Scienceteen December-February 2018

science MATHEMATICS GRAVITY LIGHT TOMORROW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Quantum theory
NUMBERS thaughts RESEARCH Brain Planets PLAZMA quantum earth PARTICLE PHYSICS
computer 2d metals nucleus GRAVITY kuiper belt golden ratio STANDARD MODEL RESEARCH

A Quantum Dolly PLUS

Viju and

The Golden Ratio Cheeru

➲ p.13
Science Quiz
➲ p.14

The Techno Brain All biology is

computational
biology
➲ p.19

2D Elements The theory

which
predicted
gravitatioal

gravitational waves waves

➲ p.21
Matter and
fundamental

Kuiper belt particles

➲ p.22
News from
RSS

life cycle of stars ➲ p.25

www.scienceteen.com
 1 Contents

Yo u m ay eve n
wonder what
exactly it means for
the copier to know the doc-
ument before hand! Think
of the machine as a general
purpose one which can print
and scan. Usually, in xerox-
ing the document is scanned
and then printed. First, think
of a machine which can
take an input file and make
copies of its contents. This is
»»p.5 what we would call perfect

The interesting thing

is that it comes in
strange places that
we may not ordinarily think.
The Golden Ratio was not dis-
covered by Fibonacci, he just
discovered one instance of
where it appeared naturally.
In fact, civilizations such as
the Ancient Egyptians, the
Mayans, as well as the Greeks
discovered the Golden Ratio
and incorporated it into their
own art, architecture, and »»p.9
designs. They discovered that
the Golden Ratio seems to be

Scienceteen
We have all won-
dered about the
mysterious twin-
kling stars in the night sky
at some point in our life.
Although, this curiosity about
these primary inhabitants of
the universe, diminishes for
most of us with passage of
time. Nevertheless, some
of us, namely the astrono-
mers, do study stars in order
to understand how they are
born and evolve with time.
»»p.23 The apparent brightness and

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 Contents 2

CONTENTS
  Scienceteen                                 

5 Cover story
A Quantum Dolly is an impossibbility! 05

8 Featured article
The Golden Ratio 09

13 teen Spectrum
»»p.15 Viju & Cheeru 13
Science Quiz 14

15 technoteens
The Techno Brain 15
16 Mystery
A new Periodic Table for 2D Elements 17
The Kuiper belt 18

16 Public Library
All Biology is Computational Biology 19
»»p.18
22 Your Articles
The theory which pedicted gravitational waves 21
Matter and fundamental particles 22
Life cycle of stars 23

30 insight
Ramanujan Shodh Sansthan News 25

31 testimonials
Appreciations and suggestions 28
»»p.17

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 3 Editorial

Editors’s page
  Scienceteen                                  
We are glad to present the 6th issue of Scienceteen magazine. EDITOR
We regret that you have to wait for such a long time as we Prashant Kumar Sinha
could not publish during July to Novemberber due to some prashant@scienceteen.com
health issue of our members. Anyway, we are back again ASSOCIATE EDITOR
with you sharing our gathered knowledge to our readers. Rahul Aggrawal
Contributing to the development of science is the contri- rahulaggrawal@scienceteen.com
bution to the development of mankind and society. From WRITER
the stone age, man to the era of computing human race has Rohit Jha
evolved much far ahead of any other species and this is only rohitjha@scienceteen.com
due to the fact that the human brain cannot only perceive EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
the nature around us like the other species but it also thinks Vikash Kumar
of the laws governing the nature. This extraordinary capa- vikashkrpro@gmail.com
bility of the human brain has led to the subject of science. Our little efforts are also in CREATIVE HEAD
the same direction to make our readers aware of the recent discoveries in the field of Meenakshi Sinha
science and technology and enhance your knowledge. Let’s start with our latest issue. mickymeenakshi@gmail.com
The cover story is “A Quantum Dolly is an impossibility!” By Prof. N.D. Hari Dass PRODUCTION MANAGER
TIFR-TCIS, Hyderabad which explains that Xerox copying is a classical phenome- Prabhat Kumar Srivastava
non it can’t happen in the quantum world. We are very thankful to Prof. N.D. Hari prabhat@scienceteen.com
Dass for giving his valuable time and writing on such an advanced subject in such a
manner which could inspire the teenage students. It’s like a window to an entirely new
field to the students and researchers. The featured article is “The Golden Ratio” which
describes how the golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence is embedded in the nature and SE N D YOU R L E T T E R S
science of aesthetics. In the Mystery section, we have the article on 2D metals and its
new periodic table based on a new research and an article on the Kuiper belt a very If you have read somthing in Scienceteen mag-
mysterious part of our solar system by Mr. Rohit Jha. In the wisdom section, we have azine which has excited you then you can write
an article from public library “All biology is computational biology” which is based on your comments. We will be thankful for your
the coordination between the two sciences biology and computation and how computa- valuable comments.
tion has become the ultimate tool to do research in biological sciences. In your articles Email : prashant@scienceteen.com
section, we have an article by Mr. Rajeev Singh “The theory which predicted gravita- we welcome your letters, with right to edit
tional waves” which explains how Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicted the them for length and clarity in expression.You
existence of gravitational waves. Then we have the article “Lifecycle of stars” by Mr. can also send your own articles for publication
Anupam Bhardwaj which tells the story of a star from its birth to death it's different in our magazine or website:
phases and how the whole process is carried. It’s more of a learning experience. Then www.scienceteen.com
we have article “Matter and fundamental article” which is a short informative article
on particle physics and the standard model. We are thankful to Prof. N.D Hari Dass,
Mr. Rohit Jha, Mr. Rajeev Singh, Dr. Anupam Bhardwaj and Mr. Protick Mohanta for The ideas presented in Scienceteen mag-
writing such informative and creative articles in this issue. We are also thankful to all azine are the author’s own ideas. The
our readers for their appreciations and their creative articles. We will be thankful for author of the article is solely responsi-
your suggestions and support. ble for anything presented in the article.
We are not responsible for any of the ideas
Your’s thankfully presented by the author of the articles.
-Prashant Kumar Sinha &
Image: Back cover: Credit: Reading Tom.

Rahul Aggrawal
Date: 25/02/2018
Source: https://www.flickr.com/pho-

Scienceteen Education Pvt. Ltd.

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Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 Editorial 4

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Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 5 cover story

A Quantum Dolly
is an impossibility!
Prof. N.D. Hari Dass, TIFR-TCIS, Hyderabad

Why talk of a Dolly in the quantum world around us. But the laws governing these dynamical laws can be recast in
context? Dolly the sheep was a clone. such a macroscopic world were discov- vastly different(but physically equivalent)
Clones are supposed to be perfect copies ered first, for obvious reasons, and this is forms like Lagrangian or Hamiltonian
of their original. In the case of Dolly, the what one means by the classical world. forms. When there are many different par-
original is a living entity, hence all the That world, which included such magnif- ticles the state of the composite system, in
excitement! In the non-living context, we icent creations like Galileo’s inertia, classical theory, can be construed from the
are familiar with a Xerox Machine. An Newton’s laws, Maxwell’s electrodynam- states of the constituents. A concept
ideal Xerox machine would make perfect ics, and even Einstein’s special theory of crucial to our subject of focus is that of
copies of the original. It can also make an relativity went a long way in accounting measurements. In classical physics there
arbitrary number of copies. So, what is the for the world around us. Important to the are two central aspects to be remembered
big deal, you might ask. The big deal is dissection we wish to undertake is a clear i) no separate laws other than the dynami-
that in the quantum world, such copying delineation of the structures of the two cal principles are needed to describe mea-
is in general, impossible! This is a very theories. All theories start with the primi- surements, ii) there are certainly errors but
deep result that sets the quantum world in tive notion of states. In classical mechan- these can be controlled and compensated
deep contrast from its classical counter- ics, the state of a point particle is specified with the consequence that measurements
part. To appreciate the significance of it by its position and its momentum at the do not affect the state of the system mea-
requires a careful dissection of the classi- same instant. The other aspect of theories sured. For classical copying this leads to
cal and quantum world. As of today, the is Dynamics. This is the prescription by another subtle aspect; a perfect xerox
scientific consensus is that our world is which given the state of a system at one machine can make perfect copies whether
governed by quantum mechanics. What instant one can uniquely determine the or not the state(in this case the document
then do we mean by a classical world? The state at a later instant. In classical mechan- being copied) is known before hand or not.
point is that in an approximation to the ics, this dynamics is described by You may be puzzled as to why this appar-
quantum world one obtains the so-called Newton’s laws. For the purposes of this ently irrelevant detail has been brought in!
classical world which seems to govern article the detailed form of these laws is You will appreciate this when we turn to
pretty much most of the macroscopic not very relevant; nor is it important that quantum theory later on. You may even
wonder what exactly it means for the
Image: An example of classical copying in nature is the Giant Causway. All the stones seem to be a copy of each other The copier to know the document before hand!
only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland, Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 38,000 interlocking basalt columns, Think of the machine as a general purpose
the result of a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff
foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven, one which can print and scan. Usually, in
and eight sides. The tallest are about 39 ft high.
Source: http://www.geodiversite.net/media543, Author: geolman http://www.geodiversite.net/auteur5 xeroxing the document is scanned and
then printed. First, think of a machine
which can take an input file and make
copies of its contents. This is what we
would call perfect copying of a known
state. Now consider feeding to the machine
for which no such input file has been pro-
vided. We call that copying of an unknown
state. In the classical context, as we know
too well, this hardly makes any difference.
In the unknown state case, the machine
scans the unknown document and then
prints or copies it as a known document.
Crucial to this is the possibility, both in
principle and nearly always in practice, of
scanning without mutilating the docu-
ment.You may be wondering what all this

