1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Daniel and Jorge and we are excited 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: to make a very special announcement about a new project 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: we've been working on kind of in secret for the 4 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: last year or so. Is this related to your new wardrobe, Daniel, Nope, 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: my wardrobe is unfortunately frozen in time as physics professor casual. 6 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: But that's a great question and a great lead into 7 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,959 Speaker 1: our new project, which is all about questions. Actually, that's right, 8 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: Daniel and I have written a new book. It's very exciting. 9 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: It's called Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe, another humble 10 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: title for our work, and it's inspired by all the 11 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: questions that you folks have been asking us, all the 12 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: questions you wonder about the nature of the universe and 13 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: how it works, and all the questions that science is 14 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: working on. So we took some of your most awesome 15 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,159 Speaker 1: questions that you've sent to us, and we put them 16 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: in book form and actually answered them as best as 17 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: we can. There are questions like where does the universe 18 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: come from? And why can't we teleport? Or can we? 19 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: And have aliens visited us? And why is it exact 20 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: that we can't make it out there into the cosmos? 21 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: So the book is coming out this November two one, 22 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: but it's available right now for pre order, So go 23 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: to Universe f a q dot com and order your 24 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: copy today. So stop what you're doing right now, go 25 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,119 Speaker 1: to universe f a q dot com and pre order 26 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: our new book. Frequently ask questions about the universe. It's 27 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 1: filled with science, silly jokes, and Jorge is awesome cartoons, 28 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: and maybe even a few answers, hopefully. I mean it's 29 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: in the it's in the title. The title just says questions. 30 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: Oh nice, Hey, Hory, did you know what? What? What's 31 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: going on, Danielle. We have to be quiet? Why what's happening? 32 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: It's noise pollution. If our podcast is being broadcast near 33 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: a radio telescope, we might be ruining their data. Oh no, 34 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: what if we're making a dumb banana joke right when 35 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: an alien message arrives? Yeah? Or what if the sciencests 36 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: think our jokes are so bad? We must be aliens. 37 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: Humor is so difficult to translate and we should just 38 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: be quiet. Hi. I'm or Hammack, cartoonists and the creator 39 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: of PhD comics. Hi I'm daniel I'm a particle physicist, 40 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,239 Speaker 1: but I will definitely laugh at all the aliens bad 41 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: jokes when they come here. Really, what if it offends 42 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: them for you to laugh at their jokes? But you know, 43 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: it's quickly a totally different culture, Daniel. It's sort of 44 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,079 Speaker 1: like smiling and nodding can be something totally different in 45 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: another culture. You are like doing the okay sign with 46 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: your fingers. There is an insult in some cultures. I'm 47 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: probably not the right person then to send to talk 48 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: to the aliens the first time, or to sit in 49 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,359 Speaker 1: under comedy shows. But welcome to our podcast. Daniel and 50 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: Jorge explain the Universe production of I Heart Radio, in 51 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: which we make light and laugh at all of the 52 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: crazy mysteries of the universe, everything that we know about 53 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: the universe, the bonkers, crazy ideas that we have learned 54 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,119 Speaker 1: about this beautiful, strange universe we find ourselves in, and 55 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,119 Speaker 1: everything that we don't know about the universe, the very 56 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,239 Speaker 1: edge of science, of things that scientists are thinking about, 57 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 1: the questions that they are pondering, and the questions that 58 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: you are thinking about every single day as you live 59 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: in this universe. Yeah, because it is a pretty big cosmos. 60 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: There's a lot out there to perplexes, and there's a 61 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: lot for us to ponder about how things work and 62 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: why things are the way they are, and so it's 63 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: natural for everyone to have questions about what's going on. 64 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: That's right. You are here to have the universe explained 65 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: to you because you are curious about the universe. You 66 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: want to understand it. You want to somehow take the 67 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: entire universe and fold it up into a little idea 68 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: that fits in your neurons. Amazing as it sounds, that 69 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: might actually be possible. But along the way sometimes two 70 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: ideas don't quite fit, or you wonder how does this 71 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: connect with that? Or this doesn't really make sense to me, 72 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: even though I've heard the words. And that's what we're 73 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: here for to explain all of it to you. Yeah, 74 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: because it all starts with questions, right, Daniel, Science would 75 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: you say starts with a question like what's going on there? 76 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: Or how can I get more things to eat? Or 77 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: what should I eat without dying? Yeah? Science is nothing 78 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: but questions. It's just people asking questions. I was giving 79 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,679 Speaker 1: a talk to some students from Puerto Rico last weekend 80 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: and one of them asked me how do scientists figure 81 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: out what question to ask next. And I thought that 82 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: was an amazing question. And I told them that it's 83 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: just people asking questions about the universe. Scientists are just 84 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: people with questions that they want to know the answers too, 85 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,559 Speaker 1: so badly that they decided to spend their lives trying 86 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: to figure it out. I see, you just turn it 87 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: around and ask them a question without giving an answer. 88 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: Is that what science is, Daniel? Just all questions, no answers. 89 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,600 Speaker 1: It's mostly questions leading to other questions. But the questions 90 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,280 Speaker 1: are personal. I want to know whether universe is made 91 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: out of Somebody else wants to know we can make 92 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: some special kind of super conducting goo, and somebody else 93 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: wants to figure out how life started. All of these 94 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: questions are being pursued by people who decided this is 95 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: the most important question, This is the thing I want 96 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,679 Speaker 1: to know most about the universe. So science is about questions, 97 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: but those questions are also very personal. Yeah, and it's 98 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,600 Speaker 1: not just scientists that have questions. Regular people have questions 99 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: to Yeah, or you could say regular people are also 100 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: scientists because they have questions. Right, we're all doing science, 101 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: we're all asking questions, we're all trying to understand this 102 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: crazy cosmos. That's where we're all in this together. And 103 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: so people have questions and sometimes they write to us 104 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: with their questions, hoping that we would maybe answer it 105 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: in an email or a tweet, or maybe in one 106 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: of our podcast episodes. Yeah, they do it all the time. 107 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 1: We get dozens of questions every single day. If you 108 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: have a question about something you heard about that you 109 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: don't quante understand or you'd like us to explain to you, 110 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: please don't be shy right to us. We love your 111 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: mails questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Daniel, you 112 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,239 Speaker 1: actually answer most or if not all, of the questions 113 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 1: you get. I answer every single question I get, usually 114 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: within just a few minutes. Sometimes I get surprised responses 115 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: from people saying, what, I can't believe you actually wrote 116 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: me back. But yeah, I'm just sitting here plugging away 117 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: my research and I love that ding when I get 118 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: a new email. Really, and I reacted well to my 119 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: new email things. You actually listen to those new email things. 