faculty of natural sciences monthly newslettermathematics and various activities going on in the...

GU Science Review Vol. 2–Issue 9 September, 2017

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FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES

Monthly Newsletter

Design Concept: Dr. Abhineet Goyal

(Assistant Dean, Research and Academic Affairs)

Image Source: https://discuss.fm/w/science

https://discuss.fm/w/science


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From Editor’s Desk

The main objective of “Science Review”, A monthly newsletter of

Faculty of Natural Sciences is to improve the knowledge base and skills

in addressing the issues related to science, focusing mainly on them as well as promoting scientific societies in the university. The content of

this newsletter focuses on advances in Physics, Chemistry and

Mathematics and various activities going on in the faculty by faculty members and students. This is an opportunity for faculty members to

have a good overview of the issues related to the subjects. I extend my

warmest thanks to the faculty members for their interest, enthusiasm and timely submission of content write-up and participation. As Editor of

“Science Review”, I anticipate that this issue would be of immense

value and will be definitely useful to the faculty in natural sciences. This collection will also offer a window for new perspectives and directions

in the area of palliative care in the readers’ mind for long.

Dr. Neeraj Puri

(Assistant Dean, Faculty of Natural Sciences)


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From Co- Editor’s Desk

I am pleased to be the Co- Editor of this Newsletter. The main idea behind this newsletter is to create scientific awareness among the

students and faculty members. This newsletter can be a powerful

medium in sharing information among colleagues and students not only in our faculty but also in other faculties of the university. I encourage

you to share and circulate this newsletter within your colleagues,

fellows, assistants and students.

Ms. Manila Sethi (Faculty Associate, Faculty of Natural Sciences)


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Presentation Contest on "Mathematics Everywhere and Everyday"

Faculty Of Natural Sciences organized

“PRESENTATION CONTEST

"Mathematics Everywhere and Everyday"

on 22nd September, 2017 at GU Campus.

Different teams in a group of two presented

their presentations on topics: Role of

mathematics in Space, Business,

Engineering , Medical science and Chemical

science. Dr. Vikrant, Dr. Anuranjan Sharda,

Mr. Rahul Joshi, Mr. Prabhjeet Singh, Mr.

Yogesh Bhalla and Dr. Abhineet Goyal were

the judges of the contest.

The winners were provided prizes at the end

of the event. The Vice Chancellor, Dr. Prem

Kumar addressed the students and

enlightened them with inspirational words

on Maths importance and its utility in every

field of life . He appreciated the efforts of

Event Organizer, Ms. Sucheta Jain and

encouraged the students for their future

participation in such kind of events with

enthusiasm.

A Digital monthly Newsletter of Faculty of Natural SciencesGNA

University, Phagwara


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Babylonians Developed Trigonometry 'Superior' to

Modern Day Version 3,700 years ago

Mr. Yogesh Bhalla

Faculty of Natural Sciences, GNA University, Phagwara, India

The Ancient Babylonians knew about a form

of trigonometry more advanced than the

modern-day version – about 1,000 years

before its supposed invention by the Ancient

Greeks, academics in Australia say.The

astonishing claim is based on a 3,700-year-

old clay tablet inscribed with a table of

numbers.

Known as Plimpton 322, it is already known

to contain evidence that the Babylonians

knew Pythagoras’ famous equation for right-

angled triangles, long before the Greek

philosopher gave his name to it.And

researchers at the University of New South

Wales (UNSW) have claimed it also shows

the Babylonians developed a highly

sophisticated form of trigonometry – the

system of maths used to describe angles that

has tortured generations of school pupils

with sine, cosine and tangent.

The city of Babylon in Mesopotamia, an

early cradle of human civilisation in what is

now Iraq, was famed for its Hanging

Gardens, said to be one of the Seven

Wonders of the ancient world and

mathematician Dr Daniel Mansfield

suggested its people developed trigonometry

to help their architects design the city’s

major buildings.

“Our research shows it’s a trigonometric

table so unfamiliar and advanced that in

some respects it’s superior to modern

trigonometry,” he said.

“We’ve discovered these lines represent the

ratios for a series of right-angled triangles

ranging from almost a square to almost a flat

line.

“This makes Plimpton 322 a powerful tool

that could have been used for surveying

fields or architectural calculations to build

palaces, temples or step pyramids.”

Dr Mansfield explained that the

Babylonians’ system of counting enabled

them to perform complicated calculations

more easily that mathematicians today.“The

Babylonians unique approach to arithmetic

and geometry means this is not only the

world’s oldest trigonometric table, it’s also

the only completely accurate trigonometric

table on record,” he said.

“Why? It all comes down to fractions. We

count in base 10 which only has two exact




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fractions, one half, which is 0.5, and one

fifth, which is 0.2.

“That’s problematic if you want to divide.

For example, one dollar divided by three is

33 cents with one cent left over.

“The Babylonians counted in base 60, the

same system we use for telling time. This

has many more exact fractions.

“It doesn’t sound like much, but this allowed

them to do a lot more exact division. One

hour divided by three is 20 minutes –

exactly.

