[McQueen (OP)]

              Atoms are made up of 99.99999999% empty space. How is it that we can’t just walk straight through walls considering that we are made up of 99.9999999% empty space? We live in a world of electrostatic attractions and repulsion. When we attempt to pass through a wall,  we first experience a neutral force where the electron- proton attractive force is neutral because both forces are in equilibrium, as the wall gets closer the  electron-electron repulsion force is stronger than the electron-proton attractive force because the electrons are much closer to each other, and it is not possible to advance further.

        One aspect of living on earth is that we often ignore just how volatile our environment is. If we pick up a pencil, trillions of electrons have to re-adjust themselves in order to maintain equilibrium. When we walk amazing feats of balance are involved featuring untold interactions.  In fact, every single movement or action that is made results in the displacement and re-arrangement of the electrostatic forces that surround us, this involves trillions of electrons.  Given that this is so, it is strange that the theories we have of the Universe reflect nothing at all of this aspect of existence. The theories of the Universe that are at present in wide-spread use, see the Universe  as a place that is completely at rest.

     Further, one of the founding principles of science, is that light can never be at rest, it and all electromagnetic radiation are either moving at the speed of light or have been absorbed. This being so, how is it that we have this humungous dinosaur called CMBR which is apparently just hanging there, immobile fixed in one place in the Universe? Is it possible?

    The answer is that it is not.  THE CMBR is not the thermalised (static??) radiation that everyone seems to accept without question.  Instead, it is a reflection of present events that are taking place in the Universe, it correctly reflects the distribution of matter in The Universe. Think of the huge, massive beyond belief, clouds of gas in which the CMBR has its origins. Is it possible to think that these massive clouds of gas are static, that no movement at all takes place. No. You can be sure that currents are generated that give rise to radiation and constant interactions with light and electromagnetic radiation coming in from stars and galaxies taking place. 

            Why is the CMBR so homogenous? In order to understand why the CMBR is homogenous one must have some comprehension of the size of these clouds of hydrogen which are moré or less homogenous in composition. This being so, if CMBR emerging from these clouds were not homogenous, it would be cause for concern and investigation. 

             To think of electromagnetic radiation just hanging stationary in space, is absolutely farcial. It cannot happen and yet that is what we are told is happening with the CMBR, it is hanging stationary in space, it exists everywhere. Poppy cock!  What we think of the CMBR as being the remnant radiation from the Big Bang is actually representative of present day activity taking place NOW in the present.

             If you want to know what the CMBR is, look at dark matter.

   

[CrazyScientist]

First of all, I don't understand what the first part of your post  (the one about interactions between subatomic particles) has to do with the second part (the one about EM radiation). Second of all, I don't understand why do you treat the light and EM radiation as different phenomenons. Light IS just another kind of EM radiation, just like microwave, radiowave or thermal radiation (among many others) - what makes the difference, is just the wavelenght of EM wave.

You're right: EM radiation can't be "hanging" in space - and it doesn't, since all kinds of EM waves always propagate at the speed of light (at least in vacuum). The very fact, that we're able to detect the CMBR, means that EM waves responsible for it, are traveling through space and some of them are able to reach the dome of a radiotelescope. Saying that microwave background is hanging in space is like saying, that light is suspended inside an illuminated room.

[Kryptid]

The cosmic microwave background is not static. The photons that compose it are constantly on the move, just as you would expect of electromagnetic radiation. It's just that, for any given volume of space, you have just about as many photons entering that volume at a time as you have leaving it. Hence why it's always there despite have components that are constantly moving.

[Bored chemist]

Q "Does the CMBR really exist?"
A "Yes".

Nothing in the OP's post makes or could make, any difference at all to that fact.

[Bored chemist]

Atoms are made up of 99.99999999% empty space. How is it that we can’t just walk straight through walls considering that we are made up of 99.9999999% empty space?

The exclusion principle, but it has nothing to do with the question.

[Bored chemist]

it is strange that the theories we have of the Universe reflect nothing at all of this aspect of existence.

They do, but again, this is nothing to do with the question.

[Bored chemist]

  The answer is that it is not.  THE CMBR is not the thermalised (static??) radiation that everyone seems to accept without question. 

It isn't "static" in any sense.
For a start, it is made of EMR travelling at C.
For a finish, it is constantly, but slowly, changing.
It started at about 10,000 K and has changed to about 2K

[Bored chemist]

Why is the CMBR so homogenous?

Because, when it formed it was all "close together".

[McQueen (OP)]

Because, when it formed it was all "close together".