120 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: That's pretty sure you had that turned off. I don't 121 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: know if that's a feature on my phone, and I'll 122 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: have to check, but I'm glad you're answering the questions 123 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: because I think I would just answer with more questions, like, hey, 124 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: maybe you should ask Daniel this question. I think maybe 125 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: they should, or I would point to Wikipedia that that's 126 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: helpful too. But yeah, we get a lot of questions, 127 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,799 Speaker 1: and sometimes we do episodes where we answer these questions 128 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: live on the air, or at least live on the podcast. Yeah. 129 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: Sometimes people ask a question and I think I met 130 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: other people want to know the answer to this one, 131 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: so let's talk about it. Or I just think it'll 132 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: be fun, or it stumped me a little bit. I 133 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: have to go off and do some research and figure 134 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: it out, and then I'm excited to talk about it. 135 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: All right, So to the on the podcast, we'll be 136 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: talking about Listener Questions number fifteen. Wow, I can't believe 137 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: fifteen of these Listener Questions episodes. It's been a while. Yeah, 138 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: Listener Questions is a teenager now it's growing up. Oh 139 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: now isn't now? And it's rebellious face and refuses to 140 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: acknowledge this or to clean up the room, but we 141 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: secretly know it still wants to hear the answers. Oh, 142 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: I see, I see, It's just it's just a phase. Yeah, exactly, 143 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: it's just a thin verneer of attitude. Al right, Well, 144 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: today we have three great questions from three grade listeners 145 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: and fans out there. We have a question about peanut right, 146 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: black holes, and also radio bursts and quiet zones, which 147 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: would be great to implement here in my house sometimes. 148 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: All right, So our first question comes from Beckham from California, 149 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: who is sixty years old. Here is this question. Hi, 150 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: I am Backham and I'm six years old from California. 151 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: And if you squeeze the earth to the size of 152 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: a peanut and it turned into a black hole, how 153 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: far away would you have to be it to not 154 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,119 Speaker 1: get sucked in? And so what didat the whole earth? 155 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: And thank you? All right? I love black hole questions 156 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: from six year olds. All right, do you get excited 157 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: about all questions about black holes or other questions about 158 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: black holes where you're like, oh, those are the best 159 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: questions about black holes. And somebody asked me something I 160 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,079 Speaker 1: hadn't thought about before, and it makes me think about 161 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: black holes in a new way, or go open up 162 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: that General relativity book again or something that's the fun moment. 163 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,079 Speaker 1: All right, Well, what do you think Beckham was thinking about, Yes, 164 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: if you squeeze the Earth into a peanut and it 165 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,199 Speaker 1: became a black hole, how far away would you have 166 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 1: to be to not get sucked in? Wow? Yeah, I 167 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,319 Speaker 1: think he's trying to make black holes sort of concrete. 168 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: Instead of thinking about black holes is something weird and 169 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: far away? You're thinking, you know, could we turn the 170 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: Earth into a black hole? And what would that be? Like? 171 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: M I see, because I guess you can make a 172 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: black hole out of anything, right, It's not like something 173 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:12,679 Speaker 1: exotic out there in space. You can literally make a 174 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: black hole out of peanuts or by turning dirt into 175 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:17,959 Speaker 1: a peanut. Yeah, it's just a bunch of mass and 176 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: energy compactified and the small enough space that the curvature 177 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: gets so intense that light can't escape it. That's really 178 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,320 Speaker 1: all a black hole is. And you're right, you can 179 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: make it out of any kind of matter or energy. 180 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: You could even make it out of photons. We talked 181 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: about it once in the podcast that if you have 182 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: really big laser beams and you cross them in theory, 183 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: you can make a black hole where they intersect. Right, 184 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: Because it's not about how much mass or the size 185 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: of something or how heavy it is. It's really about 186 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: the density, Like if you have enough stuff in a 187 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,319 Speaker 1: small enough space, it becomes a black hole. And that 188 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: could be something really small, or it could be you know, 189 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: the size of giant arm was like a super massive 190 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: black hole. Yeah, exactly. And we think that you can 191 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: make a black hole out of basically anything if you 192 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: make it den enough. There might be a minimum size 193 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: to a black hole. As things get down to like 194 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: the quantum level, it's not clear if you you can 195 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: make a black hole out of like an electron size 196 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: amount of mass, but you definitely can make a black 197 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: hole out of like an Earth size mass or a 198 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,319 Speaker 1: Sun size mass. Now, most of the black holes we 199 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,199 Speaker 1: see out there in the universe come from stars, and 200 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: so they're like ten to eighty times the mass of 201 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,559 Speaker 1: the Sun, or they're at the center of galaxies and 202 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,959 Speaker 1: then they're like thousands, millions, billions times the mass of 203 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: the Sun. So we don't see very many black holes 204 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: out there that are like the mass of the Earth. 205 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: In fact, we've never seen one at all. That doesn't 206 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: mean they're not out there. They could have been made 207 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,839 Speaker 1: in the very early universe, these primordial black holes that 208 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: could be very very small up to very very large sizes, right, 209 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: because I guess black holes that size don't get naturally made, right, Like, 210 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,079 Speaker 1: there's no natural common process for them to make an 211 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:53,559 Speaker 1: earth size black hole, like most of the ways are are. 212 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: You know, stars going supernova is how they're made. Yeah, 213 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 1: gravity is a runaway process, and once it gets going, 214 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: then compactifies itself more, and then it gets more powerful, 215 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: and it compact defies itself more and gets more powerful. 