Kosmic Insomniacal Ruminations
Whilst fighting a losing battle against insomnia, amongst all of the thoughts tumbling around inside our skull, the seed of an idea was planted into the fertile soil of the imagination and immediately began to germinate and grow. Now, before an-all out religious flame war starts, let’s make a couple of things clear— First, this isn’t a philosophical discussion of “who made what” or “how it all started”. This is simply a discussion of observable physical phenomena and the physics involved in said observable phenomena. Secondly, I’m not a physicist, nor have I ever claimed to play one on TV. Thirdly, I can’t even remember if I’ve ever stayed in a Holiday Inn Express®.
Now, to get down to the nuts and bolts of whatever the Hell it is we started writing about… Oh, yeah, Teh Universe. Ever since Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding (Through observing the “Doppler Effect” from distant galaxies.), physicists have been trying to figure out how fast and whether or not all of the “stuff” would continue to expand. In the last few decades, astronomers have discovered that all of the “stuff” is, apparently, accelerating away from each other. The biggest brains in the astrophysics world have been burning the proverbial “midnight oil” (We used to love their music, back in our younger daze.) to come up with an explanation for this seemingly impossible occurrence. (According to the widely-accepted “Theory of Relativity”.) Now, far be it from a lowly layman to suggest that they may be using French poodles to hunt down a squirrel and those poodles may be barking up the wrong tree, but, looking back on our old high school science book learnin’, we have a theory that we’d be happy to have them crunch the numbers on and tell us if we might have spotted the squirrel sitting on top of their hunting dog’s head.
Cosmic-Scale Diffusion Accelerated by Decreasing Gravity as a Function of Increasing Distance
Here’s our hypothesis: As you will recall, “diffusion” is the spread of particles (or “stuff) through random motion from regions of higher concentration to regions of lower concentration. Well, since all of the “stuff” in the universe started out in a highly-concentrated area and has been spreading outwards since The Creation, aka “The Big Bang” among some folks, (Don’t even start.), it has been fighting gravity that has wanted to drag it back in on itself. Now, it’s been well-established that gravity’s influence lessens as a function of distance, so wouldn’t it make perfect, beautiful sense that the process of “diffusion” would accelerate as the force of gravity weakens on the “stuff”, especially if said “stuff” is trying to diffuse into the (near?) perfect void of uncluttered space on the outer reaches of the universe? It sure would beat the Hell out of all of this “dark anti-matter” or “magical unicorn farts” stuff and, should it pan out, possibly earn us a cool $1,000,000 and a place on the Nobel dais, right beside such intellectual luminaries as Algore and Yasshole Arafuck.
If there are any astrophysicists out there who read the Rott (or a Rottie who knows an astrophysicist and wants to pass this on), please let us know what you think about this hypothesis. Also, if you could, let us know if you know of a good Swiss (or Hong Kong) bank that our Nobel check could be direct-deposited in.
F.E.T.E.
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The acceleration of the expansion should be observable- even if not within our puny little lifespan. That said it’s a perfectly plausible reason to explain the observable datum.
Oh .,,,
FOIST !
Nah.
The Universe? Diffusion? Gravity?
I have no time for such trifles!
I’m still trying to decypher this amazing document.
Sorry, brother. I had it all figured out, but then I went and changed the outcome by by observing it. Now I have to start all over. Same thing happened when I tried working out Hawking’s theory that light can simultaneously travel at the speed of light relative to every object in the universe.
Sure, gravity lessens as a function of distance between massive* objects, but simply lessening “weight” does not transfer to increasing velocity. A directional force must still be added to produce movement. Think of an object in a spacecraft. It may be weightless, but its mass won’t move until a motive force is applied (like a finger or an air current). Then, Newton takes over and off it goes.
Space-time came into existence slightly before matter, and has been expanding (but not “into” anything [?!]) since. Matter (remember, matter is just energy that’s “frozen”) exists because the lowered pressure lowered the heat enough for matter to form (the temperature of a body being related to pressure).
What’s providing the motive force for expansion is one of the “big questions” of physics. The main difficulty is that there are so many phenomena that just make the brain go “tilt”, so you wind up having to turn it into math to create a form we are (somewhat) comfortable with.
