IFC S02R01: The Disappearing Universe
It is an exciting start to the second Season of the Information Finding Championship by @ifc and @apolymask! This season, we have abandoned our lovely Castle home and taken to space in a comfy space cruiser... Hopefully, cabin fever won't break out! Anyway, this is my entry for the first round of Season two, with the topic of 'Universe'.
Introduction
Well, the topic of "Universe" is a pretty broad topic by definition... there are so many things that are contained in that little word that you could write about! Definitely, I wanted to write about something that was interesting to me... space, physics... that sort of thing. Eventually, I did hit upon a topic that I had wanted to be showing off to my daughter anyway.
This past year, we've had a couple of well publicised eclipses, the total eclipse of the Sun and more recently, the Lunar eclipse. Now, based on the covereage, you would think that these were pretty rare circumstances... however, they do happen relatively often, just most often in areas that are either hard to get to or not in the United States. This year, the United States happened to be lucky enough collect the prime examples of both eclipses.
So, this got me to thinking about galactic blackouts... and I thought I would write about the coming blackout of the entire Universe! Take that, Americans! You will have to share this one with the rest of us!!!
PS: I am going to keep this to simple physical concepts in plain-ish English.. so you will have to deal with my inprecise translation of the mathematics to words. If it is a topic that is interesting to you, then there are books that also deal with matters of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in a similar style (but the language is so imperfect to describe with....).
TL:DR? The Universe is disappearing due to a giant rift from which the Hordes of Chaos will spew out... don't believe me, read the actual post!
The setup
To begin with, I need to make clear two fundamental properties of our Universe as we currently understand it. These ideas are incredibly interesting topics in their own right and are full of ideas that are completely mind-blowing in that they highlight how limited (however vast and varied and interesting) our experience of reality is in comparison to what the Universe can offer! However, they are only required as an initial primer (assumed knowledge) for the topic of the post.. but I will provide starting links for those who are interested in further reading!
1. Speed of Light
One of the two basic assumptions (otherwise known in logic as "postulates") of Einstein's Special Relativity is that the speed of light (c) in a vacuum is constant for all observers, regardless of motion. At the time, it was a big claim to have made (even now, can be a counter-intuitive), as our everyday experience of objects is you have a simple vector addition of velocities. However, to this day, Special Relativity has made predictions based upon this assumption that have been verified by experiment (even when they defy our everyday intuition of what should be!). Ideas such as Simultaneity, Equivalence of Mass and Energy, Time Dilation and Length Contraction. The best known of these outcomes is the Mass-Energy equivalence (E=mc^2) which is the foundational idea behind our Nuclear Theories, whilst the other outcomes have redefined our understanding of time and space.
However, for this post, the outcome that we require is actually the original postulate; that light (Electromagnetic Waves) travels in a vacuum at exactly c=299792458m/s regardless observer or any other properties of the the light (such as wavelength).
2. Universe Expansion and Redshift
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For some reason which is not pinned down yet, the Universe is expanding at an accelerating pace. Everything is expanding, however it is not that space is expanding into anything, it is such that the scaling of space itself is expanding. This has the effect that things closer to us move away slower than things that are far away (the far away objects move away faster). A touch confusing, however, I recently heard a good analogy which helps to explain what is going on.
Imagine you were in a theatre, and you were seated next to your friend. For some reason the theatre seating expands... as in one extra seat was placed in between each existing seat (thus displacing them all away from each other as well). You would (from your reference frame in which you assume that you are stationary) perceive your friend moving away from you. If this happened at regular intervals, then you would eventually be quite far apart....
Now imagine a row of three of you, with you seated to the end of your two friends. Now, insert the extra seats in between each of the existing seats. Your immediate neighbour has moved away by one seat, whilst your friend on the other end has moved away by two seats. Thus ends the analogy!
A side effect and observable phenomenon of this expansion is the shifting of light (Electromagnetic Waves) emitted by objects (that are moving away from us, due to the universe expanding) into the red direction of the spectrum when they are detected by us. The further away the object, the greater the redshift (remember the chairs!).
So, further objects move away faster than nearby objects due to the expansion of the Universe, and in doing so, the light that they emit is red-shifted when observed by us!... the second of our little pieces of assumed knowledge for the real meat of the post!
For further reading, you can begin here for the Expansion of the Universe and here for the Redshift.