“By using this system, the Babylonians were

able to make calculations that completely

avoided any inexact numbers, thereby

avoiding any errors associated with

multiplying those numbers.”

And the Babylonian system might actually

have lessons for science today, he claimed.

“With this greater accuracy we think this

system has enormous potential for

application in surveying, computers and

education,” Dr Mansfield said.

“It’s rare that the ancient world teaches us

something new. After 3,000 years,

Babylonian mathematics might just be

coming back into fashion.”

Plimpton 322 was discovered in southern

Iraq by the early 1900s by archaeologist,

diplomat and antique dealer Edgar Banks,

who was the inspiration for the character of

Indiana Jones.

The tablet has numbers written in cuneiform

script in four columns and 15 rows.There

were suggestions in the 1980s that the

numbers showed knowledge of

trigonometry, but this had been dismissed

more recently.But Dr Mansfield said their

research revealed it was a “novel kind of

trigonometry” that was based on ratios,

rather than angles and circles.

“It is a fascinating mathematical work that

demonstrates undoubted genius,” he said.

One problem with Plimpton 322 is the left-

hand edge is broken.

The UNSW researchers presented

mathematical evidence that it originally had

six columns, rather than four, and 38 rows,

not 15.They believe ancient scribes could

have generated numbers using the tablet,

which they suggest was a teacher’s aid to

checking students’ quadratic equations.

Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer who lived

in about 120 BC, is traditionally regarded as

the founder of trigonometry.But Professor

Norman Wildberger, who worked with Dr

Mansfield, said: “Plimpton 322 predates

Hipparchus by more than 1,000 years.

“It opens up new possibilities not just for

modern mathematics research, but also for

mathematics education. With Plimpton 322

we see a simpler, more accurate

trigonometry that has clear advantages over

our own.

“A treasure-trove of Babylonian tablets

exists, but only a fraction of them have been

studied yet. The mathematical world is only


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waking up to the fact that this ancient but

very sophisticated mathematical culture has

much to teach us.”

A paper about the research was published

in Historia Mathematica, the official journal

of the International Commission on the

History of Mathematics.

Reference: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/

babylonians-trigonometry-develop-more-

advanced-modern-mathematics-3700-years-

ago-ancient-a7910936.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/babylonians-trigonometry-develop-more-advanced-modern-mathematics-3700-years-ago-ancient-a7910936.html





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Engineer Develops Key Mathematical Formula for Driving

Quantum Experiments

Ms. Deepika Mahajan


A graduate student of Washington

University in St. Louis systems engineer Jr-

Shin Li has provided specific mathematical

information to experimentalists and

clinicians who need it to perform high-

resolution magnetic resonance applications,

such as body MRIs for medical diagnosis or

spectroscopy for uncovering protein

structures. Now, after more than a decade of

work, he has developed a formula that

researchers can use to generate that

information themselves.

Li, the Das Family Career Development

Distinguished Associate Professor in the

School of Engineering & Applied Science,

and his collaborators have derived a

mathematical formula to design broadband

pulse sequences to excite a population of

nuclear spins over a wide band of

frequencies. Such a broadband excitation

leads to enhanced signal or sensitivity in

diverse quantum experiments across fields

from protein spectroscopy to quantum

optics.

The research, the first to find that designing

the pulse can be done analytically, is

published in Nature Communications Sept.

5.

"This design problem is traditionally done

by purely numerical optimization," Li said.

"Because one has to design a common input

-- a magnetic field to excite many, many

particles -- the problem is challenging. In

many cases in numerical optimization, the

algorithms fail to converge or take enormous

amounts of time to get a feasible solution."

For more than a decade, Li has sought a

better way for pulse design using the

similarity between spins and springs by

using numerical experiments. Spin is a form

of angular momentum carried by elementary

particles. Spin systems are nonlinear and

difficult to work with, Li said, while spring

systems, or harmonic oscillators, are linear

and easier to work with. While a doctoral

student at Harvard University, Li found a

solution by projecting the nonlinear spin

system onto the linear spring system, but

was unable to prove it mathematically until

recently.

"My collaborator, Steffan Glaser, has been

in this field of NMR spectroscopy for more

than 20 years, and he is confident that if the

quantum pulses perform well in computer

simulations, they may perform the same in

experimental systems."

The team plans to conduct various

experiments in magnetic resonance to verify

the analytical invention.

The theoretical work opens up new avenues

for pulse sequence design in quantum

control. Li plans to create a website where

collaborators can enter their parameter

values to generate the pulse formula they

will need in their quantum experiments.

Li's research focuses on dynamics and

control, optimization and computational

mathematics, dynamic learning and data




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science. In particular, he is interested in

studying complex systems arising from

emerging applications, such as brain

networks, social behaviors, health and

quantum mechanical systems. In 2010, Li

received a Young Investigator Award from

the AFOSR, and in 2008 received an NSF

Career Award.

Journal Reference:

Jr-Shin Li, Justin Ruths, Steffen J.