Zx/2 +tV5{KV} -Tw2>H = Sp
What say you ,BC??
Gamer said:
I get where you’re coming from, but, think about what I’m saying through the lens of Brownian motion. No “external push” is needed in order for “stuff” in an area of higher concentration to move to an area of lower concentration. Since there’s theoretically (and practically) an infinite amount of space, the “stuff” that came slightly afterward would, if there’s nothing to pull it back in, theoretically continue expanding into this void forever, trying to “catch up”, so to speak. Wouldn’t it make since that, if the “stuff” was being held back by a set of “cosmic brakes” (Read: “gravity”) being applied, ever so slightly, as the brakes get weaker, then the stuff would be that much freer to try and catch up to with the ever-expanding void?
Like I said, I’m not an astrophysicist and this is just something of a thought experiment that popped into my head in the middle of the night.
Quoth’d Gladiator:
I’d say you better watch your mouth (or fingers)! There’s ladies present!
(I suck at higher math and physics, my man, so you’re speaking a foreign language to me— At least one that I didn’t spend two years learning in military schools.)
Gladiator said the following:
Any equation with more than 1 unknown variable is insolvable.
Most of modern physics deals with equations that consist almost entirely of unknown variables.
I’m guessing that my guess is as good as their guess.
All this humble engine builder can add to this is “ADORKASAUASSAYSWHAT” ?
Does this have anything to do with the aging of Crown Royal or the perfect head on tall glass of Sam Adams Octoberfest?
If not..then I got nothing
Lc ORWN engine builder for Rottie Racing said the following:
You’ve got more in common with the top physicists than you know.
They have nothin’ too!
I’m more interested in the Crown and the Adams.
Suddenly, I’m thirsty…..
Absolute entropy perhaps, working our way to it. As with you BC, I have mindfucked my way through postulates such as yours, generally ending up with more questions, more confused than when I started. I find it easier, not to mention more merciful, to view it in the context of for entertainment value only.
Then maybe, I can get some sleep……
Gladiator I’m pretty sure the answer to that is PORK.
Interesting, but of what practical use does it have relative to carom propulsion by pop bumper of spherical objects under glass?
Entropy is a bitch.
I dated her at one point in my life. The spark in the relationship just sorta faded away…
You might ask Travis Taylor. works at U of AL @ Huntsville. He’s also written SF with John Ringo. His website is at:
http://www.doctravis.com/
LC SleepTech:Racist Regardless said the following:
Yep,, it there’s parts flapping, the equation’s gonna be comin’ loose.
Here’s one more little piece to consider,, Dark Matter
Lc ORWN engine builder for Rottie Racing said the following:
It’s entirely possible to blueshift the 10 year batch into age in a week or so at light speed.
Also, in space,, the bear foams madly right down to the last atomizing drop.
Beer,,, heh,,, ‘reckon’ a bear would spritz too,,
Cheap, the “Dark Matter” is what this is really all about. What I was trying to say was “Are they making this more complicated than it really is?” with my hypothesis and squirrel huntin’ analogy. Could this be something like a Cosmic Rube Goldberg contraption, where they’re putting too much into something that’s really quite simple that they’ve overlooked?
The only way to make anything more complicated,, is to omit evidence, or needlessly frustrate the exploration.
Vendor “What do you want on your hot dog, sir?”
Zen Master “Everything”
Hooker “How do you like it mister?”
Gene Hackman “Without conversation.”
not a case of yin and yang, but in or on.
Sounds EXACTLY like the Glow Bull Wormers.
LC Cheapshot911, Dept. of Redneck Tech said the following:
There, fixed it for ya. What’s Zen without an insoluble conundrum?
The Tao is everything you can think of, but nothing you can think of is the Tao.
LC PrimEviL said the following:
It’d still be Zen. Understanding the “why” is never as important as the “how”, “where” and “when”, which are supposed to add up to the “why”, which will determine the ultimate “what”.
How else can ya face an insoluble conundrum,, without shootin’ the place all ta hell?
OK, let’s see if I can make this understandable (not a reflection on anyone’s ability to understand, just my ability to get my point across):
The discrepancy comes because you are speaking of phenomena at two vastly different scales, where incredibly different laws are in primary effect.
