1 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: The best view in the universe is not from the 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,000 Speaker 1: top of the Seer's Tower or the birds Dubai. It's 3 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: not from some seaside hotel. It's not from the top 4 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: of Mount Everest. It's from your backyard. On a dark night. 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: You can look up at the universe and see across 6 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: billions and billions of miles. Every view on Earth pales 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: in comparison to the vista you see across this ocean 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: of space. Though they are impossibly distant, you can still 9 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: see balls of gas furiously fusing, burning brilliantly enough that 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,639 Speaker 1: they can be seen with your naked eyeball. And if 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,639 Speaker 1: you look closely, you'll notice something incredible. There's a rainbow 12 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 1: of stars out there. White, blue, yellow, red. It's a 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: fabulously colorful universe. What does that mean? Why are stars 14 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: different colors? We'll be digging into the physics and countering 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: some usual pop sigh misinformation along the way. Welcome to 16 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: Daniel and Kelly's extraordinarily fabulous colorful Universe. 17 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 2: Hello, my name is Kelly Windersmith. I study parasites and 18 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 2: space and I love looking at the night sky. 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,919 Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, and I don't 20 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: have a favorite color. 21 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 2: I do. Mine's purple. Why don't you have a favorite color? 22 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: I don't get the whole principle of choosing a favorite. 23 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: Like I like the colors, they're all nice. Why do 24 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,679 Speaker 1: I have to pick one and say this one's my 25 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: favorite color? Like, I like purple, it's nice. I like orange. Yellow, 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: it's pretty good too. Blue is so soothing. I like 27 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: the colors. Grown do you have a favorite child? 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 2: You know? You and Zach. I'll ask Zach what's your favorite? 29 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 2: Blah blah blah, and he's like, I don't see any 30 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:58,639 Speaker 2: reason to pick a favorite. And I'm like, because people 31 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 2: use this as a conversation starter, and you're a conversation killer. 32 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: I was just gonna say, it's the way people start conversations. 33 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,119 Speaker 1: But it feels to me like dishonest, it's false. It's 34 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: like it's not what you really think or feel. It's 35 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: just like, oh, you like red, I like green. You 36 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: know it's not sincere, so it doesn't start a good conversation. 37 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 2: I think it's implied that, like, you're not married to 38 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 2: that color for the rest of your life. I was 39 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 2: doing a book signing. I was like, oh, so tell 40 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 2: me something about you. And he's like, I hate small talk. 41 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, okay, and that's the end 42 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:33,239 Speaker 1: of this conversation. 43 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 2: I did stop talking. I was like, okay, all right, 44 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 2: I don't know what else to say. Now you've ruined 45 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 2: the question I was planning on asking you today because 46 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 2: it involves the word favorite. But I was going to 47 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 2: ask you about your favorite or the best star viewing 48 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 2: experience you've had, Like when was the moment when the 49 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 2: sky was most clear and you could see the farthest. 50 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: I think one of my favorite observing moments is not 51 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: actually looking at stars, because you know, stars are hard 52 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: to make out any features for because they're so far away. 53 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: They're sicly just points of light. But stuff in our 54 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: Solar system that you can actually see. And back in 55 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: the mid nineties, I was working on a project over 56 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: the summer right when comet shoemaker Levee was about to 57 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: slam into Jupiter, and I had access to a super 58 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: high speed camera and so we pointed it at Jupiter 59 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: hoping to catch really high speed photographs of the impact 60 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: to see like, you know, planet sized plumes of fire 61 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: emerging from it. It was super cool. 62 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 2: I mean, I do feel like I asked you something 63 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 2: like what's your favorite color? And you answered macaroni and cheese. 64 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 2: But that is a very cool story. Did you see 65 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: what you wanted to see? 66 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, we got to see shoemaker levee impact on Jupiter. 67 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: Unfortunately impacted around the back of Jupiter, so we didn't 68 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: see the collision itself, but we did see the plume 69 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: coming up over the limb of Jupiter. Really pretty amazing. 70 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: I sort of remember it in black and white. I 71 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: can't really answer your color questions, but Jupiter does have 72 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: a lot of beautiful colors. See, it doesn't just pick. 73 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 2: One that's amazing. And you keep sort of wiggling around 74 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 2: my questions. That's fine, that's fine. What you're saying is interesting, 75 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 2: so it's fine for content. 76 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: And i'd ask you what your favorite color is, But 77 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: you're wearing a color right now. You literally have paint 78 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: all over your arms. That's your favorite color. 79 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 2: Well, that's my favorite color for my laundry room renovation 80 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 2: that I'm working on right now. But my favorite star 81 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 2: viewing moment I got really lucky one. So I was 82 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 2: in Costa Rica and I was in a community where 83 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 2: there was a big leather back sea turtle conservation project 84 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 2: going on, and leather back sea turtles can get distracted 85 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 2: by lights and then they move towards those lights and 86 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 2: then they don't go out to the ocean after they 87 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 2: hatch like they're supposed to. So the whole community had 88 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 2: very dim red lights and they turned off all of 89 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 2: their bright lights at night, and so we were sort 90 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 2: of in the middle of nowhere and all the lights 91 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 2: were off. So my job at two am was to 92 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 2: guard the hatchery so that raccoons wouldn't dig up the 93 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 2: leather back sea turtle eggs and eat them. 94 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: Wow. 95 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 2: So it was like two am in Costa Rica. It 96 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 2: was the middle of nowhere. All the lights were out, 97 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 2: and it was just the most amazing view of the 98 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 2: Milky Way and you know, shootings stars and at any 99 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 2: time there could be baby turtles. Like that's Pete Kelly 100 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 2: life right there. I'd much rather spend time with my kids, 101 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 2: But that was amazing. 102 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: That sounds like a magical moment. Did the night sky 103 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: look anything like your outfit does right now? 104 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,559 Speaker 2: Yeah, except a fewer holes in it. This is also 105 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 2: what I wear. What I'm doing some renovation work. I 106 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 2: don't know, it's comfy. 107 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: For the audio only listeners. Kelly's wearing something which looks 108 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: like it has star patterns on it. 109 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 2: It does. And my daughter has a matching outfit that 110 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,160 Speaker 2: we wear sometimes, and she still wants to wear even 111 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 2: though this dress has holes in it. Whenever she wants 112 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 2: to wear a matching outfit, I am all in because 113 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 2: I imagine it's like weeks or months before she's too 114 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 2: old to want to do that. So every day it's 115 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 2: an automatic. 116 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Yes, You've got to savor those moments when the kids 117 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: still want to spend time with you, because pretty soon 118 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: they're going to grow up and move on. 119 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 2: I know, I know your kid's going to college. 