216 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: The Earth, for example, is not going to collapse into 217 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: a black hole. It doesn't have enough stuff in it 218 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: to start that gravitational runaway process. So like the bonds 219 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: between the stuff in the Earth is more powerful than 220 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:19,199 Speaker 1: the force of gravity. So you know, the structure of 221 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: the rock and all that stuff is holding itself, so 222 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: the Earth will not collapse into a black hole. All right. 223 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: So then if you took all of the mass of 224 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,599 Speaker 1: the Earth and then you squeeze it all into the 225 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 1: size of a peanut, then you would get a black hole. 226 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: That's what Beckham is asking. Yeah, and you would take 227 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 1: some external force or you have to crush and compact 228 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: all that mass. But yes, in principle, you could get 229 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: a black hole just from the stuff of the Earth, 230 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: and you have to really squeeze it down. If you 231 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: wanted the Earth to be a black hole, you'd have 232 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:49,079 Speaker 1: to take the mass of the Earth, all that stuff 233 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: and squeeze it down to something less than a centimeter wide. Wow, 234 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: so including all the peanuts on Earth, Like, can you 235 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: fit all the peanuts on Earth into a peanut? You can, 236 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: in fact, because the peanut is about the right size, 237 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: you know, it's about one centimeter. And maybe we should 238 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: have a new unit called the peanut. The p valley 239 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 1: for the peanut is one centimeter apparently, yeah, just about. So, Yeah, 240 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: you can fit all the peanuts on Earth, and all 241 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: the bananas on Earth, and all the rocks, and all 242 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: the gold and all the uranium and all the helium 243 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: and all that stuff down in a really compact space. 244 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: Remember that the space between things, the volume of things, 245 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: depends on the forces between them. Like the reason that 246 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: a rock has the size it has, it's not because 247 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,839 Speaker 1: of the pile of stuff it's made out of, but 248 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: because the forces between those particles sort of pressing against 249 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,200 Speaker 1: each other, fluffing it up. It's really like a pile 250 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: of little bubbles where those bubbles are made by the 251 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,079 Speaker 1: electrostatic forces repelling each other. If you can overcome that, 252 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: then you can squeeze it down to whatever you like 253 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: and eventually get a black hole. Right, So that could 254 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: happen to the Earth if somebody came in and then 255 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: squeeze it all into black hole. But then I guess 256 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,079 Speaker 1: Beckham's question is whether or not we would get automatically 257 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:59,439 Speaker 1: sucked in, or like, are we doomed if the Earth 258 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: suddenly became a black hole? Or do we have a 259 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: chance of getting away? The question is how far away 260 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 1: would you have to be to not get sucked in? Well, 261 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: I consider myself to be part of the Earth and 262 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,679 Speaker 1: so and I'm usually on the Earth. So if somebody 263 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: comes along and compactifies the Earth into a black hole, 264 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: then I'm inside the black hole already. But you know, 265 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: if you happen to be on a trip to the 266 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,680 Speaker 1: space station when the Earth turns into a black hole, 267 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: then I guess you can ask the question like, can 268 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: you be around it safely nearby? I mean, let's make 269 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,439 Speaker 1: this realistic, right right, Yeah, let's pretend that you're part 270 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: of this earth, Daniel. Let's dove into that fantasy. And 271 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: you hear it in the question this idea that black 272 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: holes sucks stuff in. And it's true the black holes 273 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: have strong gravity, but they're not like vacuum cleaners, you know, 274 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: they just pull on stuff the way everything else with 275 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,439 Speaker 1: gravity pulls on stuff. The Earth pulls on you right now, 276 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: and that doesn't change just because it's turned into a 277 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: black hole. So for example, if you're standing on the 278 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: surface of the Earth, you feel it's gravity. If then 279 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: underneath you the whole Earth turns into a peanut sized 280 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: black hole, that doesn't change the force of gravity you 281 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: feel because it's the same amount of mass pulling on 282 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: you with the same gravity right like, nothing would change 283 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 1: basically except that you and maybe just lose the ground 284 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,719 Speaker 1: under you. You would lose the ground under you. And 285 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: so now, if you want to avoid falling into the 286 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: black hole, I prefer the phrase falling in rather than 287 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: getting sucked in, because it tells us about the gravity 288 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: that's happening there. You need to go into orbit around 289 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: the black hole. The reason you don't fall to the 290 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: center of the Earth now is because the Earth is 291 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: holding you up. If that's not the case, then you 292 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: need some other way to avoid falling into the center 293 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: of this new black hole, and that would be to 294 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: go into orbit. Basically you need to be moving fast 295 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: enough that you keep missing the Earth as you fall. 296 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: That's what an orbit is. I see. So we would 297 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: feel the same gravitational force, which means we would fall 298 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: into the peanut sized black hole if the Earth suddenly 299 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: turned into a black hole. And so it's not a 300 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: matter of distance because I guess technically you would feel 301 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: the force from this black hole anywhere in the universe. Right. 302 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: Technically speaking, you do feel it anywhere in the universe 303 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: because gravity is infinite in extent. I mean, it falls 304 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: off like one over distance squared, so it drops off 305 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: pretty quickly. But yeah, in principle, we feel gravity from Andromeda. 306 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: That's why that neighboring galaxy is coming towards us and 307 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 1: we're shooting towards it. We feel gravity from things that 308 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: are infinitely far away, that's true, but the value of 309 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: that is pretty small, and so as you get closer 310 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: to something, it's gravity gets much much stronger because it 311 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 1: increases like one over our squared right, So like technically 312 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: we are getting pulled into all the black holes in 313 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: the universe right now, like every black hole in the universe, 314 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: for which they might be an infinite amount or trillions. 