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

wish I could read


after the Hotspur/Victor and a few more boys comicsI knew enough to get by on

Hi all, you will have to excuse me but Ive been out on a wedding do and had few too many “ hic”, plus Ive not had the best of days, the joys of growing old , so Im off to get a good old fashioned cup of down me.
Back soon I hope

Now suitably refreshed

Well being Human kind of poses a problem, that is to say , what if we were not human, but we are, and how do we know it .
I must admit that as I get older I have a greater respect and wanting to learn Latin.
As Latin for human is, "wise man" or "knowing man", as best as I was led to believe.
I have in my mind a saying, that goes, “I think, therefore I am”, in simple terms they wonder if they exist and the proof is by the acknowledgement of the process of thinking, if only for that moment.
That said, knowing who you are and being conscious of your environment, it would seem strange to apply a name to something by default., its liken to a catch twenty two and the two players being , Fate and Destiny
Fate is a power that predetermines and orders the course of events, being inevitable and unavoidable, were as Destiny ultimately is the finality of events as they have worked themselves out.
Science is the end product, that, which is reliably fed to us in the belief that it holds true.
As for singularities , which I will readily admit, they interest me, I would quite happily go on about if not for having too many earlier tonight.
As for “ I suspect that winternights got his Hawking quote from the same magazine that I got mine“, well sorry to say I have all the books , many I have read, plus plenty of magazine which I will admit to taking reference from

Having read your post again, i withdraw the allegation unreservedly. It was in the same magazine as mine, as well as in the book. My remark was meant to be a compliment, based on the quality of your contributions, as the magazine is hardly 'Idiots Weekly'.

Jabberwock, there was no offence taken, I enjoy posting on your thread and read with interest all comments that are posted in it .
I often cannot sleep and end up in the office with a good cup of with H2G2 running on the old computer, which I m very reluctant to change as me and it have been around for a while, so long live the healthy chat / debate that exists in your thread.

(thought up by me last night)

ask me a question about something I'm knowledgeable about and I'll appear a genius. Ask me about something I don't know about and I'll look a fool in trying to give a clever reply.

(I'm still a genius(and modest)anyway)

"...Einstein's theory of relativity predicts nothing can travel faster than the speed of light..."

...wa'al, not exactly, though Einstein did frequently use the speed of light limitation as a limiting postulate, indicating the theory was only good within the limitation.

He also, on many occasions, endorsed theories postulating speeds in excess of the speed of light.

His crowning achievement, which won him his second Nobel prize, was proving that the speed of light varies with local gravitational flux densities, following through on Fizeau's earlier proofs that the speed of light varies with mass density of the medium light travels through as well as its relative motion, setting the stage for later discoveries like the Cerenkov effect and the Bell theorem.

"That said, knowing who you are and being conscious of your environment, it would seem strange to apply a name to something by default., its liken to a catch twenty two and the two players being , Fate and Destiny" [Winternights]

Let me give some examples of things that were given names "by default." In the early 1980s, there was an epidemic of deaths caused by weakened immune systems. The name that was given to this disease was "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome," or A.I.D.S. Since doctors and researchers did not yet know the cause of this disease, they could only go by the most obvious thing about it, which was the weakened immune systems in the patients. Since then, medical science has discovered that this disease is caused by a virus. Now they call it HIV. However, most of us still call it AIDS, because that was what it was called at first.

How do you feel about the name that the disease was given? How do you feel about the fact that the later name has not obliterated the earlier one? Is it a question of time, given that phlogiston eventually gave way to oxygen?

On Prof's post 566, slight variations in the speed of propagation of light and neutrinos do figure in the mechanics of supernovas.

Since neutrinos are less strongly impeded by local mass densities and gravitational flux densities than photons, a 'temporary' black hole can form with gravitation enough to temporarily trap light, but insufficient to trap neutrinos with the the effect that the event horizon collapses with the out-gassing of the neutrinos and the loss of their mass equivalency, giving rise to a supernova, which then stabilizes leaving behind a neutron star, or pulsar (same thing).

This was actually observed with 1986 A supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

http://www.nature.com/physics/looking-back/bahcall/index.html

The neutrino burst, observed by a neutrino observatory in Japan, arrived 27 minutes before the light burst. The difference was probably almost entirely due to the difference in the rate of propagation of neutrinos and photons in the high mass and gravitational flux densities of the collapsing star.

If the mass of the object had been, cosmologically speaking, just a smidgeon higher, so that the neutrinos were confined, it would have instead collapsed into a black hole.

