Science & Mathematics Unanswerable questions

[Pie eyed]

Here's one for you all;

The Horizon problem
Why is the Universe, almost but not quite, homogeneous on the very largest distance scales. Is it the result of an inflationary epoch - a period of rapid expansion in very early history of the universe which flattened out, or could of flattened out homogeneities? If so what called this inflation?

The "Big Bounce" theory, a variant of the "Big Crunch" postulates that at the point in time when the incredibly rapidly contracting universe reaches the point where gravity reverses it's effect and becomes repellant rather than it's more familiar attractant self, massive vibrations would be caused which theoretically should be evident in the background radiation of any resultant universe....much like the uneven homogeneities you mention.

Still just another of the many theories floating around.

Just as a point of interest of the more than 600 most current papers on the subject the last 100 or so focus on the "Bid Bounce" version of events.
At the moment it is the most popular amongst those in the field as far as interest and speculation go.

You have to remember that the variations on the Big Bang are dealing with a period of time in the Plankt Era, where Newtonian physics appear to break down, around 10^24 of a second,which is so short as to be almost un-fathomable to most people.

 

[ballanFYNE]

a question unanswerable in fact, but answerable in opinion.

Who is hotter? Megan Fox or Miranda Kerr.

(and after seeing kerr in the magpies jumper on the AFL board, i think the answer in now answerable in fact, as the answer would be Fox)

 

[Pie eyed]

a question unanswerable in fact, but answerable in opinion.

Who is hotter? Megan Fox or Miranda Kerr.

(and after seeing kerr in the magpies jumper on the AFL board, i think the answer in now answerable in fact, as the answer would be Fox)

Megan Fox would win if Miranda Kerr had no jumper on.

 

[Dan26]

Okay here's a goodie.

If the Asteroid that wiped out 70% of life on Earth (including the dinosuars) 65 million years ago did NOT happen, what would life on Earth be like today?

Obviously the rise of mammals would not have happened and dinosaurs would still dominate the earth, but if they had had another 65 million years of evolution without any major impact events, what kind of Earth would it be like today? Is it possible any of them could have evolved into anything resembling the intelligent creatures humans have become?

 

[Walesy]

I thought it was disease that wiped out the dinosaurs?

Except the ones that became lizards.

Or the ones that became birds?

 

[Krakeour Magic]

Okay here's a goodie.

If the Asteroid that wiped out 70% of life on Earth (including the dinosuars) 65 million years ago did NOT happen, what would life on Earth be like today?

Obviously the rise of mammals would not have happened and dinosaurs would still dominate the earth, but if they had had another 65 million years of evolution without any major impact events, what kind of Earth would it be like today? Is it possible any of them could have evolved into anything resembling the intelligent creatures humans have become?

 

[Ingall]

So we'd be fighting each other. Lucky that asteroid hit then.

 

[Walesy]

So we'd be fighting each other. Lucky that asteroid hit then.

Just so long as I didn't get brain boxed, it would all be good!

 

[wce4premiership]

If you try to fail and succeed which have you done?

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

If you try to fail and succeed which have you done?

Tanked for priority picks ala Meblourne, Carlton and West Coast

 

[tucker777]

Is it actually possible to freeze something to absolute zero?

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

It's been done hasn't it? Only for billionths of a second I think though.

 

[Scotland]

In order to cool something to absolute zero you must first have a cooling medium that is below absolute zero.

Scientists have cooled substances close to absolute zero but have never reached it.

 

[Krakeour Magic]

The record is 0.0000000001 degrees above absolute zero.

Pretty close.

 

[Pie eyed]

Is it actually possible to freeze something to absolute zero?

Scientists have used lasers (yep sounds odd but is well explained) to cool small numbers of atoms to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero, but as we tend to find in most attempts to reach absolutes, to get that last ****teenth of a millifart seems to theoretically require all the energy in the known universe and the machinery would not fit into the known universe.

A very informative and easily understood explanation of how it was done and why by the blokes who did it, winning the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics along the way, here.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/bec/index.html


PS. This exact experiment was the subject of an ABC or SBS doco last week.

 

[BomberGal]

Scientists have used lasers (yep sounds odd but is well explained) to cool small numbers of atoms to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero, but as we tend to find in most attempts to reach absolutes, to get that last ****teenth of a millifart seems to theoretically require all the energy in the known universe and the machinery would not fit into the known universe.

Is it also that you could look at it this way: to have zero temperature means to have zero energy, and if a particle exists then it must have some energy (as mass)?

Or am I just making shit up...

 

[dr nick]

lmao not quite...

are you a doctor yet?

 

[BomberGal]

I love how Pie eyed gives responses you can actually learn from.

 

[Pie eyed]

Is it also that you could look at it this way: to have zero temperature means to have zero energy, and if a particle exists then it must have some energy (as mass)?

Or am I just making shit up...

Not at all.

Did you get that, at the point where a Bose/Einstein Condensate is formed all the atoms are moving so slowly that they all, for all observable intents, occupy the "same" space?
That the atoms themselves cannot differentiate themselves from any other and that at this stage they can contain three states of information True, False or Both? A possible use in computing.

Further reduction in temperature would logically further focus this single point of existence.

I can easily imagine a universe gradually cooling to these temperatures "drawing" all matter into a single point in time and space. A singularity in every sense of the concept as the ending one great expansion and then potential beginning of an entirely new great expansion or "New" universe.

Amazing also the lateral thinking to use what are usually considered "hot" lasers to cool other atoms using the mass of the photon as a damper.

Science is so awesomely understandable sometimes.

 

[Ingall]

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/bec/index.html

Good site.

 

[Ricketts]

If you try to fail and succeed which have you done?

Tanked for priority picks ala Meblourne, Carlton and West Coast

Unlike Fremantle who tried to succeed but failed.

 

[BigBadCam]

Is it possible to think of nothing at all?

What is a memory and how are they created?

 

[ballanFYNE]

Who is the hottest WAG

(Lara Bingle for mine)

 

[Pie eyed]

Who is the hottest WAG

(Lara Bingle for mine)

You sick man!

 

[Yellow Feathers]

Nah Bingle is rat... Absolute slapper by my books. The latest brand of sports bike.