315 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: We're getting sucked into them as we speak, right, Yeah, 316 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: they are tugging on us, but they're being defeated by 317 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: the gravity of the Earth of course, and the Earth 318 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: being pretty massive and pretty close is overpowering it. I think, 319 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: for example, about the Sun. The Sun is so much 320 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: more massive than the Earth wise that you don't fall 321 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: into the Sun right now, because the Earth, even though 322 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: it's much much smaller mass, is much closer to you. 323 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: So it's winning the gravitational tug of war and keeping 324 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: you on the surface. Right, But technically we are me 325 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: and the Earth. We are still falling into the Sun. 326 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: It's just like, as you say, we're in orbit, we 327 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: have some kind of velocity in a different direction than 328 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: the direction of the Sun, and so that's why really 329 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: we're not falling into the Sun exactly. We have just 330 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: the right velocity and just the right direction to be 331 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: in a stable orbit around the Sun. So you can 332 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: avoid falling into something if you orbit around it. And 333 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: in fact, a lot of stuff orbits around black holes. 334 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: If you think about like the picture you have in 335 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: your mind of a black hole, it's this black sphere, 336 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: but it's surrounded by a disc of swirling stuff, and 337 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: you might wonder, well, why is that stuff there, Why 338 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: isn't it just immediately falling into the black hole? And 339 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: the answer is that it's spinning. It has rotational velocity, 340 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: and that helps it avoid falling in immediately. So you 341 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: can stay in orbit around the black hole for quite 342 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: a while until you lose that velocity by bouncing off 343 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: of other stuff, and then you fall into it. Right, So, 344 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: I guess technically if the Earth turned into a black hole, 345 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: you would get sucked in even as you're standing there now. 346 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: But also maybe if you're relatively far away, like at 347 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: the distance of the Moon or something, you would fall 348 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: in unless you can get into an orbit. Yeah, that's right. 349 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,199 Speaker 1: If you were on the Moon, for example, you'd already 350 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,400 Speaker 1: be in the Moon's orbit, and so you just stay 351 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: on the Moon and the Moon would keep orbiting around 352 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: the black hole. If you're on the surface of the Earth, however, 353 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: you're probably not moving fast enough to stay in orbit. 354 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 1: M I see. So the trick to avoiding falling into 355 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: the black peanut hole is to start running really fast, yeah, exactly, 356 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: Or get on a spaceship and how fast you have 357 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: to go to be in orbit depends on how far 358 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,239 Speaker 1: away you are from the black hole. The closer you are, 359 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: the faster you have to be moving, and the further 360 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: away you are, the slower you can move and be 361 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:47,640 Speaker 1: in a stable orbit. All right, So then I guess 362 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: the answer to the question is really that it's not 363 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: about being far away, it's about having some sort of 364 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: speed that lets you be in an orbit around the 365 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: black hole. Yeah, precisely. And if you were, for example, 366 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: at a hundred kilometers away from the black hole, which 367 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: is pretty close, you'd have to go like sixty meters 368 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,479 Speaker 1: per second to avoid falling in. And if you were 369 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: at one kilometer it'll be ten times that speed. And 370 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: if you were just like one meter away from this 371 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: peanut sized black hole, you'd have to go like twenty 372 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,920 Speaker 1: million meters per second. Wow, which is a your You'd 373 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: be toast right, because you can go around that fast 374 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: around something that's small, can you? Certainly you could. You 375 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,680 Speaker 1: could be a meter away, you could be whipping around 376 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: really really fast. It'd be hard to accelerate to that 377 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: speed without like crushing your internal organs. But you know, 378 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 1: even that speed, though it sounds fast, is a pretty 379 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: small fraction of the speed of light, So in principle 380 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: you could actually go that fast. Right, What about here 381 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: in the surface of the Earth, how fast would you 382 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: need to be going? Like, if I'm in the highway 383 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: going at you know, seventy miles per hour? Am I 384 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: safe if the Earth suddenly turned into a black hole? Yeah? 385 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:53,960 Speaker 1: So if you're at the surface of the Earth, which 386 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,399 Speaker 1: is six million meters from the center of the Earth, 387 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: then you need a velocity of about seventy nine hundred 388 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: meters per second to avoid falling into the surface of 389 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 1: the Earth. All right, that sounds not in the millions. 390 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: How does that translate into miles per hour? That's like 391 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,239 Speaker 1: seventeen thousand miles per hour, So it's definitely faster than 392 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: you're moving right now. If you're just standing still on 393 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,120 Speaker 1: the surface of the Earth, then you know the Earth 394 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: goes around one time per day obviously, then you're moving 395 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,920 Speaker 1: to like four hundred and sixty meters per second, so 396 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: you're moving a lot slower than you would have to 397 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: be if you wanted to avoid falling into a black 398 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:31,439 Speaker 1: hole at the center of the Earth. Okay, so then 399 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: the answer then would be it would all fall in 400 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 1: as you like to say, unless you just happened to 401 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: be breaking some sort of crazy speed record on land. Yeah, 402 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: or you had access to some really powerful rocket or 403 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: spaceship or something. Oh, I see, you could activate it 404 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: as soon as you hear news and the Earth turned 405 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: into a black hole, you could activate your your jet 406 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,160 Speaker 1: pack and then fly away. If I had a jet 407 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 1: pack and I saw the Earth sort of crumbling beneath 408 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: me into a black hole, then yeah, I would turn 409 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,360 Speaker 1: that thing on. And that's why you have it. See, 410 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: I would have given it to my kids first, But 411 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: you know that's that's just me. I'm just kidding. First, 412 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: put the mask on yourself. Then help the child not 413 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: know what they say. Alright, Well back, Unfortunately, I don't 414 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: think you have to worry about that, right. I don't 415 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: think the Earth is in danger of turning into a 416 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: black hole anytime soon, unless Beckham has some evil plans 417 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: to grow up and compactify the Earth into a black hole, 418 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: and we've just aided them. Why why did why they 419 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: need to grow up? They could be a child genius, 420 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: evil genius. Well here's the opening. You're not Beckham, but 421 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: thanks for asking the question. All right, Well, let's get 422 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: into our two other questions for today, one about entropedean 423 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: time and the other one about radio births. But first 424 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. Alright. We're answering listener questions 425 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: today on the podcast, and our next question comes