In Brownian motion, as well as the normal expansion of a gas into a vessel of lower pressure, there are forces in action which do not have corresponding parallels at cosmic scale. At least none of the phenomena we currently know about . Brownian motion is caused by the motion of atoms and molecules due to their temperature. When one atom or molecule approaches too closely to another, the electric fields of the outer electrons (which are relatively canceled by the protons in the atoms beyond a certain range) cause them to be repelled by each other, and they bounce. In any discernible sample size, this happens at incredible rates, and is the source of pressure which causes the gas to expand into lower-pressure regions.
At cosmic scales, however, the situation is different. Rather than being ruled by electric fields, which are di-polar in nature, and in which sources of the same sign repel each other, gravity is the only known force driving interactions, and its only known action is one of attraction, not repulsion. Even when the force of gravity is minuscule, it is always pulling towards, never pushing away. If you launch a spaceship from Earth, there is no predicted point at which that spacecraft begins moving away faster, unless more propulsion is applied – gravity is always there, slowing it down.
So, in the case of the galaxies not slowing down, but rather speeding up, there is no known field or force of nature which would cause the effect that they have been measuring, though I wonder if they have correctly considered the implications of distance in the measurements they have been taking. In other words, have they considered that, since the further out they go, the smaller the universe was, and the earlier their measurements were taken (based on when the light left the galaxies), and the faster the galaxies would have been expected to be moving at the time?
Wayne covered it well. Even if you had been awarded a FullaBull prize, you don’t want a Swiss or Hong Kong bank, Lichtenstein or the Cayman Islands.
VonZorch Imperial Researcher said the following:
Why not?
WayneB said the following:
There is now a third. (Another more in-depth Dark Matter link)
That would agree completely with known physics of only a few years ago.
There been the discovery of at least one of dark matter’s measurable properties since then.
Don’t this all make a good case for landing a robot observatory on the opposite side of the moon, away from the glare n’ blare from Earth?
Wella, I’m just some guy, you know? But it seems to me that the “Big Bang” theory is sorta crap. The shape and arrangement of the observable universe, the age, relative distances, and current velocities indicate that there was no singularity at any point in our universe, but rather a near-simultaneous plethora of creation events. That would explain why our stars and galaxies are formed more into a vast tangled web with enormous voids between, and it explains why some galaxies are accelerating away from others and some are slowing. The accelerators are accelerating toward more distant skeins of the web, while decelerators are accelerating toward skeins nearer us. We are not the center, and there is a lot of random matter that never coalesced into a large enough mass to initiate fusion. “Dark” matter should simply be ordinary matter where the “Big Bang” theory’s flaws say it can’t be.
If two or more (or less, for all I know) Possibilities existing in the eleven known dimensions interacted on some level, it is theoretically possible for a universe to be created over a small volume of a few dimensions. Say, our universe. Pretty much instantaneously, with a diffuse smattering of matter and energy that has since been coalescing into clumps of matter planets, stars, pulsars, quasars, galaxies, and eventually, this tangled Web of galactic groups.
FWIW.
Special Ed
42: the answer to the universe
’43 from the top 40 charts, not the periodic table: Accentuate the positive. Deactivate the negative, and don’t mess with Mr. Inbetween. Or: ++, –, – * ( I ) = . Go figure.
@ emily_nelson:
The Swiss and Hong Kong banks can be induced to reveal your account information to government investigators, those in Lichtenstein or the Caymans will not.
Spatial Ed said the following:
Of course,, we’re not the center,, but any coordinates used will begin here.
There’s not only matter in play, but energies.. particle and otherwise that are still outside our scope, pulling strings that we just can’t see yet.
YET.
We can just scratch our heads,,call it invisible smoke,, go get a sandwich,,,
Or maybe this is something important enough to build better scopes.
like I said,, only ONE property of the stuff is measurable.
Plenty of wealth, recognition,, other goodies for anyone who can expand or disprove it.
Arewethereyetarewethereyet?
Now, for more hay to feed your nightmare, Dark Matter Ring Modeled around Galaxy Cluster CL0024+17