a bit better. But really, it took until the 1930s when physicists were really studying quantum physics, atomic physics that we understood what actually makes a material magnetic.And once all of those things happened, our ingenuity and innovation and what we can do with magnetism is, like,
But around the same time that Einstein was coming up with his special theory of relativity, physicists began observing some strange phenomena in atomic physics that were overthrowing all of these classical assumptions. First of all, they noticed that when looking at the energy levels of subatomic particles, like electrons, they weren't continuous at all, they were discrete.
And it was while she was there that she was contacted by Otto Hahn. They worked in atomic physics , so they were trying to understand what happens to the structure of the atom, and how it breaks down. I'll come back to this later.
And that's particularly important nowadays when you need to do structural analysis of how receptors fit into molecules, and also, in the case of penicillin, creating She was interested in atomic physics , nuclear physics.
- E=MC squared is a fundamental relationship that a patent clerk, Einstein, discovered and unlocked an entire new realm of physics and engineering and has shown us engineering and has shown us atomic physics , what happens inside the nucleus, and unlocked our understanding of the universe and paved the way for many of the physics advancements that came after. That we think about mass as these particles. But in reality, at the same time, they're energy, and there's a direct quantitative relationship between how much energy is in all of that mass.
Do they vary over the lifetime of the universe? And some clever astronomers have found a way to look at the spectra of quasars and look at and determine whether the fine structure constants that we use all the time in atomic physics , whether those constants are truly constant. Or whether -- whether the word constant is a misnomer. So it's a very exciting brew of science questions that we get to look at each year. Let me spend a little time on exoplanets because
pieces, they also have slightly less mass than the initial one did, the initial uranium or plutonium. And in that process, again, E=MC², a tremendous amount of energy is released. There's a very famous curve in atomic physics , fusion or fission, looking at the periodic table. Going from the lightest elements, hydrogen, to the heaviest elements, those uranium, plutonium, and others. And fusion happens up to iron. Iron is the magical point in between where lighter elements than iron fuse together, and heavier elements fission
That we think about mass as these particles. But in reality, at the same time, they're energy, and there's a direct quantitative relationship between how much energy is in all of that mass. And in fact, all of the energy that is released, even by atomic physics , certainly in atomic reactions, is E=MC squared. I think most people have heard of and are used to this. But also in chemistry and in chemical bonds, there is a change in mass. When you take a those chemical bonds, there is a change in mass. When you take a
variety of means, physical means, those particles. You push them together. The most common is called laser inertial fusion. - In fusion, the physics we're using is actually quite old. The fundamental electromagnetic physics is 1800s physics. The fundamental atomic physics is early 1900s. And
variety of means, physical means, those particles. You push them together. The most common is called laser inertial fusion. We call that a gyro orbit, is the radius that they oscillate around this magnetic field. And we've been talking about atomic physics ,
But before that, they were technology. Someone, many people, had to do the initial experimental work in atomic physics . They had to conceive of them.