The Darken-ing
How is that for a clumsy attempt to coin a term, I'm pretty sure that that won't catch on.....
Now, if we combine these two concepts of a constant speed of light and the fact that the Universe is expanding then we come up with a logical outcome that there are objects that are emitting light (note, that this is the only way that we have of interacting or observing objects in the Universe) that we will never see!
![IMG_20190206_145927.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/bengy/pGoEPTIR-IMG_20190206_145927.jpg)
In the diagram above, I have tried to visualise this concept for you. Within a certain sphere (represented in the 2D sense of a circle), we have light travelling to us whilst the intervening space is expanding at a rate LESS than the speed of light. This means, it WILL reach our eyes... however, it will be red-shifted according to the distance between us and the emitting object.
However, the further away from our position that we go... the faster the rate of the Universe expansion, and thus, there is a point (sphere) where the expansion of the Universe is EQUAL to the speed of light. Thus, the light WILL never reach us... in fact, just before this critical point, the light is shifted so far to the red direction that is barely detectable.
Beyond this critical point, we see nothing... and will NEVER see anything!
Now... remember that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate! This means that the critical sphere (where the expansion rate EQUALS the speed of light) is shrinking inwards. So, this means that the sphere of the observable Universe is also shrinking, as nothing outside this sphere is visible or detectable.
In fact, everything within the sphere is being shifted further and further in the red direction of the spectrum as it gets physically closer to the critical shrinking sphere until...NOTHING!
Wrapping up
So, if you made it this far... the observable Universe is disappearing from our view, in a perfectly normal and physically consistent sort of way, so there was no need to call upon the Rifts of Chaos this time. Needless to say, it is a sobering thought, despite the fact that it lies a very very very long way in our future...
PS: I have had to simplify a lot of concepts here for a general audience, if you have more specific questions, I can try and answer them as best as possible in the comments... or point you to a resource or person that would be better able to. I'm afraid that words, whilst poetic, are not exactly precise... and my Mathematics is a touch rusty after decades of minimal practice...
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Incredibly detailed and well thought-out. It's quite visible that you did your research on this.
All the best for the contest!!
Thanks, it is nice to revisit my old discipline!
Great write up yet again bengy! I enjoy learning from you. You always have a way of explaining things in terms that people like myself can get a better grasp on the topic at hand. Good Luck in season 2! Thank you for your entry!
No problem, and I'm happy that I was able to make it a little bit easier to understand! It's a far off future, but one that is quite interesting...
Hello @bengy, Could you tell me about
thealliance
tag.Hi, the #thealliance is a group of bloggers that are under the @thealliance account. You can find more information there!
Somewhere in there among the expanding and moving of the universe are us. If everything was moving at the same rate would we really notice it? Example would be in a calm sea no winds and only the tidal movement, if we were in a small boat and there was another boat right next to us, would we not both move at the same time and speed, and thus with nothing but a blank horizon, not even notice we are moving?
The red-shift blue-shift stuff is fun to think about, well all of the universe is fun to think about. It does keep us on our toes thinking about it.
If everything is moving at the same rate (inertial, thus no acceleration and no gravity), then it is impossible to tell... this was one of the basis for Special Relativity, that there is no preferred inertial reference frame, thus everyone can say that they are at rest and that everything else is moving. This combined with the constant speed of light (c) in all reference frames leads to the weird implications of Space and Time! So, you have hit on one of the fundamental theories of modern physics!
I kind of like the part where I am stationary, and everything is coming to me, but then again, everything includes a lot of garbage, so maybe it is better to go with the flow, as long as it is not a sewer stream.LoL.
There's no escaping the Doppler Effect, eh?
"Fringe Thinking" about the Universe and our place in it that interests me:
The Electric Universe (a la Velikovsky, et. al.)
Quantum Gravity Theory (E8 Crystal) debunking Modified String theory
"The Great Year" - espoused by the ancients
Speed of light slower than particles in a plasma medium (or even water), like "sound and vibrations...
Alternative Human Origins
and so much more bizarre stuff!
Great post.
Namaste, JaiChai
Yes exactly... Although, there are two redshifts. One is Doppler like and the other is not so much!
That's some really interesting stuff.