There is this notion about madness they say it some how heightens creative genius, this is largely a over romanticised idea, as all significant creative leaps have two very important components, talent and technique. 
Acknowledged creative geniuses find that endurance must follow intuition.
Einstein's ideas were not worked out in a day. It takes a great deal of discipline and often many bouts of trial and error, to work out an idea.
As most of us are not geniuses and do not have the ability of unprecedented insight, it is often a case of bums on seats, persistence, whilst whiling away the hours as Robert Root-Bernstein said "If the writer doesn't sit at the computer every day," he points out. "The muse is not going to visit." .
Foolishness is having the quality of having poor judgement or little intelligence.
Asking someone a question and getting a reply involves differing attitudes, one wishes to learn, the other is happy to impart such knowledge freely , quickly understanding what is said makes people clever, not foolish.
Reflecting on Paul’s comments, “How do you feel about the name that the disease was given? How do you feel about the fact that the later name has not obliterated the earlier one? Is it a question of time, given that phlogiston eventually gave way to oxygen?”, it is no more a case of “flow”, that is to say it’s a thought or suggestion as to the possible course of action. My old English teacher often went on about things having a “start, middle and a ending”, its called progress, the ability to adapt with new information and insight.
Calling something a Black hole at the start, calling it a Black hole in the middle and still calling it a Black hole now ,does not show that new talent or new technique have been applied and that the only persistence, is in calling it a Black hole and so painting a unnecessary image in the minds of those who wish to learn.

As for things travelling faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, which is 299,792,458 meters per second or about 186,282.4 miles per second, anything that is to reach this speed that has a rest mass, with subluminal velocity, needs infinite energy to accelerate to the speed of light, so the Special theory of relativity states.
It does not forbid the existence of particles that travel faster than light at all times but most live in the realms of being hypothetical liken to a Tachyon particle and are not consistent with the known laws of physics. Although according to current theories matter is still required to travel subluminally with respect to the locally distorted space-time region and yes, one could hypothesis, that unusually distorted regions of space-time might permit matter to reach distant locations in less time than light could in normal or undistorted space-time.
It may seem that some influences may result or appear to travel faster than light, but they do not convey energy or information faster than light, so they do not violate special relativity.
Post 566
“I've just had a thought! (it's ok, it didn't hurt)as even "light" can not escape from a black holes gravity, to escape one then, any particle would have to travel faster than light for escape velocity. On that, could there theoretically be faster than light neutrinos emanating from black holes and or even pulsars ?” As mentioned in post 565 “
there could be a explanation in that the Neutrinos detected at the three sites on earth could have been released first as the inner core collapsed and that the visible light was released after the shock wave reaches the stellar surface” plus there are new Neutrinos on the block ( sorry I’m a Eagles fan) , there called Sterile Neutrinos, there being made accountable for the expansion of the universe amongst other things. They hypothetically have the potential of extra dimensional travel so circumventing one of life’s constants “light”.

Einstein's theory of relativity predicts nothing can travel faster than the speed of light..."

I am the last one to point the finger at misquotations, but what Hawking said was:

"Einstein's theory of relativity predicts that nothing can travel faster than light."

The speed of light is not invariable, so light does not have 'a speed'. It varies according to the medium it is passing through. As winternights correctly says, the 'speed of light' often referred to is the speed of light in a vacuum.

That the speed of light is invariable is a common misconception, so should be avoided by careful use of language. I am, however, pretty sure I've made the same slip at times. The point is, that Hawking didn't.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=Cerenkov+effect&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&as_qdr=all&biw=1277&bih=644&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=6VQMPzIUvUlrNM:&imgrefurl=http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1958/cerenkov.html%3Fprint%3D1&docid=ZBc2GrD9jEdvtM&imgurl=http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1958/cerenkov_postcard.jpg&w=280&h=396&ei=9E9QT9zuGqrViAKnjum0Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=569&vpy=169&dur=16852&hovh=267&hovw=189&tx=96&ty=160&sig=106645187799074135222&page=2&tbnh=147&tbnw=96&start=18&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:18,s:18

http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/27915

Another interesting point with respect to Cherenkov (or Cerenkov; either spelling is acceptable) radiation is that the optical shock wave emitted in the passage of the hyperluminal particle is coherant. In other words the Cerenkov effect provides an alternative means of pumping a laser.

Things really get exciting when you start shooting at your hyperluminal projectiles with light speed or higher velocity particles.

Myself I'm not intimidated by equations involving the square root of -1.

All that means is that the base of the curve described by the math has in some way been deviated from the origin line*, in other words, 'quantum jump'.




*The origin line is usually, for conventionality and convenience, co-incident with the x-axis.

