Interesting conversation.....

[martint235]

Me and the OH have been having weird scientific conversations lately and this will probably crop up at some point. So far we've covered:

the quantum theory that each decision/change in the universe spawns a new universe. Whether or not the universe is infinite is irrelevant to this but the question has been does this lead to an infinite number of universes or just a very large number of universes;

Schrodinger's Cat. An idea that is meant to be a simplification of quantum physics and I needed to find a simplification of the simplification. I left it by saying "Look the cat is either dead when you open the box or you get your face clawed off"

The idea that if the universe is infinite and if the number of planets is also infinite, then everything that you can imagine plus all the stuff you can't actually exists some place. I believe it was Douglas Adams that came up with the idea of a planet inhabited by walking mattresses. The OH just wants to know what I've got against mattresses.

 

[TVC]

Which reminds me:

Schrodinger has just brought round a present for my family. On Christmas morning the kids are either going to be delighted or horrified.



I really like the theory that there is only one electron, that is mind blowing.

 

[Chromatic]

Me and the OH have been having weird scientific conversations lately and this will probably crop up at some point. So far we've covered:

the quantum theory that each decision/change in the universe spawns a new universe. Whether or not the universe is infinite is irrelevant to this but the question has been does this lead to an infinite number of universes or just a very large number of universes;

Schrodinger's Cat. An idea that is meant to be a simplification of quantum physics and I needed to find a simplification of the simplification. I left it by saying "Look the cat is either dead when you open the box or you get your face clawed off"

The idea that if the universe is infinite and if the number of planets is also infinite, then everything that you can imagine plus all the stuff you can't actually exists some place. I believe it was Douglas Adams that came up with the idea of a planet inhabited by walking mattresses. The OH just wants to know what I've got against mattresses.

I suggest that you suggest her back.

 

[tyred]

You'll be able to explain it better after you've had half a bottle of whiskey

 

[Fnaar]

The earth is a giant hob-nob riding on the back of a turtle. And the turtle is resting on the left tusk of an elephant. And the elephant is the universe. When you know the elephant, you know life.

 

[martint235]

That elephant is a mate of mine. Down the Red Lion every Friday he is. P****d as anything usually and continually going on about that flipping turtle.

 

[dan_bo]

I tried that approach. He shut up for about 30 seconds then said "If it's expanding it must have an edge. So it's not infinite is it?"

Smart arse.

 

[dan_bo]

Take the infinate number x, logically there must also be -x, negative infinity. This can be represented on number line joined to form a circle with 0 at 12 'o' clock and + and - infinity joined at 6 'o' clock. This 2d circle can represent an axis through the universe. As infinity is always x+1 the circle like the universe is ever expanding.

It's Friday night and you've just burnt my head out. Cheers.

 

[vernon]

My reply:-
Go ask your mum.

You missed off the line, "She knows everything"

 

[Gravity Aided]

The universe, as it expands, makes more elbow room for the molecules that comprise it. As it expands, the universe becomes larger, but less dense. Take a piece of paper, coil it into a tight cyclinder. Let it go. As it uncoils, it takes up more space, and has less density. While this imperfect model has drawbacks, it gives a sort of rough idea. So does a sugar cookie. As it bakes it gets bigger, but more puffy.This is our model of a universe. Some will contend that there is no finite limit to the universe. Only our imagination. Before telescopes and science in the modern notion, we thought in terms of a much smaller universe. The stars were set in a crystal sphere, which divided earth from heaven. Then, for a long time, we believd that our galaxy comprised the universe. When we discovered other galaxies, our universe became larger. Who knows what next we will discover. (Probably a crystal sphere, and God will tell us-See-I told ye it were out here!)

 

[ClichéGuevara]

If the universe was created from the big bang, where did the stuff in the big bang come from, and what and where did the initial bang occur in?

 

[Puddles]

My mum didn't know everything. She didn't know that I used to pick my nose in Sunday school.

She did, she was just "picking her battles"

 

[swee'pea99]

Personally I think the only sensible answer to give your sprog is the QI line: Nobody knows.

Even Bill Bryson is a bit stumped (and he's terribly clever - and funny too):

 

[Gravity Aided]

If the universe was created from the big bang, where did the stuff in the big bang come from, and what and where did the initial bang occur in?

As with everything, in a small petri dish in a junior high school science class in another dimension.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

As with everything, in a small petri dish in a junior high school science class in another dimension.

Aye, it's just turtles all the way down, as the lady observed,.