07 November 2017

Notes - a fun assignment / entirely human



       Mid-morning(ish). You are back from the community center and thirty minutes of physical therapy. Carol has already done two loads of wash and changed the hour times on the stove and microwave which you didn't think about changing on Sunday and Monday. - Amorella

       1045 hours. I thought she would do it because she usually does. We have to use the manual directions on both pieces of machinery. This reminds me that I have to go over the changes on the iPhone, iPad and the watch. -- Jadah wants me to go upstairs with her. . ..

       Early afternoon. Yesterday's posting concluded with a better designed question: We are a mixture of what matter once was and is. do we [humans] hold any consciousness of previous material states of being? - Amorella

       Mid-afternoon. You drove to the city building and voted, Carol was number 100 for your precinct and you were 101; Smashburgers for lunch then home where you helped clear the leaves off the back decks. - Amorella

       1531 hours. Thinking on "previous material states of being" I should preface that with "mental states" which are not material (physical).

       In your original question yesterday you were inferring back to any states before the Big Bang. You were thinking about star dust and the like but not subatomic or quantum physics. Star dust is a material state. - Amorella

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Cosmic dust
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cosmic dust, also called extraterrestrial dust or space dust, is dust which exists in outer space, as well as all over planet Earth. Most cosmic dust particles are between a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. A smaller fraction of all dust in space consists of larger refractory minerals that condensed as matter left the stars. It is called "stardust" and is included in a separate section below. The dust density falling to Earth is approximately 10−6/m3 with each grain having a mass between 10−16kg (0.1 pg) and 10−4 kg (100 mg).

Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust (such as in the zodiacal cloud) and circumplanetary dust (such as in a planetary ring). In the Solar System, interplanetary dust causes the zodiacal light. Sources of Solar System dust include comet dust, asteroidal dust, dust from the Kuiper belt, and interstellar dust passing through the Solar System. The terminology has no specific application for describing materials found on the planet Earth except for dust that has demonstrably fallen to Earth. By one estimate, as much as 40,000 tons of cosmic dust reaches the Earth's surface every year. In October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust contains complex organic matter (amorphous organic solids with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure) that could be created naturally, and rapidly, by stars.

In August 2014, scientists announced the collection of possible interstellar dust particles from the Stardust spacecraft since returning to Earth in 2006. In March 2017, scientists reported that extraterrestrial dust particles have been identified all over planet Earth. According to one of the researchers, “Once I knew what to look for, I found them everywhere.”

Study and importance

Cosmic dust was once solely an annoyance to astronomers, as it obscures objects they wish to observe. When infrared astronomy began, the dust particles were observed to be significant and vital components of astrophysical processes. Their analysis can reveal information about phenomena like the formation of the Solar System. For example, cosmic dust can drive the mass loss when a star is nearing the end of its life, , play a part in the early stages of star formation, and form planets. In the Solar System, dust plays a major role in the zodiacal light, Saturn's B-Ring spokes, the outer diffuse planetary rings at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and comets.

Zodiacal light caused by cosmic dust.

The study of dust is a largely researched topic that brings together different scientific fields: physics (solid state,  electromagnetic theory, surface physics, statistical physics. thermal physics), fractal mathematics, chemistry (chemical reactions on grain surfaces), meteoritics, as well as every branch of astronomy and astrophysics. These disparate research areas can be linked by the following theme: the cosmic dust particles evolve cyclically; chemically, physically and dynamically. The evolution of dust traces out paths in which the Universe recycles material, in processes analogous to the daily recycling steps with which many people are familiar: production, storage, processing, collection, consumption, and discarding.

Observations and measurements of cosmic dust in different regions provide an important insight into the Universe's recycling processes; in the clouds of the diffuse interstellar medium, in molecular clouds, in the circumstellar dust of young stellar objects and in planetary systems such as the Solar System, where astronomers consider dust as in its most recycled state. The astronomers accumulate observational ‘snapshots’ of dust at different stages of its life and, over time, form a more complete movie of the Universe's complicated recycling steps.

Parameters such as the particle's initial motion, material properties, intervening plasma and magnetic field determined the dust particle's arrival at the dust detector. Slightly changing any of these parameters can give significantly different dust dynamical behavior. Therefore, one can learn about where that object came from, and what is (in) the intervening medium.