from 426 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,880 Speaker 1: who is from Germany. Here's day's question. What I would 427 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: like to know is in one of your podcasts, Daniel 428 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 1: explained that when space is generated, each concrement of space 429 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: is containing its own newly generated increment of energy. And 430 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,680 Speaker 1: I understand that energy when it's existing, that it can 431 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: be converted. Now normally, when energy is converted, as to 432 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: my understanding, there's also entropy generated. I wonder what happens 433 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: with this entropy. Far as I know, entropy and time 434 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: are the only two physical components which move forward in time, 435 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: or rather are generated and only in one direction. So 436 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: are there any connections between entropy and time? And if 437 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: there's a connection between entropy and time, would time freeze 438 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: when there's no more entropy to be generated in our universe? Alright, 439 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: thank you Dave from Germany. It's like kind of a 440 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: complicated question here. I think he's asking whether you know 441 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: I think we've talked about how energy is generated when 442 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 1: new space is created in the universe, and so there's 443 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,160 Speaker 1: maybe some entropy associated with that energy, and so what's 444 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: going to happen, you know, at the end of time, 445 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: when maybe the universe is not expanding or we run 446 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 1: out of entropy. What do you think he's asking. I 447 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: think he's got a lot of fun questions, and I 448 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: think he had more questions sort of generated in his 449 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,399 Speaker 1: mind as he was asking his initial question, And I 450 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: think that makes sense because a lot of these things 451 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: are connected. I think the heart of the question is 452 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: probably about how the expansion of space is connected to 453 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: the end of the universe, you know, like, is the 454 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: expansion of space dooming us to a certain eventual fate 455 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: of the universe. And I guess specifically he was asking, like, 456 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:52,640 Speaker 1: when the universe expands, is entropy increasing as well. Yeah, 457 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,119 Speaker 1: that's a really cool question because you know, we've talked 458 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 1: about how the expansion of space breaks something else which 459 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: we always was fundamental and ironclad rule of the universe 460 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: that energy is conserved. And you know, energy is conserved, 461 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,919 Speaker 1: but only when space is static. Remember that a lot 462 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,199 Speaker 1: of these conservation laws come from symmetries that come from 463 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,239 Speaker 1: assumptions that we can make about the universe, and one 464 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: of them is that space is static and so energy 465 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,679 Speaker 1: is only conserved when that holds, and if the universe 466 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 1: is expanding, that doesn't hold anymore. So it makes sense 467 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: to also ask, like what else gets broken when space expands, 468 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,919 Speaker 1: when the universe is creating more space. So is entropy 469 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: being created with new space in the universe? I wouldn't 470 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: say created, right, Entropy is not something that like you create. 471 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: It's not a physical thing. It's like a calculation that 472 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: we can do to evaluate a situation. Say what is 473 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 1: the entropy of this? You know, you can like run 474 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: the numbers and say what's the entropy of this situation 475 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: versus that situation. I don't think of entropy is like 476 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: a physical thing that's actually made. But you can ask 477 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 1: the question when space expands, when new space is being created, 478 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: does entropy go up or down? I see, is it 479 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: being created or not? Just kidding? I guess is entropy 480 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: increasing one space increases as well? That's the question. Yeah, 481 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: And it makes absolute sense, and I think the answer 482 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: has to be yes, and not just because of the 483 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: second law of thermodynamics that says that you know, entropy 484 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,959 Speaker 1: always goes up. But because of the nature of entropy, right, 485 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: entropyes are really slippery concept, and I think a lot 486 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,200 Speaker 1: of people think of entropy is like the amount of 487 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 1: disorder or disorganization, sort of in the university amount. Stuff 488 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: is sort of mixed up. It's a messy topic, and 489 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: that's a helpful way to think about it, sort of approximately. 490 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: But what entropy actually is is sort of a measurement 491 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: of our ignorance about what's going on at the smallest level. 492 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 1: To calculate entropy, you have to make like a statement 493 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: about something macroscopically, like it's temperature or it's a volume 494 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: or something you know macroscopically that we can see and measure, 495 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: and then compare that to what we know about it microscopically. 496 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: So entropy is related to the number of different ways 497 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,920 Speaker 1: you can make microscopic arrangements that are consistent with your 498 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: macroscopic statements about things like temperature. So it's like a 499 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: measure of like how much we don't know about the 500 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: microscopic states. Right. It's it's almost like, you know, the 501 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: messier things are, the more different ways that the messiness 502 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: can be. But if you want something really neat and ordered, 503 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: you you only have so many options. Yeah, it's like 504 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: if you have a bunch of coins and I tell 505 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,880 Speaker 1: you all the coins are heads, well, then I've told 506 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,439 Speaker 1: you exactly how every coin has to be. They all 507 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: have to be heads. There's only one way for that 508 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,520 Speaker 1: to happen. Right, that's low entropy. Right, Yeah, that's low 509 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: entropy exactly. But if then I tell you, well, half 510 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: the coins are heads, then now you have a lot 511 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,880 Speaker 1: of different ways to arrange all those coins. As long 512 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: as half of them are heads, you're free to decide 513 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: for this coin and for that coin whether it's heads 514 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: or tails. So there's a lot of ways to arrange 515 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: the coins to satisfy my sort of macroscopic statement that 516 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: half of them are heads. And so that means it's 517 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 1: high entropy because there's a lot of configurations. And the 518 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: second law of thermodynamics is nothing more than that. It's 519 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: just saying things that have high entropy are more likely 520 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: to happen because there are more ways for it to happen. 521 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: And usually that happens with time, right, And usually that 522 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 1: happens with time, Like the more time passes, the more 523 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: the things that are likely or likely to happen. Yeah, exactly. 524 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: It's a foundational idea and quantum mechanics that every possible 525 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: state microscopically is equivalently likely. But if more of those 526 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,639 Speaker 1: states represent the same thing macroscopically, like they're close to 527 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,479 Speaker 1: a fifty fifty split heads and tails, then they're more 528 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: likely to happen because they're just more of those possible outcomes. 