1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,400 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Daniel here, we have a little bit of 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,560 Speaker 1: a special treat for you today. Earlier this year, Jorge 3 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: and I recorded a special episode with audio and video 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: for premiering in the Metaverse, and today we are bringing 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,959 Speaker 1: it to you on the feed as a special bonus episode. 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: It's a bit different from our usual episodes, but we 7 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: thought you'd enjoy it. Thanks for listening. Hey, Jorge, is 8 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: this the way to the metaverse? I met a donna? 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: Where is the metaverse? I don't know. I was supposed 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: to meet you there to do an episode. Are we 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: in the right place? Let me see every saying. We're 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: inside of simulation right now, this is a virtual conversation. 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: It might be a simulation within a simulation. That's so meta. Well, 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: that is the most interesting theory I've ever meta. Maybe 15 00:00:51,920 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: in the end, none of it really met us. Hey, 16 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: we made us to our land. On our podcast, Daniel 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: and Horrie explain the universe. We like to talk about 18 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: planets and galaxies, but we never thought we'd get to 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: do it from another world, and here we are in 20 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: our heart land. How cool? Is then? So cool? Now? 21 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: On our podcast, Jorge and I typically talk about some 22 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: of the biggest most amazing unanswered questions in the universe, 23 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: and today we have some really fun stories about the 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: biggest collisions in the universe. Planets colliding with other planets, 25 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: stars colliding with other stars, even galaxies hitting other galaxies. 26 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: But before we start, we want to give a shout 27 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: out to our partners State Farm and of course Fortnite 28 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: for having us here. Hi'm Ho I'm a cartoonist and 29 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: the creator of PhD comics. Hi I'm Daniel. I'm a 30 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: particle physicist and a professor at UC Irvine, and I 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: love to smash things together to figure out what they're 32 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: made out of. Welcome to our podcast. Daniel and Horta 33 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: explained to universe in production of our heart Radio, in 34 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: which we try to smash your brain together with the 35 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: whole universe. We think that there are so many interesting 36 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: things to understand out there. We want to bring your 37 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: brain together with all of those questions and give you 38 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: some understanding of how things work. So today we'll be 39 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: breaking down some of the biggest collisions in the universe. 40 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:21,959 Speaker 1: You know, that's kind of a tricky word to these 41 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: biggest because especially in physics, that can mean a lot 42 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: of things, Like you can mean biggest in size. It 43 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: can mean biggest in speed, or biggest just in terms 44 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: of the impact that we have on our planet, or 45 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: biggest in drama. Right, we do for drama. So what 46 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: would you say are some of the biggest collisions in 47 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: the universe. Well, we do some pretty fast collisions here 48 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: on Earth. We accelerate protons to almost the speed of 49 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: light and smash them together underground in Switzerland. So you 50 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: have a proton going in the speed of light this way, 51 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: proton going to speed of light this way. That's a 52 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: pretty dramatic collision. That's pretty big stuff. That's the biggest, 53 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: one of the biggest experiments humans have ever done. Yeah. Absolutely, 54 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,679 Speaker 1: It's one of the most expensive and one of the 55 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: biggest experiments. So I'm here. I'm basically a shill for 56 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: big collision because it's my day job. And you said 57 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: you smash protons together, which is which are tiny little 58 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,119 Speaker 1: particles that are part of the atom. So every we're 59 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: we're all made out of atoms, of course, and the 60 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: atoms are made out of stuff inside of them, including 61 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 1: electrons and protons. Yeah, so we take hydrogen, which is 62 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: a proton and electron, we pull away the electron because 63 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: we're not interested. And then we just smash the protons 64 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: the hydrogen nuclei together, and sometimes just like proton debris 65 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: comes out, and sometimes weird new stuff comes out where 66 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: any weird new stuff. But one of the amazing things 67 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: about collisions with particles is that what comes out doesn't 68 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: just have to be a rearrangement at what went in. 69 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: You can actually annihilate it and turn it into something new, 70 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: like a Higgs boson or a photon or a z 71 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: boson or something you didn't even know existed. Now, how 72 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: do you smash these protons together? You have like slingshots 73 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: to p pull back and they to scientists stand in 74 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: front of each other and then pull back and smash 75 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: the protests together. How does that work? That we take 76 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: the protons, we push them really hard with electric fields, 77 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: and then we bend them with magnets, so they go 78 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: around in a circle and we do that over and 79 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: over and over again until they're going really really fast 80 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: and we have another beam going the other direction, and 81 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: then we crossed them. So that's one of maybe one 82 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: of the fastest collisions that we know about as scientists 83 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: in the universe. And it's weird because we actually are 84 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: making that collision, but it actually doesn't even compete with 85 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: what the universe is already doing all the time. What 86 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: you mean, there are things in the universe smashing close 87 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: to each to each each other faster than twice the 88 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: speed of light. Absolutely, the universe is filled with huge 89 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: particle accelerators that are throwing particles at us that are 90 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: colliding with the Earth much faster than the particles are 91 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: moving in the Hadron collider. Okay, so that's maybe another 92 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: type of collision of things smashing together that we can 93 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: talk about is cosmic rays coming from space exactly. Cosmic 94 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: rays are a fancy word, but they just particles in 95 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: space zipping towards the Earth and then smashing in the 96 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: atmosphere like tiny little meteors. Now, these things normally would 97 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: be kind of dangerous, right like if you're hit by 98 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: even even though they're tiny particles, if it's going fast 99 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: enough and it hits it, it can actually kind of 100 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: um not be good for you. The atmosphere is like 101 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 1: a blanket that protects us. They hit the atmosphere and 102 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: they bounce against particles in the atmosphere and they lose 103 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: a little bit of energy by the time they get 104 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: down to the surface. Instead of having one particle with 105 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: a lot of energy, you have like trillions with a 106 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: little bit of energy. So we see these big showers 107 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: of particles hit the surface of the Earth. Alright, But 108 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: then it's a good thing we have our atmosphere to 109 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: protect us from these cosmic rays. It's like a dangerous Exactly, 110 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: if you're an atmosphere, you go out into space, you 111 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: really need to think about shielding because there's a lot 112 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: of crazy stuff out there in space. Maybe you think 113 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: about space as being empty, but really it's filled with 114 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: high energy particles whizzing all around. It's quite dangerous. Asteroids, 115 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: rocks from space that come flying towards the Earth, they 116 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: kind of get burned up in our atmosphere because they 117 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: hit that air and then they create all that friction 118 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: and then they burn up before they hit the Earth. Right. Yeah, 119 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: the atmosphere is like a big buffer, and if the 120 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: rock isn't too big or going too fast, then it 121 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: melts in the atmosphere, sort of the way like spaceships 122 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: when they re enter the atmosphere, they get heated up. 123 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: The same thing happens to asteroids and meteors that hit 124 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. Well, but I just said, speed and energy 125 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: are really important, right, And sometimes we want to create 126 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: these collisions like once we talked about. I know you 127 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: were doing to study things and also what we observe 128 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 1: out up there in the sky, but sometimes we want 129 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: to create these collisions, maybe even to save the planet Earth. Yeah, 130 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: this is pretty cool. I don't know how many of 131 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: you know this out there. Put NASA, the Space Agency 132 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: of the US, has a program called the Planetary Defense System, right, 133 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: like that somebody's job is to literally like stand there 134 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: and be ready to save the Earth. I'm glad somebody's 135 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: doing it, because it's not my job. You're trying to 136 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: save the Earth on a daily basis, And so this work, 137 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: this happened recently. They send the what did they sound like, 138 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: a spaceship, like a little spacecraft, and then they just 139 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: accelerated it and aimed it towards this asterid. Yeah, the 140 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: spacecraft it's like the sizing weight of a refrigerator. So 141 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: they basically slammed a fridge against a big rock in space. 142 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: I like an ostril fridge. That would have been pretty cool. 143 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: I mean they stocked it first. You know, it's filled 144 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: with good drinks and all sorts of stuff like a 145 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: normal fridge. You know, it's like a huge cube of metal. 146 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: And they just slammed it right into the asteroid to 147 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: see if they could change its course and it did 148 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: right where was going before and they hit it, hit 149 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: it with the fridge spaceship and then they noticed that 150 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: the asteroid kind of change course. Right, Yeah, yeah, it 151 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: really did. So as a university professor, it's my job 152 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: to add a pop quiz to every situation. Well, ask 153 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: multiple questions and you answer by jumping on the square. 154 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: With the right answer, you get it right, you win rewards. 155 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: If you get it wrong, you'll get bounced out. Ready good, 156 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: because it's time for how fan are you? What happens 157 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: when black holes collide? It is it A, they explode, 158 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: b the universe ends? See you get one big black 159 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: hole or D. Nobody knows. The correct answer is c. 160 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: Nothing can destroy a black holes. They just get bigger 161 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: when they eat other things, including other black holes. So 162 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: we're talking about the biggest collisions in the universe, and 163 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: we talked about the fastest ones that we know about, 164 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: but you can also maybe think about biggest in terms 165 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,959 Speaker 1: of like impact, right, like how it can affect us 166 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: here on Earth. Well, the Earth is getting hit by 167 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: this stuff all the time. We can't deflect all of it. 168 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: A lot of it gets melted by the atmosphere. But 169 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: in our history we have been smacked by some pretty 170 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: big asteroids. Like the dinosaurs were not as on point 171 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: as NASA is in terms of planetary defense, so they 172 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: got smacked by a pretty big rock about sixty five 173 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: million years ago. It killed off like fifty percent of 174 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: all the species on Earth actually in about an afternoon. 