lineage december 2011

8/3/2019 Lineage December 2011

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E-journal of Senior Engineers of KSEBEA

Vol. IX No: 09 2011 DECEMBER

FROM THE EDITOR

The November news of approval of the officers pay revision fails to take us to cloud nine; it is almost one yeaoverdue. Nonetheless it is welcome. We hope our dynamic leaders will pursue pension revision with renewevigor.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam rushed to Koodankulam to defend the Nuclear Station and help to allathe fear and the scare created in the minds of people

The biting social commentaries of Carlin, one of the great comedians of our time is witty and thoughtprovoking. The humorous cookery lessons served by Ravindran will certainly bring a smile on your face unlesyou are a comedy-hating person.

CERN experiment in particular, OPERA, stunned the scientific community with its announcement that the

discovered sub-atomic particles called neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light, which should be impossible since Albert Einsteins theory of relativity says nothing can go faster than the speed of light. AnandKumar analyses the impact in his inimitable style. - and a size appropriate to the subject. C Mohandas habeen giving a series of talks at Unit meetings at Kannur on an allied topic. PAK discusses Tidal wav

generation briefly in his regular column-Anands Corner.

Prof. Ravi Varma was my teacher at Brennen College more than fifty years ago. He has an amazing range ounique imagery and holds an eminent place among the best poets of the new generation. The poem megharoopanis celebrated as one of his masterpieces

Kochi metro is being contemplated as Maglev according to E. Sreedharan. To be pioneer is some thing we caegitimately take pride in.

We thank the contributors for their steadfast loyalty. They deserve Cheers from readers.

I have no words to express my thanks to Kunhiraman who spares me the headache on the last couple of dayof every month to meet the deadline.

HAPPY READING! K.E.DAMODARAN NAYANAR

LINEAGE DEEPLY MOURNS THE PASSING AWAY OF FORMER DEPUTY

CHIEF ENGINEER K.V.PARAMESWARA PODUVAL ON 29.11.2011.

There are two ways to live: you

can live as if nothing is a miracle;

you can live as if everything is a

miracle.Albert Einstein


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oOys|L pLRfLqO nLvSnhvOU WPaLRf krO: 'ARfLqO S\Lh|s'CyVRkWVa AqO: 'k]R ILeV S\Lh|U''`tV RkLq I]jOL}V S\Lp]]'wq], I]jL v}aV DL]pfV?oOys]pL DaRj krO: `V f} RmL. Source: Internet

HUMOR

God was in the process of creating the universe. And he was explaining to his subordi-nates Look everything should be in balance. For example, after every 10 deer there

should be a lion.Look here my fellow angels; here is the country of the United States. I have blessedthem with prosperity and money. But at the same time I have given them insecurity andtension.... And here is Africa. I have given them beautiful nature. But at the same time, Ihave given them climatic extremes. And here is South America. I have given them lotsof forests. But at the same time, I have given them lesser land so that they would haveto cut off the forests...So you see fellows, everything should be in balance.One of the angels asked..."God, what is this extremely beautiful country here?"God said....... "Ahah...that is the crown piece of all. INDIA ", My most precious creation.It has understanding and friendly People. Sparkling streams and serene mountains. A

culture which speaks of the great tradition that they live.Technologically brilliant and with a heart of gold.....


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The angel was quite surprised:"But God you said everything should be in balance."God replied -- "Look at the neighbors I gave them." -Spotted by P.K.Chandran

Indomitable Spirit

I was swimming in the sea,

Waves came one after the other

I was swimming and swimming to reach my

destination.

But one wave, a powerful wave, overpo-

wered me;

It took me along in its own direction,

I was pulled long and along.

When I was about to lose amidst the sea

wave power,

One thought flashed to me, yes, that is

courage

Courage to reach my goal, courage to de-

feat the powerful force and succeed;

With courage in my mind, indomitable spirit

engulfed me,

With...

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has done the nation yeoman service by rising to the de-fence of the Koodankulam nuclear plant, allaying fears about its safety. Hes done so at a timewhen the Central government has been so hesitant and inarticulate in engaging the raging,and often misinformed, public debate on the issue. In fact, the former president, in visiting theplant of his own and then speaking to the press, has risen above narrow political concerns andspoken in the national interest. As he did three years ago in another context on the Indo-USnuclear deal he has admirably asserted a standard for statesmanship, and shown that theUPAs failure to extend requisite courtesies to him will not detain him from doing the rightthing by the country.

Even if the locals fears are the result of wilful misrepresentation, whenever doubts and appre-hensions are raised about a nuclear plant, they need to be addressed. Kalam has not only di-rected his opinion at these apprehensions but also spoken up about the larger imperative ofnuclear power for India. The facts of the Koodankulam plant that it is in a low seismic zoneand at a height of 13.5 m above sea-level, thereby just about nullifying the threats of an earth-quake or a tsunami have been stated before, but coming from Kalam, they ought to take onan authority and reassurance for those whose protests have made the case more a politicalheadache for the government than a mere safety issue. After the Fukushima disaster in Japanearlier this year, there was understandable concern all over the world. However, the persistent

equation of any nuclear plant with Fukushima needs to be debunked authoritatively and arti-


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culately. The first-generation reactors as at Fukushima and current third-generation reactorsare worlds apart in terms of safety and emergency back-up systems.

(Indian Express)

PARADOX OF OUR TIME

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Free-

ways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment,

more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too an-

gry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We've added years to life not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neigh-

bor.We conquered outer space but not inner space.

We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.