120 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: And kids are not the only thing growing up and 121 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: changing and moving on. Everything in the universe is going 122 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: through its own life cycle, including the stars in the sky, 123 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: burning and glowing and changing colors as they do. 124 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 2: Yeah. So when I was listening to your introduction, I 125 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 2: was realizing that I don't appreciate all the colors of 126 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 2: the stars in the sky. I just think of them 127 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 2: as white and sort of look at them as sort 128 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 2: of a blurry something. I don't pay attention to the 129 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 2: individual colors, the palette of the universe. So I'm excited 130 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 2: that next time I look at the night sky, I'll 131 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 2: pay a little bit more attention, and I'm excited to 132 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 2: learn more from you today. 133 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, the universe is very colorful, but it's not just 134 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: to please you or to start conversation among two am 135 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: sky watchers who can otherwise talk to each other. It's 136 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: for physics reasons, and the colors in the night sky 137 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: are going to tell us a lot about what's going 138 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: on inside those. 139 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 2: Stars, as long as it's not for chemistry reasons. 140 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: So this is actually part one of a two part 141 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,839 Speaker 1: series about why stars have colors and what it tells 142 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: us about the universe, which ends up with a really 143 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: interesting story about yet another overlooked female astronomer. 144 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 2: Oh I love when I'm surprise. While we're recording, I 145 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 2: didn't realize this was a two parter. 146 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: I just realized as the two parter because I'm preparing 147 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: that other episode, and now I'm understanding, Oh my gosh, 148 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: this is the perfect setup for that episode. So good 149 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: job Daniel realizing that in real time. 150 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 2: Welcome to Star Week. 151 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: This is how carefully we plan the episodes on the podcast. 152 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: All right, So before we dig deeper, I was curious 153 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: if people knew why stars had different colors, and so, 154 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: as usual, I went out to our group of wonderful, clever, hilarious, 155 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: well informed, good looking volunteers to ask them if you 156 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: would like to join their ranks for future episodes. Please 157 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: don't be shy, right to us two questions at Danielankelly 158 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: dot org. We'll hook you up in the meantime, think 159 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: about it for yourself. Do you know why stars are 160 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: different colors? Here's what our volunteers had to say. We 161 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: know the color here on Earth is based on different 162 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: wavelengths of light, so I'm assuming that the same principles 163 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: apply to stars. 164 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 3: Red shift the including distance from and speed away from 165 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 3: the observer. 166 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 4: Color of the stars related to its size. So the 167 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 4: older the stars, the more it's been able to fuse, 168 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 4: the heavier elements you get different. 169 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: Spectrum their temperature and the element. 170 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 5: I know that big hot stars are described as below 171 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 5: and small coola stars described as red, and middlely ones 172 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 5: like our sun are yellow. 173 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 4: Well, I think the color of stars depends pretty well 174 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 4: solely on their age. 175 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 3: I think stars are different colors based on the levels 176 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 3: of hydrogen and helium in the star. 177 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 4: Red ones are shy, and as they get closer they 178 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 4: turn red. 179 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: Blue ones are kind of cool, so they're going away 180 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: from you. They don't care. 181 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 2: Different elements of different colors, and stars throughout their life 182 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:54,119 Speaker 2: fuses loads of different elements. 183 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: I think stars are different colors because of the gases 184 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: that are in them, and also because of the temperature 185 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:01,559 Speaker 1: of the star. 186 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 4: Probably due to their composition, different elements they are made 187 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 4: up of, and perhaps also their size and perhaps just 188 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 4: how they're burning their energy output. 189 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:15,079 Speaker 1: Also, the universe believes in diversity, equity inclusion, and that's 190 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 1: why they're different colors. 191 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,199 Speaker 2: The temperatures are different and that causes the black body 192 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 2: radiation peaks to be at different wavelength. 193 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 4: Stars are different colors because they have different elements and 194 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 4: they burn at different temperatures, which changes the color we see. 195 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 4: I'm really not sure where the stars are different colors, 196 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 4: but if I had to guess, I would say it 197 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 4: had to do something with where they were at in 198 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 4: their life cycle and the gases that they are made 199 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 4: up of. 200 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 3: I think stars are different colors because the way they 201 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 3: expand and like the gases inside of them like as 202 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 3: they expand and get hotter, I think they like change 203 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 3: colors and stay those colors their lifetime. 204 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: I would think that stars are different colors because they 205 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: emit different light particles, but I think a nonscience the 206 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: answer would be that they have a cool aura. 207 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 2: Amazing answers I chuckled, and some really clever insights here. 208 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 2: What did you think, Daniel? 209 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of interesting stuff going on here. 210 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,199 Speaker 1: The picture I'm putting together of what people imagine causes 211 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: the different colors of stars is that this different fusion 212 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: happening with like different ingredients. Maybe you have more metal 213 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: here and more metal there, and that's somehow changing what's 214 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: going on, and that's changing the burning of the star 215 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: the way you can put copper in a Bunsen burner 216 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: and it turns green, for example. 217 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 2: That is my understanding coming into this conversation is that 218 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 2: I do think it depends on what elements are getting 219 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,679 Speaker 2: burned and how hot. But often I'm wrong. 220 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: So I suspect a lot of you listening out there 221 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: probably think the same thing, which is why we do 222 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,079 Speaker 1: this segment to orient us and understand where we need 223 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: to take you from your current understanding to a deeper, 224 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 1: more physical understanding. So we hope that by the end 225 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: of the episode you have a deeper view of why 226 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: stars have different colors, because the answer is a little 227 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 1: bit more subtle than anything we heard from our volunteers. 228 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 2: All Right, I love it. Let's dig in and let's 229 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 2: start with the basics. Tell me about light and color. 230 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: Right, So some of the listeners commented that different colors 231 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 1: mean different wavelengths, and that's true. Of course we're interested 232 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: in like why is flight emitted at different wavelengths? But 233 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: fundamentally it's important to understand the physical mechanism here, like 234 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: why are we seeing different colors? And they're right, because 235 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: light is electromagnetic radiation. The universe is filled with electromagnetic field, 236 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: and that field can ripple, and when electrons in alpha 237 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: centauri wiggle, they cause ripples in that field because electrons 238 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: are connected to that field. Right, When electron moves, it 239 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: wiggles that field, and that wiggle is what we see 240 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 1: as photons, for example. And those wiggles have frequencies, and 241 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: the frequencies correspond to different wavelengths, and those wavelengths correspond 242 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: to colors. 