Glaser. Exact broadband excitation of

two-level systems by mapping spins to

springs. Nature Communications, 2017; 8

(1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00441-7

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00441-7

GU Science Review Vol. 2- Issue 9 September, 2017

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Development of Mathematics & Jainism

Ms. Sucheta Jain


Importance of Mathematics in Jain

Religion Jain of ancient India attached great

importance to the study of Mathematics and

this subject was regarded as an integral part

of their religion. The knowledge of

Samkhyana (the science of numbers,

meaning arithmetic. and astronomy) us

stated to be one of the proper time and place

for religious ceremonies.

According to Jains, a child should be taught

firstly writing, then arithmetic as most

important of the seventy two sciences or

arts. According to the Jaina legend, their

first Tirthankar Rishabhanath, taught the

Brahmi script to his daughter Brahmi, and

mathematics to his other daughter Sundari.

The sacred literature of the Jainas is called

Siddhanta or Agama and is very ancient.

Jainas evolved their own theories and made

notable contribution to the science of

medicine, mathematics, physics, astronomy,

cosmology, the structure of matter and

energy, the fundamental structure of living

beings, the concept of space and time, and

the theory of relativity.

The Indian name for mathematics is Ganita.

It literally means the science of calculation

or computation, Ganita-Sar-Samgraha (GSS)

of Mahaviracarya (850 A.D.) is the only

treatise on arithmetic and algebra, by a Jain

scholar, that is available at present.

Suryaprajnapti and the Chandraprajnapti are

two astronomical treatises. The other

mathematical treatises by the early Jainas

have been lost. The author of GSS has

always held Bhagwan Mahaveera, to have

been a great mathematician.

Amongst the religious works of the Jainas,

that are important from the view point of

mathematics are :

1. Suryaprajnapti

2. Jambudvipaprajnapti

3. SthanangaSutra

4. UttradhayanaSutra

5. BhagwatiSutra

6. Anuyoga-dvara Sutra

Kusumpura School of Mathematics

In the Sulba Sutra period (750 B.C. to 400

A.D.) three existed three important schools

of mathematics :

i) The Kusumpura or patliputra School near

modern Patna. Bhadrabahu (4th cent. B.C.)

and Umaswati (2nd cent. B.C.) belonged to

this school.

ii) The UjjanSchool Brahmagupta (7th cent.

A.D.) and Bhaskaracarya (12th cent. A.D.)

belonged to this school.

iii) The Mysore School

Mahaviracarya (9th cent. A.D.) or briefly

Mahaveera belonged to this school.

There was a close contact between the three

schools and the mathematicians of one

school visited the other schools frequently.

The Kusumpura School in Bhihar (ancient

Magadha) was a great centre of learning.

The famous University of Nalanda was

A Digital monthly Newsletter of Faculty of Natural SciencesGNA University,

Phagwara


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situated in modern Patna and was a centre of

Jaina scholars in ancient times. The culture

of mathematics and astronomy survived in

this school upto the end of the 5th cent. of

the Christian era when flourished the famous

algebraist Aryabhata (476 A.D.) who made

many innovations in Hindu astronomy.

Aryabhata was the Kulpati of the university

of Nalanda. He was unanimously

acknowledged by the later Indian

mathematicians as father of the Hindu

Algebra. The influence of this school

continued unabated for several centuries

after Aryabhata.

Bhadrabahu came down from Bihar

(Magadha) in 4th cent. B. C. and settled

down at Sravanabelgola in the Mysore State.

On his way he passed through Ujjain and

halted there for some time. He was one of

the great preceptors of the Jainas and at the

same time an astronomer and a

mathematician too. He could reproduce from

memory the entire canonical literature of the

Jainas and was befittingly called a

Srutakevalin. Bhadrabahu is the author of

two astronomical works :

i) A commentary of the Surya Prajnapti

(500B.C.), and

ii) An original work called the Bhadra

Bahavi Samihita.

UMASWATI was a Jaina metaphysician of

great trpute. According to Swetambar

Jainas, he was born at a place called

Nyagrodhika and lived in the city of

Kusumpura in about 150B.C. According to

this sect, his name is said to be a

combination of the names of his parents, the

father Swati and the mother Uma. But

Digamber Jains' version is that his name was

Umaswami and not Umaswati. The earliest

commentator of Umaswati is Siddhasena

Gani or Dicakara who lived in 56 B.C.

Tattvartha-dhigama Sutra-Bhashya. It is an

important work of Umaswati. In this text, an

attempt has been made to explain the nature

of things and the authority of this work is

acknowledged both by the Swetambaras and

the Digambaras. Umaswati was also the

author of another work known as Ksetra-

Samasa (collection of places). This work is

also known as Jambudvipa Samas and

Karana-Bhavana are two classes of works

that give in a nutshell the mathematical

calculations employed in Jaina cannonical

works. The earliest Ksetra-Samas was by

Umaswati. It is noteworthy that Umaswati

was not a mathematician. The mathematical

results and formulae as quoted in his work,

it seems, were taken from some treatise on

mathematics known at that time.