We plan more, but accomplish less.We've learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we commu-nicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character,

steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days

of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills

that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window

and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when

you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...


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Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember,say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will

grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give withyour heart and it doesn't cost a cent.Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an

embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Rememberto hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin- contributed by EC Joseph

George Denis Patrick Carlin (1937 2008) was an acerbic, Grammy-winning comedianwhose career spanned more than 50 years. Delivering biting social commentaries, Carlin was best known for testing limits of speech and society, gaining notoriety for his "seven dirtywords" routine, but his incisive commentaries were as clever as they were vulgar.

DEFT DEFINITION

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cind-

er a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.

Albert Einstein

AN IMPENDING OBITUARY TO e=mc2

P.Ananda KumarPreface

Modern physics suffered the severest shock of its 100-odd year-old history when some scientists of the

European Centre for nuclear Research, Geneva (CERN) working on neutrinos discovered that they tra-veled faster than light defying Einsteins predictions made in the beginning of the last century. The CERNscientists are being extra cautious to desist from declaring their findings officially, since this is sure toraise an unprecedented furor in the scientific world, uprooting the very foundations on which modernphysics stands. Now that Einsteins theory is facing the threat of extinction, I took a fancy to find outwhat the commotion really was about, as I did not have any knowledge on it other than the fact that thefamous equation e=mc2 was a byproduct of the theory. So I took some pains to refer a couple of books

which give a simple overview of the theory sans its associated complex mathematics. The attached ar-ticle is an attempt to share what I have learnt with the esteemed readers of Lineage. (The article wassent to you early last month itself for publication, but apparently it has not hit your inbox.)


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size of an object and say that it is absolutely such-and-such size. It can be measured only by comparing it to othersizes, like a meter-rod. But how long is a meter-rod? Originally, it was defined as one ten-millionth of the distancefrom the earths equator to one of its poles. This was replaced by the length of a platinum bar kept in a cellar nearParis. Now it is the distance light travels through a vacuum in one 29,97,92,458th of a second. How is a second de-fined? It is 919, 26, 31,770 vibrations of a cesium atom excited by microwaves. If everything in the universe were togrow larger or smaller in the same proportion, including the distance light travels per second, there would be noexperimental way to detect the change. The same is true for time also. Is a year long or short? To a child lookingforward to Onam holidays, a year is a long period. But to a geologist who thinks in terms of millions of years, a years a fleeting instant. This principle is made use of in a science fiction written by H.G.Wells. In his story The Accele-

rator, a scientist discovers a way to speed up all the processes inside his body. His heart beats faster, brain oper-ates faster, etc. The result: He finds the world around him creeping at snails pace. The streets are filled with hu-mans who almost look like statues standing still. A man is frozen in the act of winking at two passing girls, a beebuzzes through the air at snails pace, etc., all because he compares all these movements in relation to his own acce-erated movements. Time, like distance in space, is relative. Consider up and down. When it was discovered that

earth was round and not flat, the hardest thing for people to conceive was that it was an impossibility because then

the people who are living on the opposite side of the earth will be standing upside down! If the earth were made ofglass and you could see through it, you can see people on the other side standing upside down with their feet stick-ng to the ground and heads hanging out! Now we know that this is also only a relative expression. Thus we deduce

that length, size, position, time, etc are all relative and not absolute.

Is motion absolute? Is there any type of experiment that will show positively whether an object is moving orstanding still? Or, is motion also another relative concept that can be measured only by comparing one object withanother? It was in answer to just such questions that Einstein developed his famous theory of relativity. Thistheory was so revolutionary and contrary to common sense that even today, there are several scientists who have asmuch difficulty in understanding them as children in India who cannot understand why people in America are notstanding upside down!

The Michelson-Morley Experiment

Imagine a train moving north at 100kmph. A man inside the train walks towards south at 4 kmph. In what direc-tion is he moving and at what speed? Relative to the train, the man is moving towards south @ 4kmph. But relativeto the ground, he moves @ 96kmph. Can we say that the mans absolute speed is 96kmph? No, because the refe-renced earth is also moving around the sun @ 30km per second, the sun is moving with the Milky Way galaxy, thegalaxy is also moving with respect to other galaxies, they in turn form clusters of galaxies and each cluster is mov-ng away from other clusters. No one knows how far this chain of motions can be carried forward. There is no ap-

parent way motion can be measured with an absolute reference. Thus motion and rest like large and small, slowand fast, up and down, left and right, seem to be completely relative.

But unfortunately, this is not as simple as it looks. If this were all there is to say about relativity, Einsteinwould not have been compelled to formulate his theory of relativity. Physicists would have had their theories rightall along!

The reason is this: There are two ways to detect the absolute motion. One method makes use of the speed ofight. The other makes use of various internal effects that occur when a moving object alters its path or velocity.

Einsteins special theory of relativity deals with the first and his general theory of relativity, with the second. Nowet us consider the first method that refers to the speed of light.

Before Einsteins time, it was believed that the space contained a fixed, invisible substance called ether. Of-ten it was called the luminiferous ether, meaning that it was a bearer of light waves. It filled the entire universeand penetrated all material substances. If a jar was completely evacuated of air, it would still contain ether. Other-

wise, how could light travel through vacuum? Light is a wave motion, they believed. The propagation of wave mo-tion needs a medium. The way ripples travel through water, the ether only vibrates up and down and not reallymoves along with the waves. The ether stays stable. The absolute motions of stars, planets, and galaxies, all are


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simply their absolute motions with reference to the fixed, motionless, invisible ethereal media- that was what phy-sicists thought. But if the ether is invisible, how can it be referenced to measure the motion of say, earth? The an-swer is simple. The measurements can be made with reference to a beam of light.