Scienceteen | December -February 2018


rambling about xerox machines has to do
with differences between classical and
quantum world! A most dramatic differ-
ence between them comes from the role
of measurements in them. The scanning
we alluded is, in fact, a measurement. As
already emphasized, in principle, mea-
surements in classical physics need not
affect the state of the system and hence
even if a state is unknown, such a mea-
surement can be made to know it fully
without distorting it and that knowledge
can be used to make perfect copies. It is
here that fundamental and dramatic differ-
ences arise between quantum and classi-
cal theories. It is instructive to recall the
meaning of states in quantum theory and
though a full elucidation requires techni-
calities, I will try to give a flavor of it
which is as faithful to the precise charac-
terization as is possible in a verbal account
like this. In the classical case the state of
a particle was specified by all the compo-
nents of its position as well as by all com-
ponents of its momentum. A measurement
of these quantities will return precisely
these values and the state after the mea-
surement is the same before. In fact, one
can measure any property of the system,
like for example, all the three components
of its angular momentum or for that
matter, all components of its Runge-Lenz
vector etc. The point is all these are func-
tions on phase space which is the space of
states of a classical theory. In effect, all
this results in a deterministic description.
It is difficult to give such a linear narra-
tive in quantum theory. Heisenberg’s
matrix mechanics is somewhat better
suited for this even though Schroedinger’s
wave mechanics is a physically equivalent
description of the quantum theory. Both
these were completed in 1925. According
to Heisenberg, the observables of classi-
cal theory like momentum and position
were now to be treated as not only opera-
tors but non-commuting operators. If you
feel uncomfortable with what operators
are, think of them as Matrices. A natural
question that arises is about the value of
an operator or if you so wish, the value of
a matrix. A matrix has rows and columns
of numbers, complex in the most general
case. Which of these is the value of the
matrix? Is any of them the value of the
matrix? Mathematically speaking none of
these rows and columns of numbers gives
Image: A close-up of Dolly in her stuffed form. Author: Toni Barros from São Paulo, Brasil, Source: flickr.com
an intrinsic characterization of the matrix
as they depend on the basis chosen for rep-
resenting the matrix. The situation is
exactly analogous to that of the compo-
nents of a vector which can always be
changed by choosing different basis
vectors, without changing the vector itself.
Mathematically speaking one can attach
values to an operator(matrix)! These are
the so-called eigenvalues ! So can these
eigenvalues be taken as the values of the
physical observables which are to be taken
as operators in quantum theory? Recall
that in classical theory too, the values of
observables depend on the states in which
they are observed. So if eigenvalues are
to be taken as values of observables in
quantum theory, what are the correspond-
ing states? Taking cue from Matrix theory,
one would say the eigenstates of the oper-
ator in question. This line of reasoning
was adopted by Heisenberg for the
Hamiltonian or energy operator, and
extended to all observables by Dirac. It is
important to add here that for the eigen-
values of physical observables to be real
as would be required by the reality of
values of physical observables, the corre-
sponding matrices have to be Hermitian.
With these preliminaries, we can raise
more pointed questions about quantum
measurements. So it is reasonable to
surmise that if an observable is measured
in one of its eigenstates then the outcome
Scienceteen | December-February 2018
cover story 6
is the corresponding eigenvalue. But does
such a measurement affect the state? In
the absence of any clear guidelines let us
see if what happens in the classical case
is a possibility. Therefore for every state,
the act of ideal measurement did not affect
the state. In the quantum case, there is no
reason why that should be so. But let us
see what happens if we require this to be
so for eigenstates only. We see that the rule
is at least self-consistent in the following
sense: if we perform the same measure-
ment again, we get the same eigenvalue
we got before and the state after the mea-
surement is again the same eigenstate.
That alone is not enough to validate this
as a rule. But the great mathematician-
physicist von Neumann showed in more
technically convincing fashion this type
of measurement is indeed permissible in
quantum theory. Now comes the real
crunch! If you take two 2x2 non-commut-
ing Hermitian matrices A, B(simplest pos-
sibility) and look at their eigenstates (you
can take any two of the so-called Pauli
matrices), you will find that the eigen-
states of the first matrix are linear combi-
nations of the eigenstates of the second.
Let us consider one of the eigenstates of
the A matrix, with eigenvalue, say, a1;
then this will be found to be a linear com-
bination of the eigenstates of B, with
eigenvalues, b1 and b2. As per the inter-
pretation proposed just now, the eigenstate
 7 cover story
of A with eigenvalue a1 is a physical state
in quantum theory and if we measure the
observable A we will get a1. At the same
time, this is a linear combination of the
eigenstates of B with eigenvalues
b1,b2(which are not equal). But each of
these eigenstates of B is also a physical
state in quantum theory by the same logic.
Putting all this together one comes to a
dramatic conclusion! This is the Principle
of Superposition of States. In the present
context, the physical state |a1>(this is the
modern notation to denote a vector in the
so-called Hilbert Space) which has the
definite value a1 for the observable A, is
a linear superposition of physical states
|b1>, |b2>, which however have definite
values b1,b2 for the observable B. Note
carefully that the latter two states have no
definite values for the observable A! I
wish to clarify a somewhat technical point
to avoid misunderstandings at this stage.
Actually physical states are not repre-
sented by the vectors like |c> in Hilbert
space; they are actually represented by so-
called rays in Hilbert space. This means
two vectors in Hilbert space differing by
a phase factor represent the same physical
state. I want to strongly emphasize that
you may have heard of superposition prin-
ciples in many other contexts, for example,
superposition of vectors in vector algebra,
of sound waves, of electromagnetic waves
etc, this superposition principle in
quantum mechanics is like nothing you
have heard before! To appreciate let us
enquire what outcomes of different mea-
surements be on |a1>. If we measure A,
our rulebook so far says that the outcome
will definitely be a1 and the state after the
measurement is the same as the state
before. So far, so good! Next, instead of
measuring A on |a1> let us imagine mea-
suring B on it. What will the outcome be?
Not only is the state in question not an
eigenstate of B, it is actually a superposi-
tion of two eigenstates of B with mutually
exclusive eigenvalues! The rule book that
we had does not say clearly what the
outcome would be! But every measure-
ment must have an outcome, else it is not
a measurement! This impasse was
resolved by a daring interpretation pro-
posed by Max Born - called the probabil-
ity interpretation of quantum mechanics.
It is this that makes the classical world
dramatically different from the quantum
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
Image : An artistic imagination of the microscopic quantum world of atoms and molecules
world, and which in effect renders the
quantum dolly an impossibility! So this
interpretation says, if you measure B on
|a1>, the outcome will be either b1 or b2,
but in an unpredictable way! In other
words, the outcomes of the measurement
have definite values but the values are
realized randomly! What is not random,
however, is the probability of occurrence
of these values, which is determined by
the quantum state |a1> in this case. Let us
dig a little deeper into this, but before that,
it should already be obvious that this
superposition principle is of a fundamen-
tally different character than all the other
superposition principles we have encoun-
tered before in physics and mathematics.
It is for this reason that we have to empha-
size the term states in enunciating this
principle. The fact that the outcomes are
in themselves random but nevertheless
with well-defined probabilities brings
another important aspect of quantum
mechanics to the fore. It is therefore clear
that with only one measurement the
outcome, being pure, cannot yield any
information and hence no physical signif-
icance can be attached to the measure-
ment. But in a realistic measurement in
classical physics too, the outcome of a
measurement has a random element to it
resulting in the so-called statistical errors.
But in classical physics either the state is
unaffected or affected in a controllable
manner, one could have repeated the
measurement on the same copy of the
system a large number of times and reduce
the statistical errors. Let us see why this
luxury is not available in quantum
mechanics! Though the outcomes are the
eigenvalues of B randomly, consistency
would require that if one performed a
B-measurement on the state after the first
measurement, one should get the same
outcome as in the previous step. This is
sometimes called the repeatability hypoth-
esis. If we invoke this, the picture that
emerges is that not only the outcome is an
eigenvalue randomly, the state after that
measurement outcome must become the
corresponding eigenstate. This means
quantum measurements, at least of this
type, lead to a dramatic and irretrievable
change of state. This is also sometimes
called wavefunction collapse. This imme-
diately makes a repeated measurement of
this type on the same copy of the system
useless. As this is a very important point,
let us go over it carefully. Suppose we start
with some state |X> and measure B with
the aim of getting some information about
it. Let us assume we are provided only one
copy of the state. According to what we
have said so far, the state we started with
must collapse to |b1> if the outcome is the
eigenvalue b1. With this single copy mea-
surement we have lost all information
about the starting state as the final state is
|b1> which knows nothing about the initial
state, nor does the eigenvalue b1 have any