Topics In Mathematics

According to Sthanaga Sutra (before 300

B.C.), the topics of discussion in

mathematics are ten in number :

i) Parikarma (fundamental Operations)

ii) Vyavahara (subjects of treatment)

iii) Rajju ('rope' meaning geometry)

iv) Rasi ('heap' meaning menstruation of

solid bodies)

v) KalaSavarnama(Fraction)

vi) Yavat-tavat ('as many as' meaning

simple equations)

vii) Varga ('square' meaning quadratic

equations)

viii)Ghana ('cube' meaning cubic equations)

ix) Varga-varga ('biquadratic equations')

x) Vikalpa or Bhog ('permutations and

combinations')

Tattvartha-Dhigma Sutra-Bhashya Of

Umaswati

In a reference has been made of two

methods of multiplication and division. In

one method, the respective operations are

carried out with the two numbers considered

as a whole. In the second method, the


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operations are carried on in successive

stages by the factors, one after another, of

the multiplier and the divisor. The former

method is our ordinary method, and the later

is a shorter and a simpler one. The method

of multiplication by factors has been

mentioned by all the Indian mathematicians

from Brahmagupta (7th cent. A.D.)

onwards. The division by factors is found in

Trisatika of Sridhara (8th cent. A.D.). This

method reached Italy in the middle ages

through the Arabs and was called the 'Modo

per rekeigo'.

Ganita-Sara-Samgraha Of Mahaviracarya

(850 A.D.)

Mathaviracarya (briefly Mahavira) was the

most celvbrated Jain mathematician of the

mid-ninth century. His great work, Ganita-

Sara-Smgraha (GSS) was an important link

in the continuous Chain of Indian

mathematicial texts, which occupied a place

of pride, particularly in South India. Raja-

Raja Nerendra of Rajamahendry got it

translated into Telgu by one Pavuturi

Mallana in the 11th century A.D. Mahaveera

occupied a pivotal position between his

predecessors (Aryabhata I, Bhaskaracarya I

and Brahmagupta) and successors (Sridhara,

Aryabhata II and Bhaskaracarya II).

The GSS consists of nine chapters like the

Bijaganita of Bhaskaracarya II. It deals with

operations with numbers except those of

addition and subtraction which are taken for

granted; squaring and cubing; extraction of

square-roots and cube-roots; summation of

arithmetic and geometric series; fractions;

mensuration and algebra including quadratic

and indeterminate equations. Twenty-four

notational places are mentioned,

commencing with the unit's place and

ending with the place called maha-ksobha,

and the value of each succeeding place is

taken to be ten times the value of the

immediately preceding place.

In the treatment of fractions, Mahaveera

seems to be the first among the Indian

mathematicians who used the method of

least common multiple (L. C. M.) to shorten

the process. This is called niruddha.

Mahaveera knew that a quadratic equation

had two roots. This has been substantiated

by problems given in his work and the rules

given therein for solving quadratic

equations. Mahaveera called the process of

summation of series, from which the first

few terms are omitted, as Vyutkalita, and

has given all the formulae for geometric

progression (G.P.) thus earning for himself a

prominent position in this respect.

In keeping with the traditions of those days,

many topics on algebra and geometry have

been discussed in the GSS. Mahaveera's

work on 'rational triangles and

quadrilaterals' contains many other problems

of similar nature, and a number of

illustrative examples are given therein. But

it is noteworthy that his investigations in this

particular field have certain remarkable

features, and they deserve a special

consideration for the following two reasons :


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He treated certain problems, on rational

triangles and quadrilaterals, which are not

found in the work of any anterior

mathematician e.g. problems on right

triangles involving areas and sides, rational

triangles and quadrilaterals having a given

area or circum-diameter, pair of isosceles

triangles etc; (ii) in the treatment of other

common problems, Mahaveera introduced

modifications, improvements or

generalizations upon the works of his

predecessors, particularly of Brahmagupta

(6th cent. A.D.)

It may be remarked here that the credit,

which Mahaveera rightly deserves for his

discovery of certain methods for the solution

of rational triangles and quadrilaterals has

gone almost unnoticed by historians of

ancient mathematics, like L. E. Dickson.

Mahaveera, by his protracted achievements

in several branches of Mathematics, has a

distinct position and his contributions

stimulated the growth of mathematics.

Reference:

http://www.jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature

2.php?id=399&cat=42

http://www.jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature2.php?id=399&cat=42

http://www.jainsamaj.org/rpg_site/literature2.php?id=399&cat=42


Green Approach: New Avenues for Sustainable Development and

Green Business

Dr. ManpreetKaur


Green chemistry is an interdisciplinary field

and a powerful tool used by researchers,

which on correct implementation quite

helpful for the chemical and pharmaceutical

industry to achieve environmental goals.

The chemical and pharmaceutical industry

plays a fundamental role in sustaining the

world economy by reducing or eliminating

the use of hazardous substances through

appropriate selection and design of chemical

processes and products. Benign chemistry

can be applied to design environmentally

benign synthetic protocols conducted at

ambient temperature and pressure, reducing

energy consumption in chemical reactions,

and use of benign solvent.The article

presents green approach in aqueous phase

synthesis Substitution of traditional

problematic solvents used in the synthesis

with more benign, environmentally safe

solvent is more efficient.

