h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A524017.html

This is my own entry, and it is finished. I believe it gives some background information that is missing from the guide and properly explains my own theory of the end of the universe, which is why I submit it here.

-Researcher Allan

If there were no god, it would be necessary to invent him.
-Voltaire

An interesting hypothesis.
I've wondered myself if the original "Big Bang" which started off our universe was the result of a prior universe collapsing.
I know what black holes are, I'm an amateur astronomer.
Other researchers reading your entry may not know.
I suggest you write a brief description about the black hole, as you have mentioned it.
I enjoyed reading this, Researcher Allan, thanks a lot!
~GB~

Good article

Could you maybe add more of an introduction and a conclusion? They wouldn't have to be particularly long, but I think they'd help to bring the whole thing together. You know; just say what the point of the article is, etc.

It's really good though

Touconos

Also, you perhaps link to the 'Big Bang Theory' article which is http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A343856

All points so far taken, intro + outro included, added definition of Black hole,+ created a link to the big bang page. Thanx for the help people!

Looking good

I've just noticed one thing wrong with the article. If you want it included in the edited guide then it will almost certainly have to be written in the third person. At the very beginning and at the very end of the article you refer to 'I' and 'my'. I'm afraid you'll have to find a way to remove these.


Touconos

The article itself should be tightened up. But the content is fine.

There are, however, a large number of explanations of how the universe came to be and how it will com not to be. Your article doesn't mention these at all.

You think that the universe will eventually colapse into a gigantic black hole, and then be born anew somewhere else.

Aha ... there is "somewhere else" ergo the universe you were describing the end of isn't all there is, only a part of it.

You actually postulate a great universal condom (ok,ok, rubber sheet) in which universes bounce around until they break through to the other side and start bouncing the other way up. That sounds like a multiverse rather than a universe.

In my article http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A518096 on the lost researchers of H2G2 I mention a coulple of other cosmological explanations "big banger" (the celestial drive-by bombing) and "big stinker" (the celestial hungover fart) ... but there must be a host of other explanations

This supports my contention that the guide needs a whole section on cosmology, where all of the nutcracker ideas and be given some galactic exposure.

I think the article shows some great potential.

~^M^~erdo

Tauconos, what do you think of the new entry?
I have checked through, and quoted myself to show it is my theory.
Thanks for all your help so far, everyone..
Researcher Allan

It's looking very good Well done Researcher Allan. It still seems to me that it just kind of...stops though. It kind of doesn't really finish. That might just be me though. What does anyone else think?

Good work

Hmm.

There are a number of possible ends of the universe, from heatdeath to big crunch to condom-related bouncing to 'overshoot' to the second coming to manmade destruction to whatever. An entry on the end of the universe should cover them all. This is of course, impossible...

Myself, I'd suggest either:
A) covering as many ideas of the ends of the universe as you can find, in somewhat more detail than you have. For example, there's rather more that can be said about the heat death of the universe. Full detail wouldn't be needed - 3-8 lines on each would seem ample: just to give an approximate idea.
B) cover one specific possible end of the universe (such as the plastic-sheet bursting one), in detail, and retitle the entry to be more specific: "Breaking the space-time continuum - the end of the universe?" - or whatever.

Myself, I'd reckon that choice (A) would produce the better guide entry, and generate lots of comment from those whose pet theories for the end of the world have been missed - but it's your entry, and you will probably have your own ideas... :-p

You've got a good style of explaining these kinds of ideas in a way which is simple but retains the element of high-drama and the feel of size - nice work...

Lucinda - just looking for a chance to talk about condom-related bouncing in an otherwise serious PR thread.

PS) http://www.h2g2.com/A331101 - entry on black holes - save you reinventing the wheel: just link to it. That'll mean your entry can focus on the end of the universe without being distracted by the nitty-gritty of the physics.

I'm afradi that athis article still doesn't have enough detail to be able to cover the subject. You really need to look at it again if you still want it to be considered.

Try to explain each of the possibilities and to find some of the others that have been advanced.

Remove the invitation to dispute what you have written. You should be approaching this article as an authority and there should be no single theory to poke holes in, either there is one answer (or two if its the Tuesday special) or they are all theories currently in dispute by equal numbers of authorities.

If you can you should also try to explain why each theory has its supporters and what sort of information wouild tend to support it or drop it among the rest.

Barton

Allan doesn't appear to be working on this one any more, despite lots of suggestions. How are people's feelings about a move to the Writing Workshop?

I think there is potentential here for an entry, but I'm not sure that this is more than seed material.

The Writer's Workshop was probably the place for it in the first place.

Yes.

Barton

Researcher Allan hasn't posted on h2g2 since March 28th.
Either he's left h2g2 or very busy IRL.
I agree with the suggestion to move this thread to the Writing Workshop.

~AGB~

In Allan's article, he says "Black
holes have such a huge gravitational
pull that nothing can escape from
them, not even light."

Stephen Hawkings has a theory that,
given enough time (in this case, a
REALLY long time), a black hole
could gradually shrink due to evapora-
tion as matter and anti-matter collide.
(Sorry, I can't explain his theory,
as he is far more on top of this
subject than I am.)

Also, if this has been moved to
the Writing workshop (which I didn't
even knew existed), then why is it
still in peer review?

(Gives one hope for the future of all
lifekind, except....well, you know the rest
.)

I haven't read Hawking, but I've heard of evaporating black holes before. I believe it involves things like electron/positron pairs appearing either side of the event horizon. I seem to remember it also has some bearing on getting around the uncertainty principle.

the important thing is that when one of these spontaneous events happens at the event horizon boundary, the negative or positive 'particle' that escapes takes a way a tiny amount of mass that must have come from the black hole. Therefore, it seems that mass can escape from the black hole. And, given a situation where no more mass falls into the black hole, the black hole may be said to be evaporating.

However, the real question seems to be whether these spontaneous events can ever happen in a such a statistically unbalanced way that the net gain or loss for the black hole could be large enough to cause it to truly shrink, or grow for that matter. (not an intentional pun.)

Barton

These events don't have to happen in an unbalanced way for a black hole to evaporate because of their spherical nature. If you pick a vector at random at the edge of a black hole it's always more likely (albeit only slightly) that it'll be headed out rather than headed in. I think the real improbability lies in finding a black hole which is so far from other matter that it can't grow.

I agree with Barton, Bossel, AGB, and the rest.

For those who don't know (none of the above) the writing workshop can be found and is explained at http://www.h2g2.com/writing-workshop