How Does The Universe Work?

[trillobyite]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

Ok, so I'm learning about The Universe in Science class right now. I understand that our Solar System is part of the Milky Way Galaxy. That we are no more than a small speck in the entire galaxy. So it got me thinking.....what does the galaxy revolve around? A larger star? A black hole? Then, what does that star revolve around? Is it possible that our galaxy is no more than just a small speck in The Universe? Could that mean our galaxy is just a small speck inside another galaxy which is just a small speck inside another galaxy and so on and so forth?

Another thing I'm wondering is what creates gravity. The larger the mass in space the more gravity. So what creates this pull and why does it pull inward to the planet? The Universe amazes me.

Answers? Suggestions? Theories?

The galaxy doesn't revolve around anything expect possibly other galaxies, forming a cluster. Clusters combine to form superclusters. The space inbetween superclusters is so large that to ever reach another, one would have to travel much faster than the speed of light. Our galaxy is beyond just a "small speck", we are so insignificant that it cannot be put into words. But galaxies are not inside galaxies, galaxies simply clump together.

Gravity can be explained by Einstein's laws of relativity, though it might take a while to fully understand. If gravity is strong enough for a planet to rip the fabric of space-time, a black hole will result. If humanity can control the center of the black hole, we have reached a level that transcends God. That's why Star Trek's technology is something we will not achieve for at least a thousand years, imo. Astronomy is one hell of a subject.

[Patashu]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

Do keep in mind that black holes do not neccesarily exist. They violate a few laws of physics and no one can figure out how to modify our laws so that black holes are 'correct'.

[flamingspinach]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

This may be a quibble, but it's the Romulan Warbird which utilizes a black hole for a power source, not the Federation (which includes humans). The federation uses matter/antimatter annihilation 8)

[trillobyite]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

Do keep in mind that black holes do not neccesarily exist. They violate a few laws of physics and no one can figure out how to modify our laws so that black holes are 'correct'.

Erm...they definitely do exist, that's a scientific fact. It is true that the laws of physics that govern the universe do not function correctly inside a black hole, which is why they are such an interesting phenomenon. It is simply a rip, a hole in reality, and figuring out what it leads to....now that would be the biggest step astronomy has ever taken.

Stephen Hawking even claimed that black holes may very well be the location of heaven and hell. I can't find the link to an article now but if you read it....incredible stuff. And Hawking is a genius, up with Einstein.

This may be a quibble, but it's the Romulan Warbird which utilizes a black hole for a power source, not the Federation (which includes humans). The federation uses matter/antimatter annihilation 8)

Touche :P

[Patashu]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

Erm...they definitely do exist, that's a scientific fact. It is true that the laws of physics that govern the universe do not function correctly inside a black hole, which is why they are such an interesting phenomenon. It is simply a rip, a hole in reality, and figuring out what it leads to....now that would be the biggest step astronomy has ever taken.

Stephen Hawking even claimed that black holes may very well be the location of heaven and hell. I can't find the link to an article now but if you read it....incredible stuff. And Hawking is a genius, up with Einstein.

Nope! They may exist, but this is not FACT, we do not know for sure whether they're black holes or just something that exhibits a similar effect. For example, there's a new theory that black holes may actually be dark energy stars, which use a different process to achieve the same effect and explain how dark energy exists. (I forget the details, sorry.)

[Reach]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

Doesnt' really matter o_O They're a mathimatical solution to einsteins equations, they can be observed, and are a consequence of a dying star that is too large. It's a long shot to say they don't exist XD Wether some of them are something else though, well, super.

and uh, a black hole being heaven or hell? what the **** XD By definition you'd be crushed by gravity long before getting into it anyway, so I dunno, you might be able to classify it as hell, but not heaven XD Though, more recently black holes have been considered something 'nice' and necessary for the development of our universe rather than just a big hole that eats everything.

[sertman]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

I just think that our brains don't have the capacity to understand it.

I'm being serious, too. We have trouble grasping the idea of infinity... our brain wants to tell us that it has to stop SOMEWHERE, the universe must stop SOMEWHERE, it's just beyond the limits of human comprehension

[Patashu]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

...<.<;

It's, uh, called dark matter, businessman07.

[flamingspinach]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

wtf

EVERYTHING is a theory, since our minds have no direct contact with reality - they can only interpret what information we collect through our senses or indirectly through instruments. Also, saying that "the human mind can't comprehend infinity" is total bull****. The human mind can't comprehend 300 million, yet we deal with it just fine. Can you really picture 300 million things in your head? Can you picture 10,000 things in your head? Maybe, if you arrange them in a square of 100x100 and imagine each side being 10 segments of 10 items each, but a couple of orders of magnitude above that it becomes impossible. Saying "but we can never comprehend infinity" is just a stupid copout - that's why we have MATH, ever thought of that? To deal with things that we can't hold in our primate brains as is.

