Expanding Universe Irony

Current research reveals that not only is the universe expanding, it is accelerating.

One theory is that as it expands the increased vacuum pulls new matter into being. New matter needs more space and is thus pushing the universe apart.

However, there could be a bit of irony involved with the universe's expansion and how the scientists know it's accelerating.

They discovered the universe is accelerating by measuring light from Super Nova's - exploding stars.

These Super Nova's give off the same amount of light when they explode no matter where they are.

And it is thought that these explosions are what sends things like oxygen, iron, etc. throughout the universe. So it comes to fall on places like Earth.

But an explosion is an expansive force - a push apart force - not like gravity which is an attractive force.

Why couldn't these explosing Super Nova's be the things pushing the universe apart at an ever increasing speed?

And that's the irony... the very thing being studied which tells us the universe is accelerating could be the same thing causing the acceleration.

Thoughts?

Michael Ross

> Thoughts?

Yes, that's it exactly! It's thoughts that are causing the universe to expand! :)

Think about it (oops!), hasn't there been an explosion of thought since the internet went commercial? What about all the thoughts beind each spam email? (You know, brand new thoughts like "Wow! I'm going to be rich!!!!!")

Every year, for thousands and thousands of years now, we've been getting more and more thought stuffed into this little universe of ours. No wonder it's expanding!

OK, now, follow my logic on this:

Remember, everyone who thinks "is", right?

When people aren't thinking, you have less "is" (translation, "less universe").

But when you get a whole bunch of people thinking up a whole bunch of new ideas, or even re-thinking up old ideas, and you add up all those "ises", why, you get an expanding universe.

It's simple. See?

Look, here's an experiment that will, once and for all prove it: If you could get everyone in the universe to stop thinking, just for a second or two, the whole thing would just collapse. But then everyone would start thinking about the collapsing universe, and we'd be right back where we started.

Oh well. I guess there's no escape. :)

---- Hugh

Hi Michael,

This isn't my field, but I did a bit of reading - here's how I understand it....

To measure the accelerated expanding of the universe, they found a particular type of supernova, Type 1A supernovae, which we can measure our distance from. Essentially, by measuring its brightness, we can measure how far away any particular Type 1A supernova is from us.

Also, if something is further away, it takes the light longer to reach us. So, when we look at supernovae which are further away, we are also looking at supernovae from when the universe was younger.

To measure how fast it is traveling from us, they measure the "red shift" of the supernova. If something is moving away from you, the wavelength you see is "stretched out", which causes it to appear "redder" than it really is. (This is just the Doppler effect, which you may know about from sound waves....)

If you measure the brightness and the redshift of Type 1A supernovae, then you know how far away it is, how far back into the universe you are looking, and how fast it is moving away from us too.

What they found is that the older, further away supernovae were moving away from us more slowly than the newer, closer supernovae. This was the opposite of what was expected. What it suggests is that the "expansion" in the earlier days of the universe was slower than it is today. That is, it suggests that the expansion of the universe has accelerated.

Could the exploding supernovae be what's driving the acceleration of the universe? I'm not an expert in this area, but I think it's unlikely, because of scale.... Although a supernova is pretty big compared to our tiny planet, it is itself extremely tiny compared to the expansion of the universe. The "exploding" supernovae I think are probably way way way too small to make hardly any difference....

Well, that's how I understand it anyhow....

Now - I have a question.... What I want to know is - can the accelerated expanding of the universe explain my expanding waistline???!?! :)

- Dien


Here's an article explaining some of this (the universe, not my waistline)....

....Hugh's explanation is better than the others I've read....! :)

(Thanks Hugh! I got a chuckle from that! ;) )

- Dien

> Could the exploding supernovae be what's
> driving the acceleration of the universe?
> I'm not an expert in this area, but I think
> it's unlikely, because of scale.... Although
> a supernova is pretty big compared to our
> tiny planet, it is itself extremely tiny
> compared to the expansion of the universe.
> The "exploding" supernovae I think
> are probably way way way too small to make
> hardly any difference....

Dien,

To keep from clouding my thoughts on this I have not read your link. What you say above though, could actually be the reason why it is the SuperNova Explosions causing the acceleration.

Let me explain...

GRAVITY: Perhaps the most predominant force in the universe, and yet, it is so weak it is nearly impossible to measure. Only when an object is massive enough can the affects of gravity be plainly seen.

This weak weak force, when compared to the other forces we are obviously aware of - nuclear fusion/fision, magnetic, electric, etc. - is pathetic. Yet it hold us to the earth, dictates our seasons and our year and the solar system, galaxy, etc.

So why can't an EXPLOSIVE FORCE - which roughly occurs every 150 years in every galaxy in the universe - also have a compounding effect over billions of years?

If Solar Winds can push an object through space (a space-craft with a solar wind sail), why can't explosions compounding push us apart faster and faster.

In fact, maybe the solar winds also have something to do with it.

And for that matter, maybe the small small mass of light, compounded, also has a part to play.

To me, it's an Occam's Razor thing... the "shockwaves" caused by millions and millions of supernovae explosions over billions and billions of years compounds to push us apart.

Michael Ross