Math Is Fun Forum

Hyperion Tree

Gist

Hyperion, the world's tallest known living tree at over 379 feet, is located in a remote area of Redwood National and State Parks in Northern California. To protect the fragile ecosystem and the tree from damage, its precise location is not disclosed, and visiting it is strictly prohibited, with violators facing fines up to $5000  and potential jail time.

Hyperion was discovered on August 25, 2006, by naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. It was found in a remote area of Redwood National Park that was part of the original 1968 park boundaries. It is estimated to be 600 to 800 years old and contain 530 m^3 (18,600 cu ft) of wood.

Summary

‘Hyperion’ in Redwood national park, 380ft high and up to 800 years old, now off limits after damage done by trampling visitors.

Tree enthusiasts who make the trek to the world’s tallest tree deep in a northern California forest will face a fine and possible jail time after park officials declared the remote area off-limits because of damage done by trampling visitors to the tree and surrounding forest, a park official said on Monday.

The tree, a 380ft (115m) coast redwood, is in a remote area of Redwood national park and is not accessible by any trail. But that hasn’t stopped scores of visitors from hiking to the tree, said Leonel Arguello, the park’s manager for natural resources.

Arguello said the tree, known as Hyperion, was “discovered” by two amateur naturalists in 2006. By 2010, visitors started trekking to see the tall, skinny redwood after bloggers, travel writers and others shared its exact location online. In 2019, Guinness World Records declared the tree, estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old, the tallest in the world.

Tree enthusiasts who make the trek to the world’s tallest tree deep in a northern California forest will face a fine and possible jail time after park officials declared the remote area off-limits because of damage done by trampling visitors to the tree and surrounding forest, a park official said on Monday.

The tree, a 380ft (115m) coast redwood, is in a remote area of Redwood national park and is not accessible by any trail. But that hasn’t stopped scores of visitors from hiking to the tree, said Leonel Arguello, the park’s manager for natural resources.

Arguello said the tree, known as Hyperion, was “discovered” by two amateur naturalists in 2006. By 2010, visitors started trekking to see the tall, skinny redwood after bloggers, travel writers and others shared its exact location online. In 2019, Guinness World Records declared the tree, estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old, the tallest in the world.

Hikers have bushwhacked off-trail into dense vegetation to reach the tree, making many social trails. The tree has also been damaged by visitors who step on its base. The area around the tree no longer has ferns due to trampling, Arguello said.

“The social trails have grown in number, the amount of garbage has increased, there’s human waste that has been seen, and as more people go up to this tree, they create more social trails and all of that is having damage impacts to the vegetation, to the soils and, and all of the garbage just sits out there,” he said.

Details

Hyperion is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens D.Don, Endl.) tree in California, which is the world's tallest known living tree, measured at 116.22 metres (381.3 ft) tall in 2026.

Hyperion was discovered on August 25, 2006, by the naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. The tree height of 115.55 m (379.1 ft) was verified by Stephen Sillett in 2006 by use of both a laser range finder and a fiberglass tape to measure the tree from the base to the crown. The tree has grown since then to reach 116.07 metres (380.8 ft) recorded in 2019. Hyperion was found in a remote area of Redwood National Park, inside of the originally designated park boundaries of 1968.[9] The park also houses the second-, fourth- and fifth-tallest known trees, coast redwoods named Helios, Icarus, and Daedalus, which respectively measured 377, 371 and 363 feet in 2022.

The tree was named after the titan Hyperion from Greek mythology.

Hyperion is estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old and contain 530 m^3 (18,600 ft3) of wood; it was seeded when the Chilula (a Pacific Coast Athabaskan people) inhabited the region.

The exact location of Hyperion is nominally secret but is available via internet search. However, in July 2022, the Redwood Park superintendent closed the entire area around the tree, citing "devastation of the habitat surrounding Hyperion" caused by visitors. Its base was trampled by the overuse and as a result ferns no longer grow around the tree.

Measures to protect the Hyperion tree were officially implemented in 2022 when the National Park Service (NPS) closed public access to its location in Redwood National Park. Individuals who enter the closed area could face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 maximum fine.

Additional Information

Here at Verdissimo, the world’s largest producer of preserved plants and flowers, we’d like to tell you about Hyperion, the tree which, at a height of 115.55 meters (397.1 feet), has been recognized as the tallest tree in the world.