And businessman07, learn how to spell goodbye and stop typing in caps ("realizing" that your caps lock is on and not fixing it is a sure sign of, um, I don't even know what)

[Linkisdoomed]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

All masses have an orbital field which draws smaller objects closer to the larger one. The size of the orbital field is defined by the mass, size, and shape of the object pending. Really, Newtons laws do explain a fragment of the way gravity works, but outside of it is orbital function and planetary drifting, in other words, how each star/planet/ sun moves. For example, the water level here on earth is effected by the position of the sun. The gravity of the moon effects the water at all times. Just a thought though.

Anyone feel like correcting me on any of this?

[sertman]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

wtf

EVERYTHING is a theory, since our minds have no direct contact with reality - they can only interpret what information we collect through our senses or indirectly through instruments. Also, saying that "the human mind can't comprehend infinity" is total bull****. The human mind can't comprehend 300 million, yet we deal with it just fine. Can you really picture 300 million things in your head? Can you picture 10,000 things in your head? Maybe, if you arrange them in a square of 100x100 and imagine each side being 10 segments of 10 items each, but a couple of orders of magnitude above that it becomes impossible. Saying "but we can never comprehend infinity" is just a stupid copout - that's why we have MATH, ever thought of that? To deal with things that we can't hold in our primate brains as is.

And businessman07, learn how to spell goodbye and stop typing in caps ("realizing" that your caps lock is on and not fixing it is a sure sign of, um, I don't even know what)

We comprehend it because it's easier to recognize it's existance. It's not possible for our brain to recognize that infinity never ends, because we don't have the mental capacity to understand it. I can comprehend 300 million... just think about money. Go to a country where they have hyperinflation: where paper notes are worth 130 trillion units. You look at that note and imagine just stacks and stacks and stacks of money going to the moon. Comprehendable? Sure.

[flamingspinach]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

sertman, I'm sorry, but it is perfectly possible to comprehend infinity - don't speak for the entire human race. Think about it this way - if you can imagine a huge stack of bills going to the moon and not be thinking about every single bill in that stack, and call that "comprehending" the number, then I can "comprehend" infinity by thinking of a line that's 1cm long. There's an infinite number of points in that line. :/ It's something you learn to internalize after you think about it enough. Oh, and the word's "comprehensible", btw.

[victorious0702]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

yeah antimatter is matter with opposite charge. When u add antimatter and matter together though they cancel each other out creating a huge amount of gamma. Dark matter is supposed to be the number 1 type of matter in the universe but dark energy surpasses that. The universe is expanding thats almost a fact but the question is, Is it accelerating? Dark energy is (if u believe the universe is accelerating) what causes the acceleration of the universe and makes up most of the universe itself. Also about gravity, thats a hard subject to get into but i dont believe in the graviton crap. I believe more in an einstiens and kamu's way of looking at it, as relating to other higher deminsions. It is explained more with unified theory and string theory but dont wanna explain it cause too long.

[flamingspinach]

sage

Please speak in complete sentences and do not abbreviate "you" as "u".

[Reach]

Re: How Does The Universe Work?

wtf

EVERYTHING is a theory, since our minds have no direct contact with reality - they can only interpret what information we collect through our senses or indirectly through instruments. Also, saying that "the human mind can't comprehend infinity" is total bull****. The human mind can't comprehend 300 million, yet we deal with it just fine. Can you really picture 300 million things in your head? Can you picture 10,000 things in your head? Maybe, if you arrange them in a square of 100x100 and imagine each side being 10 segments of 10 items each, but a couple of orders of magnitude above that it becomes impossible. Saying "but we can never comprehend infinity" is just a stupid copout - that's why we have MATH, ever thought of that? To deal with things that we can't hold in our primate brains as is.

And businessman07, learn how to spell goodbye and stop typing in caps ("realizing" that your caps lock is on and not fixing it is a sure sign of, um, I don't even know what)

WTF? Everything is a theory? Since when? That's simply not true.

Our minds have no direct contact with reality? What on earth are you going on about now. Prove this? What is reality? You could define it infinitely, therefor this statement is meaningless.

And I think infinity is a pretty impossible to comprehend, since you can't exactly put measure to something that countinues without bounds, you can understand it's meaning but it's not exactly something tangable. Also, to say our math can properly measure infinity is a little iffy in some cases. Mathematics break down at planck length, are equations make no sense when explaining something infinitely small (alteast equations that don't involve radical untested theories :P)