My Center Challenge

RileyG · Jun 7, 2023

Warden_of_the_Storm said:
I did edit the post to get the question a bit better, but I honestly have to agree that I really can't think of any either.

Question: Can the laws of physics change?

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

RileyG said:
Question: Can the laws of physics change?

I want to say no, but I imagine that in a very young universe or very old universe, laws of physics might be different.

RileyG · Jun 7, 2023

Warden_of_the_Storm said:
I want to say no, but I imagine that in a very young universe or very old universe, laws of physics might be different.

Thanks for the answer! I'm very ignorant when it comes to these things.

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

RileyG said:
Thanks for the answer! I'm very ignorant when it comes to these things.

Ignorant is not the word… uneducated

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

JohnEmmett said:
Ignorant is not the word… uneducated

Ignorant is synonymous with uneducated.

You're just pretending to be smart here.

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

RileyG said:
Thanks for the answer! I'm very ignorant when it comes to these things.

Same here, so I'm just spit-balling here.

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

Warden_of_the_Storm said:
Ignorant is synonymous with uneducated.

I think of “ignorance” differently since I am Buddhist

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

JohnEmmett said:
I think of “ignorance” differently since I am Buddhist

Ignorance is still a synonym for uneducated, Buddhist or not.

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

Warden_of_the_Storm said:
Ignorance is still a synonym for uneducated, Buddhist or not.

You are ignorant in Buddhist terms

But you are educated in science

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

JohnEmmett said:
You are ignorant in Buddhist terms

But you are educated in science

Yes, I am uneducated in Buddhist terms.

But I am not ignorant in science.

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

Warden_of_the_Storm said:
Yes, I am uneducated in Buddhist terms.

But I am not ignorant in science.

K…

Hans Blaster · Jun 7, 2023

It'd be really weird since the Earth isn't the center of the Solar System and moves relative to the center of mass of the Solar System.

The Sun isn't the the center of the Galaxy and moves in an orbit with a velocity of ~220 km/s relative to the center of the Galaxy.

For the Earth to be the center of the Universe, the whole universe would have to be moving counter to apparent orbit of the Earth and Sun. That would be very silly.

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

AV1611VET said:
If the earth is at the center of the universe, what laws of physics have been violated?

Objectively it’s not, subjectively it is

Warden_of_the_Storm · Jun 7, 2023

Hans Blaster said:
It'd be really weird since the Earth isn't the center of the Solar System and moves relative to the center of mass of the Solar System.

The Sun isn't the the center of the Galaxy and moves in an orbit with a velocity of ~220 km/s relative to the center of the Galaxy.

For the Earth to be the center of the Universe, the whole universe would have to be moving counter to apparent orbit of the Earth and Sun. That would be very silly.

It is an interesting though experiment though. Definitely one of AV's better ones.

dlamberth · Jun 7, 2023

AV1611VET said:
If the earth is at the center of the universe, what laws of physics have been violated?

Be specific please; and please name the law(s).

The question might as well have been asked in this way:
If I'm the center of the Universe, what laws of physics have been violated?

JohnEmmett · Jun 7, 2023

dlamberth said:
The question might as well have been asked in this way:
If I'm the center of the Universe, what laws of physics have been violated?

None

sjastro · Jun 7, 2023

Starting off with an analogy where is the Earth’s centre?
In 3-D space the answer is simple, assuming the Earth is spherical in shape (which technically it isn’t), its geometrical centre is a point in its interior where the distance of this point to any point on the surface is a constant value defined as the radius.
Instead, if the question asked where is the centre on the Earth’s surface which is an example of 2-D space with a spherical symmetry, the answer is any point on the surface can be arbitrarily the centre even though there is no true geometrical centre.

The observable universe is modelled as part of a surface extended into 3-D space with a time dimension (space-time) of a much larger entire universe which could be infinitely large as the observable universe is essentially flat based on curvature measurements using the cosmic radiation background.

Like the Earth’s surface the observable universe has no true geometrical centre and any point can be arbitrarily chosen as the centre.
The situation is made even more ambiguous as space-time is expanding where the recession velocity of distant galaxies is proportional to the distance from the observer according to Hubble's law.

The observer in this case can be anywhere, they will find the recession velocities follow the same pattern hence the laws of physics, in this case Hubble's law, is the same whether the observer is on Earth or any other location in the universe.

Unqualified · Jun 7, 2023

On the surface any point could be considered the center on a two dimensional map. But it only has one center point. But if it’s irregular shape the a center would have to be a general estimation, figured out by a computer.

sjastro · Jun 7, 2023

Unqualified said:
On the surface any point could be considered the center on a two dimensional map. But it only has one center point. But if it’s irregular shape the a center would have to be a general estimation, figured out by a computer.

If by "centre point" you are referring to a geometrical centre, where is the centre point on the surface of a globe or an infinitely large sheet of paper?

juvenissun · Jun 7, 2023

The IbanezerScrooge said:
Has it been claimed that the Earth being the center of the Universe would violate any laws of physics? I've never heard that argument made.

But, relatively speaking we are the center of our universe because we see the same distance in all directions we look. That doesn't necessarily mean we are at the center of The Universe though.

We have looked very far away, and it is still approximately true. How much confidence this fact gives you?

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