Hyperion is a Sequoia sempervirens, a plant which belongs to the Cupressaceae family. Sequoia sempervirens is commonly known as coast redwood or California redwood, since the vast majority of them are located there.

They are among the most long-lived trees in existence: their maximum lifespan can be anywhere from 2000 to 3000 years, during which time period they can grow to great heights.

The Location of the Hyperion Tree

Hyperion was discovered in August of 2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in Redwood National Park while they were they were hiking.

Redwood National Park is in the United States, specifically, in California, in Humboldt County and Del Norte County. Along with state parks Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek, Redwood National Park occupies an area of 540 km2.

About 45% of the redwood forests in the whole world are contained within these parks, and one of the highlights for many hikers is Hyperion, due to its great size.

Why Was It Named “Hyperion”?

The name “Hyperion” is meant to compare it to a titan of the same name from Greek mythology.

Hyperion, as the son of Uranus (god of the sky) and Gaea (goddess of the earth) was known as “he who walks in the high places” and “he who appears before the sun.” He was one of the twelve titans, and was considered to be a god of watchfulness, which is a good fit for the tallest tree on the planet, which seems to keep watch over its surroundings from its impressive, dominating height.

Command Quotes - III

1. It's always felt natural, because I'm generally very comfortable with people. - Bruce Springsteen

2. I have been learning English on the road since I started when I was 15, so it is a slow process but making some progress. Now I think I am much more comfortable with my English. However, it is difficult, still, when I speak about something that is not tennis. - Rafael Nadal

3. There's nothing wrong with a woman being comfortable, confident. - Selena Gomez

4. Working in 'Man Ka Meet', I noticed the dedication and sincerity of Sunil Dutt at his work. He encouraged every new comer and made me as well as others feel very comfortable on the sets. - Vinod Khanna

5. I never felt comfortable with myself, because I was never part of the majority. I always felt awkward and shy and on the outside of the momentum of my friends' lives. - Steven Spielberg

6. People can judge me for what I've done. And I think when somebody's out in the public eye, that's what they do. So I'm fully comfortable with who I am, what I stand for, and what I've always stood for. - Hillary Clinton

7. War is a way of shattering to pieces... materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and... too intelligent. - George Orwell

8. A broken heart is a very pleasant complaint for a man in London if he has a comfortable income. - George Bernard Shaw.

Command Quotes - II

1. Man is made to adore and to obey: but if you will not command him, if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities, and find a chieftain in his own passions. - Benjamin Disraeli

2. Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've earned it, spend time with your families. - Colin Powell

3. Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others can receive your orders without being humiliated. - Dag Hammarskjold

4. In our system leadership is by consent, not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership. - Donald Rumsfeld

5. Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey. - Denis Diderot

6. You see that even the enemy did not dare to declare war against us till they had seized our generals, for they were sensible that, while we had commanders and yielded obedience to them, we were able to conquer them; but, having seized our commanders, they concluded that we should, from a want of command and discipline, be destroyed. - Xenophon

7. The issues a president faces are not black and white, and cannot be boiled down into 140 characters. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you can't make snap decisions. You can't have a thin skin or the tendency to lash out. - Michelle Obama

8. If I had been censured every time I have run my ship, or fleets under my command, into great danger, I should have long ago been out of the Service and never in the House of Peers. - Horatio Nelson.

Pleurisy

Gist

Pleurisy is the inflammation of the membrane surrounding the lungs (pleura), causing sharp, stabbing chest pain that worsens with breathing, coughing, or sneezing. Primarily caused by infections (viral, bacterial pneumonia), it is treated by managing the underlying cause and reducing pain with NSAIDs. Recovery varies, often lasting a few days to weeks depending on the cause, with a generally good prognosis upon prompt treatment.

Pleurisy is inflammation around the lungs, which causes sharp chest pain. It's easy to treat and usually gets better in a few days, but can sometimes be a sign of something more serious, like pneumonia.

Summary

Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, fever, and weight loss, depending on the underlying cause.

Pleurisy can be caused by a variety of conditions, including viral or bacterial infections, autoimmune disorders, and pulmonary embolism. The most common cause is a viral infection. Other causes include bacterial infection, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, autoimmune disorders, lung cancer, following heart surgery, pancreatitis and asbestosis. Occasionally the cause remains unknown. The underlying mechanism involves the rubbing together of the pleurae instead of smooth gliding. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms include pericarditis, heart attack, cholecystitis, pulmonary embolism, and pneumothorax. Diagnostic testing may include a chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), and blood tests.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) and ibuprofen may be used to decrease pain. Incentive spirometry may be recommended to encourage larger breaths. About one million people are affected in the United States each year. Descriptions of the condition date from at least as early as 400 BC by Hippocrates.