243 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 2: I feel like a bunch of pieces actually just click 244 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 2: together in my head that should have clicked together much earlier, 245 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 2: but there they are, okay. 246 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: Click And the same mechanism is like how radio works 247 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: wizer an antenna because electrons are going up and down 248 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,559 Speaker 1: in the antenna, and as they do so, they make 249 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: the photon field wiggle just the same way, like if 250 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 1: you're holding the end of a jump rope and you 251 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: go up and down, you make wiggles down the jump rope. 252 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: It's exactly the same mechanism. 253 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 2: I think the piece is just unclicked. Oh no, I 254 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 2: think I don't understand the electrons going up and down 255 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 2: the antenna. Thing is it just radio waves are traveling 256 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 2: through the antenna and that's radio frequencies. 257 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: Well, an electron has an electric field around it, right, 258 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: If the electron just sits there, the electric field doesn't change. 259 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: What happens if the electron moves up, well, the electric 260 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: field also has to move up. Or if the electron 261 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: field moves up and then down, the electric field moves 262 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: up and then down. But it doesn't do so instantly, 263 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: Like if you wiggle an electron in an antenna that's 264 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: a mile away from me, I don't instantly see it 265 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: change in the electric field. It has to propagate and 266 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: So if the electron is going constantly up and down 267 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: and up and down, then it's making waves up and 268 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,679 Speaker 1: down in the electric field that propagate out away from it. 269 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,079 Speaker 1: And if I'm a mile away and i have electrons 270 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: in my antenna, those wiggles in the electric field are 271 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 1: going to push on my antenna's electrons, which are going 272 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: to go up and down, and then I'm going to 273 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: read that out as current. So yeah, the electrons in 274 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: descending antenna wiggle the electric field, which wiggles. Electrons in 275 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: the receiving antenna, which move and can be picked up 276 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: by my electronics can be reclick yep, yah yah. And 277 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: so the different colors are different wavelengths of those wiggles. 278 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: Photons are wiggles in the electromagnetic field, but they can 279 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: have different wavelengths. Right. They can be really really narrow, 280 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: so they're like very high frequency, like ultraviolet or purple. 281 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: They can be really really long, so they're like radio 282 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: waves or red light or infrared light. And there's a 283 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: potential source of confusion here. Remember these things are quantum mechanicals, 284 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: So photons are discrete units. Like you can have one 285 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: photon or two photons, but you can't have two point 286 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: seven eighty one photons, but you can have photons of 287 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: any energy. That's a continuous spectrum, So there's an infinite 288 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: number of frequencies on the spectrum. 289 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 2: So does that mean there's an infinite number of colors? 290 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: Mmmm, yes, great question. Right, So there are an infinite 291 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: number of frequency choices for a photon. But colors are 292 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: things that we experience in our mind. Right. There are 293 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: responds to signals on the optic nerve. So let's talk 294 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,000 Speaker 1: momentarily about the physics of the biology of what's going 295 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: on there. You have photons that enter your eyeball and 296 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: they hit the back of the eyeball and the back 297 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: of the eyeball, there are three different kinds of cells 298 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: that respond to different colors. They have proteins on them 299 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: that operate like little switches, and when they absorb a 300 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: photon of the right color, they flip that switch and 301 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: they send a signal up the optic nerve. This whole 302 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: continuous spectrum of photons gets converted into three numbers, how 303 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: much did you turn on cone one, Cone two, and 304 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: cone three? And then your brain interprets those and generates 305 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: the experience of the color. So the color is actually 306 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: in your mind. It's not on the photon, right, we 307 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: say red photon or green photon when we're being sloppy, 308 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: but really the boon has an energy and the experience 309 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: of color is only in your brain. 310 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 2: And we got a great question on our discord channel, 311 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 2: which you can join by going over to Danielankelly dot 312 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 2: org and clicking the invite and Quicksilver the DIRG Sorr 313 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:20,479 Speaker 2: who was the discord quicksilver the DIRG anyway, this individual 314 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 2: going by the moniker Quicksilver, the DIRG wanted to know 315 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 2: something about why we see the colors that we do see. 316 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 2: And actually, our distant ancestors had two kinds of light 317 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 2: cones and we have three, and so why do we 318 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 2: see the colors that we see. The answer, really, at 319 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 2: the end of the day is we're not one hundred 320 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 2: percent sure, but we think what happens is that there 321 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 2: was a gene duplication event, and these happens every once 322 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 2: in a while in our genome. And so now instead 323 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 2: of having two different kinds of cones, you had two 324 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 2: different kinds of cones, but three different genes for those cones, 325 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 2: and over time selection tinkered with that extra new gene 326 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 2: and we ended up with the ability to see the 327 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 2: color red. Already see things like green, and the thought 328 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 2: was that seeing colors like red allowed our primate ancestors 329 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 2: to differentiate between different kinds of fruits and in particular 330 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 2: whether or not the fruits were ripe. And there are 331 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 2: some macaques that only have two types of cones and 332 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 2: some macaques that have three types of cones in the 333 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 2: same species, there's this variability. Some studies have found that 334 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 2: if you have three types of cones, you get ripe 335 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 2: fruits quicker and eat them quicker, which shows a benefit. 336 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 2: But other studies and other kinds of macaques haven't found 337 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 2: that because it's biology, so it depends depends there you go. 338 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: And I think you put your finger on it, because 339 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: the important thing here is the ability to distinguish different colors, right, 340 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: But I think that depends not just on like the 341 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: number of different kinds of cones you have, but also 342 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: the processing power behind it. I know that like mantis, 343 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: shrimp are famous for having like more than ten different 344 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: kinds of cones, but they actually apparently are terrible at 345 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: distinguishing different colors because they have almost no neural processing 346 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: behind it. I think they might just like experience ten 347 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: different literal colors. We have a huge number of different 348 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: colors that we can distinguish because we can do this interpolation, right, 349 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: That's what your brain is doing is it's getting like, oh, 350 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: a little bit from the bluish cone, a little bit 351 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: from the reddish cone, a little bit from the greenish cone, 352 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,479 Speaker 1: and it's saying, okay, what color would give me this 353 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,679 Speaker 1: pattern and then sort of inferring what color might be there. 