To understand this, consider the nature of light. Light is only the small visible portion of a spectrum of elec-tromagnetic radiation which includes radio waves, radar waves, infrared light, ultraviolet light and gamma rays.Everything said about light is equally applicable to all of the above waves also. Light is a wave motion. It was im-possible to think of such a motion without thinking about ether, which will be like thinking of water waves withoutthinking of water. If a bullet is fired from a jet plane in the same direction in which the jet is flying, the speed of thebullet as viewed from the earth will be the sum of the speeds of the plane and the bullet. Suppose instead of bullet,we now send a beam of light from the jet. Will the lights speed be the sum of the two speeds? Several experimentsconfirmed that the speed of light remains the same whether the light is sent from a stationery source or a movingsource. One famous experiment was done by some Russian astronomers in 1955 by viewing the sun. We know thatthe sun is revolving around its axis. Therefore, when observed from earth, one edge of the sun will be moving to-wards us and the other edge will be moving away from us. It was found that light from both edges have the same

velocity when observed from earth, of about 2,,99,800 kmps. This, the earlier scientists thought, provided them away to calculate the observers absolute motion. If a beam of light travels independent of the speed of its sourcethrough the ether, it can be used as a yard stick to measure the observers motion. An observer moving towards abeam of light will find the light approaching him with a speed greater than c, while if he is moving along with thebeam will find its speed less than c. These variations will indicate his true absolute speed.

Physicists of the nineteenth century believed that the ether would give some resistance to moving objectsike wind does to a moving train. They called this the ether wind. Light is a wave motion in this fixed ether. The ve-ocity of light measured on a moving object also, they thought, will be influenced by the ether wind. To confirm the

presence of ether wind, several experiments were carried out. But none was successful. The most popular amongthem was carried out by two professors, namely Albert Abraham Michelson, an American Navy Officer who laterbecame a Physics professor in Ohio and Edward Williams Morley, a Chemistry professor nearby. Their experiment,

known as Michelson- Morley experiment, was thought to be by them at that time as a total failure, but amazingly,after Einstein interpreted it in another way, became one of the turning points in modern physics. The apparatusused by them to sense the presence of ether wind was mounted on a square slab of stone about 5 feet sides and onefoot thick. It floated on liquid mercury to eliminate vibrations and to enable it to be turned slowly in all directions.An arrangement of mirrors mounted on the slab sent a beam of light to make eight to and fro trips in parallel. Thiswas done to make the path as long as possible to reduce errors. Another set of mirrors sent the beam of light atright angles through the same distance. The assumption was that one set of beams will move parallel to the etherand the other at right angles to it and the difference in time for the light to travel the two paths of equal lengths willndicate that ether wind retards light waves flowing against it and this retardation will not be experienced by the

wave passing at right angles to it. The difference can be accurately measured by spectral analysis.

But, to the disappointment of Michelson, there was no difference in the speed of light along both directions.Regardless of how Michelson and Morley turned the apparatus in different directions, they found no sign of anether wind. This astounded not only the professors, but the physicists all over the world. They refused to disregardthe most plausible ether wind theory and started finding out reasons for the negative result. Of these, the strangestexplanation was put forth by an Irish physicist, George Francis Fitzgerald. He said that the ether wind, whileputting pressure on the moving object, also shrinks the object along the direction in which it moves! He even cameup with a formula to predict the shrinkage. To determine this, the objects length at rest should be multiplied by afactor, (1-v2/c2), where v is the speed of the object and c is the velocity of light. It can be seen that for small val-ues of v, the factor is almost equal to 1 so that the shrinkage is negligible. However, when the velocity of the objectapproaches c, the shrinkage is more and at the velocity of light c, the objects length along the direction of motion iszero! This theory was put into mathematical form by the Dutch physicist Hedrick Antoon Lorentz and hence thetheory is known as Lorentz - Fitzgerald contraction theory. It was now possible to explain the reason for failure of

the Michelson- Morley test. If the square slab and all connected apparatus were contracted by a tiny amount in thedirection in which ether wind was blowing, then the light would have a shorter distance to travel. So, even if thewind retards the light, the time taken for it to travel the shorter distance will be the same, apparently keeping the


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speed of light constant. But if this were true, would it not have been possible to measure the length of the appara-tus to see whether it has contracted? Unfortunately, no because the measuring instrument like a scale would alsoexperience the same contraction so that the apparent length will be the same. Lorentz further theorized that notonly length, but clock (time) also experiences this contraction. That is, the faster a clock moves against the etherwind, the slower it runs. The situation here is similar to the one in Poincares thought experiment mentioned in thefirst paragraph of the background section regarding a sleeping man. There was no way to prove or disprove thistheory by experiments which frustrated the physicists, but they were unable to think of a better plan. It was at thisuncture that Einstein came out with his special theory of relativity, pointing out a bold, remarkable way out of this

confusion.