                   This does not answer some basic questions. Normally when black body radiation is discussed, it is about radiation contained within something. Take a black box for instance. The insides of the box are coated black so that all radiation is absorbed.  A blackbody is a theoretical or model body which absorbs all radiation falling on it, reflecting or transmitting none. “All objects emit electromagnetic radiation according to their temperature. A black body is an idealized object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation it comes in contact with. ... It then emits thermal radiation in a continuous spectrum according to its temperature.” Wikipedia

                 So you see your the whole concept of the CMBR  undergoing thermal equilibrium is dodgy to say the least. What about present day interactions. Do you think present day signals from the super gigantic hydrogen clouds  amount  to just  the 21cm radiation? This is an interaction that takes place only once in 10 million years, the hydrogen clouds are so massive that the 21cm radiation seems continuous. But what about radiations resulting from everyday interactions taking place within the cloud? Say light received from distant galaxies, imbalances caused by density distribution and forces of gravity. I repeat the  CMBR seems to be more a reflection of the present day distribution of matter in the Universe than representative of relic radiation.

[Bored chemist]

Normally when black body radiation is discussed, it is about radiation contained within something.

Odd as this may seem, it's generally about radiation coming out of something.
If it's in a box, you can't see it unless you are also in the box.

 So you see your the whole concept of the CMBR  undergoing thermal equilibrium is dodgy to say the least.

We are in the box which, in this case is the universe.

What about present day interactions.

I can see the sunshine.
What did you think you were talking about?

Do you think present day signals from the super gigantic hydrogen clouds  amount  to just  the 21cm radiation?

No.
But it's tricky to find much other emission from cool  molecular hydrogen.

I'm happy to discuss this... I'm a spectroscopist and as far as I can tell, you are an ignoramus.

This is an interaction that takes place only once in 10 million years,

No.
It happens all the time, because there's a lot of hydrogen.
It's a bit like the clicks from a Geiger counter near some uranium ore.
The half life of uranium is billions of years. But there are many billions of atoms, so you don't  need to wait long to hear a click.

But what about radiations resulting from everyday interactions taking place within the cloud?

What sort of interactions do you have in mind?

The social ones will be a bit rare; those gas clouds are actually a damned good vacuum.

I repeat the  CMBR seems to be more a reflection of the present day distribution of matter in the Universe than representative of relic radiation.

Nobody; least of all the universe, is particularly affected by how things seem to you.

However, we know about quite a lot of teh distribution of stuff in the universe because a lot of it is hot enough to emit light which we can see.

It's fairly obvious that you are wrong.
If you look at the sky, you see little bright patches on a dark background which reflect the (more or less) present distribution of matter.
If, on the other hand, you look at microwave radiation you see that (give or take some bright objects) it's more or less even throughout the sky.

[puppypower]

When we look out into space, the EMR reaching us is a recording of the past at various points in time. It does not tell us what the universe is doing today, but only what it did at various times in the past. An analogy is a photo album of a child from birth to adulthood. All these photos can be taken out of the album, and spread out on the kitchen table, so we can see them together, side-by-side. This is what the telescope sees. It sees a photo album with the photos out of the album.

However, they were not all taken at the same time. Each photo reflects a different moment in time, with the baby photos being the oldest. When we put the photos back in the album, we organize by time and not by the position on the table.

If we sent probes to each planet in our solar system, and all these probes were sending signals, continuously, none of what we will receive, will be in real time. The differences in distances will create different signal time delays. We see the past, at various stages,  but never the present.

The CMBR is interesting in that photos from all ages, baby to adult, look the same in all directions.  This is different from the EMR from the galaxies and stars, which show more variety in terms of time. Here the time delay allows us to see the distant and current past, which adds more apparent variety to the present observations at the telescope.

But the CMBR also comes from all times, but has little variety. The source of the CMBR  would need to reflect something that does not age or change with time. An analogy would be like a photo album of many generations, containing a diamond ring, that is handed down from generation to generation. The people in the photo get older, but the ring is always the same. There is a timeless nature to the CMBR; diamond ring of the universe.

One possible explanation is connected to the quantum nature of electron orbitals. If we have a hydrogen atom, it has quantified energy levels for its electron orbital. There is a minimal energy quanta that is needed before an electron can be excited into the next higher state.  Anything below this minimal energy quanta, will not be able to interact with the hydrogen orbitals.  Anything above the minimal energy level can interact. The result would be a segregation of energy into interactive and non interactive.

Heat moves from hotter to colder, but not from colder to hotter, for this very reason. Hotter energy can excite a cooler objects, and thereby transfer energy, since there are many unoccupied energy levels. However, cooler energy has little place to absorb on hotter matter, since even the possible  energy levels are modified or are already in use by the heat. It appears that the CMBR is composed of cooler energy quanta, that has segregated from hotter energy. It is less interactive with the warm matter. It does not reflect the same history of change that the matter has undergone; generations of kin, versus the diamond ring.

Clocks placed at various points on the earth will run at different rates. This will be reflected in the recorded time, being different for each clock. Relativity can alter the accumulative time of a clock. Although time will show a permanent change, via the clock read out, distance contraction in space-time via relativity, is fully reversible.