175 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: It would changed life on Earth forever, right, like we're 176 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: here because dinosaurs are not. That's right. It made room 177 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: for us mammals, So thank you alien asteroid tossers or 178 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: whoever is responsible for that had awesome theory. But then 179 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:23,079 Speaker 1: asteroid by Throne was thrown by enemies of the dinosaurs species. No. 180 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: But one of my favorite theories is that they have 181 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: reconstructed the path of this asteroid before hit the Earth, 182 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: and they think it made two passes around and came 183 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: near the Earth before it actually hit, which means that 184 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: dinosaurs could have looked up into the sky and seen 185 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: it like ten years before it hit. The hit the Earth. 186 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,839 Speaker 1: So they had their chance, right, they were warned, they 187 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: had their science together, they'd still be here, they'd be 188 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: doing this podcast instead of us. If that happened again, 189 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: would we be Do you think we'd be able to survive? 190 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,719 Speaker 1: What do you think if like it gets past the 191 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: nasid defense system, it would be pretty challenging. What actually 192 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,199 Speaker 1: happens depends a lot on where it hits. If it 193 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:01,199 Speaker 1: hits in the water, then you're getting a lot of 194 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: vapor in the atmosphere. It hits on land and you're 195 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: getting smoke and getting volcanoes. None of that is going 196 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: to be very easy to survive. In order like remedy that, 197 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: you need planet wide geoengineering projects, and I just don't 198 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: think we're capable of today to start building those bunkers, 199 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,599 Speaker 1: start investing and big beans. I hear those last a 200 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: long time. Question to what particles are collided in the 201 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:37,559 Speaker 1: Large Hadron Collider A large hadrons, B protons, see photons, 202 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: D electrons. The correct answer is beat protons, which are 203 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 1: a type of hadron, and they're used in the Large 204 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: Hadron Collider. But that's also not the first time an 205 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: asteroids hid Earth. Yeah, we think there's a whole history 206 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: of these collisions dating back millions and millions of years. 207 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: But we also think that very early in the Earth's 208 00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: formation there was an enormous collision. A whole planet hit 209 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: the early Earth. What Yeah, Actually, we do think that 210 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: there were other planets in the Solar System which got 211 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: ejected by Jupiter's gravity early on, kicked out of the 212 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: island off Jupiter. We're the survivor so far. But we 213 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: think that a Mars size planet probably hit the early 214 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: Earth and created an enormous collision, basically vaporized the whole surface, 215 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: and what came out of it turned into the Earth 216 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: and our Moon. So we're like, our Earth right now 217 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:42,839 Speaker 1: is actually Earth two point Oh, it wasn't Earth before 218 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 1: that got obliterated and then it reformed again. That's the 219 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: Earth we have now, which you know feels like an upgrade, right, 220 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's pretty good. I got no notes. 221 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:56,440 Speaker 1: So then a comet can hit a planet we saw, 222 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,079 Speaker 1: we saw it in the nineties. It hit Jupiter, and 223 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: it could hit does And those are actually kind of 224 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,719 Speaker 1: more dangerous, right, Those are more dangerous because comments go 225 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: really really fast because they come from much further away, 226 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: so they have more time to gather speed as they 227 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: come towards the Sun, and because they have long orbits, 228 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: you might not see them until they're basically headed right 229 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: towards you. Like, there could be comments out there right 230 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: now that take five years to go around the Sun 231 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: and we just haven't seen them yet. Now. I was 232 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: around in the nineties when that collision happened. That's when 233 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,719 Speaker 1: the comments mashed into Jupiter. But I don't think I 234 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: was kind of paying attention. But you were. You were, like, 235 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,439 Speaker 1: what else were you doing? Man? You were watching the 236 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: live broadcasts of it, right I was. I actually had 237 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: a telescope focused on Jupiter and I was taking video 238 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 1: myself because I wanted to see the explosion. Yes, at home, 239 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 1: you could you see it through the telescope like it 240 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: actually hit it, Like did it happened fast or in 241 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: the slow motion? It happened pretty fast and you can 242 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: see these fireballs be created. And each fireball is like 243 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: the size of the Earth. We're talking about incredible collisions here. 244 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 1: Fireball like it hits Jupiter, jupiters gas so that to 245 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: get into that. But when it hit Jupiter, it created 246 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: a fireball like that impact? Was that that? Yeah, there's 247 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: so much energy. Jupiter is basically a huge ball of 248 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: cotton candy, Like you're saying that, you hit it with 249 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: enough energy with a big enough rock, and the rock 250 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: gets vaporized in the atmosphere and you create a huge 251 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: ball of fire as big