529 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: It's like if you roll a huge handful of dying, 530 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 1: you add up all the numbers, you're much more likely 531 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,880 Speaker 1: to get something near the middle of the possible outcomes 532 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: than the very maximum value or the very minimum value, 533 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: just because there's more ways to get that outcome, and 534 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,360 Speaker 1: there's only one way to get the maximum and one 535 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: way to get the minimum. So it's really just a 536 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,639 Speaker 1: statement of probability. So then does that mean that as 537 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: you get more space in the universe, there's kind of 538 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: more ways for things to be arranged, and therefore entropy 539 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: it just naturally increases. Yep, that's exactly what happens. The 540 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,160 Speaker 1: more ways you have for things to be arranged under 541 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: the hood, the more entropy you have, and the more 542 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: space means more micro states. More micro states means more entropy. 543 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: I see, all right, So then is that what is 544 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: causing enterpying the universe to increase or is it just 545 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: helping entropy increase in the universe, entropy would be increasing 546 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: even without dark energy space was not expanding, then entropy 547 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: would be increasing anyway. And just because that's where the 548 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: second lofterm dynamic says that if you start from a 549 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: low entropy configuration, unlikely arrangement if your micro states, you're 550 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,760 Speaker 1: going to end up in a more likely arrangement as 551 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: time goes on. So even if space was not increasing, 552 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: that there was no expansion, entropy would still be gradually 553 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 1: going up. But as you say, it's helped by the 554 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: fact that space is expanding and so there's more stuff 555 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: to get mixed up, and so entropy is increasing that 556 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 1: way as well. I see, so entropies like accelerating in 557 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 1: the universe because of dark energy, which is the expansion 558 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: of the universe. M m M. And he asked another 559 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: sort of fun question there because he was talking about 560 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,199 Speaker 1: energy conversion. You know, every time you turn one kind 561 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: of energy into another kind of energy, it's never perfectly efficient. 562 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: A little bit leaks out as heat, and that also 563 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: is an increase in entropy. But it's really the same thing, 564 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: because heat spreading out is really just like more micro 565 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: states sharing in the wealth of the energy, and it's 566 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,560 Speaker 1: spreading out. It's more likely for energy to be spread 567 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: out than for it to be compact. But he's talking 568 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: about how when you convert one kind of energy into another, 569 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: entropy goes up, and he's wondering about, like the actual 570 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: process of creation of space itself, does that like leak 571 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: heat out into the universe. What I guess, if you're 572 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: creating space, you're creating energy, and if you're creating energy, 573 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: you're heating things up. Yeah, it's a really fun question. 574 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: I've never really thought about that before. The problem is 575 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: that we don't have any idea for what that process is. Like, 576 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: we know that the expansion of the universe is accelerating 577 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: and that means space is being stretched and created, but 578 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: we don't really know what the mechanism is for that 579 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 1: to happen. We don't have an explanation for that. Some 580 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: people think it might come from negative pressure from quantum 581 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: zero point energy and all the fields that are in space, 582 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,800 Speaker 1: But if you do the calculation, that doesn't actually work. 583 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: It doesn't explain what we see. So we observe that 584 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: space is being created, but we don't know what's doing it, 585 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: so we have no concept for this mechanism. We don't 586 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: know if it actually involves an energy conversion from some 587 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: other source of external energy we haven't been aware of, 588 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: or if it's actual creation of energy itself. I see. 589 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: So we're too clueless to really answer that question, sorry, Dave. Well, 590 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,680 Speaker 1: if there's entropy being generated by dark energy, can I 591 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: call it dark entropy? You can call it whatever you like. 592 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna reserve that for my new sci 593 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: fi novel, Dark Enterpy. That is a cool title, actually 594 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: mysterious and chaotic. There you go, all right, And then 595 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: there was a sort of an appendent question at the 596 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 1: end here about whether you know at the end of 597 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: time or at the universe keeps expanding and expanding and 598 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: entropy keeps increasing, does that mean that time is going 599 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: to end or freeze? Yeah? Everybody wants to know the 600 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,640 Speaker 1: answer to that question, Dave, and unfortunately nobody does. Right. 601 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: We just don't know what the future of dark energy is. 602 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: Will it continue to pull stuff apart and write everything 603 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: out and increase the entropy of the universe till an 604 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: eventual heat death. We just don't know, because again we 605 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: don't know what the mechanism is, and we don't know 606 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: if it will continue. Remember that dark energy has not 607 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: been persistent in our universe. While we think the cosmological 608 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: constant might be constant because it's called the cosmological constant. 609 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: Dark energy itself only took over around five billion years 610 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: ago to create this accelerated expansion, So we don't know 611 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: why it turned on around. Then we don't know if 612 00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: it's going to keep going, if it's gonna stop, if 613 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: it's going to turn around and shrink the universe back 614 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: down to some other crazy dense state. So we just 615 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: really don't know. We can't predict because we don't understand 616 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: this mechanism at all. All right, So then I guess 617 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: the question is stay tuned and or we have no idea. Sorry, Dave, 618 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: we have no idea, stay tuned. We may still have 619 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: no idea in a billion years. This is going to 620 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: be messy either way. All right, Well, thank you Dave. 621 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: That answers that question, And so let's get into our 622 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: last question of the episode from Robin, and it's about 623 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: radio birth. But first let's take another quick break. All right, 624 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,959 Speaker 1: we're answering listener questions today on the podcast, and our 625 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: last question comes from Robin from Oregon and she has 626 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:58,160 Speaker 1: a question about the National Radio Quiet Zone. Hello, Daniel 627 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: and Jorge. Hey, this is Robin Mark in Cobrag, Oregon. Um. 628 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: I just got done listening to your show about fast 629 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: radio bursts and it got me thinking about the National 630 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, West Virginia, where basically 631 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: nothing electronic is allowed. No microwaves, no cell phones, no WiFi. 632 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: I thought it would make a great episode on your podcast. 