Considering the goals for sustainable

development, the driving force for the

advancement of green chemistry by using

greener solvents in organic synthesis, is that

the chemical industry must not unfavorably

distress the environment for future

generations.Most of the companies, now aim

to endorse the principles of green chemistry

and sustainability as far as possible. The

mantra “benign by design” summarizes the

ethos of green chemistry2, and twelve

principles guide its implementation. In short,

the main goals and applications of green

chemistry are to reduce environmental,

human health and safety risks of chemicals

by redesigning and restructuring toxic

molecules, synthetic routes, and industrial

processes. The suitable solvent selection for

synthesis can greatly improve the

sustainability of a chemical production

process.

Chief objective is to choose benign solvents

during synthesis which are inexpensive,

reduce the energy requirements and having

least toxicity. High volumes of solvent use

in chemical industry as well as in consumer

products have exaggerated apprehensions

over toxicity, safety, and environmental

impacts. Annual green chemistry awards by

the American Chemical Society and the US

Environmental Protection Agency reward

successful applications of green chemistry in

industry. The Royal Society of Chemistry in

the United Kingdom too offers green

chemistry award every two years. The use of

hazardous conventional organic solvents for

organic synthesis, have posed a serious

threat to the environment. Thus, the

principles of green chemistry direct the use

of benign and eco-friendly solvents. The

alternative solvent systems such as water,

supercritical fluidsand ionic liquids are

employed for a wider range of chemical

applications including synthetic, extractions,

medicinal and materials chemistry in various

academic and industrial fields. Greener

organic solvents are characterized by

favorable environmental, health and safety

(EHS) properties. The tools that assist in

choosing green organic solvents through

solvent selection guides (SSGs) are being

A Digital monthly Newsletter of Faculty of Natural Sciences GNA


GU Science Review Vol. 2- Issue 9 September 2017

developed by pharmaceutical industries.

Synthetic organic chemistry in aqueous

medium have been increasingly becoming

more important due to its environmental

acceptability and cost effectiveness. Use of

water as a solvent in organic reactions is

greener and more sustainable approach to

chemical synthesis due to exceptional

reactivity and selectivity than conventional

organic solvents. Higher yields are obtained

in short reaction time at ambient temperature

and pressure conditions and follow ‘energy-

efficiency’. Clean chemical technology can

be established in aqueous medium when

designed appropriately. Eco-friendly

synthesis contributes to the sustainability of

the environment by reducing the volume of

organic solvent in chemical industry and

business.The innovative technologies

generated from green chemistry help the

chemical and pharmaceutical industry to

serve in newer and more cost-effective ways

thereby increasing profitability and

satisfaction.

Reference:

http://195.134.76.37/scinews/Reports/PDF/

NEW%20DEVELOPMENTS-GREEN-

CHEM-PDF-33PAG-8-7-2016.pdf

http://195.134.76.37/scinews/Reports/PDF/NEW%20DEVELOPMENTS-GREEN-CHEM-PDF-33PAG-8-7-2016.pdf




Why Chemistry is So Important?

Ms. Jasmit Kaur


Have you ever wondered why chemistry is

so important? Why do we study chemistry?

Well, we all are made of chemicals and

everything around us is made of chemicals.

Everything we hear, see, smell, taste, and

touch involves chemistry and chemicals

(matter). Hearing, seeing, tasting, and

touching all involve intricate series of

chemical reactions and interactions in our

body. Many of the changes we observe in

the world around are caused by chemical

reactions. Chemistry is not limited to

beakers and laboratories. It is all around us,

and the better we know chemistry, the better

we know our world. Chemistry is present in

every aspect of life, and few examples are-

Sky is blue - An object is coloured because

of the light that it reflects. The white light

from the sun contains all the wavelengths,

but when it impacts on an object some of its

wavelengths are absorbed and some

reflected. The colour of the sky can be

explained considering phenomena named

Rayleigh scattering that consists on the

scattering of light by particles much smaller

than its wavelength. This effect is especially

strong when light passes through gases.

Ice Float on water- Ice is less dense than

liquid water. The heavier water displaces the

lighter ice, so ice floats on top.

How Sunscreen Works? Sunscreen

combines organic and inorganic chemicals

to filter the light from the sun so that less of

it reaches the deeper layers of your skin. The

reflective particles in sunscreen usually

consist of zinc oxide or titanium oxide.

Meals are cooked faster in a pressure

cooker? - A pressure cooker has a more

elaborated lid that seals the pot completely.

When we heat water it boils and the steam

cannot escape, so it remains inside and starts

to build up pressure. Under pressure,

cooking temperatures raise much higher

than under normal conditions, hence the

food is cooked much faster.




The chemistry of love- Chemistry is at the

bottom of every step in a relationship. When

we fall in love, our brain suffers some

changes and also certain chemical

compounds are released. Love is driven by

these hormones: oxytocin, vasopressin,

endorphins.

Coffee keeps us awake- Coffee keeps us

awake because of the presence of a chemical

called adenosine, in your brain. It binds to

certain receptors and slows the nerve cell

activity when sleep is signaled.