Details:

What is pleurisy?

Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, a large, thin sheet of tissue that wraps around the outside of your lungs and lines the inside of your chest cavity. Between the layer of the pleura that wraps around your lungs and the layer that lines your chest cavity is a very thin space called the pleural space. Normally this space is filled with a small amount of fluid that helps the two layers of the pleura glide smoothly past each other as your lungs breathe air in and out. Pleurisy occurs when the two layers of the pleura become red and inflamed, rubbing against each other every time your lungs expand to breathe in air. Infections like pneumonia are the most common cause of pleurisy.

Symptoms

The main symptom of pleurisy is a sharp or stabbing pain in your chest that gets worse when you breathe in deeply or cough or sneeze. The pain may stay in one place or it may spread to your shoulder or back. Sometimes it becomes a fairly constant dull ache. Depending on what's causing the pleurisy, you may have other symptoms, such as:

* Shortness of breath
* A cough
* Fever and chills
* Rapid, shallow breathing
* Unexplained weight loss
* A sore throat followed by pain and swelling in your joints

Diagnosis

Your doctor will find out if you have pleurisy or another pleural disorder by taking a detailed medical history and doing a physical exam and several diagnostic tests, including:

* Chest X-ray to show air or fluid in the pleural space, and what's causing the condition (for example, pneumonia, a fractured rib, or a lung tumor)

* CT scan that can show pockets of fluid, signs of pneumonia, a lung abscess or a tumor

* Ultrasound, which can show where fluid is located in your chest

* Magnetic resonance (MR) scan, which can show pleural effusions and tumors

* Blood tests, which can show whether you have a bacterial or viral infection, pneumonia, rheumatic fever, a pulmonary embolism or lupus

* Arterial blood gas tests, which show how well your lungs are taking in oxygen

Treatment

A procedure called thoracentesis is used to remove fluid from the pleural space. The doctor inserts a needle or a thin, hollow, plastic tube through the ribs in the back of your chest into your chest wall. A syringe is attached to draw fluid out of your chest.

To relieve symptoms, your doctor may recommend:

* Acetaminophen or anti-inflammatory agents, such as ibuprofen, to control pain

* Codeine-based cough syrups to control a cough

* Lying on the painful side to make you more comfortable

* Breathing deeply and coughing to clear mucus as the pain eases

Your doctor will look at the fluid under a microscope to determine what's causing the fluid buildup. If the fluid is infected, treatment involves antibiotics and draining the fluid. If the infection is tuberculosis or from a fungus, treatment involves long-term use of antibiotics or antifungal medicines. If the fluid is caused by tumors of the pleura, it may build up again quickly after it's drained. Sometimes antitumor medicines will prevent further fluid buildup. If they don't, the doctor may seal the pleural space.

Additional Information

Pleurisy is a condition in which the pleura — two large, thin layers of tissue that separate your lungs from your chest wall — becomes inflamed. Also called pleuritis, pleurisy causes sharp chest pain (pleuritic pain) that worsens during breathing.

One pleural layer of tissue wraps around the outside of the lungs. The other pleural layer lines the inner chest wall. Between these two layers is a small space (pleural space) that's usually filled with a very small amount of liquid. These layers act like two pieces of smooth satin gliding past each other, allowing your lungs to expand and contract when you breathe.

If you have pleurisy, these tissues swell and become inflamed. As a result, the two layers of the pleural lining rub against each other like two pieces of sandpaper. This causes pain when you breathe in and out. The pleuritic pain lessens or stops when you hold your breath.

Treatment of pleurisy involves pain control and treating the cause.

Symptoms:

Signs and symptoms of pleurisy might include:

* Chest pain that worsens when you breathe, cough or sneeze.
* Shortness of breath — often from trying to limit breathing in and out.
* Cough — only in some cases.
* Fever — only in some cases.

Pain caused by pleurisy might worsen with movement of your upper body and can spread to your shoulders or back.

