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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: QotW - 15.08.18 - Where are we within the universe?
« on: 24/12/2015 22:26:55 »
Ron, Any analogy can only carry an explanation so far. In the Balloon analogy the Balloon surface represents everything that is, was and ever will be.
You have to imagine the balloon doing something that balloons can't.
That is see the deflated balloon as all the surface shrinking evenly and maintaining it's shape as it is deflated. Rather than the limp wobbly thing that it does look like deflated.
So with that in mind, when it is totally deflated all the dots on it's surface are touching each other.
If we say the dots are elemental particles rather than the normal galaxies, we have the start of spacetime. The instant the first bit of air goes in, and the dots (our fundamental particles) have their first separation from each other.
None of them need to physically move from where they are.
The surface is a representation of the Universe's timeline. As it expands, it leaves the past behind. an observer can look into the centre of the balloon and see the past, but that same observer can only move in one direction in time. The expanding surface does not represent movement away from the physical centre of the Universe for any particle. Only movement in time. The extra space growing between the dots is a byproduct of "Time also being Space".
Another way that the balloon analogy fails is that we are considering the surface and the dots we see on it. We are therefore assuming a reference frame outside the Universe.
In reality there is no such reference frame. There is no outside the Universe.
In reality this surface is the Universe's timeline and not ours.
From the reference frame of any one of the dots, that view of the other dots is not available. No dot can look across the surface of the balloon. Because of the limited speed of light, the only direction viewable is towards the interior. (The past) Every dot can see where part of the surface of the balloon analogy was when the Universe was younger, but nothing can see the present in the present. Not even you reading this screen.
You see Ron, it is my opinion that because of our nature,(developed through evolving and surviving on the surface of a planet) we tend to think in material things, separated by Space. We have come to know that Time and Space are the same thing, but the Human mind tends to attach Time to Space as an add on and then promptly ignore it.
This very Human way of thinking leaves us asking questions like where does the Energy come from for this continuous Spacial Accelerated Expansion. We come up with misleading concepts like Dark Energy, because we can not see how more and more Space is always coming into existence. We ignore the Time component because we view it as an add on to Space. You will hardly ever see anyone referring to it as Timespace. Only as Spacetime. It's a subtle thing but it is important in that it directs our enormous imaginative and creative powers towards half the picture.
We are made of Timespace; with a sprinkling of Stardust..
You have to imagine the balloon doing something that balloons can't.
That is see the deflated balloon as all the surface shrinking evenly and maintaining it's shape as it is deflated. Rather than the limp wobbly thing that it does look like deflated.
So with that in mind, when it is totally deflated all the dots on it's surface are touching each other.
If we say the dots are elemental particles rather than the normal galaxies, we have the start of spacetime. The instant the first bit of air goes in, and the dots (our fundamental particles) have their first separation from each other.
None of them need to physically move from where they are.
The surface is a representation of the Universe's timeline. As it expands, it leaves the past behind. an observer can look into the centre of the balloon and see the past, but that same observer can only move in one direction in time. The expanding surface does not represent movement away from the physical centre of the Universe for any particle. Only movement in time. The extra space growing between the dots is a byproduct of "Time also being Space".
Another way that the balloon analogy fails is that we are considering the surface and the dots we see on it. We are therefore assuming a reference frame outside the Universe.
In reality there is no such reference frame. There is no outside the Universe.
In reality this surface is the Universe's timeline and not ours.
From the reference frame of any one of the dots, that view of the other dots is not available. No dot can look across the surface of the balloon. Because of the limited speed of light, the only direction viewable is towards the interior. (The past) Every dot can see where part of the surface of the balloon analogy was when the Universe was younger, but nothing can see the present in the present. Not even you reading this screen.
You see Ron, it is my opinion that because of our nature,(developed through evolving and surviving on the surface of a planet) we tend to think in material things, separated by Space. We have come to know that Time and Space are the same thing, but the Human mind tends to attach Time to Space as an add on and then promptly ignore it.
This very Human way of thinking leaves us asking questions like where does the Energy come from for this continuous Spacial Accelerated Expansion. We come up with misleading concepts like Dark Energy, because we can not see how more and more Space is always coming into existence. We ignore the Time component because we view it as an add on to Space. You will hardly ever see anyone referring to it as Timespace. Only as Spacetime. It's a subtle thing but it is important in that it directs our enormous imaginative and creative powers towards half the picture.
We are made of Timespace; with a sprinkling of Stardust..
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