#energy levels
Fitbit has given me great insight into my body and it’s limitations.
When I got my new one, it came with Premium free for a year. So I get to utilize the Readiness score feature. It is so so good at reflecting how my body feels. When it seems I’m getting sick, the number tanks really low. When I busted my butt doing house chores too much, the number tanks really low also.
I’ve come to the realization that I’m not the hare, I’m the tortoise. I function best with a slow steady pace with breaks between tasks. For a long time, I feel irritated about my energy levels, especially as a mom. Why can’t I be like type A , take their kids to ALL the things moms? Like my body literally will not let me function like that. DH also acts like I should plow through any housework, and git er done on a Saturday, or some great task that takes monumental effort on my part. And he cast his feelings of frustration on me when I don’t perform how he wants, with an attitude of I must not be trying hard enough. Which is really annoying and hurtful to me.
But now I see. It’s not “in my head”, and I’m not trying to be “lazy”. My body has a need for breaks, and while I may never get a medical Dx as to WHY, it’s still worth honoring that it’s just how I AM.
I am a far better person when I don’t push until I break. Would we rather I function in a broken up pace, or would we rather I be broken down and incapacitated on the daily? How can I keep up with the mandatory jobs of the day, if I end up in pain and fatigued from taking on too much? Pacing has been my best technique. The numbers of the Readiness score go up when I stick to that approach.
So I really appreciate the Fitbit feature, and it’s been a great relief to see I am in fact tuned in with my body needs, even if other people don’t agree or believe me.
Antiprotonic Helium
Antiprotonic helium consists of an electron and antiproton that orbit around a helium nucleus. The hyperfine structure of this exotic type of matter is studied very closely by a CERN experiment in Japan called ASACUSA (AtomicSpectroscopyAndCollisionsUsing Slow Antiprotons) using laser spectroscopy.
To create antiprotonic helium, antiprotons are mixed with helium gas so that they spontaneously remove one of the electrons that orbit around each of the helium atoms and take their places. However, this reaction will only occur for 3% of the gas.
From the time that antiprotonic helium is created, the antiprotons orbiting the helium nucleus will only remain in orbit for a few micro seconds until they fall rapidly into the nucleus, causing a proton-antiproton annihilation. Surprisingly, antiprotonic helium has the longest lifetime of all the other antiprotonic atoms.
Laser Spectroscopy
ASACUSA physicists used a laser pulse (that if tuned correctly) will let the atom of antiprotonic helium absorb just enough energy so that the antiproton can jump from one energy level (aka orbit) to the other. Thus allowing physicists to determine the energy between orbits of an atom. Currently, laser and microwave precision spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium atoms is ASACUSA’s top priority. (Which is basically using two laser beams and pulsed microwave beams to further explore the ‘hyperfine energy levels’ of antiprotonic helium.)
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For the First Time Chemists Measure the Energy of a Chemical Reaction’s Transition State
Scientists have long regarded transition states as too unstable and fleeting to be observed. But chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have now measured the energy of a transition state. Just as the height of a mountain pass constrains how long it will take a hiker to reach the summit, energetic properties of a transition state govern how long it takes for chemical reactants to adopt new conformations.
Image credit: Jen Christiansen / Scientific American
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