The first episode shows the infinite size of the universe and the infinite smallness of the microscopic world. Who can be sure that our universe is just a small water molecule in the upper universe? The concept of multiverse is very similar to the laws of planetary movement and atomic orbits. there may be
2 The five mass extinctions in Earth's history, the Cretaceous is just the last
3 The birth, evolution of life, and its tenacious survivability under global natural disasters, natural selection, reproduction, transcription and translation of cells, and such a sophisticated and complex inheritance of DNA are still unsolved mysteries, extremely miraculous
Halley used Newton's law of universal gravitation to successfully predict that Halley's Comet would cross the earth once every 76 years, which is more accurate than any wizard's prediction. This is the best example of scientific thinking. Using scientific models, we can even predict that in a few A billion years from now, our Milky Way will join the Andromeda galaxy, and above us will be a gorgeous streamer for millions of years.
4 When we look up at the starry sky, what we see is actually the ghosts of the stars. When the rays of light they emit reach the earth after hundreds of millions of years, they have long since disappeared, leaving only the ghostly brilliance in the vast universe. Just like human beings in history, even if we die, the stars still shine on us.
Scientific hypothesis: If we enter a black hole in the Milky Way, it absorbs things around it with such a large mass that even light cannot escape (all the laws of physics we know do not apply in black holes), then the surrounding planets collapse into the black hole Afterwards, they may generate a big bang in the black hole (similar to the big bang of our universe), so a new universe may be born in a black hole, a black hole will be born in the new universe, and a new universe will be born in the new black hole.
5 The principle of pinhole imaging - telescope - astronomy
The entire astrophysics relies on the development of optics, discovering the elemental composition of various galaxies through spectroscopy, discovering dark matter, the redshift of the universe, etc.
The animation of quantum mechanical electron transitions is very vivid, and the infrared spectroscopy, the New York of X-ray spectroscopy is very interesting
6 Two tools for exploring the world: science and imagination
Carbon atoms are the most abundant and diverse atoms and can form the most elements, which is perhaps why our ancestors chose to use carbon atoms to form life
Neutrinos - mysterious microscopic realms that travel close to the speed of light and even reach Earth before light after the Big Bang (pushed out by the shock wave before the explosion)
7 The earth was formed from the impact of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Therefore, we can select the asteroid fragments of the balls that hit in recent times as the research object, and assume that the uranium content in it is the uranium content of the early earth. Since the evolution of the closed system, we can roughly measure the age of the earth through the decay law of radioactive elements. The experimental spirit of PS is worth admiring - Claire Patterson's experiment (scientific rigor)
The fall of the Roman Empire may be related to the heavy use of lead
This is because, according to Claire Patterson's research on the age of the earth, lead used in the food and crude oil industries has penetrated into the entire nature in large quantities, causing a large number of human diseases. He called for a ban on lead-containing oil, but offended It took 20 years of hard work for the interests of automobiles and oil companies to make the lead ban bill passed. This is the first time in human history that the impact of trace elements infiltrating into nature has been realized, and it has also made people realize for the first time that large corporations have The disregard of science for public health by interests.
8 From the color of the light emitted by stars in the universe, we can draw its spectrum and compare it with the elements present on Earth, to withdraw the constituent elements of that star.
The Sun is in the balance between nuclear fusion and gravity
Future of the Sun: Expansion to become a red giant (orbiting close to Earth). After shrinking to only a few percent of Earth's volume, a white dwarf (emitting a faint white light)
Under certain conditions, a supernova explosion can occur (the explosion time is very short)—the final formation of a neutron star (a very dense, composed of neutrons); a super planet may eventually collapse into a black hole
If you look at the Milky Way at night, you will see that there are many dark spots on the Milky Way, blocking the light, that is interstellar dust
Haishan Er, a star that is getting brighter and brighter in the southern hemisphere, a binary star system, with such a massive mass that it is possible to explode at any time, and the brightness observed by the earth will even exceed that of the moon when it explodes.
It makes sense that the ancients worshipped constellations because we were all created from the fragments of these galaxies. We are all stardust.
We are formed from the ancient universe through the forging of hundreds of millions of thoughts, we are part of the universe
Tribute to several female astronomers who pioneered modern astronomy
9 Add a little new knowledge every day, why are the bugs in the age of dinosaurs so big? Why is there fossil energy in the land?