Stardust

Main article: Presolar grains 
Stardust grains (also called presolar grains by meteoriticists) are contained within meteorites, from which they are extracted in terrestrial laboratories. Stardust was a component of the dust in the interstellar medium before its incorporation into meteorites. The meteorites have stored those stardust grains ever since the meteorites first assembled within the planetary accretion disk more than four billion years ago. So-called carbonaceous chondrites are especially fertile reservoirs of stardust. Each stardust grain existed before the Earth was formed. Stardust is a scientific term referring to refractory dust grains that condensed from cooling ejected gases from individual presolar stars and incorporated into the cloud from which the Solar System condensed.
Many different types of stardust have been identified by laboratory measurements of the highly unusual isotopic composition of the chemical elements that comprise each stardust grain. These refractory mineral grains may earlier have been coated with volatile compounds, but those are lost in the dissolving of meteorite matter in acids, leaving only insoluble refractory minerals. Finding the grain cores without dissolving most of the meteorite has been possible, but difficult and labor-intensive.
Many new aspects of nucleosynthesis  have been discovered from the isotopic ratios within the stardust grains. An important property of stardust is the hard, refractory, high-temperature nature of the grains. Prominent are silicon carbide, graphite, aluminium oxide, aluminium spinel, and other such solids that would condense at high temperature from a cooling gas, such as in stellar winds or in the decompression of the inside of a supernova. They differ greatly from the solids formed at low temperature within the interstellar medium.
Also important are their extreme isotopic compositions, which are expected to exist nowhere in the interstellar medium. This also suggests that the stardust condensed from the gases of individual stars before the isotopes could be diluted by mixing with the interstellar medium. These allow the source stars to be identified. For example, the heavy elements within the silicon carbide (SiC) grains are almost pure S-process isotopes, fitting their condensation within AGB star red- giant winds inasmuch as the AGB stars are the main source of S-process nucleosynthesis and have atmospheres observed by astronomers to be highly enriched in dredged-up s process elements.
Another dramatic example is given by the so-called supernova condensates, usually shortened by acronym to SUNOCON (from SUperNOva CONdensate) to distinguish them from other stardust condensed within stellar atmospheres. SUNOCONs contain in their calcium an excessively large abundance of 44Ca, demonstrating that they condensed containing abundant radioactive 44Ti, which has a 65-year half-life.  The outflowing 44Ti nuclei were thus still "alive" (radioactive) when the SUNOCON condensed near one year within the expanding supernova interior, but would have become an extinct radionuclide (specifically 44Ca) after the time required for mixing with the interstellar gas.
 Its discovery proved the prediction from 1975 that it might be possible to identify SUNOCONs in this way. The SiC SUNOCONs (from supernovae) are only about 1% as numerous as are SiC stardust from AGB stars.
Stardust itself (SUNOCONs and AGB grains that come from specific stars) is but a modest fraction of the condensed cosmic dust, forming less than 0.1% of the mass of total interstellar solids. The high interest in stardust derives from new information that it has brought to the sciences of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. 
Laboratories have studied solids that existed before the Earth existed. This was once thought impossible, especially in the 1970s when cosmo-chemists were confident that the Solar System began as a hot gas virtually devoid of any remaining solids, which would have been vaporized by high temperature. The existence of stardust proved this historic picture incorrect.

From the solar nebula to Earth

The arrows in the adjacent diagram show one possible path from a collected interplanetary dust particle back to the early stages of the solar nebula.

We can follow the trail to the right in the diagram to the IDPs that contain the most volatile and primitive elements. The trail takes us first from interplanetary dust particles to chondritic interplanetary dust particles.

Planetary scientists classify chondritic IDPs in terms of their diminishing degree of oxidation so that they fall into three major groups: the carbonaneous, the ordinary, and the enstatite chondrites. As the name implies, the carbonaceous chondrites are rich in carbon, and many have anomalies in the isotopic abundances of H, C, N, and O (Jessberger, 2000).

From the carbonaceous chondrites, we follow the trail to the most primitive materials. They are almost completely oxidized and contain the lowest condensation temperature elements ("volatile" elements) and the largest amount of organic compounds.

Therefore, dust particles with these elements are thought to be formed in the early life of the Solar System. The volatile elements have never seen temperatures above about 500 K, therefore, the IDP grain "matrix" consists of some very primitive Solar System material. Such a scenario is true in the case of comet dust. The provenance of the small fraction that is stardust (see above) is quite different; these refractory interstellar minerals thermally condense within stars, become a small component of interstellar matter, and therefore remain in the presolar planetary disk.

Nuclear damage tracks are caused by the ion flux from solar flares. Solar wind ions impacting on the particle's surface produce amorphous radiation damaged rims on the particle's surface. And spallogenic nuclei are produced by galactic and solar cosmic rays. A dust particle that originates in the Kuiper Belt at 40 AU would have many more times the density of tracks, thicker amorphous rims and higher integrated doses than a dust particle originating in the main-asteroid belt.

Based on 2012 computer model studies, the complex organic molecules necessary for life may have formed in the protoplanetary disk of dust grains surrounding the Sun before the formation of the Earth. According to the computer studies, this same process may also occur around other stars that acquire planets.

In September 2012, NASA scientists reported that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), subjected to interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, are transformed, through hydrogenation, oxygenation and hydroxylation, to more complex organics - "a step along the path toward amino acids and nucleotides, the raw materials of proteins and DNA, respectively". Further, as a result of these transformations, the PAHs lose their spectroscopic signature which could be one of the reasons "for the lack of PAH detection in interstellar ice grains, particularly the outer regions of cold, dense clouds or the upper molecular layers of protoplanetary disks.