I think I get the gist of it, though I am admittedly a little unsure about how the redshifting and blue shifting work. I did read the redshift wikipedia page, at least the general summary of it and as I said I think I sorta get it. It helps being a photographer who works with light all the time! Yet.. Still quite a complex and fascinating subject.
I'm sure you must have thought about this before but I still have to wonder.. If the universe is expanding, what is on the other side of that expansion? I'm not sure anyone really knows though I know there are theories out there.. I wonder if it's just sort of "empty space" or if there's something else there? And if so.. How much? And how far does it go? Lol.. It sure is flabbergasting trying to contemplate the possibilities of something so far beyond my ability to know, it's fun though! And as usual you provided a great and super educational post/entry! Glad to have you back and to be sharing this journey with you. :) Also thanks for helping me learn some new things! That's always one of my favorite parts of this contest, are the times when I actually learn something new. Cheers and great work friend! Looking forward to seeing where the future takes all of us. ._. Hopefully it's not too "dark". :| And if it is, hopefully it's just a cycle and it gets light again!
In many ways, we are already familiar with a classical version of it. Doppler shifting... when sound waves (like from a fast moving car), changes in pitch (wavelength/frequency) due to lengthening of the distance between emitted wave peaks. For light (EM waves), there is an element of this Doppler shifting if things are moving fast towards (blue) or away from us (red).
However, for further away objects, this is overwhelmed by the (red)-shifting due to the expansion of the space in between. This is the more unfamiliar concept... as it is caused by the space in between expanding, and is not a property of the motions of the objects involved.
Technically, the problem with that question is more to do with our limited experience of reality and the Universe. We have to use analogies to get our heads around the concepts... .which neccessarily means that we assume that we have to expand INTO something... because that is the way we normally perceive expansion. However, for this, the expansion is of the Space-Time metric, which isn't quite the same thing as the expansion that we experience with everyday objects! It is more akin to your ruler which you measure things with expanding (changing size between the centimetre pips)?
Of course, this interpretation could still be wrong... but it is the prevailing one. It is more that there currently is no need to postulate a "thing" to expand into! So, it is more of the Occam's Razer solution at the moment...
It's an interesting question indeed.
Because saying that the universe is expanding INTO something would be illogical as that "something" is already a part of that very universe. The universe doesn't have any rigid boundaries. It includes everything there is.
It "expanding" might be the result of something called dark energy which is a theory first proposed by Einstein. In simple words, it the opposing force of gravity. While gravity pulls in, dark energy pushes out. So in theory, if gravity were the dominant force in our universe, the universe would contract.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Yes, although dark energy is the place holder name until they figure out exactly what is causing the expansion.
Thanks for expanding, I'm not familiar with that technology very much so it's still a bit fuzzy for me, but I think I get it in a sort of general sense!
Interesting explanation yet regardless of whether things are expanding within a set limit or more than that it still begs the question, what's outside of that? And I've seen a good amount of theories put out there yet I just don't think anyone alive probably knows for sure since it's beyond our ability to observe. We may never be able to know? It really does make one wonder though! Like.. Is there just an infinite amount of empty space outside the perceivable universe? Or..?? Lol. Fun to think about whatever the case.
Perhaps though there's no need to theorize about many things, yet we still do and I think a lot of richness in life comes from that. :)
LOL, was that intentional?
I think I put that badly... there is no need to add extra, unless you are trying to explain something that currently has no explaination! In which case, the extra postulations need to serve up some falsifiable predictions that build upon the known knowns!
However, interesting to think about... but I suspect (if it is needed) it is something that would be so far out of our realm of experience to be completely unimaginable.
Not in a pun sort of sense, no. Lol.. It should have been though! It's perfect for the subject.
Ah. Understood, though I think it's great for people of all levels to just theorize in general even if they aren't adding anything new that hasn't been theorized before officially. It's good to encourage people to think and talk about things in general I think.
Indeed.. And yeah, probably.. It's a crazy universe we live in! Sorry for the super late response by the way, as you know I can get a bit delayed with my responses and it can take a while! Sometimes I never get to them but today I found some time to go back and respond to most of my messages.
I think you did a great job explaining the sciences of our current theories. I also appreciate your saying “as we currently understand it”. We still don’t know what dark energy is,only what we think it is doing physically that we can measure.
Science is always searching in the unknown! Even things that we think are well known have a complexity and interest that is still waiting to be discovered!
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