What's Causing The Universe To Expand?
Guide to Space Ep. 127
What's Causing The Universe To Expand?
Airdate: 11/13/2014
127 What's Causing The Universe To Expand? (www.youtube.com)
Comments (8)
Where is the link to the video mentioned in the beggining?
As the Universe expands, it creates extra "vacuum". "Nature abhors a vacuum" as the saying goes and so the vacuum is filled with fluctuations and Dark Energy is created, which further accelerates the Universe. So, Fraser, we now need another video which explains these energy fluctuations and how they are influenced by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? Quantum Mechanics meets Astronomy....
Problem I have with Dark stuff, Matter and Energy, is that it is a bit like the Emperors New Suit; once it is on anybody who says it doesn't exist is dismissed. I know the ordinary and mundane does not win Nobel Prizes but sometimes it is just right. As an engineer who has dabbled in the mathematics used by astronomers I am shocked at how 'flaithiúiloct' (an Irish expression for very generous) they are with the use of variables and 'fudges' , with the number of these in any set of calculations and how much faith they place in references, such as Type 1a Supernova, when these things are unproven or at best so variable as to be unreliable. While I accept that nobody sets out to prove something which is not correct, if you play with the numbers long enough you can always get the result you think you /should have / is most interesting / ensures your next grant / gets Nobel Prizes. To be honest you can do that in engineering as well, the only difference is that in engineering you could get caught out if the thing falls down. There are a number of decentring voices in astronomy circles but they are largely dismissed. It is essential in science that all assumptions are exhaustively tested to ensure they are valid and that the math be run with the full range of all the variables to see if they give you a different result. As I read it, it is not clear the this has always been done. Maybe the universe is flying apart and is largely made of stuff we can't see or currently even measure but as we can find no evidence for it, and yes we should keep looking, we need also to invest as much energy in investigating the less sexy options.
I couldn't agree more. We know it's expanding and we don't have an answer for it, so let’s say it's being caused by some unseen/unknown force that the general masses will go along with. I must say I'm not a physicist, or astronomer, or scientist in any way, but am fascinated and self educated in it, so my opinion means almost nothing, but ever since I first heard about this some years ago I've questioned it. My thought has always been it seems more rational to assume this is proof we live in a multiverse, than to say it's being caused by an unseen, undetectable force. I wouldn't know how to go about proving it, or even testing it, but I've thought that this points more towards the multiverse bubble theory than anything. Since as our outer galaxies expand out they are getting closer to the outer galaxies in the other universes so the gravitational attraction to each other would get stronger, hence increasing the rate at which they move towards each other, and at an increasing rate at that. The only thought I had at being able to see if it’s provable would be to see if the whole universe is expanding at an equal rate as a whole, like a balloon being blown up, or if some sections are expanding faster than others. The sections expanding more quickly would point to the idea that those areas are closer to other bubble universes than the sections expanding more slowly, hence causing a more rapid expansion from a stronger gravitational force. This also assumes that the other universes are just like ours in terms of their forces and laws of physics. But as you said I think it’s more important to keep looking for, and at, all potential ideas rather than acting like it seems all scientists usually do and latch on to the first plausible idea and shun and denounce anyone who has a different, or opposing view. That is of course until that “radical” idea is proven correct and suddenly every scientist, lab and university seems to claim they’ve been on board with it the whole time.
Based on the reason Venus flipped, I guess we were lucky when our moon was formed <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/47898/length-of-day-on-venus/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.universetoday.com/47898/length-of-day-on-venus/</a> , otherwise we wouldn't be here to consider ourselves lucky
"Nothing expands the mind like the expanding universe" - Afterword by Richard Dawkins to "A universe from nothing" by Lawrence Krauss.
How do I feel about an expanding universe? My feelings are irrelevant. If my feelings somehow counted then then all quantum particles would have a spin of one, which is much more satisfying than fractional numbers. Of course I would not be here to see that. What do I think about an expanding universe? It is what it is.
fascinating but in a sense is disturbing too..