The Special Theory of Relativity

While Lorentz, Fitzgerald and other physicists failed in finding a proof to the existence of ether wind, Einsteinfound a simple solution to the problem- there is no ether wind! He did not say that there is no ether, but if it exists,t does not in any way affect uniform motion. Newtons classical physics makes it clear that if you are on a uniform-

y moving object with no fixed reference to compare your motion against, there is no mechanical experiment toprove that you are moving. Einsteins special theory of relativity goes a step further- it says that in addition to beingunable to detect uniform motion by a mechanical experiment, it also is impossible to detect it by an optical in-strument, or more precisely, with electromagnetic radiation. In a nutshell, the special theory shows that it is notpossible to measure uniform motion in any absolute way. (It may be noted that the special theory of relativity saysnothing about non uniform or accelerated motion.) In classical physics, the speed of light is relative because itshould appear to change depending on the motion of the observer, but in relative theory, it is absolute becausewhatever way we measure it, the speed remains about 299800 kmps through vacuum. The speed falls when lightpasses through some medium like glass, which causes diffraction. Thus the two fundamental postulates of Eins-teins theory are:

1. There is no way to tell whether an object is at rest or in uniform motion relative to fixed ether.

2. Regardless of the motion of its source, light always moves through empty space with the same constantspeed.

The second postulate should not be confused with the constant speed of light relative to a moving observer.

Einstein also concludes that if two events occur simultaneously at the same spot, it can be said absolutelythat they are simultaneous. But when the distance becomes great, the difficulty also becomes great in deciding si-multaneity of the two events. There is no absolute time throughout the universe by which absolute simultaneity canbe measured. Absolute simultaneity of distant events is a meaningless concept. A thought experiment proves thispoint.

Suppose someone in a distant planet X tries to communicate with earth. He sends out a message. If the pla-net is 10 light years away from earth, the message will reach earth after 10 years. Suppose twelve years before themessage reaches earth, the observer on earth had received a Nobel Prize. The special theory permits us to say thathe received the message before the message was sent from X. Now, suppose 10 minutes after the message is re-ceived, the observer on earth sneezes. The special theory permits us to say, without doubt that the astronomersneezed after the message was sent from X.

Now suppose that some time after the message was sent and, say three years before it reached earth, the ob-server fell and broke his leg. The special theory then does not permit us to say that he broke his leg after the mes-sage was sent! The reason is this. Viewed from earth, the fall was seven years after the message was sent. But sup-pose an observer travels from X to earth at normal rocket speed at the same instant the message was sent, muchslower than earth. He will reach earth centuries after the message reaches earth. When he calculates the date onwhich the message was sent according to his clock, it will appear to him that the message was sent earlier than the


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fall. Now assume that he had traveled at nearly the speed of light and reaches earth a month after the messages received. Then it will appear to him that his journey had lasted only a few months and the observer had bro-

ken his leg more than two years before the message was sent from X. If he had traveled at the speed of light, it

would appear to him that time had stood still and he had reached earth instantly! From his point of view, thetwo incidents, sending the message and its reception, would be simultaneous. All events that occurred on theearth would appear to him to have taken place before the message was sent. According to the special theory,there is no preferred frame of reference, no reason to prefer the point of view of one observer over others.The calculations made by the fast-moving astronomer are as legitimate as those done by the slow-moving one.There is no universal, absolute time that can be referred for settling the differences in observations. The in-stant now means only for the spot you occupy. You cannot assume that now is the same everywhere in theuniverse. When the concept of simultaneity falls, other concepts fall with it. Time becomes relative becauseobservers differ in their estimates of the time that elapses between the same two events. Length also becomesrelative. For example, suppose two spaceships of equal dimensions are moving towards each other. The ob-server in one ship will think that the other ship has shortened its length in the direction of its relative motion.It turned out that the formula devised by Einstein happened to be the same as that proposed by Fitzgerald-Lorentz. Thus in relativity theory, the formula is still known as Lorentz- Fitzgerald formula, although the in-terpretation by Einstein was entirely different. The former assumed that there was real contraction to theength of moving objects. But Einstein theorized that the contraction was only apparent or relative and not ab-

solute.

In addition to changes in length and time, the mass of a moving object also changes apparently, but innverse proportion. Thus, while the multiplication factor for length and time is, (1-v2/c2), that for mass is

1/ (1-v2/c2). We can see that the apparent mass of an object increases with velocity and becomes infinitywhen the speed reaches that of light. If this were not so, then the steady application of force on a body such asa rocket will increase its speed more and more until it reaches the speed of light. This cannot occur because asthe ship goes faster and faster, its relativistic mass keeps increasing in the same proportion as its length and

time decrease. When the ship contracts to one-tenth of its length, its relative mass becomes ten times moreand requires that much extra force to produce the same increase in speed. The speed of light cannot bereached. If it is reached, the object gets zero relative length and infinite mass. What happens when an objectexceeds the speed of light; v>c? From the formulas above, it can be seen that the multiplication factor willthen include the square root of a negative number which is imaginary. That is why Einsteins theory assertsthat speed of light is the maximum attainable by any particle.

In spite of the fact that speed of light is the maximum obtainable, we often come across references inrelativity theory of speeds greater than light. How is this possible? Take the case of two space ships travelingat three-fourth speed of light in opposite directions. Observing from earth, the two ships are approaching eachother at 1.5 times the speed of light. But observing from one of the ships, it appears as if it is stationery, while

the other ship is approaching at a speed given by the equation, (x+y)/[1+(xy/c2)], where x and y are thespeeds of the two ships. From the equation, it follows that for small values of x and y compared to the speed ofight, the relative velocity from one ship to the other is (x+y), the same as related to an observer on earth andn accordance with Newtons laws of motion. But when x is equal to c, what happens? The equation becomes

(x+c)/[1+(xc/c2)], which is equal to c. What happens when both a and b are equal to c? It can be seen thatagain, the relative velocity observed from one ship to the other is c. Outside the province of special theory, its still possible to speak of speed of light as an absolute limit. But now it has to be phrased in a different way.

There is no way to send an electromagnetic signal from one body to another with a speed faster than light.