Pleurisy can occur along with pleural effusion, atelectasis or empyema:

* Pleural effusion. In some cases of pleurisy, fluid builds up in the small space between the two layers of tissue. This is called pleural effusion. When there is a fair amount of fluid, pleuritic pain lessens or disappears because the two layers of pleura are no longer in contact and don't rub together.
* Atelectasis. A large amount of fluid in the pleural space can create pressure. This can compress your lung to the point that it partially or completely collapses (atelectasis). This makes breathing difficult and might cause coughing.
* Empyema. The extra fluid in the pleural space can also become infected, resulting in a buildup of pus. This is called an empyema. Fever often occurs along with an empyema.

When to see a doctor

Call your healthcare provider or seek emergency care right away if you experience unexplained, intense chest pain during breathing. You might have a problem with your lungs, heart or pleura or an underlying illness for which you need prompt medical care.

Causes

A variety of conditions can cause pleurisy. Causes include:

* Viral infection, such as the flu (influenza).
* Bacterial infection, such as pneumonia.
* Fungal infection.
* Autoimmune disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.
* Lung cancer near the pleural surface.
* Pulmonary embolism.
* Tuberculosis (TB).
* Rib fracture or trauma.
* Certain inherited diseases, such as sickle cell disease.
* Certain medications and recreational drugs.

Risk factors

The risk of pleurisy increases if you get certain infections, such as the flu or pneumonia. Some medical conditions, such as lupus, TB and sickle cell disease also can increase your risk. And taking certain medicines or certain recreational drugs raise the risk of pleurisy.

Diagnosis

Your healthcare provider will likely start by asking about your medical history and doing a physical exam that includes listening to your chest with a stethoscope.

To determine if you have pleurisy and identify the cause, your healthcare provider might recommend:

* Blood tests. A blood test might tell if you have an infection. Other blood tests might detect an autoimmune disorder, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. In these conditions, pleurisy can be the first sign.
* Chest X-ray. A chest X-ray can show if your lungs are fully inflating or if there is air or fluid between the lungs and ribs.
* Computerized tomography (CT) scan. A CT scan combines a series of X-ray images taken from different angles around your body. It uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images that look like slices of your chest. These detailed images can show the condition of the pleura. They can also show if there are other causes of pain, such as a blood clot in the lung.
* Ultrasound. This imaging method uses high-frequency sound waves to produce precise images of structures within your body. An ultrasound might be used to determine whether you have a pleural effusion.
* Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). This heart-monitoring test might be recommended to rule out certain heart problems as a cause for your chest pain.

Diagnostic procedures

In some cases, your healthcare provider might remove fluid and tissue from the pleural space for testing. Procedures might include:

* Thoracentesis. In this procedure, a local numbing agent (anesthetic) is injected between your ribs to the area where fluid was seen on your imaging studies. Next a needle is inserted through your chest wall between your ribs to remove fluid for lab analysis. Removing fluid can also help you breathe better. The needle is usually inserted with the help of ultrasound guidance.
* Thoracoscopy. If TB or cancer is suspected, a thoracoscopy — also called a pleuroscopy — may be performed. During this procedure, a tiny camera (thoracoscope) is inserted through a small cut in your chest wall. This procedure allows for a direct view inside your chest to look for any problems or to get a tissue sample (biopsy).

Treatment

Treatment for pleurisy focuses primarily on the underlying cause. For example, if bacterial pneumonia is the cause, an antibiotic can be prescribed to manage the infection. If the cause is a viral infection, pleurisy may go away on its own.

The pain and inflammation associated with pleurisy is usually treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others). Occasionally, your healthcare provider may prescribe steroid medication.

The outcome of pleurisy treatment depends on the seriousness of the underlying cause. Early diagnosis and treatment of the condition that caused pleurisy can help you feel better. Depending on the cause and the condition, you may make a full recovery.

Lifestyle and home remedies

These steps might help relieve symptoms related to pleurisy:

* Take medication. Take medication as recommended by your healthcare provider to relieve pain and inflammation.
* Get plenty of rest. Find the position that causes you the least discomfort when you rest. Even when you start to feel better, be careful not to overdo it.
* Don't smoke. Smoking can cause more irritation to your lungs. If you smoke and can't quit on your own, ask your healthcare provider for help.

Spectroscopy

Gist

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation, analyzing how substances absorb or emit light to identify their composition, structure, and physical properties. By analyzing spectral "fingerprints," this technique is critical in chemistry, astronomy, medicine (e.g., MRI), and material science to determine molecular structures and elemental composition.