354 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 1: But again, the experience of color, the reason like red 355 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: is reddish and blue is bluish has nothing to do 356 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,239 Speaker 1: with the photon. That's something your brain has assigned to 357 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: it has invented, has fabricated. Right in principle, it could 358 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:32,400 Speaker 1: make up a new color. If you've got a new 359 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: cone and planted that was sensitive to the ultraviolet, that 360 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: your brain could invent a new experience, not one that's 361 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: a combination of the other ones, but like a real 362 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,440 Speaker 1: novel experience to represent the signal from the UV cone. 363 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 2: And there are insects that can see in the UV. 364 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 2: And it makes me so sad when I look at 365 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 2: a beautiful flower and think there's layers that I'm missing. 366 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 2: But anyway, I'm guessing based on our examples that you 367 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 2: and I both read An Immense World by Ed Young, 368 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 2: because we both seem to have cherry picked examples from 369 00:17:58,720 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 2: that fantastic book. 370 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:02,640 Speaker 1: It is definitely a great book, a lot of fun, 371 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: and recommend everybody read that, especially if you're interested in 372 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,400 Speaker 1: physics and biology, because it covers both of those topics 373 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:09,639 Speaker 1: about our experience. 374 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 2: Okay, so the three kind of cones that we have 375 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 2: determine what colors we can see in the night sky. 376 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 2: Are we missing a lot or are there ultraviolet stars 377 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 2: out there that we're missing. 378 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: We're definitely missing a lot because we can only see 379 00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: a certain range of photons ultraviolet and infrared. Everything below 380 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: that and everything above that we can't see, and the 381 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 1: sky definitely is bright in those colors. That's why, for example, 382 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:35,640 Speaker 1: we have radio telescopes and infrared telescopes and ultraviolet telescopes 383 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: because stars and other different phenomena emit differently in those 384 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: spectrum and if you can see those, you can see 385 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: different kinds of things. Also, the universe is transparent differently 386 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: in different frequencies. Some frequencies of life can go through 387 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: dust clouds and others can't, and so if you want 388 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,119 Speaker 1: to see through dust clouds, you've got to change your frequency. 389 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: So absolutely the night sky looks very different outside the 390 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: visible range our star, and of course peaks right in 391 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: the center of the visible range, which again is no coincidence. Right. 392 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 1: If you're going to evolve vision, you might as well 393 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,680 Speaker 1: evolve it to be able to see the most common 394 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: photons that are around you. So if we had evolved 395 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: around a redder star, for example, probably our visible range 396 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: would be lower. The Sun is an unusual star. Most 397 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:20,920 Speaker 1: of the stars out there are redder than our star. 398 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: Our star is yellower than most stars out there, so 399 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: we may have a different visual range than most of 400 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: the aliens. 401 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 2: So are you postulating that the color of the star 402 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,119 Speaker 2: determines the colors that we see, because I feel like 403 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 2: that's not an evolutionary argument that I understand. Does the 404 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 2: color of our star impact the color of things on 405 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 2: Earth that are important for food, mating or running away 406 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 2: from a predator? 407 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: I think it makes sense for us to be most 408 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 1: sensitive to the photons that are most present here on 409 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: Earth for that range. Whether we can experience two or 410 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: seven or three or whatever, I think is a different question. 411 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 1: But for us to be sensitive to the most common 412 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,399 Speaker 1: kind of photons makes sense to me. I'll give you 413 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: that you're skeptical. Why A you're skeptical? 414 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 2: So I totally follow the argument that the most common 415 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 2: kinds of photons in the environment would be the ones 416 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 2: that were good to sense. But if for some reason 417 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 2: those didn't translate into an increased ability to find your 418 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 2: food or an increased ability to recognize a mate, then 419 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think that selection would hone in on those. 420 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 2: And there's so much variability and what animals can see. 421 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,439 Speaker 2: You know, there's plenty of dichromates, so they don't have 422 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 2: three kinds of cones and they get along just fine. 423 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 2: So yeah, how do you explain the variability? 424 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 1: Then that's a great point. And I can give you 425 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: an example to support your point, which is neutrinos. Neutrinos 426 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: are everywhere in our environment, but pretty much useless because 427 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: everything is transparent to them, and so it wouldn't be 428 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: great to develop a neutrino eyeball even though they're everywhere. 429 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: So you're right, just being ubiquitous isn't enough to have 430 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: to be useful. And so I think the combination of 431 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: the fact that they are everywhere, and stuff on Earth 432 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: tends to not be transparent to them, makes them useful 433 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: for us to see things. So I think you're right. 434 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: It's more complicated than just the physics of this region 435 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: has to also be like useful in your environment. For sure. 436 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,679 Speaker 1: I have no idea why you would have two or 437 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: seven cones. 438 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 2: I guess both of our fields are useful. You ponder 439 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,400 Speaker 2: the question Daniel and I were just debating during the break, 440 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 2: And when we get back, we'll talk about why stars 441 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 2: have different colors? All right, and we're back. You look 442 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,159 Speaker 2: up at the night sky and there are lots of 443 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 2: different colors of stars. Though I'll be honest, I missed 444 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,880 Speaker 2: that in the past. I'm gonna be paying much more 445 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,879 Speaker 2: attention now. So Daniel, why do those stars have different colors? 446 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: So there's sort of three big factors that control what 447 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,199 Speaker 1: color a star is in our sky. One is what 448 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: it's made out of, another one is its temperature, and 449 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: the last one is its velocity. So let's do those 450 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: in order. What it's made out of. This is the 451 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: one that's connected to your experience of like putting copper 452 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: in a Bunsen burner and seeing it glow green. That's 453 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: because atoms are quantum mechanical little objects and they have 454 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: energy levels. You know, electrons around an atom can't just 455 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: be at any energy willy nilly. There's a ladder of 456 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: energies there, and because there's a ladder of energies there, 457 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 1: they can only eat and emit photons of certain energies, 458 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: the ones that let them go up or down the ladder. 