This is because, initially, plants were algae and ferns that were attached to the ground, and they evolved into trees in order to compete for sunlight. Trees support a huge weight through elastic lignin, making the earth a tree-like structure. However, at first, there were no bacteria and fungi that could decompose lignin in nature, which made it impossible for a large number of dead trees to be decomposed. Over time, they were buried in the ground to form fossil fuels or silicified wood, and the inability to decompose led to the blockage of the C cycle, and a large amount of C Being fixed and unable to be released by bacteria and fungi, the oxygen concentration in the air is high, so that insects without lungs grow extremely large, until a few million years later, bacteria and fungi that can decompose lignin are born (that is to say, no more There are a lot of fossil fuels (except animals and plants buried by natural disasters such as volcanoes) that the C cycle can continue as usual, and what modern humans are doing is to release these fixed C-cup fossil fuels again.
The Mediterranean itself is a big basin, a big desert, hot enough to bake bread, until an earthquake rips through the Strait of Gibraltar….
At first, South America and North America were separated by water, and the Pacific and Atlantic were connected by ocean currents, which made Africa a lush forest with lush vegetation, until the earthquake caused the formation of Panama, the current was blocked, and Africa became hot and dry, A lot of vegetation died and our ancestors had to come down from the trees, use the nimble fingers they exercised as they climbed the trees, picked up tools, and survived the pursuit of the big cats….
The nearer, less massive Venus and the more distant but massive Jupiter tilt the Earth, distorting the Earth's orbit, and periodically changing the temperature of the North Pole, leading to the formation of the Ice Age/Little Ice Age, with mild With the advent of the period (which will last for 50,000 years), the glaciers of the Ice Age continued to melt, forming large rivers. The rivers formed fertile deltas near the sea, and the farming civilization was born...
Coal - remains of a tree
Gas, Oil - Plankton Remnants
If we burn out all the fossil fuels on the planet, the carbon dioxide released will bring the planet back to dinosaur-era temperatures
We are all descendants of the survivors of the cataclysm, we are all players in the longest and most difficult life-and-death relay, and now we have taken the baton in our hands....
10 Oersted: found that the current deflected the magnetic needle
Faraday: Discovered electromagnetic induction, and invented generators and motors, all electrical appliances in modern society were born from this evolution. Faraday changed the world and changed the way we live.
Faraday discovered magnetoelectricity, which gave humans an extremely valuable energy transfer method. We can easily convert kinetic energy into electricity through magnets, which laid the foundation of modern point-supported society.
Faraday is really a legendary figure, from the obscurity of youth poverty, to being instructed by experts because of his diligence and enthusiasm for science, he has achieved important results with his extremely keen scientific perspective and continuous experimental attempts. What makes people unforgettable is that he was jealous of his mentor David, so he sent him to a glass factory to develop glass for four years. After a long time, Faraday tried to find the connection between magnetism and light. After trying hundreds of solutions and crystals to try to make the magnetic field change the direction of light, but none of them were feasible, finally, Faraday accidentally used this piece. Glass, a souvenir of this failed experience, however, it changes the fate of human society. The magnetic field changes the direction of polarized light with glass as the medium, which proves that the magnetic field can manipulate light and that several natural forces can influence each other. It laid the foundation for Einstein's theoretical research later.
He discovered the invisible magnetic field around the magnet, the invisible force, which is why the compass points to the earth's magnetic south pole (north pole) (the magnetic field lines were drawn, which were not recognized by the world many years later). Solved the problem that plagued Newton - the gravitational field between planets).
Due to Faraday's lack of scientific education in his early years, his field hypothesis lacked formulas and theoretical derivations, and was not believed by the world until Maxwell proved everything to people with four perfect and symmetrical formulas...
A hypothesis accepted by most people: birds are descendants of the only surviving dinosaurs, and Archaeopteryx evolved from reptiles. (Birds have long since evolved to judge latitude by magnetic poles)
Why does the earth have a magnetic field? It is a scientific problem so far, and it is probably produced by the rotation of liquid iron in the core of the earth around the core. The Earth's magnetic field protects us from cosmic rays (the birth of auroras, the solar wind, where charged particles are carried by the Earth's magnetic poles like north and south poles, streaking across the sky, causing nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the air to glow)
Everything in the world can be so beautiful, as long as it conforms to the laws of nature. — Faraday
11
star - star
planet - planet
A hypothesis of the birth of life - a meteorite from outer space
For example: The meteorite that fell in Egypt in 1911 came from Mars and was the product of an asteroid hitting Mars that triggered a big bang and was thrown into space. (In the early years of the formation of the solar system, the earth had a lot of meteorite exchanges with Mars and Venus)
Fact: Bacteria that have been frozen in Antarctica for millions of years can revive, and bacteria on the surface of spacecraft remain active after returning from space travel. The evolution of life, as evidenced by fossils, has experienced several devastating global catastrophes, and theoretically no life can survive in the case of a giant asteroid hitting all the seawater and gasifying it.
