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Mystical Science
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Mach
We see a measurement unit called Mach, which is generally used to describe the speed of aircraft and rockets during aerospace flight.
On land, we typically measure speed in Kilometers, while for ships and submarines navigating in the sea, we use "knots" to measure speed. One knot equals one Nautical Mile, which is 1.852 Kilometers.
So how fast is one Mach?
Mach refers to the ratio of speed to the Speed of Sound. One Mach is also known as one times the Speed of Sound, which is the speed at which sound travels through air.
Under Standard Atmospheric Pressure, the speed of sound is approximately 340 meters per second. If converted to vehicle speed, that translates to about 1224 Kilometers per hour.
Therefore, a fighter jet capable of reaching one times the Speed of Sound can be considered quite formidable, as it would appear as little more than a blurred shadow on the ground.
When a fighter jet's speed is less than 1 Mach, it is referred to as subsonic; when it exceeds one Mach but is below five Mach, it is termed supersonic.
For example, the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft from the 1960s had a maximum flight speed that reached 3.2 Mach, which converts to approximately 1.029 Kilometers per second, making it one of the fastest supersonic aircraft in the world at that time.
Speeds above five Mach are classified as hypersonic.
It is said that the Russian MiG-41 fighter jet can reach an astonishing speed of 5 Mach, making it currently the only hypersonic fighter jet.
Additionally, as an aircraft approaches the Speed of Sound, it compresses the surrounding air, causing moisture in the air to condense into clouds. Under specific weather conditions, this can create beautiful vapor cones known as shock collar clouds.
Quantum Field Theory
First, on a macroscopic scale, we can easily determine the exact position of an object, but in the microscopic world, each Particle is dispersed throughout space with a certain probability and exists in the form of a probability wave. This duality of wave and Particle arises from the act of measurement and non-measurement, which is the essence of quantum mechanics.
While this allows us to describe the evolution of a single Particle over time, it does not explain how Particles appear and disappear. For instance, how light is absorbed by electrons in an Atom, and it cannot distinguish between similar Particles that possess the same properties and behaviors as electrons.
A peculiar phenomenon also arises: why do electrons from deep space have exactly the same mass and charge as those in an apple?
To address this issue, many physicists have combined quantum mechanics with Special Relativity to construct a theoretical framework capable of describing the microscopic world—Quantum Field Theory.
In relativity, our universe is composed of three dimensions of space and one dimension of time, forming a four-dimensional spacetime.
When we simplify this to two spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension, we understand that any object with mass will exert gravitational influence on other massive objects due to the Law of Universal Gravitation in its vicinity.
Thus, our universe can be viewed as a Classical Field filled with spacetime fluid, where each point is imbued with a numerical value.
According to Special Relativity, any physical law remains invariant under different inertial reference frames, meaning that the symmetry at each point within the Classical Field must also conserve a quantity as time evolves.
By introducing the Superposition State from quantum mechanics into the Classical Field and combining all possible evolutionary scenarios over time, we can transform the Classical Field into a Quantum Field characterized by Superposition States.
In this context, Particles are influenced by virtual Particles much like waves on a water surface. This not only creates a propagation disturbance in the Quantum Field but also allows them to be affected by the entire Quantum Field.
In our universe, there exists a Quantum Field composed of different Particles, and the assembly of these fields constitutes what we refer to as the Standard Model of Particle Physics.
The problem is that the symmetry in spacetime according to relativity forces all particles to move independently in a straight line. To enable interactions between these quantum fields, it is necessary to introduce virtual photons that can mediate electromagnetic interactions. Through the emission and absorption of particles, different quantum fields can evolve into multiple possibilities simultaneously.
To better explain this phenomenon, let's assume that when we pick up a guitar, the strings can vibrate at different frequencies, with each frequency corresponding to a pure tone.
When we pluck a string, its vibration is the superposition of all frequencies at different amplitudes, while the pure tones form a harmony based on these varying amplitudes, creating the sound produced by the string.
Similarly, a quantum field can evolve through all possible scenarios with different amplitudes, and synthesizing all these scenarios can describe the true evolution process of a physical system.
It can be said that the emergence of quantum field theory not only perfectly illustrates the birth and annihilation of particles but also allows us to analyze the origins of the universe, its evolutionary processes, and future possibilities more accurately at the microscopic level. This brings us closer to uncovering the true nature of the universe.
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