Vegetables are coloured- Many vegetables

and fruits are strongly coloured because they

contain a special kind of chemical

compound named carotenoids. These

compounds have an area called

choromophore, which absorbs and gives off

particular wavelengths of light, generating

the colour that we then perceive.

How soap cleans? Soap is formed by

molecules with a ‘head’ which likes water

(hydrophilic) and a long chain that hates it

(hydrophobic). Then when soap is added to

the water, the long hydrophobic chains of its

molecules join the oil particles, while the

hydrophilic heads go into the water. An

emulsion of oil in water is then formed, this

means that the oil particles become

suspended in the water and are liberated

from the cloth. With the rinsing, the

emulsion is taken away.

We cry while cutting onions- Onions

make you cry due to the presence of sulfur

in the cells which break after the onions are

cut. This sulfur gets mixed with moisture

and thus irritates your eyes.

Reference: www.worldofchemicals.com

http://www.worldofchemicals.com/


Copper Catalyst Yields High Efficiency CO2-to-Fuels

Conversion

Ms. Shikha Batish


In the new study, published this week in

the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences (PNAS), a team led by Berkeley

Lab scientist Peidong Yang discovered that

an electrocatalyst made up of copper

nanoparticles provided the conditions

necessary to break down carbon dioxide to

form ethylene, ethanol, and propanol.

All those products contain two to three

carbon atoms, and all are considered high-

value products in modern life. Ethylene is

the basic ingredient used to make plastic

films and bottles as well as polyvinyl

chloride (PVC) pipes. Ethanol, commonly

made from biomass, has already established

its place as a biofuel additive for gasoline.

While propanol is a very effective fuel, it is

currently too costly to manufacture to be

used for that purpose.

To gauge the energy efficiency of the

catalyst, scientists consider the

thermodynamic potential of products -- the

amount of energy that can be gained in an

electrochemical reaction -- and the amount

of extra voltage needed above that

thermodynamic potential to drive the

reaction at sufficient reaction rates. That

extra voltage is called the overpotential; the

lower the overpotential, the more efficient

the catalyst.

"It is now quite common in this field to

make catalysts that can produce multicarbon

products from CO2, but those processes

typically operate at high overpotentials of 1

volt to attain appreciable amounts," said

Yang, a senior faculty scientist at Berkeley

Lab's Materials Sciences Division. "What

we are reporting here is much more

challenging. We discovered a catalyst for

carbon dioxide reduction operating at high

current density with a record low

overpotential that is about 300 millivolts less

than typical electrocatalysts."

Cube-like copper catalyst

The researchers characterized the

electrocatalyst at Berkeley Lab's Molecular

Foundry using a combination of X-ray

photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission

electron microscopy, and scanning electron

microscopy.

The catalyst consisted of tightly packed

copper spheres, each about 7 nanometers in

diameter, layered on top of carbon paper in a

densely packed manner. The researchers

found that during the very early period of

electrolysis, clusters of nanoparticles fused

and transformed into cube-like

nanostructures. The cube-like shapes ranged

in size from 10 to 40 nanometers.




"It is after this transition that the reactions to

form multicarbon products are occurring,"

said study lead author Dohyung Kim, a

graduate student in Berkeley Lab's Chemical

Sciences Division and at UC Berkeley's

Department of Materials Science and

Engineering. "We tried to start off with pre-

formed nanoscale copper cubes, but that did

not yield significant amounts of multicarbon

products. It is this real-time structural

change from copper nanospheres to the

cube-like structures that is facilitating the

formation of multicarbon hydrocarbons and

oxygenates."

Exactly how that is happening is still

unclear, said Yang, who is also a professor

at UC Berkeley's Department of Materials

Science and Engineering.

"What we know is that this unique structure

provides a beneficial chemical environment

for CO2 conversion to multicarbon

products," he said. "The cube-like shapes

and associated interface may be providing

an ideal meeting place where the carbon

dioxide, water, and electrons can come

together."

Many paths in the CO2-to-fuel journey

This latest study exemplifies how carbon

dioxide reduction has become an

increasingly active area in energy research

over the past several years. Instead of

harnessing the sun's energy to convert

carbon dioxide into plant food, artificial

photosynthesis seeks to use the same starting

ingredients to produce chemical precursors

commonly used in synthetic products as well

as fuels like ethanol.

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have taken on

various aspects of this challenge, such as

controlling the product that comes out of the

catalytic reactions. For instance, in 2016, a

hybrid semiconductor-bacteria system was

developed for the production of acetate from

CO2 and sunlight. Earlier this year, another

research team used a photocatalyst to

convert carbon dioxide almost exclusively to

carbon monoxide. More recently, a new

catalyst was reported for the effective

production of synthesis gas mixtures, or

syngas.

Researchers have also worked on increasing

the energy efficiency of carbon dioxide

reduction so that systems can be scaled up

for industrial use.

A recent paper led by Berkeley Lab

researchers at the Joint Center for Artificial

Photosynthesis leverages fundamental

science to show how optimizing each

component of an entire system can

accomplish the goal of solar-powered fuel

production with impressive rates of energy

efficiency.

