Off Topic The Universe

[Saul]

The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists.

As the title suggests, this is a place to discuss our Universe.

I am looking forward to having a good, long discussion with you all about the most important thing to have ever existed.

Whether you have questions, answers or debates, all is welcome. Just try and keep it friendly.

[Ollie]

Does it have to be OUR Universe? I wanted to talk about the Parallel Universe

[Saul]

Nah, anything, whether its parallel, multiverse or stacked-verses.

[United58]

Does it have to be OUR Universe? I wanted to talk about the Parallel Universe

Is that the one where everyone has an alter ego, or what is it?

[Saul]

Parallel universes are exactly like our ­universe.

These universes are all related to ours; indeed, they branch off from ours, and our universe is branched off of others.

Within these parallel universes, our wars have had different outcomes than the ones we know.

Species that are extinct in our universe have evolved and adapted in others.

In other universes, we humans may have become extinct.

[Jens]

that is what we assume to be a parallel universe, but it's certainly not fact

[United58]

What I don't get is how a parallel universe could be the exact same as our own, with different outcomes

[Saul]

Each of them will have started with a "big bang". After that the outcomes are different.

That is what I mean by the same.

[Jens]

but there is absolutely no evidence that time evolves the same as in our universe

if there are other universes, it might just be possible that there is no life on the 'other' planet earth. There might not even be a planet earth...

[Saul]

I know. That is why I said that after the "big bang", the outcomes will change.

[Dec]

The time won't be the same as our time revolves around the sun and the moons movement, if there is life on other planets (which I think there is) then I am 99% sure their time scale will be different. However, saying that I think parallel universes science fiction.

[Saul]

No it isn't Dec;

Time is the presence of motion and forces and is caused by the expansion of our universe.

[Ali]

A Parallel Universe really interests me. So many questions that I often ponder such as, when I did this action, say, rejecting a girl, did my replica in another Universe accept that girl and enjoy a fruitful relationship? How about the outcome if the Germans had won the war? What I'd give to have an insight and see how the World would have developed.

[United58]

The time won't be the same as our time revolves around the sun and the moon's movement.

It will be if they are the same

[Saul]

What do you mean Patrick? Time will always be the same. As after the big bang, the universe will be expanding at the same rate. One of the very few things that will NOT change in a parallel universe.

all in theory of course.

[United58]

I mean if the universes are the same only for outcomes, how we measure time with the Sun/Moon movements will be the same in both/all universes

[Saul]

Nah, it won't (although it may in some). Think about the different calenders have been throughout history, the different ways we calculated timescales.

Someone on another planet may have a different perception of time due to time being a concept, not a measurement.

[Jens]

A Parallel Universe really interests me. So many questions that I often ponder such as, when I did this action, say, rejecting a girl, did my replica in another Universe accept that girl and enjoy a fruitful relationship? How about the outcome if the Germans had won the war? What I'd give to have an insight and see how the World would have developed.

I believe in the possibility of multiple universes, but I strongly doubt that ANYTHING would be the same. No Germans, no WW2. But it would, however, be very interesting to think about what could have been.

[ImABlueToo]

I don't get how there can be more than one Universe, the big bang makes each Universe so what was there to cause mroe than one big bang all at the same time...

Also people say like what would of happened if the Germans had won the war...it isn't the same on a parralel because it would of had to be all the same outcomes up until the War where it would of changed....For every choice made since the beggining of time, in the other universe it would of led a differant direction then giving it a differant set of new choices in compared to in ours so nothing would actually be the same...

[Saul]

If you think about it though, if you believe the Parallel Universe thoery, then there is potentially "infinite" amounts of them, living out every possible outcome.

That is where the idea of if the Germans won the wat comes from.

[James]

Is there anyway to travel from one universe to another? Not currently but is it as simple as getting a rocket and flying a LONG way? Or is it humanly impossible?

[Saul]

There might not even be other universes. It is not physically possible due to lack of resources and technology. The universe is at least 156 billion light-years wide.

If we did somehow reach the end of the universe (as it is ever expanding at the speed of light, it would be impossible), the other universe would be no more than 1 atom away from us, we could touch it.

[James]

Wow. I thought Africa was big.

[Saul]

haha...

156 000 000 000 light years = 9.17045971 × 10²³ miles

Which is 9,170,459,710,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.

[James]

Holy crap, if thats the universe, then how big is just Earth?

[Saul]

Earth is around 3595 miles in circumference.

[Davis]

Pretty damn big. How big is Jupiter ?

[Saul]

Jupiter's equatorial circumference is 279,118 miles (449,197 km) according to NASA. Its radius is 44,423 miles and its diameter is 88,846 miles, more than 22 times longer than earth's diameter.

Hope this discussion picks up, has so much potential, so diverse and great discussion value.

I don't know about any of you, but the universe and its knowns and unknowns really fascinate me.

-----------------------------

Lets look at potential planets out there which can hold life, you will be amazed. Some numbers I did a few months back:

1) The number of galaxies. An estimated 50 billion galaxies are visible with modern telescopes and the total number in the universe must surely exceed this number by a huge factor, but we will be conservative and simply double it. That's 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe.

2) The number of stars in an average galaxy. As many as hundreds of billions in each galaxy.

Lets call it just 100 billion.

That's 100,000,000,000 stars per galaxy.

3)The number of stars in the universe.

So the total number of stars in the universe is roughly 100 billion x 100 billion.

That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, 10 thousand, billion, billion. Properly known as 10 sextillion. And that's a very conservative estimate.

4) The number of stars that have planetary systems. The original extra-solar system planet hunting technology dictated that a star needed to be to close to us for a planet to be detected, usually by the stars 'wobble'. Better technology that allows us to measure the dimming of a stars brightness when a planet crosses its disk has now revolutionised planet hunting and new planets are being discovered at an ever increasing rate. So far (August 2003) around 100 have been discovered so we have very little data to work on for this estimate. Even so, most cosmologists believe that planetary formation around a star is quite common place. For the sake of argument let us say it's not and rate it at only one in a million and only one planet in each system, as we want a conservative estimate, not an exaggerated one. That calculation results in:

10,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the universe. Ten million, billion, as a conservative estimate.

5) The number planets capable of supporting life. Let's assume that this is very rare among planets and rate it at only one in a million. Simple division results in:

10,000,000,000 planets in the universe capable of producing life. Ten billion!

A lot more than you thought?

[Will]

Childish joke time 'Hehe 'SEX'tillion hehe'.

But really, just :|, that big?(Thats what she said.)

And I get lost in Manchester.

[Ollie]

Ok not exactly about the universe but can involve everybody in the world

But I found out that there were psychological experiments by Professor Schofield at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). And he explored the "mentally disturbed" as subjects in his study to find that there are various images proven to inflict terror on even the most fearless individuals. They are as follows;

Public showers

Babies in snail costumes

Old people

Inter-species relations

Black liquorice

Man feet

Otters