459 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,639 Speaker 1: So when an electron is around an atom and a 460 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: photon comes by, if that photon has just the right 461 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,440 Speaker 1: energy to take it up one or two or seven 462 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: rungs on that ladder, it can eat that photon. You 463 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: might think I don't care about what photons the electron eats, 464 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 1: but actually does matter what it absorbs and what it reflects, 465 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: because what it reflects is what you see. Right, If 466 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: you're looking at something that's blue, it's not blue because 467 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: it's eating blue photons. It's blue because it's eating everything 468 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,919 Speaker 1: but the blue photons. It's reflecting blue photons back at you. 469 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: Remember you see something blue because some light in the 470 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: blue range has hit your eyeball and you responded to that. 471 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: So it's important what energy levels an atom can absorb. 472 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: And the same is true also in the reverse, Adam's 473 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: in midlight. That's what's happening to the copper in your 474 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,359 Speaker 1: Bunsen burner. It's getting hot, and the inverse process is happening. 475 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,440 Speaker 1: An electron jumps down energy levels and gives off a photon, 476 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: a green photon in the case of copper. 477 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 2: That always felt very counterintuitive to me, that the color 478 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 2: that I'm seeing is the color that's being given off 479 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 2: by something. It almost feels like everything is disguising itself 480 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,199 Speaker 2: in some way. I don't I don't know why my 481 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 2: brain ahead trouble wrapping itself around that. 482 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: I totally remember the first time I understood that. I 483 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: was like nine, and I was like, oh my gosh, 484 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: things that are blue are not actually blue, they just 485 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 1: look blue. And then I realized, well, maybe that's what 486 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 1: it means to be blue, to look blue. But yeah, 487 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: I had the sense that like, if I could see 488 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 1: through these photons to what things actually looked like, I 489 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: could perceive a deeper truth to the universe. But the 490 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: universe is kind of a construct we've assembled in our 491 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,160 Speaker 1: head from our experience of it, and there's a lot 492 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: of that that's imagined, that's put together from our experience 493 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: and the way we paint these colors on things is 494 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: just one layer of that. 495 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, man, Yeah, I totally agree though. 496 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's the joy physics. It helps you separate 497 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: what's really out there and what you know about it, 498 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: which you don't know about it, which parts you're building 499 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: in your mind. Super fascinating, even if it is philosophical 500 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:27,879 Speaker 1: and could never be understood. So the next piece to 501 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,880 Speaker 1: understand is why things have different colors? Right, We said 502 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: that atoms have energy levels, and electrons can jump up 503 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: energy levels eating photons or down energy levels emitting photons, 504 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: and those photons have specific energies corresponding to those gaps. Well, 505 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: different atoms have different energy levels. Copper and mercury and 506 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: helium and hydrogen all have different energy levels. Because the 507 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: solutions to the Shorteninger equation are different, you got different 508 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: numbers of protons, and the whole configuration of the atom 509 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 1: is different. Every atom has its own unique ladder, which 510 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: means that they have like a fingerp If you take 511 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: an element and you take a gas of it and 512 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,960 Speaker 1: heat it up, and then you take the light from 513 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,479 Speaker 1: that pass it through a prism to spread it out, 514 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: you'll see that Each element has its own unique fingerprint, 515 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: its own spectrum. They'll have these little bands like a 516 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,439 Speaker 1: blue one and a red one, or a different element 517 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: will have like a green band and the blue band 518 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: will be shifted over. So you can tell what something 519 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: is made out of just by looking at a spectrum 520 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 1: of a hot gas. So there's two things that are 521 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: happening here. You have hot gas, it glows in certain colors, right, 522 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: And if you have more oxygen, you glow in these colors. 523 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: You have more neon, you glow in those colors. And 524 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: our whole next episode is going to be about using 525 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: spectroscopy to understand what stars are made out of. But 526 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,359 Speaker 1: this also absorption, Right, if a star has an atmosphere 527 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,360 Speaker 1: and that atmosphere is mostly neon, for example, then it's 528 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: going to absorb that light. So if you have a 529 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: hot blob of gas, it emits light to those frequencies. 530 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,719 Speaker 1: If you have light that passes through an atmosphere, then 531 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: it absorbs those frequencies. 532 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,159 Speaker 2: So it feels to me now like we have an 533 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 2: infinite number of combinations of elements that could be emitting 534 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,479 Speaker 2: and like gases that could be absorbing. How do we 535 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 2: make sense of the output given that there's now so 536 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 2: many different options, and it's probably not just one element 537 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 2: that's emitting at a time. There's probably a couple different 538 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 2: things that are emitting. And I'm overwhelmed. 539 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: Yes, it is overwhelming. It's a hard problem, and it 540 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,879 Speaker 1: was solved by a very clever young lady around the 541 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: turn of the century. And we're going to talk about 542 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: that in the next episode. Okay, but even if you 543 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,199 Speaker 1: mix all these elements together, what you get are a 544 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 1: bunch of different spikes Like these are narrow emission lines. 545 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: You can't put them together to get a broad spectrum. 546 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,200 Speaker 1: And that's not what most of the light from the 547 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: stars is. This is like people's conception, but most of 548 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: the light from the star comes from a completely different process. 549 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: It's not from atomic emission and absorption. It comes from 550 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: the plasma inside the star just glowing at a certain temperature. 551 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 2: What all right, we were all wrong, audience and friends 552 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 2: of mine. Okay, so Daniel, let's move on to the 553 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 2: next thing. Then tell us more about this thing that 554 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 2: actually contributes most of the color. 555 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, so we said that the color of stars comes 556 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: from what they're made out of, and that has to 557 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: do with atomic absorption, and emission mostly in the atmosphere 558 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: of stars, but also from its temperature. And so that's 559 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: what we're going to dig into next. And there's a 560 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: process here that has a terrible, absolutely, terrible, very misleading name. 561 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: It's called black body radiation that describes why stars glow 562 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,679 Speaker 1: at certain temperatures. And it's terribly the name because a 563 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: star doesn't seem like a black body. Right. 564 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 2: Nope, you guys did it again. 565 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: But in physics, we have a model of some hypothetical 566 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,640 Speaker 1: object with no reflection, Like any photon you shoot at 567 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: it, it will absorb it and just like heat up. And 568 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,919 Speaker 1: even in the hypothetical version, it's not black. It just 569 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: means that it doesn't reflect. It glows because of its temperature. 570 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: Everything in the universe that has a temperature and is 571 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:43,919 Speaker 1: made of charged particles will glow. Like if you have 572 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,640 Speaker 1: fluorescent lights in your ceiling, you look up that has 573 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: a hot gas in it that's glowing because of its temperature. 574 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: Or you're glowing right now, Kelly, because of your temperature. 