Monday, September 27, 2010

Radiolab: Particle Entanglement

Quantum Entanglement from Wikipedia:

When particles decay into other particles, these decays must obey the various conservation laws. As a result, pairs of particles can be generated that are required to be in certain quantum states. For ease of understanding, consider the situation where a pair of these particles are created, have a two state spin and one must be spin up and the other must be spin down. As described in the introduction, these two particles can now be called entangled since you can not fully describe one particle without mentioning the other. This type of entangled pair where the particles always have opposite spin is known as the spin anti-correlated case. The case where the spins are always the same is known as spin correlated.

Now that entangled particles have been created, quantum mechanics also holds that an observable, for example spin, is indeterminate until a measurement is made of that observable. At that instant, all of the possible values that the observable might have had "collapse" to the value that is measured. Consider, for now, just one of these created particles. In the singlet state of two spin, it is equally likely that this particle will be observed to be spin-up or spin-down. Meaning if you were to measure the spin of many like particles, the measurement will result in an unpredictable series of measurements that will tend to a 50% probability of the spin being up or down. However, the results are quite different if you examine both of the entangled particles in this experiment. When each of the particles in the entangled pair is measured in the same way, the results of their spin measurement will be correlated. Measuring one member of the pair tells you what the spin of the other member is without actually measuring its spin.

The controversy surrounding this topic comes in once you consider the ramifications of this result. Normally under the Copenhagen interpretation, the state a particle occupies is determined the moment the state is measured. However, in an entangled pair when the first particle is measured, the state of the other is known at the same time without measurement, regardless of the separation of the two particles. This knowledge of the second particle's state is at the heart of the debate. If the distance between particles is large enough, information or influence might be traveling faster than the speed of light which violates the principle of special relativity. One experiment that is in agreement with the effect of entanglement "traveling faster than light" was performed in 2008. This experiment found that the "speed" of quantum entanglement has a minimum lower bound of 10,000 times the speed of light.[5] However, because the method involves uncontrollable observation rather than controllable changing of state, no actual information is transmitted in this process. Therefore, the speed of light remains the communication speed limit.

en·tan·gle·ment

[en-tang-guhl-muhnt] Show IPA
–noun
1.
the act of entangling.
2.
the state of being entangled.
3.
something that entangles; snare; involvement; complication.


World English Dictionary
entanglement (ɪnˈtæŋɡ ə lmənt) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
n
1. something that entangles or is itself entangled
2. a sexual relationship regarded as unfortunate, damaging, or compromising


Radiolab:
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2009/jul/13/in-defense-of-darwin/

Symmetry






Palindromes: Horns


"Animals have a variety of uses for horns and antlers, including defending themselves from predators and fighting members of their own species for territory, dominance or mating priority. In addition, horns may be used to root in the soil or strip bark from trees. In animal courtship many use horns in displays. For example, the male blue wildebeest reams the bark and branches of trees to impress the female and lure her into his territory. Some animals with true horns use them for cooling. The blood vessels in the bony core allow the horns to function as a radiator."






Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Structure using my Unit of Measurement

I'm getting super frustrated with the building! I am having a hard time breaking out of my original idea of the home with all the steps, fragile looking posts, round inside, and petal top. It seems too simple and very interesting. I'm trying to refer back to other architectures work to help me. Well, this is where I am.


Unit of Measure

At the moment I am finishing up my unit of measure. That entails making a stand for the unit. It won't be able to stand up straight because of the joints, but it makes a nice organic shape when it is held up at the end.


As you can see in the photographs, the "stem" now includes 9 separate parts that link together with a wooden dowel. At the end of dowel is a square that represents the "romanthurns" which is the smallest measurement in my unit. Six of the squares are equal to one of the sections of the stem or "putzmander". Nine of the these sections or "helvsmehelvsments" are eqaul to one "putzmander".
You are able to take take apart each part of the unit to make measurements. Also the unit can be curved and moves in different directions to measure something the is rounded.






Sunday, September 19, 2010

Abbott Edwin, The Flatlands

In relation to what we are doing in this class, I feel that this book is explains what it is to create something in entirety. The Flatland is a country where everything exists as though you were looking at a piece of paper with your eyes at the level of the table it sits on. In this country there is an intricate cast system and set of rules. For instance, women are a straight line and therefore a possible danger to all. When looking at a woman from straight on she almost looks like nothing, like the tip of a needle. Towards the end of the reading, they discuss how there is in a way a different language used for women because of their severe irrationality. The speaker is explaining how this language can be confusing to the children because from early on they have to speak two different languages, one to their mother and one that intellectual.
Te level of intricacy of this world is what I feel we are suppose to gain the most inspiration from. When making our unit of measure, building, and item we have to create world that surrounds these things in order to sell it.

Le Corbusier, The Modulor

Quotes of importance:

"...unless it is divided into sections and measured."

"If a tool of linear or optical measures, similar to musical script, were placed within our reach, would it help in the process of construction?"

Dislocation: "It is dislocated in relation to its subject, which is to contain men."

"Music like architecture, is time and space."

"The first proof of existence is to occupy space."


"Architecture, sculpture, and painting are, by definition, dependent on space, tied down to the necessity to come to terms with space, each by it's own means. The essential point I wish to make is that the key to aesthetic emotion is a function of space."


What I think:

This book begins by bringing us back to the creation of something we take for grated; written music. As he is writing about the creation of written music you begin to realize that this concept is a crazy one. This is, at least for me, how I have felt about creating a unit of measurement. I must have thought that the world was created with units of measure already in play! Measuring something that is completely intangible was a really big deal and he talks about how we still to til day have not some up with something of this caliber.
He goes on to discuss the foot-and-inch and metric system. He talks about how the first system uses the human body (something everyone can relate to and understand) and how the second system is disconnected from man using the earth as the tool.
I have to be honest, the middle to last part of this book gets a little confusing to me. Therefore, I will just explain what I understand of it. A French man comes up with a unit of measurement for American industry. He is told that there is only one way to measure architecture but find another way. The Module ends up being a measure that is based on math and the human scale. This is important because when measuring, building things, ect. you need something concrete and real behind it, not just ideas.

Antoni Gaudi and Organic structures


These are photographs and sketches from Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona. I find Gaudi's work to be helpful and inspirational because it is full of organic shapes and structures and it often seems to defy what is possible for architecture. His work is very whimsical and interesting.
















The following are a series of different buildings.
These buildings give inspiration for how more organic structures are built.
































These are my first drawings for my building. The last drawing is where I have ended up. I want to make a building that has the elements of my unit of measure in it, but at the same time I don't want it to be so obvious. My idea is that this building would be a home. The home is a very personal space. This is a place where you choose carefully who enters or who stays. I want certain elements of this home to seem unstable. The stairs leading up and the "posts" that hold up the top of the building.