Though signals cannot be sent faster than light, we can observe certain types of motion that, relative tothe observer, will have a speed faster than light. For example, stars will have an apparent circular velocity fast-

er than light if observed from earth. A star only 10 light years away has a relative velocity around the earth oftwenty thousand times the speed of light. Distant galaxies appear to be speeding away from earth with velocitygreater than lights.


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An important consequence of the special theory is that under certain conditions, energy will turn tomass and vice versa. This is the law of conservation of mass-energy expressed by the famous equation e=mc2,where e isthe energy, m the mass and c the velocity of light. Consider the case of a hydrogen atom. What is the

energy equivalent of this? The mass of the subatomic particle of a hydrogen atom is 1.672X10-27. In one kilo-gram of pure water, the mass of hydrogen atoms amount to slightly more than 0.111kg. This contains an ener-gy of 0.111X(300000000)2. This works out to 1015 Joules. How much is one Joule? It is approximately equalto the energy released when you drop a text book to the floor. The amount of energy in 30 grams of hydrogenatoms is equivalent to burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline! The water contains heavier oxy-gen atoms also, so that the amount of total energy is incredibly large. This is the principle of Atom bomb.Though Einstein was meek and peaceful in nature, he helped write a letter to the president of the UnitedStates urging him to fund research for developing an Atom bomb before the Nazis did so. The result was theManhattan Project, which culminated in the historic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The General Theory of Relativity

The special theory related to uniform motion. It is not applicable to non uniform or accelerated motion. Thegeneral theory of relativity was developed to define accelerated motion. As already mentioned, it involved analtogether different approach. In place of measuring motion with respect to a beam of light, it makes use ofthe inertial effects that arise when an object is accelerated. In order to maintain that all motions are relativencluding accelerated motion, it must be possible to choose any reference equally well. In the case of a rocket

being launched, it should be equally possible to choose the rocket as reference and consider that the whole un-verse as moving backwards rather than the other way round. But an astronaut in the ship will experience abackward thrust when accelerating. How can his be explained when we choose the rocket as the fixed point?Similarly, the earth has a bulge at the equator which is caused by the centrifugal force due to its rotation aboutts axis. This also cannot be explained when the earth is taken as a fixed reference. Einstein brooded over this

problem for ten years while others were satisfied to think that uniform motion is relative as asserted by thespecial theory while accelerated motion is absolute. But Einstein was not satisfied. Finally in 1916, he came upwith his general theory of relativity, which is a generalization of the relativity theory, of which the specialtheory is a part.

The heart of the general theory is what he calls the principle of equivalence. This asserts that gravityand inertia are one and the same. Newton would have called this pure madness. Einstein was not the firstscientist to be impressed by the striking similarity of gravitational and inertial effects. Consider what happenswhen a cannon ball and a small wooden ball weighing only one-hundredth of the cannon ball, are dropped tothe ground from a height. Galileo predicted that they will reach the ground at the same time. Newton as-sumed that at the time gravity is pulling down the heavier cannon ball, its inertia proportional to its weight isholding it back. So, even though the force of gravity is hundred times more on he cannon ball, its inertia is also

that much greater. The general belief among the scientists was that gravity and inertia are very similar forcesacting on all objects. But Einstein worked on this and explained it in his general theory in a totally differentway. In special relativity, he had said that the reason why ether wind cannot be noticed was that there was noether wind. Similarly, in general relativity, he postulated that the reason why gravity and inertia seem to besimilar is that they are the same. He used such advanced mathematics to prove his point that there were veryfew people who really understood him.

To summarize, Newton made it clear that if an observer is in uniform motion, there is no mechanicalexperiment he can perform that will prove he is moving or not. The special theory of relativity extended this toall experiments, optical as well as mechanical. The general theory is another extension of the special theory tonclude non uniform motion. The general theory says that there is no experiment of any sort by which an ob-

server in any sort of motion, uniform or non uniform, can prove whether he is moving or at rest. To put itanother way, all the laws of nature are invariant (the same) with respect to an observer whether he is standingstill, moving, on earth or anywhere in the cosmos. The same mathematical equations will work.


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Post- Einstein astronomy

Einsteins theory revolutionized our knowledge of astronomy. Several unexplained astronomical observations

could be explained with this. Stars light years away, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, etc and their relative motionscould be plotted. Several new stellar objects were discovered connected with the theory of relativity. The first ofthem was discovered in 1962 and was named a quasar, short for quasi-stellar radio source. Radio emission was no-ticed from an object more than a billion light years away with an enormous red shift which indicates a velocity of15% of light. The strength of the radio waves coming from so far away was so great that astronomers were asto-nished. It was too big to be a star, but too small and dense to be a galaxy, pouring out energy far greater than a ga-axy. Several such quasars were discovered subsequently. In 1971 astronomers found two radio sources associated

with quasars that seem to be separating from each other at nine times the speed of light!

While the astronomers were wondering about quasars, they received another jolt. In 1967, they first de-tected radio sources from an object that sent out extraordinarily accurately timed pulses that led them to believethat they were made by extra terrestrial intelligence. One of the pulsars, as they are called, found in the Crab Nebu-

a in the constellation Taurus, is sending out beats at about thirty a second. They are so accurately timed that theerror will be only a second in millions of years. They are rapidly spinning Neutron stars sending out pulses andeven light like the beacons of a light house.

Then there are objects called black holes that have so high gravitational force that even light approachingthem will be trapped inside. Because of this, they cannot be seen but only felt by the pull they exert on the nearbygalactic bodies. All these discoveries were made applying Einsteins relativity theory.