575 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: Not in the visible light, but if I put on 576 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: night vision goggles or infrared goggles, I would be able 577 00:27:58,480 --> 00:27:59,880 Speaker 1: to see you emitting light. 578 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 2: What is the physics definition of glow is it just 579 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 2: releasing photons or something. 580 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: It's just releasing photons because you have charge particles in you, 581 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: and charge particles are always interacting and moving around and whizzing, 582 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: and when they do so, they emit photons. Like an 583 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: electron can't change directions without emitting a photon. That's how 584 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:20,359 Speaker 1: it does it. And an electron is flying to the 585 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,720 Speaker 1: universe and it wants to curve along a magnetic fields 586 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: or something, it's got to push out a photon in 587 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: the other direction to conserve momentum. Now you have a 588 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: big blob of gas with all sorts of charge particles 589 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: whizzing around, they're going to be constantly emitting photons, and 590 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: they emit a very broad spectrum. Not like the atoms 591 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: we talked about, we have very specific energy levels. This 592 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: black body radiation is a very broad spectrum, but it 593 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: has a peak that depends on the temperature. So really 594 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: cold things tend to emit in the infrared. Warmer things 595 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: emit invisible. So for example, you take a piece of metal, 596 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,000 Speaker 1: it's glowing right now, even if it's cold, just in 597 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 1: the infrared. You can't see it. Put in the oven, 598 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:58,480 Speaker 1: heated up, put it in the forge. It starts to 599 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: glow red, and then it glows white. Right. White? Hot 600 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: is very hot? Why because now it's hot enough to 601 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: be glowing in the visible Keep heating it up. It'll 602 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: start to glow in the ultra violet. You won't see 603 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: it anymore, but it be super duper hot. The temperature 604 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,400 Speaker 1: of something determines the peak of its emission, right, So 605 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: everything in the universe that's made of charge particles glows 606 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: at a certain temperature, and that temperature controls the frequency 607 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: of the emission. 608 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 2: Okay, all right, a few questions. So when an electron 609 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 2: kicks out a photon, is it still an electron? 610 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 1: It's still an electron because a photon is neutral. Yeah. 611 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 2: How many photons can an electron kick out? Can I 612 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 2: just do that all the time? 613 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, what an amazing question. It makes me 614 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,160 Speaker 1: think of an electron as like having a bag of 615 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: photons that they could run out of, right, like fuel 616 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: You think of like rockets, right, and they need some source. No, 617 00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: an electron has an infinite number of photons. Remember, these 618 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: are just wiggles in the electromagnetic field, right, And so 619 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: it's not like it's kicking off some substance. But in 620 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 1: order to conserve momentum, you have to have some momentum 621 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,479 Speaker 1: move to the ectromagnetic field and some momentum moves through 622 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: the electron field. 623 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 2: Wow, okay, all right. So say you've got some iron, 624 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 2: and we talked about iron having emission line spectrums where 625 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 2: the electrons get excited and they jump to different levels 626 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 2: and they emit light and then you hate that iron 627 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 2: up and now it's glowing. Are you saying that the 628 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 2: glow is more important than the jumping of the levels. 629 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: The most general answer is that it depends on what 630 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: it's made out of and its temperature, and in the 631 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: case of stars, it's mostly black body radiation. Like when 632 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: we look at the spectrum from the Sun, it's almost 633 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: all black body radiation. So that's definitely the most important effect. 634 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: And there's a combination of the two things. So you 635 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: have the star which is glowing very broad spectrum which 636 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: peaks right in the middle of our visual spectrum for 637 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: our star. But then the sun has an atmosphere, and 638 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 1: this atmosphere is gas and it's made out of various stuff, 639 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: and that atmosphere will eat that spectrum. So the light 640 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 1: we get from the Sun is a huge black body 641 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:07,480 Speaker 1: peak with a few lines removed. That's absorption spectrum. So 642 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: if you look at the spectrum from the sun, you 643 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: see reds and yellows and greens and blues, but then 644 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: you see these black spots, these things that have been removed. 645 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: That tells you what's in the atmosphere of the Sun. 646 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: You can see the hydrogen lines have been removed, the 647 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: sodium lines, the helium lines, the magnesium lines, and so 648 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: that helps you figure out what's in the atmosphere of 649 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: the Sun. So the two things happening there is the 650 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: broad glow inside the sun, which we're not fully seeing 651 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: because parts of it have been removed as the Sun's 652 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: atmosphere eats some of those frequencies. 653 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 2: That's amazing. 654 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, and so the last piece we talked about for 655 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: what determines the light that comes from a star is 656 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 1: the velocity. And a bunch of listeners pointed this out 657 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: that things that are moving away from you will be 658 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,320 Speaker 1: red shifted, just like a police siren moving away from 659 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: you will have a lower sound than a police siren 660 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: moving towards you. It's just a Doppler effect. And so 661 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: as star emitting light as it moves away from you 662 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: is going to get red shifted, and we use this 663 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: red shift to measure that velocity. It's like a huge 664 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: the important thing in astronomy. A star moving towards you 665 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: would be blue shifted, and we can tell the red 666 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: shift in the blue shift because we know the typical fingerprints. 667 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: Like you get a star you've never seen before and 668 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 1: you want to measure its red shift. Well, you might think, well, 669 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: how it I know it's impossible. If the star has 670 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: hydrogen lines but they're shifted by a few nanometers, and 671 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: it has magnesium lines and those are shifted by the 672 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: same number of nanometers, then the most likely scenario is, oh, 673 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: this isn't made of some new super weird metal that 674 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: looks like magnesium and hydrogen but shifted. It's just magnesium 675 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: and hydrogen and it's been shifted due to the red shift. 676 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: So you can fit these lines, these specter, these absorption 677 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: and emission lines, to tell you the frequency shift of 678 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 1: an individual star. And so that definitely affects the color 679 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: of the star in the sky. And almost everything in 680 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: the sky is moving away from us, so they're all 681 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: red shifted. 682 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 2: I'm having one of those moments where I'm just so 683 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 2: proud of our species for figuring all of this out, 684 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 2: Like that's so many different things to keep track of. 685 00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 2: It's so incredible that we got there and that we 686 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 2: understand all of this stuff and anyway way to go humans. 