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Art of bringing parts of the universe to the perfect state toward which they were thought to aspire - e.g., gold for metals, immortality for human beings.
Industry:Astronomy
1) Spontaneous emission by a heavier element (such as uranium) of positively charged helium nuclei - alpha particles - comprising 2 protons and 2 neutrons. The result of this radioactive decay is that the original element is very gradually converted into another element, with a decreased atomic number and mass. Alpha particle emission may be simultaneous with beta particle decay.
2) The disintegration of an atomic nucleus, in which the final products are an alpha particle and a nucleus with two fewer protons and two fewer neutrons than the original.
Industry:Astronomy
1) Nucleus formed by the α-process (q.v.) (see even-even nuclei.)
2) Particle first discovered in radioactive α decay, and later identified as helium nuclei (two protons and two neutrons bound together.)
3) The nucleus of a 4He atom, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. Mass of α-particle 4.00260 amu.
Industry:Astronomy
1) A process by which a star accumulates matter as it moves through a dense cloud of interstellar gas; or, more generally, whereby matter surrounding a star flows toward it (as in close binaries.)
2) Collection of material together, generally to form a single body.
Industry:Astronomy
A hypothetical process of nucleosynthesis, which consisted of redistributing α-particles in the region from neon 20 to iron 56 (and perhaps slightly higher). The α-process has been replaced by explosive and nonexplosive C, O, and Si burning occurring in rapidly evolving or even explosive stages of stellar evolution which at higher temperatures and densities becomes the e-process.
Industry:Astronomy
1) The angular momentum of a system about a specified origin is the sum over all the particles in the system (or an integral over the different elements of the system if it is continuous) of the vector products of the radius vector joining each particle to the origin and the momentum of the particle. For a closed system it is conserved by virtue of the isotropy of space.
2) The product of mass and angular velocity for an object in rotation; similar to linear momentum. In quantum mechanics, angular momentum is quantized, i.e., is measured in indivisible units equivalent to Planck's constant divided by 2 pi. This corresponds classically to only certain frequencies of rotation being allowed.
Industry:Astronomy
A unit for measuring acceleration, which is metre per second squared.
Industry:Astronomy
1) A process by which a star accumulates matter as it moves through a dense cloud of interstellar gas; or, more generally, whereby matter surrounding a star flows toward it (as in close binaries.)
2) Collection of material together, generally to form a single body.
Industry:Astronomy
The theory by which planetesimals are assumed to collide with one another and coalesce, eventually sweeping up enough material to form the planets.
Industry:Astronomy