Spectroscopy is the study of how matter interacts with electromagnetic radiation (light, UV, infrared, X-rays). It measures the absorption, emission, or scattering of radiation by substances, creating a unique spectrum that serves as a "fingerprint" to identify chemical composition, structure, and physical properties.

Summary

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation. This can either involve the absorption of radiation by the sample, or the emission of radiation from the sample.  In a typically emission spectrum, the variation of the intensity of the emitted radiation with frequency is measured.  In the Department, we use and study a wide range of spectroscopic techniques, which give information about a huge number of different materials.  We also study the theory of spectroscopy computationally.

Some spectroscopy techniques access the average or typical properties of a material, whilst others are employed inside a microscope and can give very local information.  Examples of spectroscopy techniques used in a transmission electron microscope include electron energy loss spectroscopy used to study the local compositions of materials, whilst in the scanning electron microscope we use cathodoluminescence spectroscopy to understand the light emission properties of semiconductors and other structures and in the scanning tunneling microscope spectroscopic techniques give insights into electronic structure. Solid state NMR provides a sensitive probe of material structure, and is sensitive to local order and the dynamics of the system.

Theoretical spectroscopy, typically based on first principles density functional theory (DFT) computations, can provide a link between the material structure and the spectra measured. These calculations can aid the design of experiments, or assist in structure solution.

Details

Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra as it interacts with matter. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from radiated visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Spectroscopy, primarily in the electromagnetic spectrum, is a fundamental exploratory tool in the fields of astronomy, chemistry, materials science, and physics, allowing the composition, physical and electronic structure of matter to be investigated at the atomic, molecular and macro scale, and over astronomical distances.

Historically, spectroscopy originated as the study of the wavelength dependence of the absorption by gas phase matter of visible light dispersed by a prism. Current applications of spectroscopy include biomedical spectroscopy in the areas of tissue analysis and medical imaging. Matter waves and acoustic waves can be considered forms of radiative energy, and recently gravitational waves have been associated with a spectral signature in the context of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Introduction

Spectroscopy is a branch of science concerned with the spectra of electromagnetic radiation as a function of its wavelength or frequency, as measured by spectrographic equipment and other techniques, in order to obtain information concerning the structure and properties of matter. Spectral measurement devices are referred to as spectrometers, spectrophotometers, spectrographs or spectral analyzers. Most spectroscopic analysis in the laboratory starts with a sample to be analyzed. A light source is sent through a monochromator to spatially separate the colors before passing a selected frequency band through the sample, then the output is captured by a photodiode. For astronomical purposes, the telescope must be equipped with the light dispersion device. There are various versions of this basic setup that may be employed.

Spectroscopy began with Isaac Newton splitting light with a prism; a key moment in the development of modern optics. Therefore, it was originally the study of visible light that we call color. Following the contributions of James Clerk Maxwell, this study later came to include the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Although color is involved in spectroscopy, it is not equivalent to the absorption and reflection of certain electromagnetic waves that give objects or elements a sense of color to our eyes. Rather, spectroscopy involves the splitting of light by a prism, diffraction grating, or similar instrument, to display a particular discrete line pattern called a "spectrum", which is unique for each different type of element or molecule. Most elements are first put into a gaseous state to allow the spectra to be examined, although today other methods can be used for different phases of matter. Each element that is diffracted by a prism-like instrument displays either an absorption spectrum or an emission spectrum depending upon whether the element is being cooled or heated.

Until recently all spectroscopy involved the study of line spectra and most spectroscopy still does. Vibrational spectroscopy is the branch of spectroscopy that studies the spectra, which are caused by vibrations of molecules. However, the latest developments in spectroscopy can sometimes dispense with the dispersion technique. In biochemical spectroscopy, information can be gathered about biological tissue by absorption and light scattering techniques. Light scattering spectroscopy is a type of reflectance spectroscopy that determines tissue structures by examining elastic scattering. In such a case, it is the tissue that acts as a diffraction or dispersion mechanism.

Spectroscopic studies were central to the development of quantum mechanics. The first useful quantum atomic models, including Bohr model, the Schrödinger equation, and Matrix mechanics, reproduced the spectral lines of hydrogen. These equated discrete quantum jumps of the bound electron in a hydrogen atom to the discrete hydrogen spectrum. Max Planck's explanation of blackbody radiation involved spectroscopy because he was comparing the wavelength of light using a photometer to the temperature of a Black Body. Spectroscopy is used in physical and analytical chemistry because atoms and molecules have unique spectra. As a result, these spectra can be used to detect, identify and quantify information about the atoms and molecules.