687 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: This is the amazing thing about astronomy is that you 688 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: cannot leave the Earth. Mostly you've got to figure out 689 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: the puzzle of the universe from these clues. And we 690 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 1: didn't assemble this experiment in this way. We stumbled over 691 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: these things. People had moments of insight where they realized, 692 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: hold on a second, this pattern actually reveals this thing 693 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 1: about the universe. Those are incredible realizations, so powerful. And 694 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: let me just qualify what I said a moment ago 695 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: about everything moving away from us. Galaxies are moving away 696 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: from us, and those are all red shifted. Most of 697 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 1: the stars in the Milky Way are held together by 698 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: the gravity of the Milky Way, and so those aren't 699 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: red shifted and moving away from us. The stars in 700 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: the night sky are the ones from the Milky Way. 701 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: Those are the ones we can see. They're not red shifted. 702 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 1: But other galaxies are red shifted. 703 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 2: All right, Well, that is amazing. Let's take a break, 704 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 2: and when we get back, we're going to talk about 705 00:33:51,000 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 2: the color of our very own sun. All Right, we're back, 706 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 2: and Daniel wants to tell us about why Niel de 707 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:13,320 Speaker 2: grass Tyson is wrong. 708 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,319 Speaker 1: I don't want to say that. I do want to 709 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: dismantle a lot of pop sign myths that you. 710 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 2: Hear from Neil de grass Tyson. 711 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,200 Speaker 1: I didn't say that. I didn't say that. I just 712 00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 1: want to say that, you know, on this podcast, we'd 713 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: like to dig deep, well past the usual pop side 714 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: explanations and tell you what's really going on. So you know, 715 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: we're interested in the colors of the stars in general. 716 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: But of course our sun is near and dear to 717 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:39,960 Speaker 1: our hearts. Why does the sun have its particular color? 718 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 1: And the Sun's color is actually fascinating because if you 719 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,919 Speaker 1: were out in space and you were looking at the sun, 720 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: it's white, right, And what does it mean for the 721 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,719 Speaker 1: sun to be white? White isn't like a color. It's 722 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,799 Speaker 1: a mixture of the colors, and it's sort of the 723 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 1: way your brain responds when you see a very broad 724 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,840 Speaker 1: spectrum of light across the visible range. So out of space, 725 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: the sun is white. Here on Earth because of the 726 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: effects of the atmosphere. The sun looks a little yellower, right, 727 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 1: because the atmosphere tends to scatter blue light, which is 728 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: why the sky, which doesn't have its color of its own, 729 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: looks blue, right, because it's reflecting blue light. Air itself 730 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,399 Speaker 1: is not blue, but we see it as blue because 731 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: it's reflecting blue light. And so the sun has some 732 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: of the blue removed, which makes it look a little 733 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: yellower to our eyes. 734 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,799 Speaker 2: Oh that's so cool. And again yet another thing that 735 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 2: we had to account for to understand all of this stuff. 736 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: Amazing, And the reason the sun glows at this color 737 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,879 Speaker 1: is because of its temperature. The surface of the Sun 738 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: is about five thousand kelvin and what we're seeing when 739 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: we look at the Sun is its surface, right. We 740 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: can't see through it. It's opaque. Another bit of popsight 741 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: you hear a lot is that it takes like thousands 742 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 1: of years for a photon to go from the center 743 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,359 Speaker 1: of the Sun to the surface. And like, I don't 744 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: even know what that means, because you know what's happening 745 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: is photons are made at the center of the sun, 746 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 1: but the sun is opaque, so then they just get 747 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: reabsorbed and they contribute to the overall heat of the sun. 748 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,239 Speaker 1: An individual photon doesn't go from the center of the 749 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: sun to the edge of the sun. It just heats 750 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 1: up the sun and the surface emits a new fresh photon. 751 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,400 Speaker 2: Oh interesting, I mean I can't say that. You know, 752 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 2: Ada came home from the playground. It was like, did 753 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 2: you know that a photon at the center of the 754 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 2: sun takes you know, blah blah blah get to the edge. 755 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,240 Speaker 2: I had never heard that before, but now I'm enlightened. 756 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: I hear that a lot. Okay, And so you can 757 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: mimic the same spectrum that the sun makes by heating 758 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: up like a piece of tungsten to the same temperature. 759 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: You have a five thousand degree filament of tungsten, it 760 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: will emit in the same spectrum as the sun. Right, 761 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,719 Speaker 1: it's not one hundred percent true, because the Sun is 762 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,000 Speaker 1: not a perfect black body radiator, right, It does reflect 763 00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,359 Speaker 1: some things, it's not a perfect absorber. So the peak 764 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: of the distribution for the Sun is actually in the 765 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: green spectrum. And so this is why you might hear 766 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,799 Speaker 1: some popseye folks being like, did you know the sun 767 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:47,760 Speaker 1: is actually green? 768 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,480 Speaker 2: Okay? Well, so now let's take down that hypothetical. Did 769 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 2: you know the sun is actually green? Person? 770 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:56,560 Speaker 1: So saying that that the sun peaks in the green 771 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: is actually saying, if you had a perfect black body 772 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,359 Speaker 1: radiator at five thousand kelvin, it would peak in the green. 773 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,440 Speaker 1: But we don't have a perfect black body radiator. Our 774 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: son actually peaks in the violet. And where it peaks 775 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 1: depends a little bit on how you're doing the accounting, 776 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,239 Speaker 1: like are you doing it in wavelength? Are you doing 777 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: in frequency? These things have a non linear relationship, and 778 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 1: so there's some like calculus that goes on there, but 779 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,440 Speaker 1: which gets accounted into which bin And so it's not 780 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,920 Speaker 1: really even true saying that the sun peaks in the green, 781 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:26,959 Speaker 1: and even if it peaks in the green, you would 782 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 1: still see it as white in space. It's not like 783 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,840 Speaker 1: out in space the sun is green or violet or 784 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,799 Speaker 1: any of these things. Really, it's just most accurately said 785 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,319 Speaker 1: that there's a broad spectrum that if the sun were 786 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: a perfect black body radiator, would peak in the green, 787 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: but it isn't, so it peaks in. 788 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 2: The violet, which is my favorite color. So thank you, universe. 789 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 2: There we go. 790 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: Why don't I see it on your arm. Then why 791 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: aren't you painting your launcher room violet. 792 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 2: If we had been doing this podcast when I was 793 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,279 Speaker 2: painting my bathroom, you would have seen my purple arm. 794 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: Well, I have purple on the wall behind me as well. 795 00:37:58,680 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 1: See I'm a big fan. 796 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,279 Speaker 2: Oh it's a great color, best color, all right, So 797 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,480 Speaker 2: tell me about how we get colors for some other stars. 798 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, So we've learned that star color depends on its 799 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: temperature and on what its atmosphere is made out of 800 00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: and its velocity. So most of the stars in the 801 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: universe are smaller than our star. The Sun is a 802 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,839 Speaker 1: big star compared to the average star, which is more 803 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:24,520 Speaker 1: like a red dwarf. So smaller stars have less gravitational pressure, 804 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,399 Speaker 1: so they're not as hot, so they burn and they 805 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: glow in the red more than in the yellow. So 806 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: that's why they're called red dwarfs. Right, So smaller stars 807 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,439 Speaker 1: burn cooler and slower, they're longer lived, and they tend 808 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,319 Speaker 1: to be redder. So a lot of the stars out 809 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: there in the universe are cooler on their surface than 810 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,479 Speaker 1: are a star, but there are some that are hotter. 