The universe

[ocean]

For thousands of years, people have been trying to explore our earth and the universe. Thousands of years ago, people thought the earth sat on top of a giant turtle and that the sky was held up by mountains. Hundreds of years ago people thought that the earth was flat and was in the center of the universe. We now know that the universe is a very old, vast, cold, mostly empty space, with black holes, stars, and planets, and that the earth is an insignificant planet in a small solar system in an insignificant galaxy. Science proves this. So, it is hard to believe that in this day and age, there are still people who believe that the universe is young and that we are in the center of the universe. Science obviously disproves this, but they choose to believe a 4000 year old Book over scientific evidence and proof. (This is not an attack in any way on anyone.)

One thing we still don't know for sure is the origins of the universe. Sure, we know that there was an "explosion", for lack of a better word, 15 or so billion years ago, that started our universe. However, we don't know how or why this happened. Is it strictly natural causes, or did an intelligent Being cause it to happen? People have their beliefs, but no one knows for certain.

Still, there are many questions we have about space and time that science has not answered yet. What is time? Is it simply a human measurment? Or is it a wave, or a particle, or something else?

What is light? Is it a wave, a photon, a particle, or is it some unkown form of matter or energy.

What, if anything, lies beyond our dimension, even beyond our universe? Nothing? Probably not. In fact, scientifically speaking, there is no "nothing", everything is something. There is no such thing as non-existance. So, in theory, there must be something beyond our universe.

I have a "theory" I am working on concerning time, light, and energy and how they are all related. i will post it here sometime tomorrow.

-ocean

 

[Morat]

Duane? Is that you?

 

 

[ocean]

No, this is ocean! If I was Duane, I would have mentioned God and religion in my post. This is strictly science.

 

[Morat]

 Light, by the way, is a quantized packet of energy. EM radiation (like light) is how energy is transmitted over distances.

 

 

[jon1101]

Interesting post. I don't tend to disagree with you, but I do take issue with the following:

the earth is an insignificant planet in a small solar system in an insignificant galaxy. Science proves this.

Science does not, as far as I know, make any real comment on the significance of the earth. It attacks the position that earth is in the center of the universe because the earth is the most important planet; but it does so by refuting that the earth is the center of the universe, not by diminishing the significance of earth. I don't believe that science is really supposed to comment on anything but the physical. The significance that we as people or God as a deity place on the bit of matter that we call earth is not determined by science.

Now, there may or may not be a sound argument that earth is basically just another planet that happened to be host to the formation of life -- I haven't really entered that debate -- but if this is the case, it would not be a scientific argument in the sense that it is a scientific fact or scientific theory.

-jon

 

[paulewog]

/me is glad you admitted ther ewas something science didn't know about the beginning, but wonders what the proof is of the explosion?

 

[Morat]

  You mean inflation? The "Explosion" of the Big Bang was not an explosion, but a rapid expansion of space-time.

   The Cosmic Microwave Background is an elegant piece of evidence. It was predicted well before it was found. (And it was even polarized, as predicted).

 

 

[paulewog]

/me wondesr if there is a light explanation of this microwave thingy

 

[Morat]

  It goes like this: IF the Big Bang happened, then the "echo" of the initial high energy state would still be seen today.

   Basically, if the universe was once hot and tiny, then as it got bigger, that heat would disperse, so that you'd find a tiny amount of heat radiating from everywhere in the sky you looked, in exactly equal amounts. (Well, almost equal. There are tiny variations, but that's an inflation thing).

   So, they calculated how hot it should be (3 Kelvin) and designed some scopes that should be able to find it, and quite awhile later they did. Everywhere they looked. At exactly 3 K. And further, just recently, they were able to determine the light was polarized, which was another prediction of the Big Bang. (Most light isn't).

 

[ocean]

Originally posted by Morat
 And further, just recently, they were able to determine the light was polarized, which was another prediction of the Big Bang. (Most light isn't).

This also proves that there are some types of light that we haven't discovered yet. Only 3% of known light is visible to humans. There are many kinds of light (infrared light, for one).

 

[Morat]

This also proves that there are some types of light that we haven't discovered yet. Only 3% of <I>known</I> light is visible to humans. There are many kinds of light (infrared light, for one).

&nbsp; Um, no. All light is the same. They're EM waves. Radio waves, visible light, infrared, gamma, X-ray...it's all the same.

&nbsp;&nbsp; We know all the ones you can get, ocean. It's just frequencies, you know.

&nbsp;

 

[lithium.]

Originally posted by Morat
&nbsp; Um, no. All light is the same. They're EM waves. Radio waves, visible light, infrared, gamma, X-ray...it's all the same.

&nbsp;&nbsp; We know all the ones you can get, ocean. It's just frequencies, you know.

&nbsp;

I agree with Morat. All light is the same.