information about the initial state either!
It is only a large number of independent
measurements on an equally large number
of identically prepared copies of the initial
state that we can ever hope to learn about
the initial state. For then, we can measure
the probabilities of various outcomes and
that indeed contains information about the
initial state. These are called ensemble
measurements. At this point, it is worth
pointing out that since this formulation of
quantum measurements from the early
days, explicitly realized by the von
Neumann model, a wide variety of new
schemes for quantum measurements have
come up notably the so-called weak mea-
surements and weak value measurements,
quantum non-demolition measurements
etc. But none them can really avoid the
inevitability of ensemble measurements.
After this long, but essential elucidation
of quantum mechanics, we are now in a
position to address the main concern of
this article, namely, the impossibility of a
quantum Dolly! I picked Dolly to drama-
tize the issue but for the quantum context
that may not be the best choice. For one
thing, Dolly’s case involved the cloning
of a living being(in fact much of the
excitement was on that front!), and living
beings are very complex. Also, the ques-
tion of whether the original was a known
state or unknown state is also moot. One
can always argue that DNA and the genetic
code make every living being a known
state. Whether the original in the case of
Dolly is a single copy or many copies is
also moot as in the body of the original
there are numerous identical copies of
cells and their genetic material. So we
shall play it safe and rephrase the impos-
sibility we started with for the case of
quantum states. Once again, if the quantum
state is known, cloning or making an arbi-
trary number of copies is no big deal and
works in spirit exactly as in the classical
case. Again, if a large enough ensemble
of identically prepared states is given,
there is no big deal either. One can make
ensemble measurements to determine the
state(called tomography) and then use the
knowledge of the state to make an arbi-
trary number of copies. The impossibility
statement, also called the no-cloning
theorem, states that it is impossible to
clone or make multiple perfect copies of
a single copy of an unknownquantum
cover story 8
state. Since only a single copy
is available, no measurement
scheme can be used to deter-
mine that state(though we only
showed how it works for Von
Neumann projective measure-
ments, one can show this for
every type of quantum mea-
surement conceivable). Thus
the analog of scanning in the
classical xerox machine will
not work. While we have
heavily used ideas pertaining
to quantum measurements to
argue the case, the theorem as
originally proved by Wootters
and Dieks, only used the rules
f o r q u a n t u m
evolution(dynamics) to prove
it. The proof is so elegant and
straightforward, that I will
Image: An artist's imagination of an attempt to visualise the impossible
include its essentials here. cloning in action, here quantum states are represented by small cubes
Suppose we want to clone an
unknown quantum state |u> into two iden- measurements to determine the state! But
tical copies. The way to do it is to consider this goes against the crux of quantum
|u> along with a blank |0>(think of this as mechanics we stated earlier, namely, no
the empty sheets of a classical xerox measurements on a single copy can yield
machine. Now let the quantum dynamical any information about it. Therefore there
process be described by a unitary trans- can not be such universal cloning
formation U(all quantum evolutions are machines. I end this article with a point
described by unitary transformations, that often confuses people when first con-
these are the technical aspects that you fronted with the no-cloning theorem. They
have to learn if you want to get a proper cite the laser as a possible counterexam-
understanding of quantum mechanics). ple. In a laser starting with an initial
This means we have the cloning transfor- photon injected into a cavity with popula-
mation expressed by the equation U|u>|0> tion inversion, induced emission creates a
= |u>|u>. Since the original state is huge number of copies of the initial
unknown, the same U should clone any photon. Superficially it looks like the
state! Therefore, if |v> is another state, one initial photon has been cloned and the no-
would have U|v>|0> = |v>|v>. Unitary cloning theorem has been violated! In a
transformations maintain the inner product sense, the laser is a cloner, but it clones a
between two vectors(this is exactly like known state as the lasing device has to be
rotations maintaining angles). This imme- specifically chosen to match the initial
diately gives <v|u>=<v|u><v|u> which is state of the photon.
only possible if <v|u>=0 or 1. But |u>, |v> N.D. Hari Dass did his matriculation
were arbitrary, so the only way out is that from Mahajana High School, Mysore,
no such cloning transformation U can his BSc(Hons) and MSc from Delhi Uni-
versity, and his Ph.D. from University of
exist.Though this proof makes no refer- California at Santa Barbara. After that he
ence to quantum measurements, there is a worked at UCLA, Max Planck Inst. for
Physics at Munich (Werner-Heisenberg Institute), Niels
peculiar inner consistency in the follow- Bohr Inst. at Copenhagen, Raman Research Inst. at Ban-
ing sense. Suppose such universal cloning galore and National Inst. for High Energy Physics at Am-
machines could exist; by universal, we sterdam before joining IMSc in Chennai from where he
retired as a Senior Professor. He was then the DAE Raja
mean that U is the same for all input states. Ramanna Professor at IISc, Bangalore and Adjunct Pro-
Then using such a cloning machine we can fessor at Chennai Mathematical Inst.. He is now a visiting
professor at TCIS. He is a fellow of the National Academy
produce an arbitrarily large number of of Sciences, Allahabad.
copies of the unknown state. Then using Source: https://www.tifrh.res.in/~dass/
them we can make ensemble
Scienceteen | December-February 2018
 9 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e
The G o lden Ratio
THE MATHEMATICS OF NATURE AND AESTHETICS
Prashant Kumar Sinha
WHO WAS FIBONACCI? 233, 377, 610, 987, …
Fibonacci Leonardo Pisano also known as
Leonardo Pisano or Leonard of Pisa, was
born in Pisa, Italy in 1175 AD. He Grew
up with a North African education under
the Moors and received his early education
from a Muslim schoolmaster. He traveled
around the Mediterranean coast and met
with many merchants and learned their
systems of arithmetic. He realized the
advantages of the Hindu-Arabic system
and was one of the first to introduce
the Hindu-Arabic number system to
Europe- the system used today. He was
the most outstanding mathematician of
the European Middle Ages.Little is know
about his life except for the few facts given
in his mathematical writings.His first
book was published in 1202 called Liber
Abaci. This book is devoted to arithmetic
and elementary algebra.His next book,
Practica Geometriae, he wrote in 1220,
presents geometry and trigonometry with
Euclidean origin.He applied algebra to
solve geometric problems and geometry
to solve algebraic problems. This was
uncommon in Europe at the
time. He also wrote two other
books. One of which included
Liber Quadratorum which
earned him the reputation as a
major number theorist. Liber
Abaci remained the European
standard for more than two
centuries replacing the Roman
numeration system.In his
honor, a statue of Fibonacci
stands in a garden across the
Arno River, near the Leaning
Tower of Pisa.
The Fibonacci Number
Were introduced in The Book
of Calculating.The Series begins with 0
and 1. Next number is found by adding
the last two numbers together. The number
obtained is the next number in the series.
The Pattern is repeated over and over
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
as we continue the sequence, the ratios
seem to be converging upon one number
(from both sides of the number)!
2/1 = 2.0 (bigger)
3/2 = 1.5 (smaller)
5/3 = 1.67(bigger)
8/5 = 1.6(smaller)
13/8 = 1.625 (bigger)
21/13 = 1.615 (smaller)
34/21 = 1.619 (bigger)
55/34 = 1.618(smaller)
89/55 = 1.618
Here the ratios are rounded off to the
third decimal place. If we examine
55/34 and 89/55 more closely, we see
that their decimal values are not same.
But as the numbers in the sequence
get larger and larger the ratio will
eventually become the same number, and
that number is called
The golden ratio!
The golden ratio is an irrational
number approximately equal
to 1.61803 and is sometimes
denoted by φ(Phi) after
the mathematician Phidias
who studied its properties.
Its unique properties were
first considered in the idea
of dividing a line into two
segments such that the ratio of
the total length to the length
of the longer segment is equal
to the ratio of the length of
the longer segment to the length of the
shorter segment. The Golden Ratio is an
irrational number with an infinite number
of decimal places and it never repeats
itself! Generally, we round the Golden
Ratio to 1.618.
Image: Deutsch: Leonardo Fibonacci (Leonardo von Pisa)
Source: Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by
Ireas using CommonsHelper.Author: Dr. Manuel
1
1
2
3 1.5000000000000000
5 1.6666666666666700
8 1.6000000000000000
13 1.6250000000000000
21 1.6153846153846200
34 1.6190476190476200
55 1.6176470588235300
89 1.6181818181818200
144 1.6179775280898900
233 1.6180555555555600
377 1.6180257510729600
610 1.6180371352785100
987 1.6180327868852500
1,597 1.6180344478216800
2,584 1.6180338134001300
4,181 1.6180340557275500
6,765 1.6180339631667100
10,946 1.6180339985218000
17,711 1.6180339850173600
28,657 1.6180339901756000
46,368 1.6180339882053200
75,025 1.6180339889579000
The interesting thing is that it comes
in strange places that we may not
ordinarily think. The Golden Ratio was
not discovered by Fibonacci, he just
discovered one instance of where it
 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e 10

appeared naturally. In fact, civilizations

such as the Ancient Egyptians, the
Mayans, as well as the Greeks discovered
the Golden Ratio and incorporated it into
their own art, architecture, and designs.
They discovered that the Golden Ratio
seems to be Nature's perfect number. For smaller golden rectangle endlessly.The
some reason, it just seems to appeal to our ancient Greeks believed that a rectangle
natural instincts and fits in our aesthetical constructed in this manner was the most
fantasies. The most basic example is in aesthetically pleasing of all rectangles
rectangular objects. and they incorporated this shape into a
lot of their art and architectural designs.
What does this have to do with Fibonacci
numbers?

Constructing a Golden Rectangle

Now observe, which of them seem to be It's strange that the Golden Ratio comes
the most naturally attractive rectangle? in such unexpected places? Let's see if we
If you think the first one, then you are can find out why. The Greeks were the first
probably the type of person who likes to call phi the Golden Ratio and associated
everything to be symmetrical. Most people the number with perfection. It seems to
tend to think that the third rectangle is the be part of human nature or instinct to
most appealing. The length to width ratio find things that contain the Golden Ratio
for each rectangle is: naturally attractive - such as the "perfect"
rectangle. Realizing this, designers have
Rectangle I: Ratio 1:1 tried to incorporate the Golden Ratio into
Rectangle II: Ratio 2:1 their designs so as to make them more
Rectangle III: Ratio 1.618:1 aesthetically appealing to the eye. Doors,
perfectly with major architectural features notebook paper, textbooks, etc. all seem
The third rectangle is the most appealing of the structure. more attractive if their sides have a ratio
because the ratio is the Golden Ratio! For close to phi. Now, let's construct our own
centuries, designers of art and architectureThe Mona Lisa "perfect" rectangle
have recognized the significance of the Measure the length
Golden Ratio in their work. and the width of Method One
the painting itself. Make any square and bisect it. Draw a
In music The ratio is, of diagonal of one of the rectangles and
Let's take a look at the piano keyboard, do course, Golden. measure the length of the diagonal and
you see anything familiar? Draw a rectangle extend the base of the square from the
around Mona's midpoint of the base by a distance equal
face (from the top to the length of the diagonal. Construct a
of the forehead to new line perpendicular to the base at the
the base of the chin, end of our new line, and then connect to
and from left cheek form a rectangle: Measure the length and
to right cheek) and the width of your rectangle. Now, find the
notice that this, too, is a Golden rectangle. ratio of the length to the width. Are you
Count the number of keys (notes) in surprised by the result? The rectangle you
each of the brackets and You will see the The golden rectangle have made is called a Golden Rectangle
numbers 2,3,5,8,13….coincidence? It The golden rectangle can be constructed
looks like the Fibonacci sequence because from these line segment so that the length
it is! Music involves several applications to width ratio is φ. The golden rectangle
of Fibonacci numbers. A full octave is can be divided into a square and a
composed of 13 total musical tones, 8 of
which make up the actual musical octave.

The ancient temples and monuments fit

precisely into a golden rectangle. Further
subdivisions of the rectangle also align because it is "perfectly" proportional.

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 11 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e

Method Two
Make a square (small to conserve space),
Please note that the golden area is what
the rectangle will eventually look like.
Now, build another, congruent square
right next to the first one. Now we have a
rectangle with a width 1 and length 2 units
and build a square on top of this rectangle
such that square formed will have a side
of 2 units. Now we have a new rectangle
with width 2 and length 3. Let's continue Constructing a Golden Spiral
the process, building another square on
the right of our rectangle. This square will
have a side of 3. Now we have a rectangle
of width 3 and length 5. Again, let's build
upon this rectangle and construct a square
underneath, with a side of 5. The new
rectangle has a width of 5 and a length of
8. Let's continue to the left with a square line should look like a spiral. Here is an
with side 8. Have you noticed the pattern The golden ratio is expressed in spiraling example of what your spiral should look
yet? The new rectangle has a width of 8 shells. Through the opposite corners of like:
and a length of 13. Let's make one final each square, a quarter circle goes. The
square on top, with a side of 13. Our final spiral formed is not a true mathematical Fibonacci numbers in nature
rectangle has a width of 13 and a length spiral. We built our rectangle in a Look at any seed head, it looks like spiral
of 21. Notice that the constructed golden counterclockwise direction which leads us patterns curving out from the center left
rectangle using a square have side lengths into another interesting aspect of the and right. If you count these spirals to
from the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, Golden Ratio. Look at the rectangle with the left and then the right you will notice
5, 8, 13, ...)! No wonder our rectangle is all of our construction lines drawn in and that these are two consecutive Fibonacci
golden! Each successive rectangle has concentrate on the squares that we drew, numbers. This can also be seen in pine-
a width and length same as consecutive starting with the two smallest ones. Let's cones, pineapples, cauliflower, and many
terms in the Fibonacci sequence. If we start with the one on the right. Connect the more!
divide the length by the width, we get the upper right corner to the lower left corner
Golden Ratio! Of course, our rectangle with an arc that is 1/4th of a circle.
is not "perfectly" golden but if we keep
on going the ratio becomes better, for
our purpose a length of 21 and a width
of 13 are sufficient. This rectangle should
seem very well proportioned to you, i.e.
it should be pleasing to the eye. If it isn't,
maybe you need your eyes checked!

