Reprinted From www.darkzoo.net -> Trojan Carousel -> The GEEK CARD

The GEEK CARD : User Guide
If you don't have a Geek card and you want one, just send stamped, self-addressed envelope to
Carl Frederick, 127 Pine Tree Road, .Ithaca, NY 14850
and tell me how many you'd like (maximum of five, please). I'll send them right off to you. (No charge, of course.)

Errata:
Card Front: The last character of the first line of Morse Code should be -. and not .- (Thanks to Larry Hodges for catching it.)
The code symbol ...--- should have been ...-- (Thanks to Jaron Bernard and Alex Leaf)
Card Back: He in the table of elements should be (boldface) He (Thanks to Ian Randal Strock)
NEPTUNE should be (boldface) NEPTUNE.
Thanks to Mike Brescia for finding an error on this page, now corrected (description of G).

A Website
.....www.darkzoo is the personal website of Carl Frederick: physicist and science fiction author (me).
.....The Trojan Carousel, is a (geeky) novel available to read for free. Actually, so that it not be considered web-published, only the first half is up on the site. But, you may e-mail me for the rest of it (darkzoo@darkzoo.net), and I'll send it to you. If you have a Geek Card though, you can enter the card password (and user name card) and read it all on the web (fiction on a password protected site is generally considered not web-published). See item C below.

B Physics constants
.....c The speed of light
The speed of light in a vacuum is given in kilometers per second. The constancy of c regardless of whether the observer is speeding toward or away from the light source, was a paradox in classical physics. The paradox remained until Einstein resolved it with his Special Theory of Relativity.

.....h Planck's constant
Plank's constant is given in units of Joule*seconds. A Joule is a unit of energy. 1 J = 1 kg * (meter squared/second squared). The constant was first used in the study of black-body radiation where the relationship energy = h * frequency, was deduced for photons. The uncertainty principle also has h in it. One aspect of the principle says the uncertainty in a particles position * the uncertainty in its momentum must be greater than h / (4 * pi). The interpretation of this is that a particle doesn't have a well defined position and momentum at any given time. h pervades quantum mechanics. Indeed, if one could reduce h to zero (impossible), quantum mechanics would reduce to classical mechanics.

.....G The gravitational constant
In Newton's theory of gravitation (a pretty good theory), the (gravitational) force between two masses, m, and M, is G*m*m/(r squared) where r is the distance between the masses. So, for example, for masses of one kilogram and a separation of one meter, the force between the masses would be G Newtons. (A Newton is a kilogram meter per second squared.)

.....me The mass of the electron
.....mp The mass of the proton
The masses of the proton and electron are given in kilograms. The ratio of the proton to the electron mass has been measured. The ratio, called beta, is around 1836.152701

.....The inverse of the fine structure constant alpha
The fine structure (coupling) constant represents the strength of the electromagnetic force. (The much used inverse of alpha is an historical artifact, since it was at one time thought to be exactly equal to 137.) It is called 'the fine-structure constant' because it is related to the fine-structure observed in atomic spectra.

.....lp The Planck length
Planck noted the importance of the three constants c, G, and h. He also noted that apart from numerical factors, there is a unique way of using these constants to derive units of length, time, and mass. For length, one has the square root of (h*G/c cubed). [In actuality, one uses h-bar rather than h. h-bar is just h divided by two pi.] It may well be that any length smaller than the Planck length has no physical meaning. (For you physicists out there, it should be noted that for a particle of the Planck mass, the Schwarzschild radius becomes equal to the Compton wavelength. And that length turns out to be the Planck length.]

.....tp The Planck time
The Planck time is the amount of time it would take light to traverse the Planck length. It could well be considered a quantum of time in that any shorter interval of time might not have any physical meaning.

.....g The acceleration due to gravity (at sea level)
If, for example, an apple were to drop from a tree, it would fall with an acceleration of g meters per second per second (which is roughly 32 feet per second per second).

.....L Avogadro's number (also known as Loschmidt's constant)
If you take the molecular weight of a substance (the sum of the weights of the atoms which make up the molecules [roughly equal to the number of protons and neutrons in the atom], then the number of molecules in that many grams of the substance will be L. For example, the molecular weight of carbon-12 is 12.0108. So 12.0108 grams of carbon-12 would contain L molecules.

C Revision number and Password
.....This card is Rev 1.0. I'm sure there'll be further versions (I invite suggestions as to what to include in later revisions). Below the Rev number is the card password (here Xed out). The password gives access to restricted parts of my website--in particular (if I can get editors/publishers to allow it) to stories before they are published. In addition, where now a non-geek must send an e-mail request for the second half of 'The Trojan Carousel', a card holder can simply enter the password and then read the second half on-line. (The user name is, card.) You can get to the restricted area of the website by clicking on the center of the 'cat-eyed wolf' shield on the homepage.

D Geek joke in Morse Code
..... This joke (transcribed into Morse Code) has a punch line that probably would only be understood by computer geeks. I won't spoil anyone's fun by decoding it here.

