Universe 2
Hey there, back to explaining the universe. I'll post 'Your Universe 1' as a comment in case you forgot what i wrote back in sept.The old model of the universe came from Euclid and Newton: a 3D grid with time moving forward at an unflinchingly steady speed. As simple as a stack of graph paper under your alarm clock. This old model worked well for a very long time. Even when Fizeau discovered the uniformity of the speed of light, no one noticed a thing- until Einstein.
Einstein did some thought experiments that showed how Fizeau's discovery was impossible within the old model of the universe. When moving near the speed of light, the stack of graph paper starts to bend, and the alarm clock changes speeds.
-----Space
Imagine i am driving at near the speed of light past the earth. At the exact moment i pass you on earth, we both turn on giant flashlights pointed in the direction i am driving. What would you see? Well, remember light moves the same speed in all reference frames, so you would see the two beams of light moving away from us both equally. But what happens once i've moved forward a distance? You still see two beams extending out equally, but somehow my beam would seem shorter than yours since the starting point of my beam moves forward as i move forward. The same end points but your start point precedes mine. got it?
Remember the simple equation: distance= time X speed. Speed of light is fixed, and the time of the experiment is whatever we make it to be, so thats fixed as well. Somethings got to give, the only variable remaining is distance. You and i have both turned our beams on for the same amount of time, and our beams are travelling at the same speed; distance itselt must be able to fluctuate.
Hey, distance is space. You measure 9 feet with a tape measure, you're measuring 9 feet of space right? What Einstein showed was how those measurements were wrong according to anyone moving in relation to yourself. Space itself can be scrunched up or stretched out.
Its a theory of course, but there needs to be a theory. The problem of light exists whether you like it or not. Somethings got to give, since space seems to be the only thing left in the equation, space must be the variable thats got some give. or so the theory goes. . .
Ok, uh, i thought i could do 'time' in this one as well but my head hurts. next one i guess.
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Your Universe
Alright, so im going to try something new. This is the first in an infinite series of blogs that will one day become finite when i either tire of it or die. I'm going to explain your position in the universe and what you subsequently can and cannot know about whats around you- as well as how you are absorbing this information. I know, i know, it sounds like a massive undertaking, but it all needs to be said because there is SO much bad info about these topics on the internet brought to you by people who have memorised some facts but really have no idea what they are talking about. Stephen Hawking and his ilk included- can you believe these people think there is a smallest element to the universe? Here's the problem, how about half of one of those elements; comon' dudes, Zeno made that one impossible thousands of years ago. Wonder what they'd like to call thier smallest unit? How about Atom, that means smallest and unbreakable particle- intellectual elitism breeds some pretty stupid conclusions. God damn, im off topic already and i havnt even started yet. so...
Part one physics:
19th century, some guy (Hippolyte Fizeau) discovers a fairly accurate way to measure the speed of light. puts a rotating mirror up a distance away and fires a light at it. he is able to determine the speed of the light using the distance travelled and the amount of rotation that occurs on the mirror end for the light to be bounced back to its source- of course he needed to fine tune the speed of rotation until a mirror on the rotation devise was perfectly perpendicular to return the light wave.
The big news from this wasn't the accurate speed of light obtained, but what happended when he pointed his machine in a different direction. Remember that the earth is rotating very quickly. When he fired the light against or with the rotation of the earth he found that he always got the same answer. The conclusion formed from this was that light moves at the same speed in all frames of reference. A seemingly innocent conclusion, but Einstein would come along and, without doing a single experiment, would be able to prove that the universe is absolutely nothing like what we experience. Sparking all the crazy shit we have today about multiple universes and wormholes and warp speed and whathaveyou. so next up, what was Einstein's deal.
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