Image source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/15-uncanny-

examples-of-the-golden-ratio-in-nature-5985588

Then draw an arc that is one-fourth of a More Fibonacci numbers in nature

circle into the second square on the left, Most of the time, the number of pedals
We will continue this process until each on a flower is a Fibonacci number! This
square has an arc inside of it, with all of means that this "golden spiral" occurs
them connected as a continuous line. The frequently in nature. If you look closely

If the two smallest squares have a width

and height of 1, then the box to their left
has a measurement of 2 and the other
boxes measure 3, 5, 8, and 13.

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e 12

enough, you might find a golden spiral

in the head of a daisy, in a pinecone, in
sunflowers, or in a nautilus shell that you
might find on a beach or even in your ear!
Here are some examples:

Image: Nautilus shell cut in half. The chambers are clearly

visible and arranged in a logarithmic spiral.
Source: This Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons image
is from the user Chris 73 and is freely available at //
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NautilusCutawayLog
arithmicSpiral.jpg under the creative commons cc-by-sa
3.0 license.
Image: Fibonacci Spiral Galaxy. Source: briankoberlein
Some Flower Petal Examples
3 petals: lilies these numbers sound familiar?
5 petals: buttercups, roses They should - they are Fibonacci
8 petals: delphinium numbers! And their ratio, of
13 petals: marigolds course, is the Golden Ratio. The
21 petals: black-eyed Susans same applies to pinecone, where
34 petals: pyrethrum spirals from the center have 5
55/89 petals: daisies and 8 arms, respectively (or of 8
and 13, depending on the size)-
Leaves and Branching Plants again we have two Fibonacci
Leaves are also found in groups of numbers. A pineapple has three
Fibonacci numbers.Branching plants arms of 5, 8, and 13 - even more
always branch off into groups of Fibonacci evidence that this is not a coin-
numbers.Think about yourself, You should Image Source: http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibo-
cidence. Is Nature playing some
have: nacci/fibnat.html
5 fingers on each hand
5 toes on each foot
2 arms
2 legs
2 eyes
2 ears
2 sections per leg
2 sections per arm
I could go on, but I think you get the point.
So, why do the shapes that exhibit the
Golden Ratio seem to be more appealing
to the human eye? No one fully under- kind of game with us? No one knows for
stands this. But we have evidence that sure, but scientists speculate that plants
the Golden Ratio seems to be Nature's that grow in spiral formation do so in
perfect number. It’s easily discoverable Fibonacci numbers because this arrange-
that the florets of the daisy (and of a sun- ment makes for the perfect spacing for
flower as well) grow in two spirals extend- growth and provide the perfect arrange-
ing out from the center. The first spiral Image source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/15-uncanny-
ment for maximum growth potential and
has 21 arms, while the other has 34. Do examples-of-the-golden-ratio-in-nature-5985588 survival of the plant.

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 13 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e

The Human Body

Do these faces seem attractive to you?

Many people seem to think so. But why?
Is there something specific in each of their
faces that make them attractive, or is our
sense of attraction is governed by Nature's
rules? Does this have anything to do with
the Golden Ratio? I think you already
know the answer to that question. Let's
analyze these faces and see if the Golden
Ratio is present or not. Here's how we are
going to conduct our search for the Golden
Ratio. We will measure certain aspects of
each person's face. Then we will compare
their ratios. Let's begin. We will need the
following measurements, to the nearest
tenth of a centimeter.
Britney Spears Steve Carell, with wife Nancy, at 82nd Academy Awards,
Source: flicker.com, alcoolb Photo by Sgt. Michael Connors, Source: Wikipedia.org
the width of the nose, the distance between
the eyes and eyebrows and the distance
from the pupils to the tip of the nose. The
width of the eye is shown by the green
line is a golden section, the distance at
the pupil from the eyelash to the eyebrow
and the distance between the nostrils. The Image: Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/face/
magenta line, a golden section of the green
line, defines the distance from the upper A golden rectangle is exhibited in the two
lip to the bottom of the nose and several incisor teeth in the front. The width of the
dimensions. first tooth to the second tooth from the
center are in the ratio phi. The ratio of the
width of the smile to the third tooth from
the center is phi as well.

Image: Paula Zahn face

Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/face/
a = Top-of-head to the chin
b = Top-of-head to pupil
c = Pupil to nose tip
d = Pupil to lip
e = Width of nose
f = Outside distance between eyes
g = Width of head Image: Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/face/ and
h = Hairline to pupil https://www.phimatrix.com/face-beauty-golden-ratio/

i = Nosetip to chin
j = Lips to chin
k = Length of lips
l = Nosetip to lips
Now find the following ratios: a/g , b/d ,
i/j , i/c, e/l, f/h, k/e
The pupils and outside corners of the
mouth makes a perfect square depicted
by the blue line. The golden section of
these four blue lines defines the nose, the
tip of the nose, the inside of the nostrils,
the two rises of the upper lip and the inner
points of the ear. The blue line also indi-
cates the distance from the upper lip to
the bottom of the chin. The yellow line,
a golden section of the blue line, defines
Image: The Golden Spiral expressed in the human ear
The same applies to the side view of the Source: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/826129125372790476/
Author: Erica Hansen, http://ericahansen.net
human head. The following lines define
the different golden sections:
Blue: in front of the head defines the posi-
tion of the ear opening, Yellow: neck,
Green: back of the eye and the front of
the eye and back of the nose and Magenta:
mouth. Image: Golden ratio in index finger
Divine Proportion is also reflected in the
face dimensions from top to bottom. The
positions of the eyebrow (blue), nose
(yellow) and mouth (green and magenta)
Image: Your hand shows Phi and the Fibonacci Series
shows the same ratio. The Fibonacci spiral The ratio of your forearm to hand is Phi
is evident in the shape of the human ear. Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/human-hand-foot/

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 F e at u r e d A r t i c l e 14

The Fibonacci Sequence the Fibonacci sequence and the golden

The sequence in which each number is the ratio. Both of these ratios converge at the
sum of the two preceding numbers.This same limit which is the positive root of the
sequence is defined by the linear recur- quadratic equation
rence equation.

Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2
F1 = F2 = 1
F2 = 1
By the above definition the Fibonacci
numbers for n=1, 2 is 1 and the sequence
continues as 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,…
Before Fibonacci, these numbers were
already investigated by Indian Scholars
in rhythmic patterns of syllables. The
ratio of successive Fibonacci numbers is
something you might be surprised by! As
n increases, the ratio of Fn / Fn-1 approaches
the golden ratio and is expressed as
Fibonacci’s rabbits
In Fibonacci’s book Liber Abaci there is
a question involving the reproduction of a
pair of rabbits. Suppose a newly born pair
of rabbits (a male and female) are put in a
field. The rabbits can mate at the minimum
age of one month so that at the end of
the second month a female can produce
another pair of rabbits. Assuming that the
rabbits never die and the female always
produces a new pair every month from the
second month on. How many pairs will
there be in one year?
Written by: Prashant Kumar Sinha
References

1. The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci

which is equal to Numbers, by Dunlap Richard A
Image: Golden ratio in human body
Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/human-body/
2. www.goldennumber.net

This is the fundamental property of both 3. http://goldenmeangauge.co.uk

The human body also exhibits phi and the
Golden Section. Lines in different colors
defines the various golden sections exhib-
ited in the human body:
Image: Deutsch: Osterhasen mit Eiern als Beispiel einer Eimerkette, Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Ein_Hase_mit_blauem_Ei.svg, Author: MichaelFrey & Sundance Raphael, Licence: https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
Answer: 144 rabbits

White line: body's height.

Blue line: the distance from the head to

the fingertips.

Yellow line: The distance from the head

to the navel and the elbows is a golden
section of the blue line.

Green line: a golden section of the yellow

line, represents the distance from the head
to the pectorals and inside top of the arms,
the width of the shoulders and the length
of the forearm and the shin bone.

Magenta line: a golden section of the green

line, defines the distance from the head to
the base of the skull and the width of the
abdomen. The sections of the magenta line
determine the position of the nose and the
hairline.

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 13 Teen Spectrum
VIJU & CHEERU
Cheeru: What is Quantum Physics?
Viju: In short, Quantum Physics consists
of a bunch of Postulates that govern the
dynamics of small particles. Coupled with
the Uncertainty Principle it…..
Cheeru: How small? Does it mean that
Quantum Physics does not explain every-
day events like bouncing of a ball or
motion of the planets?
Viju: Quantum Physics explains many
phenomenon that occurs in Subatomic
dimensions where the laws of Newton
don’t apply adequately well. While
Quantum Physics CAN explain all
motions, it’s not necessary (or indeed
desirable) to use it to explain everyday
events like the motion of the planets. In
short, macroscopic Physics is an approx-
imation of Quantum Physics. This is also
sometimes known as the Correspondence
Principle.
Cheeru: Explain the Uncertainty Principle
in less than 15 words!
Viju: In short, it means that an observer
changes the observable by merely
observing.
Cheeru: What do you mean by Postulates?
How many postulates are there?
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
Viju: A Postulate is basically a
statement accepted as true for the
purposes of argument or scientific
investigation. According to the
Hyper-Physics website, there are
6 postulates of Quantum Physics.
They deal with complex ideas
like Wavefunctions, Hermitian
Operators, Eigenfunctions, their
linear independence or lack
thereof, Expectation values,
Time evolution of Schroedinger
Equation….
Cheeru: Hold on just a minute!
I think my brain is going to
crash. Enough of these techni-
cal terms! I still don’t understand why
we need Quantum Physics? Why not
just call it physics? Why do you need the
term Quantum to come before the term
Physics?
Viju: Well, a little historical perspective
is necessary to explain the necessity of
the term Quantum. Back in the early 20th
century, Physicists (wrongly) believed
that all physical events can be explained
by the then known laws of Physics. Then
came a series of events that Physicists
couldn’t explain, forcing them to revise
their perspective!
Cheeru: What incidents?
Viju: There were quite a few - Atomic
Spectra of Hydrogen atom, the Ultraviolet
Catastrophe and of course the celebrated
Photoelectric Effect among others.
The discovery of the atomic spectra of
Hydrogen, in particular, was a matter of
critical importance as far as the develop-
ment of Quantum Physics goes.
Cheeru: What do you mean by spectra?
What changes did the so-called “Atomic
Spectra of Hydrogen” bring to the table?
Viju: Spectra of an atom or a molecule
is basically the range of the wavelengths
of light that it can absorb or emit. It turns
out that a particular molecule can absorb
or emit light waves of only certain wave-
lengths. Light of other wavelengths is
neither absorbed nor emitted.
Cheeru: So what does the absorption of
non-absorption of a particular wavelength
has to do with Quantum Physics.
Viju: Neils Bohr provided the answer to
that.
Cheeru: How so?
Viju: He suggested that Electrons in a
hydrogen atom occupy certain energy
levels. Electrons can’t have just any value
of total energy. For example, the lowest
total energy of an electron in a Hydrogen
atom, let’s call it E1 will have the value
13.6 electron-volts –with a negative sign
of course. The second lowest value of an
electron in a Hydrogen atom, let’s call
it E2 is -3.4 eV. The third lowest value,
let’s call it E3 is near -1.51 eV. Permitted
values like E1, E2, E3 etc are called the
Energy States. According to Classical
Physics, there is no reason why electron
can’t have just any value. The lowest
energy of the hydrogen electron never has
values like 13.5 eV or 13.7& eV. It can
only have the value of -13.6 eV as that is
the only value that Quantum conditions
permit. Furthermore, every change in the
energy state of the electron in a Hydrogen
atom is accompanied by the emission or
absorption of an electron of a specific
wavelength or frequency.
Cheeru: I think I’ve had enough for a
day….
 Teen Spectrum 14