Spectroscopy is used in astronomy and remote sensing on Earth. Most research telescopes have spectrographs. The measured spectra are used to determine the chemical composition and physical properties of astronomical objects, such as their temperature, elemental abundances, velocity, rotation, magnetic field, and more. An important use for spectroscopy is in biochemistry. Molecular samples may be analyzed for species identification and energy content.

Additional Information

Spectroscopy is the study of the absorption and emission of light and other radiation by matter, as related to the dependence of these processes on the wavelength of the radiation. More recently, the definition has been expanded to include the study of the interactions between particles such as electrons, protons, and ions, as well as their interaction with other particles as a function of their collision energy. Spectroscopic analysis has been crucial in the development of the most fundamental theories in physics, including quantum mechanics, the special and general theories of relativity, and quantum electrodynamics. Spectroscopy, as applied to high-energy collisions, has been a key tool in developing scientific understanding not only of the electromagnetic force but also of the strong and weak nuclear forces.

Spectroscopic techniques have been applied in virtually all technical fields of science and technology. Radio-frequency spectroscopy of nuclei in a magnetic field has been employed in a medical technique called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the internal soft tissue of the body with unprecedented resolution. Microwave spectroscopy was used to discover the so-called three-degree blackbody radiation, the remnant of the big bang (i.e., the primeval explosion) from which the universe is thought to have originated (see below Survey of optical spectroscopy: General principles: Applications). The internal structure of the proton and neutron and the state of the early universe up to the first thousandth of a second of its existence are being unraveled with spectroscopic techniques using high-energy particle accelerators. The constituents of distant stars, intergalactic molecules, and even the primordial abundance of the elements before the formation of the first stars can be determined by optical, radio, and X-ray spectroscopy. Optical spectroscopy is used routinely to identify the chemical composition of matter and to determine its physical structure.

Spectroscopic techniques are extremely sensitive. Single atoms and even different isotopes of the same atom can be detected among {10}^{20} or more atoms of a different species. (Isotopes are all atoms of an element that have unequal mass but the same atomic number. Isotopes of the same element are virtually identical chemically.) Trace amounts of pollutants or contaminants are often detected most effectively by spectroscopic techniques. Certain types of microwave, optical, and gamma-ray spectroscopy are capable of measuring infinitesimal frequency shifts in narrow spectroscopic lines. Frequency shifts as small as one part in {10}^{15} of the frequency being measured can be observed with ultrahigh resolution laser techniques. Because of this sensitivity, the most accurate physical measurements have been frequency measurements.

Spectroscopy now covers a sizable fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. The table summarizes the electromagnetic spectrum over a frequency range of 16 orders of magnitude. Spectroscopic techniques are not confined to electromagnetic radiation, however. Because the energy E of a photon (a quantum of light) is related to its frequency ν by the relation E = hν, where h is Planck’s constant, spectroscopy is actually the measure of the interaction of photons with matter as a function of the photon energy. In instances where the probe particle is not a photon, spectroscopy refers to the measurement of how the particle interacts with the test particle or material as a function of the energy of the probe particle.

An example of particle spectroscopy is a surface analysis technique known as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) that measures the energy lost when low-energy electrons (typically 5–10 electron volts) collide with a surface. Occasionally, the colliding electron loses energy by exciting the surface; by measuring the electron’s energy loss, vibrational excitations associated with the surface can be measured. On the other end of the energy spectrum, if an electron collides with another particle at exceedingly high energies, a wealth of subatomic particles is produced. Most of what is known in particle physics (the study of subatomic particles) has been gained by analyzing the total particle production or the production of certain particles as a function of the incident energies of electrons and protons.

The following sections focus on the methods of electromagnetic spectroscopy, particularly optical spectroscopy. Although most of the other forms of spectroscopy are not covered in detail, they have the same common heritage as optical spectroscopy. Thus, many of the basic principles used in other spectroscopies share many of the general features of optical spectroscopy.

Q: Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?
A: He pasta way.
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Q: What do Italians eat on Halloween?
A: Fetuccini A-fraid-o.
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Q: What would you get if you crossed pasta with a snake?
A: Spaghetti that wraps itself around a fork.
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Q: What does Arnold Schwarzenegger say before eating pasta?
A: PASTA LA VISTA BABY.
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Q: What do you call a fake noodle?
A: An impasta.
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