In other words, unlike the clock display which shows a permeant change in time, the clock housing will not be permanently become a different size, since any distance changes are reversible and leave no permanent evidence. If we unplugged the clock; disconnected the power supply, there would be no permeant change in recorded time. The permanent time change is connected to the flow of energy.

In the terms of the universe, the hotter types of energy that can interact with matter in many different ways, will interact with the changing internal clocks of matter, as matter moves with velocity; SR, and/or interacts with mass; GR. There will be a frequency adjustment to the absorbed energy, that reflects the permanent change of time in the matter's clock; changes in internal energy flow.

Energy that is too low to interact with matter, at as many energy levels; cool energy, such as microwaves, will avoid most of the matter based time adjustment. It essentially sees the equivalent of matter that is not plugged in. The net affect is we will not see any large scale red shift in the CMBR, as a function of distance=time, as we do with hot galaxies. This means the red shift is not connected to expanding space-time, but to changes in time-space, because time is the active variable; permeant change,  that leads to changes in reversible space so the product equals the speed of light.

[McQueen (OP)]

When we look out into space, the EMR reaching us is a recording of the past at various points in time. It does not tell us what the universe is doing today, but only what it did at various times in the past. An analogy is a photo album of a child from birth to adulthood. All these photos can be taken out of the album, and spread out on the kitchen table, so we can see them together, side-by-side. This is what the telescope sees. It sees a photo album with the photos out of the album.

            I enjoyed reading your post an interesting read. I agree with most of what you say and appreciate the way you have conceptualised the arrow of time concept. Yes, when we look out into space through a telescope we are looking backward  through time. A consequence of the finite speed of light. Although I agree with your post.   I just want to ask you one or two questions.

 Firstly:

1)   What kind of EMR do the super massive clouds of hydrogen emanate at present. Because, to think they are static and unchanging and , according to present theories inert, is false. We know that everything in the Universe formed out of exactly the same type of super massive Hydrogen clouds.  Galaxies formed out of the rotation of these massive clouds of hydrogen and stars, planets and matter formed out of those galaxies. So what caused these clouds to rotate? It could be any number of things. Even, in the present day Hubble has witnessed star formation in different galaxies. As you had pointed out, stars and galaxies etc., radiate one type of EMR and that is a fact that is easily accepted.  The question, I want answered is, what kind of EMR do these massive clouds of hydrogen radiate?

Secondly:

2)   The second question has to do with the terrific volatility of all kinds of interactions with matter. As I had pointed out, pick up a pencil and millions of electrons re-arrange themselves, wave something around and hectic activity is seen. Knowing this, can we believe that these super massive clouds of hydrogen are absolutely inert, produce no kind of radiation and that all tthe radiation we see is relic radiation from the Big Bang.

[Bored chemist]

Energy that is too low to interact with matter, at as many energy levels; cool energy, such as microwaves,

Microwaves interact with things. That's what most people use them for.

When we look out into space, the EMR reaching us is a recording of the past at various points in time. It does not tell us what the universe is doing today, but only what it did at various times in the past. An analogy is a photo album of a child from birth to adulthood. All these photos can be taken out of the album, and spread out on the kitchen table, so we can see them together, side-by-side. This is what the telescope sees. It sees a photo album with the photos out of the album.

However, they were not all taken at the same time. Each photo reflects a different moment in time, with the baby photos being the oldest. When we put the photos back in the album, we organize by time and not by the position on the table.

If we sent probes to each planet in our solar system, and all these probes were sending signals, continuously, none of what we will receive, will be in real time. The differences in distances will create different signal time delays. We see the past, at various stages,  but never the present.

Everybody knows that.
It's what I was referring to when i said "more or less"here.

If you look at the sky, you see little bright patches on a dark background which reflect the (more or less) present distribution of matter.

But the CMBR also comes from all times,

No
It comes from when the universe cooled down enough for protons and electrons to join up and form atoms.
Before then the free electrons would make space opaque to all EM radiation.
So the CMBR started from  a thermal plasma at about 10000 K.

Obviously, that wasn't "instant" but it was pretty quick compared to the timescale of how long ago it was.

[McQueen (OP)]

Energy that is too low to interact with matter, at as many energy levels; cool energy, such as microwaves, will avoid most of the matter based time adjustment. It essentially sees the equivalent of matter that is not plugged in. The net affect is we will not see any large scale red shift in the CMBR, as a function of distance=time, as we do with hot galaxies.

             The CMBR is often characterised as being faint background  radiation,  that it is relic radiation . In the 1960’s and 70’s anyone who owned a radio or television was familiar with the CMBR radiation that everyone thought of as ‘static’. It was not faint, it was loud enough to have to turn the volume down and when no channel was broadcasting the snow and noise on the TV set was so compelling that one could almost expect to see messages and images emerge out of the noise. Today noise cancelling techniques in the interest of better reception has resulted in the CMBR hardly ever being heard.