science QUIZ
Rohit Jha

1. What is a Parsec? 11. What is an Exo Planet?

(a) A Cluster of Galaxies (b) A unit of time. (a) a planet outside of our solar system that orbits a star.
(c) A unit of distance. (d) A charged black hole. (b) It’s a general name for any planet that doesn’t have a
2. 2. Which of the following is the largest? satellite.
(a) A group (b) A galaxy (c) It’s a Rogue planet.
(c) A Red Giant (d) A Super Cluster (d) None of the above.
3. A team of Indian astronomers have recently identified an 12. Match the Following –
extremely large supercluster of galaxies. What is the name I. Jupiter A - Triton
of this Super Cluster? II. Saturn B - Ganymede
(a) Saraswati (b) Ganga (c) Indus (d) Narmada III. Neptune C - Puck
4. What is a Pulsar? IV. Uranus D - Tethys
(a) A Main Sequence Star (b) A rotating Neutron Star (a) I – A, II – B, III – C, IV – D
(c) A White Dwarf. (d) None of the above. (b) I – B, II – D, III – A, IV - C
5. Consider the following statements about The Chandrashekhar (c) I – B, II – D, III – C, IV - A
limit and pick the correct answer. (d) I – B, II – C, III – D, IV – A
I.The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass of a Stable 13. What is The Great Red Spot?
Neutron star and a Stable White Dwarf Star. II. (a) It is a feature on Saturn’s surface.
It is roughly equal to twice the mass of the sun. (a) (b) It is a storm on Jupiter roughly half the size of Earth.
Only I is Correct. (c) It is a red circular spot on the surface of Mars.
(b) Only II is Correct. (d) None of the above.
(c) Both I and II are Correct. 14. Which of the following is the densest Giant Planet?
(d) Neither I nor II are correct. (a) Jupiter (b) Saturn (c) Uranus (d) Neptune
6. What is the Steady State theory in Cosmology? 15. What are MACHOs?
(a) It is an alternative to the Big Bang model of the evolu- (a) They are Fundamental particles.
tion of the universe. (b) They are massive planets with rings.
(b) A theory according to which the density of matter in (c) They are large structures made of anti-matter.
the universe changes continuously. (d) They are Astronomical bodies that emit little to no
(c) It’s a theory of Cosmic Superstrings only radiation.
(d) b and c 16. What is the full form of WIMPs?
7. Which of the following proposed particles are believed (a) Weakly Interacting Massless Particles.
to travel faster than the speed of light in vacuum? (b) Weakly Interacting Massive Particles.
(a) A Neutrino (b) A Graviton (c) Weakly Interacting Massless Photons.
(c) A Lambda Hyperon (d) A Tachyon. (d) Weakly Interacting Massive Photons.
8. What is the Kuiper Belt? 17. Our Sun is a –
(a) It is a circumstellar disc in the Solar System. (a) Main sequence Star (b) A Red Giant
(b) It is the group of Satellites of Saturn. (c) A Brown Dwarf (d) None of the above.
(c) It is an asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter. 18. Which of the following experiments has/have verified some
(d) It is a ray of Charged particles emanating from the sun. aspects of General Relativity?
9. Which of the following account for nearly 70% of the (a) CERN LHC experiment.
Universe? (b) Pound-Rebka Experiment.
(a) Dark Matter (c) LIGO
(b) Dark Energy (d) Both b and c
(c) Dark Matter and Dark Energy combined, 19. What do we call the stream of particles that rain down on the
(d) Neutrinos. Earth from outside of the solar system at nearly the speed
10. The existence of which of the following entity is inferred of light?
from phenomenon like the motions of baryonic matter, grav- (a) Cosmic Rays. (b) Anti-Particles.
itational lensing, formation of galaxies etc (c) Higgs Boson. (d) Z Boson.
(a) Dark Matter 20. The most recognized model of how the universe begun is
(b) Graviton known as the?
(c) Neutrino (a) big bang (b) Steady state
(d) All non-Baryonic matter. (c) Big crunch (d) Big bounce

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 15 Teen Spectrum
The Techno Brain
A 3D interactive human brain
Prashant kumar Sinha
In movies and documentaries exploring
the body and riding inside the veins and
seeing the complicated structures of the
nervous system is an awesome experi-
ence. Thanks to a new virtual model, you
can journey through a three-dimensional
brain. The website BrainFacts.org, spon-
sored by The Society for Neuroscience and
other organizations has recently launched
an interactive 3-D brain, which has basic
information about how the human brain
functions. A translucent, light pink brain
initially rotates on the screen. With a click
of a mouse or a tap of a finger on a mobile
device, you can highlight and isolate dif-
ferent parts of the organ. A brief text box
Image credit: Society for Neuroscience
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
then pops up to provide a structure’s name
and details about the structure’s function.
For example: Primary Visual Cortex: gation to particular structures and gives
It is the first part of the occipital lobe to
receive visual information. Each neuron in
the primary visual cortex receives infor-
mation from both eyes working together
to cover a specific portion of the visual
field. Each side of the primary visual
cortex processes information from…It
also tells how a structure got its name
or how researchers knew what it’s func-
tions. Clicking and dragging your mouse
or finger allows you to rotate the brain.
You can zoom in to view areas in detail
or back out to get a bigger picture of a
region’s connection to the rest of the brain.
A drop-down menu provides easy navi-
more context for the brain’s anatomy. At
a glance, the menu outlines, for instance,
that the limbic system contains the ento-
rhinal cortex, amygdala, and hippocam-
pus. And the hippocampus is further com-
posed of the subiculum and dentate gyrus.
Long, sometimes tongue-twisting names
— such as the glossopharyngeal nerve
— can be daunting. But the text boxes
are easy primers, most no more than 50
to 100 words. Make it through the names
and you’ll learn interesting nuggets, like
that the glossopharyngeal nerve oversees
 Teen Spectrum 16

Image credit: Society for Neuroscience

swallowing muscles and relays information about taste and touch in the mouth. Anyone interested or fascinated by the anatomy
of the brain should visit through this interactive model a fun and informative journey.

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 17 Mystery
A New Periodic Table For 2-D Metals
by Rahul Aggrawal
In the year 2004 graphene was isolated,
since then many two-dimensional (2D)
materials have been investigated, These
2D materials are a few atomic layers thick
and exhibit exceptional strength or elec-
tron mobility.They usually have covalent
bonds, as in graphene. however 2d mate-
rials with metallic bonding have recently
shown promise for catalysis and gas
sensing applications. A systematic study
of 2d materials is being done that could
be formed from many metallic elements
Till date, a very few elemental 2D metals
have been investigated, both experimen-
tally and theoretically. In the University
of Jyväskylä in Finland, Janne Nevalaita
and Pekka Koskinen carried out a density-
functional study of 2D materials from 45
metallic elements, ranging from lithium to
bismuth and calculated properties related
to structure and mechanical strength such
as average bond lengths, cohesive energy
(a measure of how strongly the lattice
of atoms is bound together), and bulk
modulus (a measure of compressibility).
The calculations reveal that the properties
of a 2D material are “inherited” from those
of the 3D version of the same metal and
can thus be calculated from the 3D-metal’s
properties through linear extrapolation.
Three probable crystal lattice configura-
tions namely hexagonal, square, and hon-
eycomb were analyzed for every 2D metal
and the most strong and stable sheets that
are not prone to warping were determined.
These 2d metals are virtually one atom
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
thick and for many of the metals haven't
been seen. thus Janne Nevalaita and Pekka
Koskinen, simulated 2-D materials of
forty-five metallic elements, starting from
lithium to bismuth. for every 2D material
sheet, tthe average chemical bond length,
bond strength and also the material’s com-
pressibility was measured. And listed
those properties in the form of a new peri-
odic table. The research was published in
the January. 15 Physical Review B might
facilitate researchers determine which 2-D
metals are most promising for numerous
applications, like prodding chemical reac-
tions or sensing gases. These metals are
like antecedently studied 2-D materials,
like the supermaterial graphene and its rel-
ative diamondene. however those mate-
rials were created from covalent bonds
during which pairs of atoms share elec-
trons, these 2-D metals are composed of
metallic bonds, where electrons flow more
freely among atoms. “It’s an entirely new
kind of family of nanostructures and can
lead to numerous types of applications.
According to Joshua Robinson, a mate-
rials scientist at Penn State not involved
in the work, some 2-D metals would
Image: J. Nevalaita/University of Jyväskylä, Background Image: Courtesy of AlexanderAlUS
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/core-materials/5057399792
possibly exhibit exotic quantum quali-
ties, like 2-D magnetism or superconduc-
tivity (the ability to transmit electricity
without resistance). This can make those
materials helpful for quantum computing.
The duo created three periodic tables that
chart the properties of 2-D metals with
atoms in triangular and square or hon-
eycomb configurations. Using the three
tables, they discovered that the proper-
ties of 2-D metals were related to those of
their 3-D counterparts. For example, a 2-D
triangular lattice had about 70 percent the
bond strength of atoms in the 3-D version
of that metal. Square and honeycomb lat-
tices have about 66 percent and 54 percent
the bond strength of 3-D metals, respec-
tively. A comparison of the stability of
2-D metals in the three different config-
urations revealed that many 2-D metals
were stable in triangular and honeycomb
patterns, but not in squares. Future com-
puter simulations may examine the elec-
tric and magnetic properties of these mate-
rials. Knowing the stability and property
profiles of 2-D metals may help scientists
to fabricate them in the lab.