633 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: What do you think? All right? Thank you, Robbing. That 634 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: sounds like a great place to visit for a vacation. 635 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: No cellphones, no electronics. I mean, you probably go a 636 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: little crazy the first couple of days, but maybe you 637 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: we reach some sort of zen state afterwards. Yeah. It's 638 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: an amazing sort of spot in the country where they've 639 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: really tried to keep things quiet so that astronomers can 640 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: listen to the skies and not be crowded out by 641 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: all the crazy radio signals that humans to generate. So 642 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: this is an actual place in the United States, in 643 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,280 Speaker 1: West Virginia. This is an actual place in West Virginia. 644 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: The most powerful radio telescope in our hemisphere, and the 645 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: largest steerable radio telescope is now the Green Bank Observatory 646 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: in West Virginia exactly. And you know, this thing is 647 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:13,840 Speaker 1: listening to the sky, and it's listening to the sky 648 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: not in terms of sound, of course, but in terms 649 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: of a special frequency of light we call radio waves. 650 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,000 Speaker 1: And if you want to listen to the sky, you 651 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: have to make sure you're not drowned out by basically 652 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: light pollution from other sources of radio emissions. And I 653 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: guess all of our cell phones, most of our electronics, 654 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: they use these radio frequencies. They do, they use these 655 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: radio frequencies, were constantly beaming radio waves around the world 656 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: right for radio right If you're listening to us on 657 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: the radio right now, then we have been transmitted to 658 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: you using this kind of electromagnetic radiation whose frequency puts 659 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: it in the radio band. And not just our cell 660 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 1: phones and not just our radio towers, but a lot 661 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: of our electronics accidentally sort of incidentally generated radio noise. Well, 662 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: this is interesting. How big is this national radio quiet 663 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: and it's like a federal thing, or how do people 664 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:10,960 Speaker 1: all agree in the large of a space to not 665 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 1: use their cell phones. It is a federal thing was 666 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: created in ninety eight. It's this big rectangle of land. 667 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: It's about a hundred miles on a side, and so 668 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,319 Speaker 1: it's really pretty spacious. And it surrounds this Green Bank 669 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: Observatory in West Virginia. Cool and you said it was 670 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,319 Speaker 1: creating a nine. We have radios. I guess we had 671 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,960 Speaker 1: radios and TV, but no cell phones back then, no 672 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,840 Speaker 1: cell phones. But these days also they try to restrict 673 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: WiFi usage that also operates in the similar frequencies. All right, 674 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,200 Speaker 1: forget it. I mean I can go in a vacation 675 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,719 Speaker 1: with no cell phones but WiFi. Yeah. So they try 676 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,320 Speaker 1: to be as quiet as possible, and they actually drive 677 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: around with this truck listening for radio signals, trying to 678 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,000 Speaker 1: catch people like emitting in their radio. And yeah, they do. 679 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: They drive this patrol truck around listening for emitters because 680 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,359 Speaker 1: some people just aren't aware. Like if you have an 681 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: old microwave oven that's poorly shielded, you can generate a 682 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: lot of radio noise. I see. But then if they 683 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,319 Speaker 1: find somebody, how do they radio it in to come 684 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: take them away? They can't, they can't. They just politely 685 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: knock on the door and ask those folks to stop 686 00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: using it. It's not heavily and forced, like you can 687 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 1: get a fifty dollar fine for emitting radio in the 688 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,279 Speaker 1: quiet zone. But they mostly just try to work with 689 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: people and help them understand the importance of radio astronomy 690 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: and what they're trying to do. That would be an 691 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 1: expensive phone call if it cost you, And this is 692 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: the real concerned. This is hilarious story from Australia where 693 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: they also have a big radio telescope where they saw 694 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 1: these weird signals and you know, they're listening for messages 695 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 1: from outer space and they saw this bizarre signal they 696 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,399 Speaker 1: couldn't understand until they finally tracked it down after more 697 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,120 Speaker 1: than a decade to be the microwave in the break 698 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: room where the grad students hang out. What they couldn't 699 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: figure out why this signal always lasted the same amount 700 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: as as a popcorn sitting on the micro Yeah, basically 701 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: grad students eating frozen burritos created a false signal of extraterrestrials. 702 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,399 Speaker 1: I guess these telescopes are pretty sensitive, right, Like you're 703 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: trying to detect really weak signals from space exactly, we 704 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,640 Speaker 1: are trying to listen to really quiet signals. Remember that 705 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 1: the power of signal falls very quickly with the distance. 706 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: You know, if you shout from the top of a mountain, 707 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:23,960 Speaker 1: then people can hear you if they're close by, but 708 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,120 Speaker 1: as they get further and further away, it's harder and 709 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,280 Speaker 1: harder to hear that shout. It falls with the distance squared. 710 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,799 Speaker 1: And so the message, for example, from an alien civilization 711 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: could come with a very small amount of energy by 712 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: the time it gets here. I see it's like I 713 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: think you were telling me once. It's like the energy 714 00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: of a falling snowflake. Yes, it's a very very gentle 715 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,879 Speaker 1: ripple in the electromagnetic fields. And that's why this dish 716 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,760 Speaker 1: is huge. This thing is as tall as the Washington Monument. 717 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: It's got two acres of area on the dish. What. Yeah, Also, 718 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,480 Speaker 1: it's kind of beautiful. You should check out a Google 719 00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: image of this thing. It's bigger than like the receive 720 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: it's not bigger, unfortunately, but it is steerable right air 721 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,680 Speaker 1: cebo sort of built into the ground. This thing is 722 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: above ground, but they can turn it so they can 723 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: point it in various directions and that helps them understand 724 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,360 Speaker 1: like the location or the source of a signal. I 725 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: guess one question is why aren't there more of these 726 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,880 Speaker 1: radio quiet zones, Like you know, I've been to Hawaii 727 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,839 Speaker 1: and the telescopes and note they'll find me for using 728 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:24,719 Speaker 1: my cell phone up there. Well, they don't have radio 729 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 1: telescopes in Hawaii. Most of those are optical telescopes. So 730 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,640 Speaker 1: this is a special kind of telescope that's listening for radio, 731 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: and so it's mostly sensitive to radio noise, and radio 732 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: telescopes aren't as common as optical telescopes. It's a sort 733 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 1: of special branch of astronomy, I see, and it's a 734 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 1: really exciting one. I mean, there's lots of really interesting 735 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: things you can learn about the universe just by listening 736 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 1: to the sky in the radio. You know. This is 737 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: how we discovered, for example, that the center of our 738 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: galaxy had a black hole, because people heard this weird 739 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:57,319 Speaker 1: signal from the center of the galaxy and they thought, 740 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: what's that? What could be they're making this weird holts? Wow, 741 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:03,560 Speaker 1: And then we pointed one of these telescopes to the 742 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,359 Speaker 1: center of the galaxy. Yeah, that's how we figured it out. 743 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:10,240 Speaker 1: Radio astronomy. The whole field was sort of invented accidentally. 