryon\">Baryon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction\">Fundamental interaction<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Classical_theory\">Classical theory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#The_Standard_Model\">The Standard Model<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Overview_of_the_fundamental_interactions\">Overview of the fundamental interactions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#The_interactions\">The interactions<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Gravity\">Gravity<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Electroweak_interaction\">Electroweak interaction<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Electromagnetism\">Electromagnetism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Weak_interaction\">Weak interaction<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Strong_interaction\">Strong interaction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fundamental_interaction#Beyond_the_Standard_Model\">Beyond the Standard Model<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hadron\">Hadron<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lepton\">Lepton<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles\">List of particles<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Elementary_particles\">Elementary particles<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Fermions\">Fermions<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Quarks\">Quarks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Leptons\">Leptons<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Bosons\">Bosons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Hypothetical_particles\">Hypothetical particles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Composite_particles\">Composite particles<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Hadrons\">Hadrons<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Baryons\">Baryons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Mesons\">Mesons<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Atomic_nuclei\">Atomic nuclei<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Atoms\">Atoms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Molecules\">Molecules<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Condensed_matter\">Condensed matter<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_particles#Other\">Other<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quark\">Quark<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuclear_force\">Nuclear force<\/a> (or nucleon\u2013nucleon interaction or residual strong force)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Strong_interaction\">Strong interaction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Subatomic_particle\">Subatomic particle<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Weak_interaction\">Weak interaction<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Making sense of reality, a work in progress:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Model\">Physics beyond the Standard Model<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model\">Standard Model<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model#Historical_background\">Historical background<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model#Overview\">Overview<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model#Particle_content\">Particle content<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model#Fundamental_forces\">Fundamental forces<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Standard_Model#Challenges\">Challenges<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supersymmetry\">Supersymmetry<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> I&#8217;ve talked about free will, transcendent dignity, and social justice before. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p123a10.htm#976\">976<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p123a10.htm#980\">980<\/a>, , <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1730\">1730<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a7.htm#1825\">1825<\/a>)<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a2.htm#1915\">1915<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1929\">1929<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1933\">1933<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p4s2a3.htm#2820\">2820<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>More of my take on science, technology, and using our brains:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/natural-law-our-rules\/\">Natural Law, Our Rules<\/a>&#8221; (February 5, 2017)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/natural-law-our-rules\/#building\">Building a Better World<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/conservative-liberal-no-catholic\/\">Conservative? Liberal? No: Catholic<\/a>&#8221; (January 22, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/life-death-and-choices\/\">Life, Death, and Choices<\/a>&#8221; (January 15, 2017)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/life-death-and-choices\/#free\">Free Will, Toy Monkeys<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/satan-didnt-make-me-do-it\/\">Satan Didn\u2019t Make Me Do It<\/a>&#8221; (November 13, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/authority-superstition-progress\/\">Authority, Superstition, Progress<\/a>&#8221; (October 30, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/amos-and-social-justice\/\">Amos and Social Justice<\/a>&#8221; (September 25, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These are exciting, or disquieting, times. Which it is depends partly on how much a person likes living in a world where scientific knowledge is rapidly changing. I like it, a lot. CERN&#8217;s New Omega Baryons Baryons, Quarks, and Empedocles &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,59,27,114,22],"class_list":["post-966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-astronomy","tag-cosmology","tag-history","tag-physics","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-fA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8113,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions\/8113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}