T he Ku iper Belt
Rohit Jha
The issues surrounding the discovery of
astrophysical objects can be complex.
Sometimes these objects get discov-
ered by chance and on other occasions,
their existence is inferred or predicted
by astronomers before their eventual dis-
covery. A prediction was made in the year
1943 by an Irish astronomer by the name
Kenneth Edgeworth who suggested that
a reservoir of comets and larger bodies
could exist beyond the planets. Eight years
later, another astronomer by the name
Gerard Kuiper came up with a somewhat
similar prediction. He believed that icy
objects just might exist beyond the orbit of
Neptune. They both turned out to be right.
What is The Kuiper Belt?
According to NASA, the Kuiper Belt is “a
disc-shaped region beyond Neptune that
extends from about 30 to 55 astronomi-
cal units.” One Astronomical Unit (A.U.)
is the distance between the Sun and the
Earth. This region consists of thousands
of icy bodies and billions of comets. Most
of these icy bodies are smaller than 100
kilometers in size and they can be even as
small as a pebble. Comets from the Kuiper
Belt usually take nearly 200 years to orbit
the sun. The most crowded section in the
belt is between 42 and 48 A.U.
Sedna, an object that is smaller than Pluto,
was discovered in the year 2004. Another
object named Eris was discovered
Credits: NASA | Artists rendering of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud
Image source: http://herschel.jpl.nasa.gov/solarSystem.shtml
Mystery 18
Image Credits: NASA| The Kuiper Belt
in January 2005
by a Palomar
Observatory-based
team led by Mike
Brown. An inter-
esting develop-
ment followed soon.
The International
Astronomical Union,
in the year 2006
created a new class
of objects called
dwarf planets. It
placed Pluto, Eris and the asteroid Ceres for some time to come. Luckily, Infrared
in this category. Pluto is no longer con- measurements from NASA's space-based
sidered a planet but it is probably the best telescope, Spitzer, have helped in the esti-
known large object in the Kuiper Belt. mation of the size of some of the large
Other large Kuiper Belt Objects include objects in the belt. This belt is believed
Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, Ixion and to be the point of origin for most of the
Varuna and they are often referred to as Comets. Probably the most famous of
Trans-Neptunian objects or TNOs.The these is the Halley’s Comet, which has
well known interplanetary space probe been active for the past 16,000–200,000
named New Horizons launched by NASA years. Interestingly, astronomers have
flew by Pluto in 2015. It surveyed a bunch found structures similar to our Kuiper
of other Kuiper Belt objects as well. Belt around at least nine other stars. New
Formation of The Kuiper Belt: Horizons and Spitzer have collected a lot
Structure Formation is one of the most of data regarding the Kuiper Belt but it
intriguing areas in Modern Astrophysics. turns out that they’ve barely scratched
During the formation of the Solar System, the surface. We are dependent on just a
much of the gas, dust, and rocks got pulled handful of organizations and techniques
together to form the sun and planets. The to collect data regarding the Solar System.
planets then swept most of the remain- If more nations and organizations were to
ing debris into the sun or out of the develop advanced space capabilities, more
solar system. But means of data collection can be arranged
bodies farther out that and hence more facts can be uncovered.
remained safe from These revelations would surely enhance
gravitational effects of among other things, our understanding of
planets. It is believed the formation of the Solar System - or any
that the Kuiper Belt structure for that matter. So it won’t be
objects are the rem- wrong to believe that a lot of great break-
nants of these bodies. throughs in Astrophysics that await us have
Exploration of the to do with Kuiper like belts. So Humanity
Kuiper Belt and the as a whole must aspire to develop greater
Future of Research: proficiency in Astronomical methods in
Kuiper Belt Objects order to nurture a new generation of Space
are very small and Researchers.
since they are very far
References
from the Earth, spot- 1. https://space-facts.com/kuiper-belt/
ting them from any 2. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/kbos
ground-based obser- 3. https://www.space.com/16144-kuiper-belt-
objects.html
vatory is likely to
4. https://www.universetoday.com/107598/what-
remain a challenge is-the-kuiper-belt/
Scienceteen | December-February 2018
 19 Public Library
RESEARCH MATTERS
All biology is computational biology
Florian Markowetz
University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
florian.markowetz@cruk.cam.ac.uk
Markowetz F (2017) All biology is computational biology.
PLoS Biol 15(3): e2002050.doi:10.1371/journal pbio.2002050
Abstract
Here, I argue that computational thinking
and techniques are so central to the quest
of understanding life that today all biology
is computational biology. Computational
biology brings order into our understand-
ing of life, it makes biological concepts
rigorous and testable, and it provides a
reference map that holds together individ-
ual insights. The next modern synthesis
in biology will be driven by mathemati-
cal, statistical, and computational methods
being absorbed into mainstream biologi-
cal training, turning biology into a quan-
titative science.
“How do people like you ever get last-
author papers?” A leading cell biologist
asked me this question in 2008 during the
interview for my current job, implying I
could never take a senior role in research
projects. I had been trained in mathemat-
ics and machine learning but was now
interviewing for a computational biology
job in a cancer research institute. My inter-
viewer wasn’t really sure what my con-
tribution to biology could ever be. Aren’t
computational folks just service provid-
ers? Handy to have, but without any real
scientific vision? She clearly worried
about my ability to do independent bio-
logical research. And she was not the
last to worry. In 2012, with several last-
author papers to my name, I was short-
listed for an European Molecular Biology
Organization Young Investigator fellow-
ship but did not get it. The feedback pro-
vided by the interview panel called my
group a “mathematical service unit,”
claimed “a lack of in-depth understand-
ing of biology,” and decried “an overly
strong reliance on collaborators.” Last
year, we finally saw how low the opinion
of computational work really can be in
the biomedical community, when the edi-
tor-in-chief of the New England Journal
of Medicine used the term “research
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
Fig 1. Carl von Linne´, the Swedish botanist and father
of taxonomy, would be a computational biologist today.
Image credit: Nationalmuseum Stockholm.
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2002050.g001
parasites” to describe computational
biologists making sense of published
data [1].Over the last 20 years, computa-
tional methods have become a well-estab-
lished part of biology, but the examples
above show that “old school” biologists
and clinicians—who make decisions on
publications, funding, and careers—con-
tinue to be uncomfortable with people
like me, who were trained in other dis-
ciplines, pursue biological questions dif-
ferent from their own, and use approaches
not covered in most biological training.
If even my colleagues in the life sciences
do not see why computational research
matters, how will anybody else be able to
see its worth? In the following, I will argue
that computational thinking and computa-
tional methods are so central to the quest
of understanding life that today all biology
is computational biology.
Computational biology brings order
into our understanding of life
“[B]iology adapted itself to the computer,
not the computer to biology,” writes
Hallam Stevens in Life Out of Sequence
[2], his ethnographic and historical
account of computational biology. He
explains: “Computers do not just scale up
the old biology, they bring with them com-
pletely new tools and questions, like sta-
tistics, simulation, and data management,
that completely reshaped the way bio-
logical research is being done.” One key
example of how computers reshaped bio-
logical research is the use of databases and
ontologies. Biological knowledge today is
defined, organised, and accessed through
computation. If Carl von Linne´ (also
known as Carl Linnaeus), the Swedish
botanist and father of taxonomy, lived
today, he would be a computational biol-
ogist (Fig 1). As a botanist, he might take a
leading role in a project like transPLANT
(http://www.transplantdb.eu/) to organise
what we know about the genotypes and
phenotypes of crops and model plants. Or
he might work with the Gene Ontology
Consortium (http://www.geneontology.
org/) to create shared vocabularies that
unify biological knowledge across organ-
isms. Just like Linne´’s Systema Naturae,
such databases are key intellectual contri-
butions to our understanding of life. Every
other type of biological research builds on
these foundations.
Computational biology lets you see the
big picture
Another way computers have reshaped
biology is by introducing statistics and
data analysis methods. A good example
is understanding how mutational pro-
cesses shape genomes [3]. Mutational
processes—be it cigarette smoke, sun-
light, or defects in homologous recom-
bination—are not visible in individual
mutations but only in their global pat-
terns. How often is a C turned into a T?

