Philosophy
The Nobel Prize for physics was announced and it goes to Saul Permutter of Berkeley, Brian Schmidt from the Australian National Observatory, and Adam Reiss from some school in Baltimore with a lacrosse team. The prize was given for the discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing.
We've known for almost a century that the universe is expanding. When something moves relative to us, there is a Doppler shift. Think of the sound of a fire engine siren going past you. As it approaches, the tone goes up and as it recedes, the tone goes down. The same thing happens with light. So, when we look around us at stars which give off light in the same way and so should have roughly the same color of light emitted from them, we notice some of them have light that is shifted towards the red end of spectrum and others that have their light shifted towards the blue. The father away the star is, the more likely it is to be moving away and moving away faster (which we know from the amount of the shift). This means that the universe is expanding. Think of raisin bread dough rising. As the dough expands, the raisins separate, but the raisins that are farthest apart at the start of the rise are farther apart than those that started off closer together. A longer distance over a fixed time means a greater relative velocity. This is what we see when we look out.
Of the four forces in nature, the only one that acts in a non-trivial fashion over any significant distance is gravitation which is an attractive force. As such, if the universe is expanding and full of objects pulling on each other in the opposite direction to the expansion, we expect that gravity is putting on the brakes. We weren't sure by how much, but the universe had to be at most constant in its expansion.
What the two teams led by these three physicists did was to look at objects very far away that are very, very old. Assuming the universe's expansion to be constant or slowing due to gravity, they expected to measure certain quantities in a certain range. But that's not what they found -- and they we looking independently. The only way these observations make sense is if the universal expansion is not slowing, but accelerating. But the only force out there that is operative is gravity which can only slow it down. What is causing this acceleration? That answer remains to be found. Some contend that it's a new force caused by something unknown to us but given the very cool name "dark energy." Others think that a fifth force is unlikely, but are at a loss to explain it. What ever it ends up being, it's just darn good stuff.
- Callllllllll Forrrrrrrrrr "meta-physician"...so Called Johnny Roventini
Now we are entering the realm of philosophy and metaphysics. "Will we ever… know what happened before the Big Bang?" by Matthew Francis May 3rd, 2013 BBC NEWS If you think theories about the universe are mind-bending, rest assured that many...
- A Single Event Does Not Make A Law Invalid...neutrinos Vs Speed Of Light
"Take Heart, Einstein: ‘Earth-Shattering’ Science Is Relatively Rare?" by Adam Mann September 26th, 2011 Wired Science What began last week as whispered rumors posted on the physics blog Resonaances grew to a roar of articles around the world...
- Non-universal Laws Of Physics
I have advocated this for years. We do not know with certainty that the physics we observe and use are truly universal...and may never know. "Laws of physics 'are different' depending on where you are in the universe" Laws we know may be 'like...
- Deceased--simon Van Der Meer
Simon van der Meer November 24th, 1925 to March 4th, 2011 "Simon van der Meer, Nobel Laureate, Dies at 85" by Kenneth Chang March 11th, 2011 The New York Times Simon van der Meer, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 for a technological advance...
- Deceased--allan Sandage
Allan Sandage June 18th, 1926 to November 13th, 2010 "Allan R. Sandage dies at 84; cosmologist focused on the age of the universe" The scientist, an assistant to Edwin Hubble in the 1950s, believed the universe to be about 15 billion years old rather...
Philosophy
Dark Energy and the Nobel in Physics
The Nobel Prize for physics was announced and it goes to Saul Permutter of Berkeley, Brian Schmidt from the Australian National Observatory, and Adam Reiss from some school in Baltimore with a lacrosse team. The prize was given for the discovery that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing.
We've known for almost a century that the universe is expanding. When something moves relative to us, there is a Doppler shift. Think of the sound of a fire engine siren going past you. As it approaches, the tone goes up and as it recedes, the tone goes down. The same thing happens with light. So, when we look around us at stars which give off light in the same way and so should have roughly the same color of light emitted from them, we notice some of them have light that is shifted towards the red end of spectrum and others that have their light shifted towards the blue. The father away the star is, the more likely it is to be moving away and moving away faster (which we know from the amount of the shift). This means that the universe is expanding. Think of raisin bread dough rising. As the dough expands, the raisins separate, but the raisins that are farthest apart at the start of the rise are farther apart than those that started off closer together. A longer distance over a fixed time means a greater relative velocity. This is what we see when we look out.
Of the four forces in nature, the only one that acts in a non-trivial fashion over any significant distance is gravitation which is an attractive force. As such, if the universe is expanding and full of objects pulling on each other in the opposite direction to the expansion, we expect that gravity is putting on the brakes. We weren't sure by how much, but the universe had to be at most constant in its expansion.
What the two teams led by these three physicists did was to look at objects very far away that are very, very old. Assuming the universe's expansion to be constant or slowing due to gravity, they expected to measure certain quantities in a certain range. But that's not what they found -- and they we looking independently. The only way these observations make sense is if the universal expansion is not slowing, but accelerating. But the only force out there that is operative is gravity which can only slow it down. What is causing this acceleration? That answer remains to be found. Some contend that it's a new force caused by something unknown to us but given the very cool name "dark energy." Others think that a fifth force is unlikely, but are at a loss to explain it. What ever it ends up being, it's just darn good stuff.
- Callllllllll Forrrrrrrrrr "meta-physician"...so Called Johnny Roventini
Now we are entering the realm of philosophy and metaphysics. "Will we ever… know what happened before the Big Bang?" by Matthew Francis May 3rd, 2013 BBC NEWS If you think theories about the universe are mind-bending, rest assured that many...
- A Single Event Does Not Make A Law Invalid...neutrinos Vs Speed Of Light
"Take Heart, Einstein: ‘Earth-Shattering’ Science Is Relatively Rare?" by Adam Mann September 26th, 2011 Wired Science What began last week as whispered rumors posted on the physics blog Resonaances grew to a roar of articles around the world...
- Non-universal Laws Of Physics
I have advocated this for years. We do not know with certainty that the physics we observe and use are truly universal...and may never know. "Laws of physics 'are different' depending on where you are in the universe" Laws we know may be 'like...
- Deceased--simon Van Der Meer
Simon van der Meer November 24th, 1925 to March 4th, 2011 "Simon van der Meer, Nobel Laureate, Dies at 85" by Kenneth Chang March 11th, 2011 The New York Times Simon van der Meer, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1984 for a technological advance...
- Deceased--allan Sandage
Allan Sandage June 18th, 1926 to November 13th, 2010 "Allan R. Sandage dies at 84; cosmologist focused on the age of the universe" The scientist, an assistant to Edwin Hubble in the 1950s, believed the universe to be about 15 billion years old rather...