Nutrinos caught over speeding

Einsteins theory, it can be seen, is built on the assertion that velocity of light is the ultimate speed that can be ac-

quired by any worldly thing. What will happen if any body is able to travel faster than light? We can travel alongthe time axis; go to the past and future at will. As put forth by Einstein himself, you could send a telegram to thepast. You can die even before you are born! So, what will happen if somebody discovers particles faster than light?This horrible nightmare has really happened, if we can believe what scientists of CERN say on their experimentwith neutrinos.

What are Neutrinos? They are fundamental particles similar to the more familiar electrons, with one crucialdifference: neutrinos do not carry electric charge. Because neutrinos are electrically neutral, they are not affectedby the electromagnetic forces which act on electrons. Neutrinos are affected only by a "weak" sub-atomic force ofmuch shorter range than electromagnetism, and are therefore able to pass through great distances in matter with-out being affected by it. Three types of neutrinos are known; there is strong evidence that no additional neutrinosexist, unless their properties are unexpectedly very different from the known types. Each type or "flavor" of neutri-

no is related to a charged particle (which gives the corresponding neutrino its name). Hence, the "electron neutri-no" is associated with the electron, and two other neutrinos are associated with heavier versions of the electroncalled the mu() and the tau() (elementary particles are frequently labeled with Greek letters, to confuse the lay-man). The table below lists the known types of neutrinos (and their electrically charged partners).

Neutrino ve v v

Charged Partner electron (e)mu

()

tau

()

Scientists at CERN in Geneva were engaged in running routine experiments on Neutrinos between CERN,Geneva and Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy. Neutrinos were generated at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at


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France- Switzerland border in Geneva. They were made to travel 724km through mountains to the detector atGran Sasso (a property of neutrons is that they can pass through atomic spaces in almost all materials withoutgetting deviated or absorbed by virtue of their neutral charge). To the consternation of the scientists, it was

found that the neutrinos reached their destination faster than light would have done, by 60 nanoseconds. Thisamounts to a speed greater than light by about 0.0025%. This is not a significant increase, but as per Eins-teins theory, it should not have happened at all. What are the possibilities which caused this phenomenon?

The first is chances of errors in the measurements. GPS was used to measure the distance. It has astandard error of 20 meters. Then there may be error in the measurement of time. The scientists claim thatthey had repeated the experiments 15,000 times with the same result. Of course, to err is human, but to err15,000 times on the same issue is really, really subhuman!

A second possibility is being contemplated by scientists. Some believe that there are more than threedimensions which we cannot conceive with our three-dimensional existence and brain. The fourth dimensionmay provide a shorter path between points. (This had been explained with example in my earlier article;Some Stray Astronomical Thoughts published in Lineage March 2009) It is possible that the neutrinosmight have taken this shortcut through the fourth dimension to reach their destination!

A third possibility is that Einstein may be wrong. Scientists shudder to think what will happen if this istrue.

The aftermaths!

Modern astronomy and particle physics have adopted a strong base on Einsteins theory. As can be seen from

the descriptions of the theory above, every formula contains the velocity of light as an absolute reference. If ahigher value exists for absolute speed, this presumption will go to dogs. (If it doesnt, there can be scenarioswhere cause happens after effect or time flows backward). This will mean that the key discoveries made after1905 in astronomy and particle physics may be suspect. All measurements, distances, volumes of the universe

made till now may be wrong. Our understanding of gravity, nuclear forces, electromagnetism, etc. will turnout to be erroneous. The situation is similar to the one the scientific world experienced when geocentric un-

verse advocated by Aristotle and Ptolemy was challenged by Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler with their solarcentric (heliocentric) theory. In short, our scientific advancements may go back to the nineteenth century le-vels. How will it affect us, the commoners? Well, days and nights, seasons, tides, etc will go on coming andgoing as they did after Galileo, apples will go on falling from the trees to the ground even after Newton was

proved inadequate, atom bombs and Chernobyls will go on exploding every now and then releasing horrend-

ous amounts of radiation even after Einstein is proved wrong and the lives of the third world citizens will goon as pathetically as ever. But physics will no longer be the same and most of the laws of physics will have tobe rewritten. So, let us join the scientists all over the world who are waiting with bated breath praying for thereincarnation of e=mc2 from its death bed.

SENIORS WOES

"Everythings starting to click for me!" said my father-in-law at dinner. "My knees, my elbows, my neck "


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Bu] f j]f|oLU Sf!kTo]O kPf!

A j] fO]SpL RWLSLkSpL RfL]a]aLUIj]O RWLf] j] vLs] SqLoU RWLeVRaLqO SoLf]qU.

anands corner

KNOWLEDGENOOK

Tidal wave generator

How does a tidal wave generator work? A typical tidalwave generator is shown in the figure. This is the modelP2 designed by the Scottish company Pelamis, to beused at the off-shores of UK. The machines will be 5-10km offshore, where the sea depth is 50 to 150 mts. TheP2 machine is 180mts long. It has a nose section andfour tube sections, each of which is 38mts long and 4mtsdia.

The tube sections are linked by hinged joints, eachwith a power conversion system. They are slack

moored, permitting them to swing freely, naturallyaligning themselves at right angles to oncoming wavefronts. The four tube sections are linked by their joint

assemblies. The motion of a wave causes motion in the joint assemblies, which is resisted by a hydraulicram. This resistance causes the ram to pump higher pressure fluid through to an accumulator. The ac-

cumulator stores the fluid and provides a smooth flow of it to the hydraulic motors in the generator. Themotors drive a pair of generators in each of the four tubes. Out of each pair of generators, one is a 125kw generator and the other switchable between 40 to 80 kw. Thus, each machine with four tubes cangenerate upto 820kw under favorable tidal conditions. The generated electricity is fed to the grid viacables running out of the nose section. Multiple P2 units can be linked together.