This new PNAS study focuses on the

efficiency of the catalyst rather than an

entire system, but the researchers point out

that the catalyst can be hooked up to a

variety of renewable energy sources,

including solar cells.

"By utilizing values already established for

other components, such as commercial solar

cells and electrolyzers, we project

electricity-to-product and solar-to-product

energy efficiencies up to 24.1 and 4.3

percent for two-to-three carbon products,

respectively," said Kim.

Kim estimates that if this catalyst were

incorporated into an electrolyzer as part of a

solar fuel system, a material only 10 square

centimeters could produce about 1.3 grams

of ethylene, 0.8 grams of ethanol, and 0.2

grams of propanol a day.

"With continued improvements in individual

components of a solar fuel system, those

numbers should keep improving over time,"

he said.

Reference:https://www.sciencedaily.com/re

leases/2017/09/170918151710.htm

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170918151710.htm



Quantum Communications Bend to Our Needs

Ms. Manpardeep Kaur


The potential for photon entanglement in

quantum computing and communications

has been known for decades. One of the

issues impeding its immediate application is

the fact that many photon entanglement

platforms do not operate within the range

used by most forms of telecommunication.

An international team of researchers has

started to unravel the mysteries of entangled

photons, demonstrating a new Nano scale

technique that uses semiconductor quantum

dots to bend photons to the wavelengths

used by today's popular C-band standards.

They report their work this week in Applied

Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

"We have demonstrated the emission of

polarization-entangled photons from a

quantum dot at 1550 nanometers for the first

time ever," said Simone Luca Portalupi, one

of the work's authors and a senior scientist at

the Institute of Semiconductor Optics and

Functional Interfaces at the University of

Stuttgart. "We are now on the wavelength

that can actually carry quantum

communication over long distances with

existing telecommunication technology."

The researchers used quantum dots created

from an indium arsenide and gallium

arsenide platform, producing pure single

photons and entangled photons. Unlike

parametric down-conversion techniques,

quantum dots allow for photons to be

emitted only one at a time and on demand,

crucial properties for quantum computing. A

distributed Bragg reflector, which is made

from multiple layered materials and reflects

over a wide spectrum, then, directed the

photons to a microscope objective, allowing

them to be collected and measured.

Researchers and industry leaders have found

that the C-band -- a specific range of

infrared wavelengths -- has become an

electromagnetic sweet spot in

telecommunications. Photons traveling

through both optical fibers and the

atmosphere within this range experience

significantly less absorption, making them

perfect for relaying signals across long

distances.

"The telecom C-band window has the

absolute minimum absorption we can

achieve for signal transmission," said Fabian

Olbrich, another of the paper's authors. "As

scientists have made discoveries, industry

has improved technology, which has let

scientists make more discoveries, and so

now we have a standard that works very

well and has low dispersion."

Most entangled photons originating from

quantum dots, however, operate near 900

nanometers, closer to wavelengths we can

see with the naked eye.




The researchers were impressed by the

quality of the signal, Olbrich said. Other

efforts to shift the emission wavelength of

polarization-entangled photons of quantum

dots toward the C-band tended to increase

the exciton fine-structure splitting (FSS), a

quantity that should be close to zero for

entanglement generation. Olbrich's team

reports their experiment experienced less

than one-fifth as much FSS as other studies

in the literature.

"The chance to find a quantum dot that is

able to emit polarization-entangled photons

with high fidelity is quite high for our

specific study," Olbrich said.

With each successful experiment, the

quantum communications community is

seeing its field bend toward greater

applicability in today's telecommunications

industry.

Researchers hope that one day, entangled

photons will impact cryptography and

secure satellite communications.

"The hard part now is to combine all the

advantages of the system and fulfill

prerequisites such as high photon in

distinguishability, high temperature

operation, increased photon flux and out

coupling efficiency that would make them

work," Olbrich said.

Reference:-

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201

7/09/170926125149.htm




Physicists Publish New Findings on Electron Emission

Ms. Manila Sethi


Even more than 100 years after Einstein's

explanation of photoemission the process of

electron emission from a solid material upon

illumination with light still poses

challenging surprises. In the report now

published in the journal Science ultrashort

pulses of light were employed to start a race

between electrons emitted from different

initial states in a solid material. Timing this

race reveals an unexpected result: The

fastest electrons arrive in last place.

For the new publication physicists from

Bielefeld University (Germany) co-operated

with colleagues at the Donostia International

Physics Center and the University of the

Basque Country in San Sebastian (Spain).

The motion of an emitted electron is

strongly affected by interactions inside the

atom from which the electron is emitted.

Electrons emitted from a surface remain

trapped for a while, dynamically confined

by the centrifugal barrier around the atoms.

The motion of these electrons around the

nuclei, before being eventually emitted, is

kind of a dance leading to an intuitive

picture (see figure) that the electrons that

remain longer dancing around the atom lose

the race and are emitted last.In contrast,

electrons going straight win the race. This

observation required a revision of common

theoretical models describing the

photoemission from solids, i.e. this initial

intra-atomic interaction had to be taken into

account and sets a new cornerstone for

future improved models of the

photoemission process from solids.