How does this frequency vary depending
on the neighbours of the mutated base?
How much of this frequency is explained
by other features of the genome, like repli-
cation timing? Answering these questions
helps us to understand basic properties of
the mutational processes active in cells,
and it is only possible by statistical tech-
niques that identify patterns and correla-
tions. These types of analyses need large
data collections, and thus the success of
computational biology is closely linked to
the success of large-scale efforts to gather
genotypes and phenotypes of model
organisms and humans. One of the first
examples highlighting the power of com-
putational approaches was sequencing
the human genome, which showed how
efficiently computational alignment and
scaffolding methods were able to assem-
ble the DNA fragments produced during
shotgun sequencing [4], and modern Next
Generation Sequencing techniques com-
pletely rely on advances in computational
biology to analyse huge amounts of short
sequence reads [5]. DNA sequencing was
once a Nobel Prize–worthy development.
Now, computational biology is leading
the way in turning it into a widely avail-
able and practical approach for both basic
biology and medical research, which is
currently revolutionising what we know
about tissues and single cells.
Computational biology provides an
atlas of life
By combining large data collections
with databases and statistics, computa-
tional biology is providing a reference
map for biology—an atlas of life that
holds together individual insights. This
map is not at the level of resolution pro-
vided by Google Street View, rather, it is
a map like the one used by Columbus,
Magellan, or Vasco da Gama—intrepid
explorers in search of adventure. The map
provides a general outline, but many areas
are sketchy, and some PLOS Biology
| DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.2002050
March 9, 2017 2 / 4important parts might
even be missing and waiting for discov-
ery. “Here be dragons,” it just says. But
even with all these shortcomings, the map
is still an indispensable guide: the atlas of
life provided by computational biology
forms the background for planning,
executing, and interpreting all focussed
small-scale experiments that probe the
uncharted areas and push out the bound-
aries of biological knowledge.
Computational biology turns ideas into
hypotheses
Finally, computers reshaped biology by
making fuzzy concepts rigorous and test-
able. Here is one example from my own
research: for decades, cancer research-
ers have discussed the idea that genetic
heterogeneity between cells in the same
tumour helps to make a cancer resistant to
therapy [6]. It is a simple idea: the more
diverse the cell population is, the more
likely it is that a subset of the cells is resis-
tant to therapy and can regrow the tumour
after all other cells were killed.But how
exactly can you measure “genetic hetero-
geneity,” and how big is its influence on
resistance development? To answer these
questions, we had to turn the idea into
a testable hypothesis. We used genomic
approaches to measure changes in cancer
genomes at different sites in a patient
and then defined quantitative measures
of heterogeneity, which could be com-
pared statistically to clinical informa-
tion on treatment resistance. And indeed,
we found evidence supporting the initial
idea that heterogeneity determines resis-
tance [7]. This is just one of many exam-
ples in which a quantitative computational
approach was needed to turn a fuzzy idea
into a testable hypothesis. Computational
biology excels at distilling huge amounts
of complex data into something testable
in the wet lab, thus, shaping and directing
experimental follow-up.
Rest in peace, computational biology
Pipette biologist. Microscopy biolo-
gist. Cell culture biologist. Have you
ever heard any of those job titles? No, of
course not. All are biologists, because it
is the questions you address that matter,
not the tools you use, and computational
biologists are just biologists using a dif-
ferent tool. The next modern synthesis in
biology will be driven by the absorption
of mathematical, statistical, and computa-
tional methods into mainstream biological
training. It will look more and more like
training in physics and combine teaching
Scienceteen | December-February 2018
Public Library 20
experimental techniques with mathemat-
ical theory and data analysis. And then,
even "old school" biologists will view
computational biologists as one of their
own.
References
1. Longo D.L. and Drazen J.M.,
Editorial Data Sharing, N Engl J Med
2016; 374:276–277 doi: 10.1056/
NEJMe1516564 PMID: 26789876
2. Stevens Hallam, Life Out of Sequence:
A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics,
The University of Chicago Press; 2013
3. Alexandrov L. B. et al. Signatures of
mutational processes in human cancers.
Nature 2013 Aug 22; 500 (7463): 415–
421. doi: 10.1038/nature12477 PMID:
23945592
4. Weber J.L. and Myers E.W. Human
whole-genome shotgun sequencing.
Genome Res. 1997 May; 7 (5):401–9.
PMID: 9149936
5. Flicek P. and Birney E. Sense from
sequence reads: methods for align-
ment and assembly. Nat Methods. 2009
Nov; 6(11 Suppl):S6–S12. doi: 10.1038/
nmeth.1376 PMID: 19844229
6. Nowell P.C. The clonal evolution of
tumor cell populations. Science. 1976 Oct
1; 194(4260):23–8. PMID: 959840
7. Schwarz R.F. et al. Spatial and tem-
poral heterogeneity in high-grade serous
ovarian cancer: a phylogenetic analysis.
PLoS Med. 2015 Feb 24; 12(2):e1001789.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001789
PMID: 25710373
 21 Your Articles

T he T he ory which predicted Gravitation al Waves

Rajeev Singh
Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont (IN2P3/CNRS),
University of Clermont, Auvergne France.

After publishing four groundbreak- experiments done in the world. space-time which marks the end of very
ing papers in 1905 which also includes Today’s physicists are trying to unify massive stars. It also predicted gravita-
“Special Theory of Relativity”, Albert quantum theory and general relativity to tional lensing which is due to the bending
Einstein was in a little distress about form a quantum theory of gravity. of light through space-time structure.
how to include gravity in his relativistic As the Einstein field equations are math- Gravitational Waves, the detection of
framework. It was said that he came up ematically nonlinear in nature, Albert which Nobel Prize of 2017 was awarded
with a simple thought experiment of an Einstein gave initial predictions by using were one of the important predictions
observer falling freely in an elevator when approximation methods. During 1916, an of the theory of gravity given by Albert
he was going to give one public lecture. Astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild gave Einstein.
Then he started to work on the new theory the first non-trivial solution (exact) for the Einstein’s equations describe the relation-
of gravity which took eight long years Einstein Field Equations, which is called ship between the four-dimensional space-
and he presented in the year of 1915 at Schwarzschild metric. This exact solu- time geometry with the energy-momen-
the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and tion led the theory of gravitational col- tum contained in the space-time. There
what is now called as “Einstein Field lapse which we now call “Black Holes”. is no force of gravity as described in
Equations”. These field equations are The anomalous perihelion advance of Newtonian theory; instead, gravity is the
partial differential equations and specify the Mercury planet was shown by Albert change in the properties of space-time cur-
the geometrical nature of space and time Einstein with his theory of gravity in vature caused due to the energy-momen-
which got influenced by the matter and 1915 without using any extra or arbitrary tum of the matter which provides the pos-
radiation. This geometric theory of gravity parameters. General relativity’s predic- sible path which the object will follow.
is what we call today is “General Theory tion of deflection of star light was shown
of Relativity”, which is the current theory by Prof. Arthur Eddington during a solar
of gravity in modern physics. The theory eclipse in 1919 expedition which instantly
is mathematically beautiful and gives us makes Einstein renowned in the world.
the notion of geometric property of space- Yet the gravity theory was not in main-
time. Technically speaking, this curva- stream physics before 1960, but after
ture of space-time is linked directly to 1960 physicists began to know about the
the energy-momentum of matter present. concept of a black hole and to take into
Some of the predictions of general rel- account for the identification of quasars.
ativity which are different from classi- It also has important consequences like
cal physics are space-time geometry, free black holes, regions from where nothing
fall motion, gravitational lensing. These can escape out not even light because of
predictions are confirmed to date by the the complex distortion and structure of
Image Credit: Robert Sullivan
Gravitational Waves Eject a Black Hole from Its Central Home
This illustration shows how gravitational waves can propel a black hole from the center of a galaxy. The scenario begins in the first panel with the merger of two galaxies, each with
a central black hole. In the second panel, the two black holes in the newly merged galaxy settle into the center and begin whirling around each other. This energetic action produces
gravitational waves. As the two hefty objects continue to radiate away gravitational energy, they move closer to each other over time, as seen in the third panel. If the black holes do
not have the same mass and rotation rate, they emit gravitational waves more strongly in one direction, as shown by the bright area at upper left. The black holes finally merge in the
fourth panel, forming one giant black hole. The energy emitted by the merger propels the black hole away from the center in the opposite direction of the strongest gravitational waves.

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 Your Articles 22

Matter and fundamental particles

Protick Mohanta

One of the quests of the scientists is to

understand the basic building blocks of
matters. The search has been started cen-
turies ago. People came to know that all
the matters that we see every day are made
of some small element. For example, we
know that matters are made of molecules
and these molecules are made of atoms.
A major contribution to this field was the
formulation of the periodic table by a
Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. The
elements of the periodic table are nothing
but various atoms. Later a British physicist
Ernest Rutherford tried to explain atoms
using the classical laws of physics (classi-
cal mechanics)but he failed to explain the
stability of atoms. Later a partially suc-
cessful attempt was made by a Danish
physicist Niels Bohr. We know that the
atoms are made of a positively charged
nucleus and negatively charged electrons
are orbiting around it. Bohr proposed that
energy levels of electrons or the orbits
are discrete. Thus a new era of quantum
mechanics begin. After the proper for-
mulation of non-relativistic quantum
mechanics by Erwin Schrödinger most
of the basic features of atoms especially
hydrogen atom could be explained. But
later people even noted that the nucleus
of heavy atoms is made of two types of
particles i.e the positively charged protons
and the neutral neutrons. Furthermore,
these protons and neutrons are not funda-
mental particles. They are made of some
electrically charged particles known as
quarks. There are six types of quarks
namely up, down, charm, strange, top and
bottom. Each quark comes in three differ-
ent colors (red, blue, green). Up, charm
and top quark have +(2/3)e electric charge
and down, strange and bottom quark have
-(1/3)e charge. Proton is made of two up
quark and a down quark, the neutron is
made of two down quark and an up quark.
Now how these charged quarks can stay
together inside a proton or neutron. We
know that same charges repel each other.
So there must be some other attractive
force that is binding the quarks together
and is stronger than electromagnetic
repulsive force. This force is
called "Strong nuclear force"
and is responsible for holding
the positively charged protons
together inside the atomic
nucleus. The strong force
between these quarks are
believed to be originated by the
colors of the quarks, just like
electric charge creates electro-
magnetic field around it and
so they are referred as color
charge. Now the present sce-
nario is that there are more than 100 ele- another set of carrier particles. These
mentary particles like proton or neutron. carrier particles are fundamental. And
So they have been separated into various all together we have 61 fundamental
groups. All these elementary particles are particles(excluding graviton - which is
made of quarks and anti-quarks. Quarks yet to discover).
are believed to be
a fundamental par-
ticle (though there
are other theo-
ries like super-
symmetry which
predicts the exis-
tence of other par-
ticles and also
the string theory
according to which
quarks are made of
strings, but these
theories are yet
to be experimen-
tally verified). And
the forces(strong,
electromagnetic)
are believed to
be mediated by
Source: PBS NOVA , Fermilab, Office of Science, United States Department of Energy
Author: MissMJ