WISECRACKS

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing!

-George Bernard Shaw

PUZZLESPARLOUR

The mathemagician asked one man from his audience to write any three digit number on a

piece of paper discreetly and pass it on to the second man. Then he asked the second man to

write the same digits again on the first numbers right side so that it becomes a six digit num-

ber and hand it over to the third man. (For example, if the first man had written 386, the


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second man should make it 386386.) Now, the mathemagician asked the third man to divide

the six digit number by 7 and hand over the result to the fourth man.

What should I do with the remainder if any? The fourth man asked the mathemagician.

Tell me if there are any remainders. The magician replied. The fourth man did as he was

asked and handed over the result to the fifth man. Then the magician asked the fifth man to di-

vide the result by 11 and hand it over to the sixth man. He did as he was told and added that

there are no remainders. The magician then asked the sixth man to divide the result again by

13. He did so and said, amazed. There are no remainders even now!

OK. The magician laughed and asked him to hand over the result to the first man.

Then he asked the first man to read the answer. Is it not the same three digit number you had

written in the beginning?

Yes, indeed! The first man said, surprised.

What was the mathematical principle employed by the mathemagician?

(Solution in the same columns in the next issue. Readers are invited to offer their so-

lution)

JOKEBOX

WHAT TECHNOLOGY DOES TO US

SLIM MAN AND FAT TV FAT MAN AND SLIM TV


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Solution to last months puzzle

Last months puzzle:-

Raju went to a trade fare with some cash in his pocket. There were four stalls

which he visited. Each stall charged Re.1/- as entrance fee and Re.1/- again on

exit. From each stall, Raju purchased items worth half the amount available in his

pocket after he paid the entrance fee for that particular stall. When he left the

fourth stall, he had no cash left. How much cash had he brought for the fare?

Solution:-

To get the answer, we can work backwards. He had just Re. 1/- with him to paythe exit fee at stall no.4. Hence he had spent Re. 1/- for purchases there. So, be-

fore paying the entrance fee at stall 4, he had Rs.3/-. Therefore, before paying

the exit fee at stall 3, he had Rs.4 with him and he had spent Rs. 4/- at stall 3.

Working like this backwards for the four stalls, we can see that before entering

the first stall, he had Rs. 45/- with him, which is the amount he had brought.

Ravindran Therambath is the lone reader who sent a solution to the Lineage inbox. Editor.

INBOX

Thank you for your encouragement. Also, convey my special regards to Mr. Kunhi Raman

for taking all the pains to convert the write up in a readable format. Another write up is

attached this time, which is written in Ml.TT. Revathi . Graphic Font. Hope this Font will

be available. If not please which fonts are suitable, unfortunately Shruthi font is not

available with me.Solution for the last month puzzle according to me it is, Re-45.

Gate Entry fee Purchase Exit Fee Balance

1 1 22 1 21

2 1 10 1 9

3 1 4 1 3

4 1 1 1 0 Ravindran.TRavindran.TRavindran.TRavindran.T


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19

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20/23

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cho{ tXdv.

Maglev trains allow for fast travelMaglev has high reliability and less suscepti-

ble to congestion and weather conditions thanair or highway travel. Variance from schedulecan average less than one minute based on for-eign high-speed rail experience. This means in-tra and intermodal connecting times can be re-duced to a few minutes (rather than the half-hour or more required with airlines and Amtrakat present) and that appointments can safely bescheduled without having to consider delays.

Maglev is less polluting - with respect to airand auto, again because of being electricallypowered. Emissions can be controlled more ef-fectively at the source of electric power genera-

tion than at the many points of consumption, such as with air and automobile usage. Maglev has a high-er capacity than air travel with at least 12,000 passengers per hour in each direction. There is the po-tential for even higher capacities at 3 to 4 minute headways. Maglev has high safety - both perceivedand actual, based on foreign experience. Maglev has convenience - due to high frequency of service andthe ability to serve central business districts, airports, and other major metropolitan area nodes.Ratherthan the steel wheels-on-steel rail technology employed by railroads, which has a multitude of movingparts and high maintenance costs, a maglev train uses magnetic levitation to elevate the train by 3/8 ofan inch over its tracks.


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Dr MILI, delivered a baby girl on11.11.11 at

about 11 am. at a Nursing Home in Talipa-

ramba. Senior Engineer K.O.Thomas and Mrs

Thomas are the proud grandparents.

When its lifted up, its weightless you can even push it because there is no friction. It takes the

energy equivalent of 15 hairdryers to lift it, so its very energy efficient. Theres no resistance, no fric-tion, and its essentially like skiing or ice skating down the track It uses just enough energy for wind re-sistance, to go up hills, that sort of thing.When the train arrives at its destination, it is gently loweredback onto the tracks within a split second. Faster trips - high peak speed and high acceleration/brakingenable average speeds three to four times the national highway speed limit of 65 mph and lower door-

to-door trip time than high-speed rail or air (for trips under about 300 miles or 500 km). Still higherspeeds are feasible. Maglev takes up where high-speed rail leaves off, permitting speeds of 250 to 300mph and higher. (Garnered from Internet)

UNIT PULSE

Senior Engineers, Kozhikode.