Experimentally resolving the tiny delays in

the photoemission process required timing

the emission event, i.e. the moment when

the electron leaves the material, with an

unprecedented resolution of 10-17 seconds.

Usain Bolt would run in this time interval a

distance corresponding to the tenth of the

radius of an atomic nucleus and

even light propagates only 3 nm. This hardly

conceivable resolution allows timing the

race of electrons in experiments that were

performed at Bielefeld University using

advanced attosecond time-resolved laser

spectroscopy. The choice of tungsten

diselenide as material turned out to be

essential: It provides four photoelectron

emission channels with different initial state

properties and the outstanding stability of

the surface enabled long-term data

collecting improving the statistical

significance.

For the explanation of the electron race

outcome a close collaboration with a team of

theoretical physicists at the Donostia

International Physics Center and the



https://phys.org/tags/light/


University of the Basque Country in San

Sebastian proved essential. Quantitative

modelling of the intra-atomic processes and

the electron propagation in the

semiconductor crystal demonstrated that the

initial orbiting motion shall not be neglected

if the dynamics of the photoemission

process from a solid is considered. Still the

achieved theoretical model represents just a

first step in the interpretation of the

measured electron race since intra-atomic

motion and propagation in the crystal are

treated separately. In the future these

processes shall be treated in a unified

approach and the thus improved theory of

photoemission will open new possibilities to

experimentally test and improve our

understanding of the very fundamental

process of photoemission.

The reported advances in understanding

photoemission from solids became feasible

based on recently developed attosecond

laser techniques. Control of light with

attosecond resolution opens fascinating

views on electron dynamics on the atomic

scale.

Whereas femtosecond spectroscopy served

to study and control atomic motion,

attosecond spectroscopy now directly

addresses the fundamentals of the

interaction of light with matter. Besides an

improved fundamental understanding these

techniques offer possibilities to control light

driven electronic processes. The applied

spectroscopy relies on the acceleration and

deceleration of emitted electrons in an

intense time-dependent electric field. Based

on an improved understanding of

the photoemission serve process itself this

will in future experiments to resolve

variations of light fields with sub-atomic

resolution, i.e. on a scale that was not

accessible up to now.

Reference:

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-physicists-

publish-electron-emission.html

https://phys.org/tags/electrons/

https://phys.org/tags/photoemission/

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-physicists-publish-electron-emission.html

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-physicists-publish-electron-emission.html


A Way to Measure and Control Phonons

Ms. SamneetKaur


A team of researchers with the University of

Vienna in Austria and Delft University of

Technology in the Netherlands has

developed a technique using photons for

controlling and measuring phonons. In their

paper published in the journal Science, the

team describes their technique and suggest

that their work might have laid the

groundwork toward a method to store

information in a quantum computer.

Phonons are waves of particles moving

together through a material—like ocean

waves, they propagate, leaving the particles

through which they move in their original

state. Prior research has shown that phonons

have some behavioral characteristics that

resemble particles, which is why they have

been labeled quasiparticles, and also why

they have been of interest in so much recent

research. Scientists are interested in phonons

because they may provide a bridge between

the classical world and the quantum world.

In this new effort, the researchers have

developed a way not only to measure

phonons as they propagate, but show that it

is possible to control them, as well.

The technique involved firing a blue pulse

of light at what they describe as a

microfabricated silicon nanobeam—a form

of optomechanical crystal. It was designed

to vibrate in particular ways when hit by

a photon. As the blue light struck the device,

it created phonons. They next fired a red

pulse of light at the phonons to induce a

state-swap interaction. Those photons were

then reflected back to a photon detector and

were subsequently analyzed using Hanbury

Brown and Twiss interferometry. The

researchers used the state of the photons to

determine the non-classical state of the

phonons in the device. The team showed

that individual phonons moving in a crystal

follow the laws of quantum mechanics as

opposed to classical physics.

In the center is an image showing the

mechanical oscillator which was cooled to

its ground state and then successfully

excited by a single quanta of energy.

Depicted above is the simulation of the

shape of the mechanical mode that is used in

the experiment. The bottom picture shows

an artist’s impression of a quasi-

probabilistic distribution of the quantum

state.

Abstract

Nano- and micromechanical devices have

become a focus of attention as new solid-

state quantum devices. Reliably generating

non-classical states of their motion is of

interest both for addressing fundamental



https://phys.org/tags/behavioral+characteristics/

https://phys.org/tags/quantum/

https://phys.org/tags/photon/

https://phys.org/tags/photon+detector/


25

questions about macroscopic quantum

phenomena as well as for developing

quantum technologies in the domains of

sensing and transduction. We use quantum

optical control techniques to conditionally

generate single-phonon Fock states of a

nanomechanical resonator.

We perform a Hanbury Brown and Twiss

type experiment that verifies the non-

classical nature of the phonon state without

requiring full state reconstruction. Our result

establishes purely optical quantum control

of a mechanical oscillator at the single

phonon level.

Reference: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-

phonons.html

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-phonons.html

https://phys.org/news/2017-09-phonons.html

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