Myself, whenever I see an infinity sign, I think 'undefined limit' reflexively. Many 'zeros' affect me the same way.

With respect to indefinitely accelerating an object ever closer and closer to the speed of light, there is a practical limit at a speed below the idealized speed of light in a vacuum (...well removed from nearby gravitational sources, etc., etc..).

This is generated by the relativistic mass increase, which will eventually increase to a level where escape velocity from your relativistic vehicle will equal the speed of light, forming a relativistic mass increase black hole.

It is impossible to accelerate an object beyond this critical velocity using reaction engines.

Higher accelerations can only be produced by esoteric means applied externally, like gravitational pumping.

post593
“Things really get exciting when you start shooting at your hyperluminal projectiles with light speed or higher velocity particles.”
post594
“Higher accelerations can only be produced by esoteric means applied externally, like gravitational pumping.”

Guys , where have you been shooting projectiles at light speed and higher than light speed travel, you’ll have poor old Scotty turning in his engine room..
There was a man that knew his stuff, limits, "I can't push it any faster, Captain!", still ring in my ears today and he was mean with those photon torpedoes , which by the way were generated by equal parts of matter and antimatter.
As for the space travel , just look out for any Dilithium crystals in your travels, I hear there well sort after

http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/

dark matter, you either love it or hate it

oops! sorry, that's marmite

"Calling something a Black hole at the start, calling it a Black hole in the middle and still calling it a Black hole now ,does not show that new talent or new technique have been applied and that the only persistence, is in calling it a Black hole and so painting a unnecessary image in the minds of those who wish to learn." [Winternights]

Okay, I see your point. There has been no progress in our approach to what we continue to call Black Holes. If I remember correctly, the term was first coined in the late 1970s [1978, perhaps?]. Where do you think we should be in 2012? If "Black hole" is an bad name with misleading implications, then what name should be preferred now?

...more 'catch 22', The local speed of light decreases with an increase in local mass density and gravitational flux densities, also with changes in the velocity of the medium in which the light is propagating relative to the direction of its propagation.

This has the effect that with increase in the relativistic mass, the speed of light affecting your relativistic vehicle is less than that in the surrounding and ambient space, allowing closure of the event horizon at a velocity less than that in the surrounding and ambient space.

Other strange things happen with local reductions in the speed of light.

For example, since the speed of light is the constant mediating the equivalency of matter and energy, nuclear reactions inside the locus of the reduced speed of light limit will generate less energy, at least from the point of view of an observer outside the locus, though it will not appear so from the point of view of an observer inside the locus.

This does have cosmological effects in an expanding universe, since the mass density* and gravitational flux densities decrease with passing time, producing an increase over time in the speed of light limit.

Light speed with the most distant observable objects was actually lower when that light was emitted than it is at present.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2003/05/text/




*Density: mass divided by the volume of space through which the mass is distributed. If the volume increases and the mass remains the same, the density must decrease.

A favorite thought problem with some relevance on the 'dark energy' problem:




http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/744/2/82;jsessionid=C5082C912B55F780F7B694BC3B0BB590.c3




When galaxies were first discovered, a priori, it was assumed that their distribution must be random, just as the stars were presumed to be randomly distributed before the discovery of galaxies.

With the discovery of cosmic voids, it became apparent that the galaxies are distributed in shells surrounding cosmic voids, with their motions directed radially away from the centers of the cosmic voids they're distributed around.

The cosmic voids apparently originated in the big bang itself and the rate of recession of the galaxies from the centers of the cosmic voids they're associated with is commensurate with that of cosmological expansion itself.

The actual rate of recession of the galaxies from the centers of the cosmic voids they're associated with depends on the size of the cosmic voids.

The rate is higher with larger cosmic voids and lower with smaller ones and proportionate to cosmological expansion itself, so that the don't interpenetrate, but remain tangent to their neighbors over cosmological time.

In other words, they represent local centers of cosmological expansion.

The Milky Way Galaxy originated in the center of the Bootes Void, which, with about 1% of the total volume of the observable universe, is somewhat larger than the mean.




...and now the thought problem:




Suppose one were to cancel all the known vectors on the motion of a space vehicle so as to start it on a free in-fall toward the center of the Bootes void.

How long would it take to get there?




This is a trick question quite a number of different ways.

The relevance to the dark energy question isn't immediately obvious.

...photon torpedoes?

I thought they were based on 'latinum'*, the transuranic in the second position after radon in the noble gasses group, a metallic noble gas that fissions with particle intensities like 100% when it fissions...

...total conversion of matter into energy is still total conversion, no matter how you achieve it...




*From "Star Trek Deep Space Nine".