Monday, 20 February 2012

Mengenal Bintang Neutron

A neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. 

Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without net electrical charge and with slightly larger mass than protons. Neutron stars are very hot and are supported against further collapse by quantum degeneracy pressure due to the phenomenon described by the Pauli exclusion principle. 
This principle states that no two neutrons (or any other fermionic particles) can occupy the same place and quantum state simultaneously.
A typical neutron star has a mass between about 1.4 and 3.2 solar masses (see Chandrasekhar Limit), with a corresponding radius of about 12 km.

In contrast, theSun's radius is about 60,000 times that. Neutron stars have overall densities of 3.7×1017 to 5.9×1017 kg/m3 (2.6×1014 to 4.1×1014 times the density of the Sun), which compares with the approximate density of an atomic nucleus of 3×1017 kg/m3. 

The neutron star's density varies from below 1×109 kg/m3 in the crust, increasing with depth to above 6×1017 or 8×1017 kg/m3 deeper inside (denser than an atomic nucleus). This density is approximately equivalent to the mass of a Boeing 747 compressed to the size of a small grain of sand.

In general, compact stars of less than 1.44 solar masses – the Chandrasekhar limit – are white dwarfs, and above 2 to 3 solar masses (the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit), aquark star might be created; however, this is uncertain. Gravitational collapse will usually occur on any compact star between 10 and 25 solar masses and produce a black hole.

Some neutron stars rotate very rapidly and emit beams of electromagnetic radiation as pulsars.

Sumber:

Wikipedia

Friday, 17 February 2012

Kebijakan Pembangunan Sciences

Science policy is an area of public policy concerned with the policies that affect the conduct of the scientific enterprise, including research funding, often in pursuance of other national policy goals such as technological innovation to promote commercial product development, weapons development, health care and environmental monitoring. 

Science policy also refers to the act of applying scientific knowledge and consensus to the development of public policies. Science policy thus deals with the entire domain of issues that involve the natural sciences.

In accordance with public policy being concerned about the well-being of its citizens, science policy's goal is to consider how science and technology can best serve the public.

State policy has influenced the funding of public works and science for thousands of years, dating at least from the time of the Mohists, who inspired the study of logic during the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and the study of defensive fortifications during the Warring States period in China. 

In Great Britain, governmental approval of the Royal Society in the 17th century recognized a scientific community which exists to this day.

The professionalization of science, begun in the 19th century, was partly enabled by the creation of scientific organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, and State funding of universities of their respective nations. 

Public policy can directly affect the funding of capital equipment, intellectual infrastructure for industrial research, by providing tax incentives to those organizations that fund research. 

Vannevar Bush, director of the office of scientific research and development for the United States government, the forerunner of the National Science Foundation, wrote in July 1945 that "Science is a proper concern of government" 

Science and technology research is often funded through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most promising receive funding. 

Such processes, which are run by government, corporations or foundations, allocate scarce funds.

Total research funding in most developed countries is between 1.5% and 3% of GDP.

In the OECD, around two-thirds of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20% and 10% respectively by universities and government. 

The government funding proportion in certain industries is higher, and it dominates research in social science and humanities. 

Similarly, with some exceptions (e.g. biotechnology) government provides the bulk of the funds for basic scientific research. In commercial research and development, all but the most research-oriented corporations focus more heavily on near-term commercialisation possibilities rather than "blue-sky" ideas or technologies (such as nuclear fusion).

Sumber:

Wikipedia

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Certainty and Science

A scientific theory is empirical, and is always open to falsification if new evidence is presented. That is, no theory is ever considered strictly certain as science accepts the concept of fallibilism. 

The philosopher of science Karl Popper sharply distinguishes truth from certainty. He writes that scientific knowledge "consists in the search for truth", but it "is not the search for certainty ... All human knowledge is fallible and therefore uncertain."

New scientific knowledge rarely results in vast changes in our understanding. 

According to psychologist Keith Stanovich, it may be the media's overuse of words like "breakthrough" that leads the public to imagine that science is constantly proving everything it thought was true to be false.

While there are such famous cases as the theory of relativity that required a complete reconceptualization, these are extreme exceptions. 

Knowledge in science is gained by a gradual synthesis of information from different experiments, by various researchers, across different branches of science; it is more like a climb than a leap.

Theories vary in the extent to which they have been tested and verified, as well as their acceptance in the scientific community.

For example, heliocentric theory, the theory of evolution, relativity theory, and germ theory still bear the name "theory" even though, in practice, they are considered factual.

Philosopher Barry Stroud adds that, although the best definition for "knowledge" is contested, being skeptical and entertaining the possibility that one is incorrect is compatible with being correct. 

Ironically then, the scientist adhering to proper scientific approaches will doubt themselves even once they possess the truth.

The fallibilist C. S. Peirce argued that inquiry is the struggle to resolve actual doubt and that merely quarrelsome, verbal, or hyperbolic doubt is fruitless but also that the inquirer should try to attain genuine doubt rather than resting uncritically on common sense.

He held that the successful sciences trust, not to any single chain of inference (no stronger than its weakest link), but to the cable of multiple and various arguments intimately connected.

Stanovich also asserts that science avoids searching for a "magic bullet"; it avoids the single-cause fallacy. This means a scientist would not ask merely "What is the cause of ...", but rather "What are the most significant causes of ...". This is especially the case in the more macroscopic fields of science (e.g. psychology, cosmology).

Of course, research often analyzes few factors at once, but these are always added to the long list of factors that are most important to consider.

For example: knowing the details of only a person's genetics, or their history and upbringing, or the current situation may not explain a behaviour, but a deep understanding of all these variables combined can be very predictive.

Sumber:

Wikipedia