744 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: There was an engineer at Bell Labs who was asked 745 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: to figure out, like, could we beam signals using radio 746 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,440 Speaker 1: waves across the Atlantic? How much interference is there? So 747 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: he just built a huge radio antenna to sort of 748 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:22,879 Speaker 1: listen for the amount of noise. He was more worried 749 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,920 Speaker 1: about thunderstorms, but then he heard this weird signal than 750 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 1: he discovered. Hold on a second, this isn't even coming 751 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: from Earth, It's coming from somewhere else. And that's when 752 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,160 Speaker 1: radio astronomy was born. We realized that the stars were 753 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: sending us information in another frequency and nobody had been listening. Interesting, 754 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,360 Speaker 1: I guess that the universe is sending us signals and 755 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,480 Speaker 1: all frequencies. Really, that's why we listened to the radio, 756 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: and the X ray and the optical. We look at 757 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,719 Speaker 1: gamma rays, we look at every sort of kind of 758 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: frequency because different parts of the universe glow at different 759 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 1: frequencies of light. Right, the horder you are, the higher 760 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,400 Speaker 1: your temperature, and the more energetic, the higher the frequency 761 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 1: you mid of your radiation. So radio waves come from 762 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: sort of cooler, quieter stuff, but it's also very powerful. 763 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,399 Speaker 1: It's very good at seeing dark stuff. That you can't 764 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 1: otherwise see, like huge clouds of gas and dust that 765 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: aren't glowing in the visible light. Right. And and sometimes 766 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:17,280 Speaker 1: when you see those photos of like giant space nebula 767 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,920 Speaker 1: or giant clusters of stuff out there in space, and 768 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,359 Speaker 1: you see has all these colors. That's really what it is, right, 769 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,080 Speaker 1: Like they sort of manipulate the signals from all these 770 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,719 Speaker 1: different frequencies and they assigned colors to them. Yeah, a 771 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 1: lot of times they do a color map. Right. They 772 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:31,960 Speaker 1: take things which are invisible to your eyes. Right, you 773 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,960 Speaker 1: can't see radio waves even when they hit your eyeballs, 774 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: you can't see them. And then they shift their frequency 775 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,759 Speaker 1: so that you can see it. They map it into 776 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: the visible spectrum. All right. So then this National Radio Quiet, 777 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 1: So can anyone go visit? Is it open to the 778 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:47,759 Speaker 1: public or do you have to like sign in or 779 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:50,000 Speaker 1: get permission. There's a huge area of land, so it 780 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,080 Speaker 1: includes like cities. People live there, Like people's homes are 781 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,319 Speaker 1: in this area. It's not a closed off region. People 782 00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,919 Speaker 1: live there, but there's no radio signals rights, no radio station. 783 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: You can't use cell phones, you're not supposed to have WiFi. 784 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: There's like wold towns with no cell phone or WiFi signals. Yeah, 785 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: there's like a whole mountain resort there that has like 786 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: you know, land lines and phone booths and all sorts 787 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,960 Speaker 1: of quaint stuff. Wait, what's a phone booth. It's this 788 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,840 Speaker 1: thing I see on Doctor Who. I don't really know 789 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: what it's. And some people really like to live there, 790 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: Like some folks feel hyper sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, you know, 791 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,680 Speaker 1: they don't like to live near sources of it. And 792 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: so if you're that kind of person, then this is 793 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,959 Speaker 1: made for you. Or if you're a radio astronomer. Wow, 794 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:35,800 Speaker 1: I wonder if people are happier there, you know what 795 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 1: I mean. Like, I feel like maybe my life was 796 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,000 Speaker 1: a little happier before this sort of constant source of 797 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: noise in my pocket, all those email things that you 798 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:46,600 Speaker 1: don't pay attention to, all these things that you know, 799 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:48,279 Speaker 1: I have to ignore. I don't know. And it's a 800 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: great place to do radio astronomy, but it might also 801 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,840 Speaker 1: be a good place to do with psychology study of 802 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:57,440 Speaker 1: the effects of modern communication. I'm sure somebody's looked into that. Interesting. Unfortunately, 803 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,080 Speaker 1: most of the people who live there are physicists, so 804 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,920 Speaker 1: you know that the happiness question down. It definitely excused 805 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,560 Speaker 1: the sample for sure, that it wouldn't be a scientific study. 806 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: All right, well, thank you Robin for that question. It 807 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: was a fun topic to explore. I had had no 808 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: idea about this National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia, 809 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 1: that's right. So if you are driving through it, please 810 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,640 Speaker 1: don't blast your stereo or turn on your WiFi or 811 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,319 Speaker 1: open up your phone, because those astronomers want to hear 812 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:24,800 Speaker 1: the message from the aliens when it comes and not 813 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,040 Speaker 1: your silly emails. Yeah. All right, well those are our 814 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:31,640 Speaker 1: three questions for today. And once again, it's amazing, first 815 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:33,640 Speaker 1: of all that people are listening to this podcast. Thank 816 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,319 Speaker 1: you so much for being there for us. And it's 817 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: amazing the range of questions we get from people from 818 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: all over the world. That's right. And remember that science 819 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:46,160 Speaker 1: is just people asking their personal questions about the universe. 820 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,400 Speaker 1: So keep asking your questions. Think to yourself, if I 821 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: could get the answer to one question about the universe, 822 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,800 Speaker 1: what would be my one question. And if you know 823 00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:57,600 Speaker 1: what that question is and you don't know the answer, 824 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,280 Speaker 1: hey right to us. Maybe we can help you figure 825 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: it out. We'll ask questions right back at you and 826 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: avoid answering it like we did some questions today and 827 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: then we'll run away to the radio free zone and 828 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: avoid your email. It sounds like a good deal, all right. Well, 829 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,520 Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. I hope you enjoyed that. 830 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks for listening, and remember that 831 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is a production of 832 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio or more podcast For my heart Radio, 833 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,240 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 834 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:42,680 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Ye