811 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,560 Speaker 1: Blue giants, for example, super enormous stars very hot on 812 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,719 Speaker 1: their surface because of the crazy fusion happening at their core, 813 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,920 Speaker 1: they tend to glow in the blue. So if you 814 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: look at the spectra of stars, you see a really 815 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,359 Speaker 1: big range. They are fewer that are bluer because those 816 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,120 Speaker 1: are bigger and burn brighter and burn out faster. Red 817 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:05,080 Speaker 1: stars tend to burn a lot longer, like our star 818 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,000 Speaker 1: is going to last billions of years. Really big huge 819 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,840 Speaker 1: blue stars can sometimes only last millions, where as little 820 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,560 Speaker 1: tiny red giants we think maybe can last hundreds of 821 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,560 Speaker 1: billions or even longer, much longer than the age of 822 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 1: the universe. So we don't really even have a measure 823 00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: for it. 824 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,919 Speaker 2: Is there any relationship between the temperature which is star 825 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 2: burns and what we think its ability to sustain life is? 826 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, great question. We have this one clue, right that 827 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 1: we have life around a yellow star and not a 828 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 1: red star. And does that mean that life only happens 829 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: around yellow stars or are we weird and unusual and 830 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:41,960 Speaker 1: most of the aliens out there look up at a 831 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,200 Speaker 1: red sun. Yeah, we don't know. Red stars tend to 832 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,040 Speaker 1: be a little bit more variable sometimes, and so there's 833 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: arguments there, but it's all based on this an equals 834 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,440 Speaker 1: one so until we meet the aliens, we won't know 835 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: the answer to those questions. 836 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:56,560 Speaker 2: And I feel like if you could be at the 837 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:58,399 Speaker 2: right spot next to a red star, that would give 838 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:00,360 Speaker 2: you more time for life to pop up. But I 839 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 2: guess if it's more variable, not necessarily and it's colder, 840 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:04,759 Speaker 2: and what does that do? And anyway, all right, yeah, 841 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:05,479 Speaker 2: we need more data. 842 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: We definitely need more data. And what's in the star 843 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: definitely does have an impact, Like if there's magnesium in 844 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,359 Speaker 1: the atmosphere, then those lines are removed from the star. 845 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: But that doesn't really change the star that you see 846 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:19,320 Speaker 1: from the naked eye because you can't tell that individual 847 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,759 Speaker 1: slice of the spectrum has been removed. It still looks 848 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,719 Speaker 1: red to your eye. But if you pass these things 849 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,520 Speaker 1: through a prism, you will notice that different stars, even 850 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:30,319 Speaker 1: if they have the same temperature, have different spectrum because 851 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,600 Speaker 1: they have different lines removed, and that tells you what 852 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,360 Speaker 1: they're made out of. Most stars still totally hydrogen, like 853 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 1: the universe started out all hydrogen. Mostly still hydrogen, but 854 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,680 Speaker 1: the elemental mixture does affect the lines in the atmosphere, 855 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,080 Speaker 1: so it will affect the color of the star technically. 856 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 2: So we've talked about a lot of different things that 857 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,280 Speaker 2: influence star color. When I look at at the stars 858 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,920 Speaker 2: at night, Am I understanding correctly that the thing that 859 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:57,480 Speaker 2: mostly determines the color I see is how hot they're burning? 860 00:40:57,719 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, which is mostly determined by how big they are? 861 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:00,800 Speaker 2: Okay? 862 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: So yeah, Redder stars are smaller and bluer stars are bigger. 863 00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,439 Speaker 2: Got it. I'll appreciate that so much more now. 864 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 1: And it's incredible what we can learn about these stars 865 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 1: just from the pattern of the light, or that we 866 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,600 Speaker 1: even figured out that you can break up light into components, 867 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: and that it contains all of this useful information right 868 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: always makes me wonder what happened we yet figured out 869 00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: what information is landing on the planet screaming itself, screaming 870 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: clues about the universe that we haven't yet figured out 871 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:30,640 Speaker 1: that in a few hundred years people will be like, 872 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 1: oh my gosh, you guys were such idiots. 873 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,160 Speaker 2: You know, I wonder the same thing in biology, What 874 00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 2: are the things that we're missing that people will laugh 875 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:39,839 Speaker 2: at us for in the future. But you know, all 876 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:42,640 Speaker 2: you can do is take incremental steps forward and then 877 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:44,799 Speaker 2: be willing to take those steps backwards when you learn 878 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:45,319 Speaker 2: that you're wrong. 879 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:47,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, and take things apart and try to learn about 880 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,279 Speaker 1: them right exactly. Pass your parasites through a prism, See 881 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 1: what bits they're made out of. 882 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 2: Tell me what you find out, and everybody out. 883 00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:58,839 Speaker 1: There come up with your favorite color and your favorite parasite. 884 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:00,800 Speaker 2: Ah, what's your favorite parasite? Daniel? 885 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:04,200 Speaker 1: All the ones that are not in me? 886 00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:06,480 Speaker 2: Oh, that's a lot, that's a lot. You must really 887 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:07,359 Speaker 2: like parasites. 888 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,200 Speaker 1: I approve of their choice to not be inside me 889 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:10,560 Speaker 1: right now. 890 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,720 Speaker 2: Yes, well, you know, as we were telling a listener 891 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:14,280 Speaker 2: the other day, they don't have a lot of choice. 892 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 2: But I'm glad that they're not in you. 893 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: And I hope that this has helped you appreciate the 894 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: beauty of the night sky. And next time you're out 895 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:25,400 Speaker 1: camping or on a beach in Costa Rica protecting turtles 896 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,960 Speaker 1: from raccoons, you'll appreciate that the night sky is colorful 897 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: and that those colors communicate information about the nature of 898 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,760 Speaker 1: the universe, what's going on in the hearts of these big, 899 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,480 Speaker 1: furious balls of fusion. 900 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 2: Enjoy the night sky. Friends. Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe 901 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:51,040 Speaker 2: is produced by iHeartRadio. We would love to hear from 902 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:52,320 Speaker 2: you we really would. 903 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,239 Speaker 1: We want to know what questions you have about this 904 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,120 Speaker 1: extraordinary universe. 905 00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,200 Speaker 2: We want to know your thoughts on recent shows, suggests 906 00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,200 Speaker 2: for future shows. If you contact us, we will get 907 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:03,680 Speaker 2: back to you. 908 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:07,399 Speaker 1: We really mean it. We answer every message. Email us 909 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,560 Speaker 1: at Questions at Danielankelly. 910 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:11,760 Speaker 2: Dot org, or you can find us on social media. 911 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,640 Speaker 2: We have accounts on x, Instagram, Blue Sky and on 912 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:17,680 Speaker 2: all of those platforms. You can find us at D 913 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 2: and K. 914 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,279 Speaker 1: Universe will be shy right to us