E 'The Standard Model' of elementary particles
..... The model describes matter and interactions as we understand them today. The most fundamental components according to the model, are quarks (of six varieties), Leptons (neutrinos, electrons, muons, and tau particles), and the force carrying bosons (photons, gluons, Z and W particles). The familiar proton, for example, is comprised of two u (up) quarks and a d (down) quark. The I, II, and III refer to the so-called 'generations' The first generation makes up the common particles (electrons, protons, neutrons, etc). Generation II particles are correspondingly heavier than generation I particles. And they are unstable: decaying quickly to generation I particles. Generation III particles are much much heavier than their generation II counterparts, and also are unstable. The energy (mass), charge, and spin are shown to the right of each particle.

F Slide-rule function
..... Should you find yourself without your calculator and are experiencing computation withdrawal symtoms, you might find the card useful: The slide rule scale is accurate and functional. Here is how you can use it to multiply two numbers (you will need a sheet of paper or an index card):
I- Place the index card beneath the card with the left edge lined up with the 1 on the far left of the scale.
II - Let's suppose the two numbers you want to multiply are 3.5 and 4. With the index card placed as in I above, put a pencil mark on the index card at the top edge just under 3.5 on the scale (just to the right of pi on the scale).
III - slide the index card to the right until the left edge is just under 4 on the scale.
IV - The answer to the multiplication problem is now just above the mark on the index card.

For division, proceed instead as follows:
Place the left edge of the index card under the denominator (the bottom number).
Put a mark on the index card directly under the value of the numerator.
Slide the index card to the left so that the left edge is directly under the leftmost 1 on the slide rule scale.
The answer (quotient) will be directly above the mark.

G Millimeter scale and km to miles conversion scale
.....At the bottom of the card is a millimeter scale--which is also used for kilometer to mile conversion. If you read the bottom scale as kilometers, you can use the scale above it to convert to miles. For example, notice that 50 kilometers is almost exactly 31 miles.

H Data on the 18 brightest stars
.....The 18 brightest stars are listed in order of their visible magnitude (brightness). Their absolute magnitudes are given as well, as are also their distances from the Sun in light years.
(A star's absolute magnitude is the visual magnitude if the star were placed at a distance of 10 parsecs. A parsec [parallax-second] is about 3.27 light years. It is the distance where the star would subtend a parallax angle of one second where the baseline is 2 AUs [an AU {Astronomical Unit} is the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun].)
....Both the common and the scientific names of the stars are given. The scientific name is (usually) a greek letter (generally in order of the star's brightness in its constellation) followed by the name of the constellation. When speaking of the star using the scientific name, generally one uses the genitive case (possessive case) of the constellation name. For example, Sirius, alpha in the constellation of Canis Major, would be referred to as Alpha Canis Majoris. The abbreviations for the constellations are used in the card. The full constellation names (and the genitives), are as follows:
CMa = Canis Major (Canis Majoris)
Car = Carina (Carinae)
Cen = Centaurus (Centauri) [note: the star Rigil Kent is more commonly known as Rigel Kentaurus]
Boo = Bootes (Bootis)
Lyr = Lyra (Lyrae)
Aur = Auriga (Aurigae)
Ori = Orion (Orionis)
CMi = Canis Minor (Canis Minoris)
Eri = Eridanus (Eridani)
Cru = Crux (Crucis)
Aql = Aquila (Aquilae)
Tau = Taurus (Tauri)
Sco = Scorpius (Scorpii)
Vir = Virgo (Virginis)
Gem = Gemini (Geminorum)
PsA = Piscis Austrinus (Piscis Austrini)

I Pi and e to lots of decimal places
.....It is extremely unlikely that you will ever need pi to 60 decimal places. But some geeks like to memorize large number of digits of pi. So here it is then--in case you feel the desire to do some memorization.
.....Pi, of course, is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. The number is irrational (i.e. is not the quotient of two integers), and indeed is transcendental (i.e. irrational and also not a solution of any polynomial equation with rational coeficients).
.....e is another transcendental number. It is the base of the natural logarithms. It is an important number in the mathematics of probability and decay.

J Data on the Sun and planets
.....Information on the diameters, distances, and periods of rotation and revolution are given for the Sun, planets, two dwarf planets (Pluto and Eris), and a few of the planetary satellites. The abbreviations used are as follows:
d = diameter
D = distance from the Sun in Astronomical Units (An AU is the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun. About 93 million miles). In the case of the planetary satellites, D = the distance to the center of the satellite's planet.
p = the length of the day
P = the length of the year

K List of natural elements
..... This 20-column listing of the first 100 atomic natural elements has the inert gasses in bold and the 'rare earths' (lanthanides) in italics. Knowing this, a chemistry geek should be able to reconstruct the elements in periodic table form. The international symbols for the elements are used. Below is the list using the element names:
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Flourine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfer Clorine Argon Potasium Calcium
Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickle Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium
Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Cesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium
Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury
Thallium Lead Bithmuth Polonium Astatane Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protoactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berklium Californium Einsteinium Fermium