Reasonable hypothesis: Some bacteria were blasted into space with meteorite fragments (porous structures), and returned to the earth with asteroids when the earth returned to normal after tens of thousands of years. -Like Noah's Ark.
Bacteria have already proved to us its strong ability to resist radiation and high temperature freezing, then
what about travel between stars? like dandelion seeds.
Another hypothesis: It takes 225 million years for the solar system to revolve around the Milky Way once, and it will pass through 2 or 3 huge nebulae (strong gravitational force), causing a trillion comets in the outer solar system to escape or be pushed Towards the solar system, if it hits the earth, it will produce a lot of earth's rock fragments and fly into space (maybe carrying some bacteria from the earth), and these fragments may enter those nebulae in the form of meteors, and enter the newborn planets, if that planet happens to also If you want liquid water.... (Life spreads like plant seeds in the galaxy)
The ancients recorded stories on slate bridges and circulated them. We convert information into radio waves and transmit them to the universe at the speed of light. Is it possible that in the depths of the universe, or in the future, someone is listening to our stories?
Volcanic winter: Gases such as hydrogen sulfide produced by volcanic eruptions block the sun, causing temperatures to plummet and plants to die.
Possible reasons for the destruction of human civilization on Earth:
Macro: A giant volcanic eruption once every million years (it will only cause the death of a large number of individuals, it is difficult to cause the extinction of species). Asteroid hits the earth (can be resolved by launching a spacecraft) supernova explosion (there will be no stars 100 light-years away from the earth in the past few thousand years, and humans should have a way to resolve them in a few thousand years)
Micro: Bacterial viruses (eg, the Great Voyages caused smallpox to kill 9/10 Native Americans). Microplastics, etc.
Self-destruction: Most likely, a common feature of modern socio-economics, driven by short-term interests.
Each animal has its own advantages, such as the camouflage of stick insects, the calmness of leopards, etc., which protect them to pass down their bloodline for millions of years. There is no doubt that human beings have the most advantageous advantage - wisdom, This pushes us to the top of the food chain, but our advantage is not perfect, it is easy to be deceived and blind, we are always overconfident and unwilling to admit mistakes, which makes us turn over and over again in history One mistake, therefore, human beings must better learn to use their wisdom, recognize the limitations of wisdom and have self-knowledge, and make it a tool for human survival. If we do this, we can solve it in the future millions of people. any crisis during the year.
Highly recommend the last 15 minutes of episode 11, a poem for humanity, for the future.
12
Venus - Runaway Greenhouse Effect (C element is all released into the air as CO2)
Most of the Earth's carbon is stored as solids - carbonates (a masterpiece of photosynthesis by plants such as algae over millions of years), coral salts (polyps), limestones (washed by seawater, not related to biological behavior). The carbon in the atmosphere is less than three ten thousandths of the total carbon.
Earth's Breath: Forests absorb carbon dioxide in spring and summer to lower the temperature, and emit carbon dioxide in autumn and winter to increase the temperature.
The greenhouse effect cannot be washed away by human beings,
Volcanoes emit about 500 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, but less than 2 percent of what humans emit each year (30 billion tons - which is exactly the same amount of coal, oil, and natural gas emitted each year).
Weather is different from climate, weather is short-term and instantaneous. And climate is a long-term change. Weather is unpredictable, climate is predictable.
Water absorbs heat, and ice reflects the sun's heat. If more and more heat is absorbed by water, the ice melts, and the surface area of the water is larger, which absorbs more heat and melts more ice - positive feedback cycle! !
The permafrost in Russia and Canada (which stores enough carbon dioxide to double the carbon content of the air) melts, releasing more CO2, CH4 - another positive feedback loop! !
Humans may be taking Earth on the path of no return to Venus
Make good use of solar energy, the energy of the sun shining on the earth for one hour = the energy that human beings need to consume in a year
13
Supernovae, neutron stars—all are pulsars that emit cosmic rays
Scientists have found that the speed of stars in the outer layers of almost all observable galaxies even exceeds the speed of stars in the inner layers. This does not conform to Newton's law of universal gravitation. The only explanation is the existence of dark matter with huge mass.
The universe has been expanding since the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, and scientists have proved that the expansion rate is accelerating (the existence of dark matter)
Learning astronomy helps to cultivate humility, to realize how small one is, how insignificant the joys and sorrows of life are
questioning authority
Don't trust people's words, including yourself
independent thinking
self-doubt
Don't believe in anything you want to believe and believe doesn't mean it will be
Rely on observations and experiments to test ideas and follow evidence wherever it takes you
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