The monthly meeting of Senior Engineers Kozhikode was held on 12.11.2011 at 10:30 AM at CalicutTowers. Er. N.Ravindran presided over the meeting.Er. N. Ravindran informed about the recent notification by the Kerala State Excise Department on fel-owship at various places and therefore, to avoid embarrassment, we, in the meeting decided nothave the fellowship hereafter during our monthly meetings.Then we discussed about the pension revision, the balance gratuity payments and the interest dueon the balance as ordered by the District Labour Officer.t was informed that the Govt. approval for salary revision had been received, and the BO on the mat-

er is expected soon. Also, the Honble Electricity Minister has assured that orders on pension revi-sion would be issued soon after that.Er. A.V.Krishnanunni then read the abstracts of lineage for the month of October 2011 and dis-cussed. Er. A. Chandran suggested conducting a family meeting of Senior Engineers somewhereoutside. Todays meeting was hosted by Er Balakrishnan.

The meeting ended at 2.30 PM after lunch. Ramachandran, Kozhikode

Congratulations! The numerical conjunction is considered

auspicious.


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Senior Engineers, Kannur

The meeting commenced at 11am at Engineers House Kannur on 08-11-11 with Er.C.Balakrishnan

President in chair. 40 Engineers attended. After silent prayer, the secretary welcomed the gathering

In the presidential speech Er.C.Balakrishnan narrated the recent developments and need of get to-

gether.

The minutes of the last meeting presented by Er.A.V.Mohanan Nambiar was confirmed.

Er. M.C.Reghusudhan presented the accounts of the last month which was approved as such.

Er.A.V.Mohanan Nambiar reported that during the last meeting of the association our views were

presented and no favourable reply was received. Er.C.Achuthan has returned home from hospital

and he is doing well.

Rose bouquets were presented to Ers.C.Padmanabhan and T.P.Haridas who celebrated their birth

days since last meeting.

Er.V.P.Soman briefly touched upon the main contents of the Lineage issue for the month of Novem-

ber2011. TC Govindan rendered the CH Atma masterpiece of 1950s,- Preetam aan milo-in his cha-

racteristic soul-stirring style. Nostalgia was evident.

Er. Mohanan Nambiar talked about tours. The technical tour is postponed since permission was not

obtained and permission is again requested for during second week of February2012.Family tour is

proposed to Kashmir including Vaishnodevi, Haridwar and Rishikesh .Mode of transport will be: Ban-

galore to Delhi by flight and others by Volvo bus.

Ers.V.P.Soman,, T.C.Govindan, C.Padmanabhan. K.V.Padmanabhan, M.Reghusudhan and

A.V.Mohanan Nambiar participated in the general discussions. Various subjects like attitude of the

association, charity works, family tour, appreciation to the student for getting national award of envi-

ronment and holding December meeting at Ezhimala.

Efforts will be made to hold the next meeting at Ezhimala if Naval Authorities give permission. 42

amily members opted for the family tour to Kashmir. The family tour will be discussed at the unit

meeting of the association.

Er.C.Mohandas spoke on the Beginning and Evolution of Universe for one hour. The lunch was

hosted by Er.P.Sreedhran After lunch Er. Mohandas continued for one more hour. All members en-

oyed the presentation and the lively interaction proved it.

Er.E.P.Ravindran proposed the vote of thanks and the meeting came to close by 3.30pmA.V.Mohanan Nambiar.


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TIPS ON INVESTMENTS IN SHARES-CII

The volatility of Indian bourses during November 2011 was not much different from its beha-vior during the months from April to October this year. The sensex varied from 17570 to15695 and the nifty moved between 5325 and 4706 during the month. In fact the sensex andnifty moved from a high to low values as the month progressed. The lowest value in two yearsoccurred on 23rd. For ten days in a row the indices were declining from 9 th.The Asian andglobal markets were also having a bear run.

Coming to the reasons for the decline of the markets one can find that all the factors affectinghe markets were in the negative. The inflation was still high at 9.7%. The industrial productionndex was only about 2.1 %. Economic slow-down in European and US markets also caused

concern. The political turmoil in our country is also causing markets to react adversely. Anoth-er factor is the depreciation of the rupee against dollar and other currencies. Of course the ru-pee depreciation is favorable to IT companies, but not to companies that imports componentsand raw materials. The reason for low IPP is in fact due to this.

However the sensex and nifty have recovered to some extent from the low of 15700 and 4706after 23rd of this month. The weekly oscillators are in the negative zone for the sensex. So itmay indicate a medium term down trend. If the index continues the down movement it maygo to 14577. This is strong support point for the index. As it is the downward risk is high forhe index. The silver lining seen is that the break down last week was a feeble one and not

one to get panicky about. It is possible for the index to make another attempt to move highero 17000 in the near term. But short term rallies will face resistance at 16145, then at 16327.

For going down, the supports will be at 15478, 15200 and then at 14700. The general expec-ation is that the index will move in the range 15400 and 17000 till the end of the year. Like-wise, the nifty will also move in a range between 4550 and 4900 till the end of this year. If thedown move continues, nifty may go down to 4400 which will be a strong support. The nifty willface resistances at 4850 and then at 4900. If the index is not able to move above these levelst may decline to 4640 or even to 4560 in the coming month.

The global cues are also not favorable. Almost all the global indices closed in the negativezones. The DOW lost about 564 points in the last week. It is now at a key support at 11250. Ift goes below this level it will affect all the global markets.

For investors as usual it is an opportunity to buy good shares, most which are available nowat low prices. Caution should be applied in selecting good shares.Realty shares may beavoided for the present. KNC

Address for communications toLINEAGE: [email protected].

lineage december 2011

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