Kaidan Alenko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
not_a_whiner) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2013-10-11 02:29 pm
not_a_whiner) wrote in fandomhigh2013-10-11 02:29 pm
Entry tags:
Space!, Friday
"The beginning of the universe," Kaidan began, "Is kind of a difficult subject. Looking at yourself, looking around yourself, it can be pretty hard to wrap your mind around the idea that maybe at one point in time, none of this existed. In fact, even scientists rebelled against this idea very hard for a very long time."
The holographic display behind him showed off a tiny glowing ball of light.
"There are thousands of creation stories in the world. Most of them begin with some kind of god, because inevitably we think, there had to be something before there was everything. In fact, when I'm done talking, I'd like you to get together and share some stories." He smiled briefly.
"But anyway. Scientists have been trying to figure this one out for a long time. How did the universe start? Did it even start, or has it always been in a steady state, just... making new galaxies to fit in for the ones that die?" He gestured at the hologram. "Einstein's General Theory of Relativity burst that bubble. Time and space, Einstein posits, aren't eternal, unchanging things. Instead, they're more like... a curving plane, a three dimensional space that can be affected by the physics of our universe. Matter, energy, all of that can affect spacetime according to Einstein."
He called up a three-dimensional grid around the little ball.
"Einstein's theory meant that we couldn't just think about time as an absolute any more. It's dependent on our physics. So-- in a state where our physics no longer exist, time isn't anything like how we know it. So talking about time before the start of the universe would be meaningless." He pointed at the hologram. "Then another researcher showed up, Edwin Hubble. He studied the stars and their trajectories. He found out that almost every galaxy was moving away from ours, and they did so faster and faster. So the universe was expanding. That's how we get Big Bang theory."
He gestured at the little ball some more. "Big Bang theory says that at some point there was this small singularity. On this tiny level, the theory of relativity doesn't quite hold the same way it does on a large scale - this is the level on which quantum physics work. And quantum physics is about chaos-- we'll get on that later. Anyway, there was this small singularity which started expanding outward. Not really like a bang, more like a balloon..."
And look, there was the reason for the deflated black balloon on everyone's desk.
"The presence of quantum physics meant that in the early universe, matter wasn't exactly distributed in any orderly kind of way. Some parts had a greater density than others. Gravity set in, galaxies started to form. And expand."
Kaidan took a deep breath. "The inclusion of quantum theory in this entire thoughtframe is actually a biggie for us here," he said. "A component of some takes on quantum theory is the idea of universe bubbles. Basically, the idea that universes keep forming like bubbles. A lot of them don't reach the kind of critical mass you need to set up a universe. But some do."
The holographic display behind him showed off a tiny glowing ball of light.
"There are thousands of creation stories in the world. Most of them begin with some kind of god, because inevitably we think, there had to be something before there was everything. In fact, when I'm done talking, I'd like you to get together and share some stories." He smiled briefly.
"But anyway. Scientists have been trying to figure this one out for a long time. How did the universe start? Did it even start, or has it always been in a steady state, just... making new galaxies to fit in for the ones that die?" He gestured at the hologram. "Einstein's General Theory of Relativity burst that bubble. Time and space, Einstein posits, aren't eternal, unchanging things. Instead, they're more like... a curving plane, a three dimensional space that can be affected by the physics of our universe. Matter, energy, all of that can affect spacetime according to Einstein."
He called up a three-dimensional grid around the little ball.
"Einstein's theory meant that we couldn't just think about time as an absolute any more. It's dependent on our physics. So-- in a state where our physics no longer exist, time isn't anything like how we know it. So talking about time before the start of the universe would be meaningless." He pointed at the hologram. "Then another researcher showed up, Edwin Hubble. He studied the stars and their trajectories. He found out that almost every galaxy was moving away from ours, and they did so faster and faster. So the universe was expanding. That's how we get Big Bang theory."
He gestured at the little ball some more. "Big Bang theory says that at some point there was this small singularity. On this tiny level, the theory of relativity doesn't quite hold the same way it does on a large scale - this is the level on which quantum physics work. And quantum physics is about chaos-- we'll get on that later. Anyway, there was this small singularity which started expanding outward. Not really like a bang, more like a balloon..."
And look, there was the reason for the deflated black balloon on everyone's desk.
"The presence of quantum physics meant that in the early universe, matter wasn't exactly distributed in any orderly kind of way. Some parts had a greater density than others. Gravity set in, galaxies started to form. And expand."
Kaidan took a deep breath. "The inclusion of quantum theory in this entire thoughtframe is actually a biggie for us here," he said. "A component of some takes on quantum theory is the idea of universe bubbles. Basically, the idea that universes keep forming like bubbles. A lot of them don't reach the kind of critical mass you need to set up a universe. But some do."
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Listen to the Lecture
Exercise: Creation Stories
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Exercise: Balloons
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He was an ass like that.
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OOC