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 23 Your Articles
Life-cycle of stars
Dr. Anupam Bhardwaj
The most remarkable discovery in all of
astronomy is that the stars are made of
atoms of the same kind as those on the
earth.
Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988)
We have all wondered about the mysterious
twinkling stars in the night sky at some
point in our life. Although, this curiosity
about these primary inhabitants of the
universe, diminishes for most of us with
passage of time. Nevertheless, some of us,
namely the astronomers, do study stars in
order to understand how they are born and
evolve with time. The apparent brightness
and position of stars in the sky may seem
fixed to the naked eye but they indeed vary
from one class to another over their life-
span. Apart from the mankind's curiosity
Figure 1. Hertzsprung-Russel diagram displaying the evolution of stars. Source: NASA
Scienceteen | December -February 2018
about the enigmatic universe, one can ask:
why do we need to study stars? Well, the
simplest answer would be that our life on
earth is very much dependent on the Sun,
a star. Sun is at the center of the solar-
system and is the fundamental source of
energy for life on earth. The life-cycle
of a star begins with the gravitational
collapse of massive molecular clouds of
dust and gas (mainly hydrogen) which
forms the regions of high matter density,
the Nebulae, often called the stellar
nurseries or star-forming regions. These
high-density regions of Nebulae attract
more dust and gas, thus heating the
denser regions and form Protostars. This
is the first phase of stellar evolution and
these baby-stars keep accreting gas and
dust from the surrounding as pre-main-
sequence stars. The astronomers use
Hertzsprung-Russel diagram to understand
the stellar evolution. In the Hertzsprung-
Russel diagram, the luminosity of stars is
plotted against its effective temperature.
However, it is not possible to directly
measure the luminosity and temperature
of a star. We can only observe the apparent
magnitude of a star which is dependent
on the distance. An intrinsically bright
star may appear faint because it is far
away from us and on the other hand, a
relatively faint star may appear bright as
it is close to us. Similarly, the temperature
can be understood in terms of color of
the stars, the blue color represents hotter
temperature while the red represents cooler
temperatures. Therefore, in practice, the
Hertzsprung-Russel diagram is replaced
by the color-magnitude diagram.
Main-sequence is the region where stars
spend most of their lifetime, as can be
seen in Figure 1. Roughly around 90%
of stars in our universe belong to the
main-sequence, including our Sun. The
evolution of a star from protostar phase is
dependent on its mass. If a protostar could
not gain enough mass to fuse hydrogen
in its core, it becomes a substellar object
called the Brown dwarf. On the other
hand, if the masses are sufficient to fuse
hydrogen into helium in its core, the
protostars form a main-sequence star.
The main-sequence stars can have masses
up to a couple of hundred solar masses
but we will consider only two cases,
low-mass (~upto 2 solar mass) and
high-mass (above 10 solar mass) stars. The
lifetime of a star on the main-sequence is
dependent on its mass. Higher mass stars
will have high temperatures inside their
core and therefore “burn” their material
faster. Therefore, lower is the mass, more
is the time spent on the main-sequence. So
our Sun will spend total 10 billion years
in the main-sequence phase. However, a
high-mass star may only spend a couple of
tens million years on the main-sequence.
A low-mass star like our Sun will stay on
the main-sequence as long it has hydrogen
in its core. Once all the hydrogen is fused,
helium core starts contracting, increasing
the temperature sufficient enough to fuse

Figure 2. The life-cycle of an average (~1-2 solar mass) and high-mass (~10 solar mass) star. Source: NASA
helium into carbon. In this phase, the outer
layers of stars expand as it becomes cooler,
reaching a Red giant phase. Once all the
helium is consumed, the outer layers of
stars rip apart in the form of gaseous shells
leaving a beautiful display of Planetary
Nebulae. However, the original core
remains intact for the star but becomes
cool and faint in the final phase, called the
White dwarf. The star remains in this phase
for eternity or eventually stops shining,
a dead-star or a Black dwarf. A high-
mass star evolves from its main-sequence
phase to giant phase rather quickly
Image: Stellar evolution, Author: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech , Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=10737
compared to a low-mass star. Due to
high-mass, the star in this phase is
called a Red-supergiant and a series of
nuclear reactions in its core form heavier
elements, such as iron. Once all the fuel is
consumed, these stars undergo a violent
yet beautiful death as a Supernova
explosion. During Supernovae phase,
the explosion is brighter than the entire
galaxy itself for a very short time.
Such events are known as transient
phenomenon in astronomy. The core of
the Supernovae remnants is left either as
a Neutron star or as a Blackhole. Neutron
Scienceteen | December-February 2018
Your Articles 24
stars are very dense as they have masses
equal to a couple of solar masses but the
radius of only a few tens of kilometers. If
the masses are greater than say three solar
mass, the gravity is immensely strong and
the core collapses to form a Blackhole.
The gravity of these objects is so strong
that even the light can not escape from its
event horizon. The Supernova explosion
ejects matter into the universe, also in
the form of heavier elements like iron.
This stardust is accreted by the Nebulae
and Protostars and the cycle of birth
and death of stars goes on. At the same
time, we all carry these stardust particles
within us as the elements of Supernovae
explosion help not only make ourselves
but also the planet we live in. Therefore,
it is only appropriate that Feynman quoted
this as the most remarkable discovery
in all of the astronomy. This article is
inspired by a public lecture, “Birth,
Life and Death of Stars” delivered by
Prof. Marcio Catelan from Chile at the
Austrian Embassy in Beijing, China.
 25 Insight

RAMANUJAN SHODH SANSTHAN news

22nd December, one of the most important
days in the world of mathematics. The birth
anniversary of one of the greatest math-
ematicians in the history ever, Srinivasa
Ramanujan. Ramanujan is becoming one
of the forgotten personalities among our
youngsters. To bring his name back, to
inspire our students to do mathematics, to
give them the vision of the beauty of the
mathematics, to implant mathematics in
the hearts and minds of our students, we
The RAMANUJAN SODH SANSTHAN
TEAM decided to celebrate Ramanujan’s
130th birthday. Two of the heads Mr.
Rahul Aggarwal and Mr. Prashant Sinha
arranged a quiz contest. The team was
happy to see 60-70 students participat-
ing in the contest. Students were full of
enthusiasm and confidence. After the

contest students were told amazing stories

with a valuable message. They were told
about Ramanujan, his work, and his life,
how he reached from a small village to
the society of greatest mathematicians in
the age of 22. The team was nearly suc-
cessful to implant a seed of mathematics

Image: At the entrance of Ramanujan's home.

Image: A view of Ramanujan's home on Sarangapani Sannidhi Street, Kumbakonam

Image: Hardy's Letter to Ramanujan on his work.

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 Insight 26

Image: An image gallery of Ramanujan and his colleagues

at his residence
Image: Ramanujan's wife Janakiammal 94 years old at
her residence.
and science. Mr. Rahul Aggarwal deliv-
ered a great inspirational message and the
day ended with a lot of enjoyment and
Image: Ramanujan with his friends at Trinity College
confident hearts. Next day, Mr. Rahul Cambridge.
went to Chennai to see the place where
Ramanujan lived and worked. There is a
small village named Kumbakonam, the
village of temples located 300km from
Chennai. There Mr. Balaji joined him
and they started looking for Ramanujan’s
Image: Mr. Rahul Aggarwal with Ramanujan's statue at
Ramanujan's residence.

Image: Ramanujan's letter to Royal society when he was

under treatment in hospital.

Image: Certificate of Merit got by Ramanujan in his

school ages.

house but they were completely disap-

pointed. It was little disappointing that
the name of such a great mathematician is
vanishing in his own home country. When
they lost all hopes to find the house and
decided to return. They came knowing that
the house is owned by Shashtra University
and it’s maintained as it was. There was
a museum holding Ramanujan’s belong-
ings. Mr. Rahul and Mr. Balaji visited the
house. They were amazed to see it. The
place where Ramanujan slept, the table
where he sat, the walls he touched, the
window through which he might see the

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

 27 Insight

world while doing mathematics

and the bed where Ramanujan
played with numbers for the
last time. When Mr. Aggarwal
was asked about how he felt
after the visit. He said that the
happiness that visit gave him
cannot be expressed in words.
Mr. Rahul Aggarwal visited
Sarangapani temple which
later on he came to know that
Sarangapani temple was the
place where Ramanujan did his
great work. He used the floor
as his notebook. The visit was
a memorable trip.

After returning, Students were

awarded in which Harsh occu-
pied 1st place and 2nd prize
was won by
Image: The bed on which Ramanujan used to sleep Image: Ramanujan's letter to Mr. Krishnan Rao

Image: Students gathering for quiz competition on 22nd december 2017. Image: Mr. Rahul Aggrawal with his colleague and students organizing the quiz

Image: Rahul Aggrawal with his colleague and students organizing the quiz. Image: Students listening to the story of Ramanujan on 22nd December 2017.

Scienceteen | December -February 2018

 Testimonials 28

Appreciations and suggestions

Scienceteen is a great means of commu- discoveries and concepts behind them in This is a milestone.It’s my pleasure to
nication to promote science and motivate layman's language probably at Class 11 have a chance to get involved.
people towards it at a low cost to the wide level without compromising on the quality Surender K. Sharma
national audience. of the content. The editor has tried his best
-Ayushi Jain M.Tech IIT Chennai to incorporate new ideas and keeps the The magazine is really very well drafted
content up to date with today's require- congratulations for your untiring efforts.
It is very good magazine and big ini- ments. Arshdeep Singh Bhatia
tiative of Ramanujan Shodh Sansthan. Balaji, Chennai
-Mukesh Thakur Ph.D. Research scholar I came across the very first edition of
National Yang Ming University Taiwan I am a research scholar in theoretical Science teen, and I am inspired and learned
physics. I routinely read research jour- a lot of new things. You and your team
Magazine is brainstorming. nals and advanced books in my subjects. can continue as you planned to circulate
-Mrs. Sunita Primary Teacher in Rampur I usually dont read popular science articles it bimonthly. Its really a good initiative. I
and books, as I dont expect to find a lot of came across some points while reading the
Everyone should read scienceteen, espe- new stuff there. I was accidentally intro- magazine, let me tabulate them as follows,
cially who are interested in astro. duced to “Scienceteen” by a friend. I didnt 1. Repetition- few lines are written two or
-Yashaswi Kumar 4th class St Joseph think much of it at the moment. But once more times 2. Context - I feel the context
Academy I casually read it, I found it to be written is somewhere diverging from the main
in a very friendly and attractive style. It is topic, like in quantum gravity 3. Clarity -
Scienceteen really grooms the young a magazine I would certainly have loved the team cam work more to illustrate the
mind. -Devdutt Research Scholar at as a child. I strongly recommend it to any topic in a more lucid manner, as the maga-
Himachal Pradesh University. student of science at any level zine titles “Scienceteen” so we must keep
Amit Kumar. in mind the child psychology while pre-
I want to do something for this maga- paring particular topic. Congratulations
zine. -Rajeev Singh Nice compilation, good cover story, other to you and your team, and definitely you
Research Assistant at Laboratoire de phy- articles are good also. Overall, very attrac- people must continue this.. All the Best
sique corpusculaire de Clermont Ferrand tive look of the magazine. Rakesh S. Bisht
France Dr. Sourav Sur
the magazine should also contain some
Well, the content in the magazine seems It has improved a lot. If you need me to quiz section and some inspiring stories
very original and helps us know more write any article just let me know. I can also of the scientists giving a short narration
about science. write based on my latest paper or some on about the hardships they faced while per-
going scientific research. I was also inter- forming their research. -Pooja
-Hrithik Chatterjee St. Joseph's Academy ested for students to know about contribu-
tion of ancient Rishis in mathematics and We are thankfull for your suggestions and
One of the best magazines for teen- science. I would be happy to contribute. appreciations.
agers which introduce inventions and Dheeraj Kumar Mishra From scienceteen team

Scienceteen | December-February 2018

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