In February 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for detecting and monitoring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. According to NASA scientists, over 20% of the carbon in the Universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed shortly after the Big Bang, are abundant in the Universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.

In March 2015, NASA scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starting chemicals, such as pyrimidine, found in meteorites. Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the Universe, may have been formed in red giants or in interstellar dust and gas clouds, according to the scientists.

Selected and edited from Wikipedia

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       From your perspective two paragraphs are of base importance in terms of another question: does consciousness begin with 'polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [Pyrimidine] as they may be the starting materials for the formation of life'? (underlined below) - Amorella

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In September 2012, NASA scientists reported that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), subjected to interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, are transformed, through hydrogenation, oxygenation and hydroxylation, to more complex organics - "a step along the path toward amino acids and nucleotides, the raw materials of proteins and DNA, respectively".

In February 2014, NASA announced a greatly upgraded database for detecting and monitoring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. According to NASA scientists, over 20% of the carbon in the Universe may be associated with PAHs, possible starting materials for the formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed shortly after the Big Bang, are abundant in the Universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.

In March 2015, NASA scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under outer space conditions, using starting chemicals, such as pyrimidine, found in meteorites. Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the Universe, may have been formed in red giants or in interstellar dust and gas clouds, according to the scientists.
      
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       1705 hours. If pyrimidines are within our 'base' amino acids and nucleotides, the raw materials of proteins and DNA then our unconsciousness may have an understanding of this. That is, if unconsciousness/consciousness understands the whole of self-being. That's my thinking.

       Post. - Amorella

       1712 hours. This was a fun assignment Amorella, very enjoyable afternoon time with fingers on the keyboard. Thank you. - rho

       2000 hours. Now I want to focus on what we know about plant consciousness before going further.

       Are you developing a theory? - Amorella

       2002 hours. I don't know. First, I need a definition.

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theory  nouna supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained: Darwin's theory of evolution.

 a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based: a theory of education | music theory.

 an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action: my theory would be that the place has been seriously mismanaged.

 Mathematics a collection of propositions to illustrate the principles of a subject.

ORIGIN late 16th century (denoting a mental scheme of something to be done): via late Latin from Greek theōria  contemplation, speculation,’ from theōros  spectator.’

Selected and edited from the onboard Oxford/American software

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       2009 hours. Based on the above definition I am thinking on 'a supposition of ideas intended to focus on rudiments of consciousness (self-identity) in living matter'.

       You have had nearly a two hour break and already you are feeling inadequate to do anything but simple research following your sense of intuition along the way. Another parallel but perhaps connected theoretical question: 'Is consciousness engrained in the human spirit, in the whole of the heartansoulanmind, not just in the biochemical aspects of brain, body and mind'? Do you agree with this assessment? - Amorella

       2200 hours. This is interesting, Amorella. I am reminded of/from the literary threads of Emerson's essay, "The Over-Soul". The underlining below is for my personal emphasis.

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The Over-Soul

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Over-Soul" is an acclaimed essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, first published in 1841. With the human soul as its overriding subject, several general themes are treated: (1) the existence and nature of the human soul; (2) the relationship between the soul and the personal ego; (3) the relationship of one human soul to another; and (4) the relationship of the human soul to God. Influence of Eastern religions, including Vedantism, is plainly evident, but the essay also develops ideas long present in the Western tradition, e.g., in the works of Plato, Plutarch, and Neoplatonists like Plotinus and Proclus – all of whose writings Emerson read extensively throughout his career– and Emanuel Swedenborg. 
The essay attempts no systematic doctrine, but rather serves as a work of art, something like poetry. Its virtue is in personal insights of the author and the lofty manner of their presentation. Emerson wishes to exhort and direct the reader to an awakening of similar thoughts or sentiments.
With respect to the four themes listed above, the essay presents the following views: (1) the human soul is immortal, and immensely vast and beautiful; (2) our conscious ego is slight and limited in comparison to the soul, despite the fact that we habitually mistake our ego for our true self; (3) at some level, the souls of all people are connected, though the precise manner and degree of this connection is not spelled out; and (4) the essay does not seem to explicitly contradict the traditional Western idea that the soul is created by and has an existence (?) that is similar to God, or rather God exists within us.
The Over-Soul is now considered one of Emerson's greatest writings.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia

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       Enough for tonight, young man. Deep within is a need to validate poetry into science. Poetry is not science, though sometimes poetry can be discovered in science just as the soul can be discovered in heartanmind. - Post. - Amorella

       2217 hours. Where does this stuff come from? Sometimes it seems my fingertips defy my sense of self. It appears unreal yet it is entirely human just the same.

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