as the Earth exactly. So 252 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: we're sorry Jupiter, but we're glad it didn't happen us. 253 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: That would be bad. N Question three. What collided with 254 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: the planet Jupiter in a banana, B, an asteroid, c 255 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 1: aliens or z A comment? Correct Nassas D comment Shoemaker 256 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: Levy Clyde into Jupiter in alright, so that that's maybe 257 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: the biggest in the sense of the biggest collisions in 258 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: the universe. But we said we would talked about the 259 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: biggest collisions in the universe. Let's go bigger. Can you 260 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: smash stars together? Suns together? Now you've got the trick 261 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:13,839 Speaker 1: of it, right, What would happen if you could smash 262 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,319 Speaker 1: stars together? Right? Yeah, yeah, I'd love to see that. 263 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: It turns out that's actually quite rare. Our stars in 264 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: the galaxy are all swirling together around the center of 265 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: the galaxy sort of like a big lazy river. So 266 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: it's not very typical for stars to smash into each other, 267 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: but sometimes things do smash into each other. It does happen. Now, 268 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: what would happen actually happen if two stars collided with 269 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: each other. Yeah, it depends entirely on the velocity. If 270 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: they're going really fast, then they're going to obliterate each other, 271 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: just like what happened with proto Earth and the other planet, 272 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: like a huge spray of stuff. It's weird to think 273 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: about because we think you think of the Sun is 274 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: like a ball of fire, right, and so like if 275 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: you take two flames and you smash it together, nothing, 276 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: nothing really explodes. But the Sun is actually kind of 277 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: pretty neaty, right, Like there's a lot of mass in 278 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: the Sun, I mean, the almost all of the mass 279 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: in the Solar System, and it is stuff. I mean 280 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: it's on fire, but it is stuff. Yeah, it's a 281 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: huge ball of plasmids burning hydrogen. And the mass of 282 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: the Solar System is in the Sun. And so a 283 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: Sun's sun collision could obliterate both of them. It could 284 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: spray out a lot of this burning stuff, and the 285 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: temperature would be really incredible, so would be super bright. 286 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: Because what's happening inside the Sun is fusion to create 287 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 1: all that light, and that pressure and temperature would make 288 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: a fusion happen to like a super charged rate. It 289 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: would be like much brighter than the Sun has ever been. Wow. 290 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: So it would you basically see a giant spark from 291 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 1: the collision, and then it would spray out and then 292 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: it would turn off, or with this cloud of stuff 293 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: debris keep burning, it would go out right, the cloud 294 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: of debris would probably reform back into either one big 295 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: star or two smaller stars, but it would take a 296 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: little while, would take you a few hundred million years 297 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: probably the recoalesce into something else that could burn. Right, 298 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: let's go bigger, Daniel, what happened can be bigger than 299 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: two stars colliding. Well, instead of just colliding one star, 300 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: what if you collided like whole groups of stars? Right, 301 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: a group collision? Okay, are you talking about like colliding galaxies? Yes, exactly. 302 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: Let's go really big. So like our galaxy, the Milky 303 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: Way has hundreds of billions of stars in it, and 304 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: the neighboring galaxy and Drameda is even bigger. It's much 305 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: more massive than our galaxy, and it's headed right for us. What, Yes, exactly, 306 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: somebody throw it out us. There's another conspiracy, conspiracy theory. 307 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: If the light rate didn't work, if the astars didn't work, 308 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: Now they're throwing a galaxy. Somebody is just making sure 309 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: there's a lot of drama in the universe. Right, We've 310 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: got lots of sequels lined up. Two, three, four. Question four, 311 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: what galaxy will collide with the Milky Way in four 312 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: and a half billion years? A Candice Major B, the 313 00:16:55,520 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: peanut butter galaxy, c Omega or D and draw amada. 314 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: The correct answer is the Andromeda will collide with our 315 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 1: galaxy in four and a half billion years. But the 316 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: good news is that the collision will not actually be 317 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 1: that dramatic. Okay, so the whole galaxies colliding, that's not 318 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: that exciting, you're saying, because galaxies are actually kind of empty. Right. 319 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: They're big, they're big, they're bright, but they're like kind 320 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: of like clouds almost like they're not that meaty. Yeah, exactly. 321 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: It's like throwing two handfuls of sand towards each other. 322 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: Mostly the sand doesn't hit other bits of sand. Mostly 323 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: they just miss. Can we go bigger than you can? 324 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: These mass things that are bigger than the gust of 325 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: course you can, and of course you can always go. 326 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: There's still limits science, and this is where you go. 327 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: But it's part of a big group of galaxies that 328 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: I'll orbit each other. So it's like a big object 329 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: that's gravity deciently bound together. It's the cluster of galas 330 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: cluster of galaxies that's like a lot of galaxies are 331 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: kind of moved together exactly. Gravity is holding them together. 332 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: And then the universe is filled with these clusters of galaxies. 333 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: Do we know if our cluster is heading towards a 334 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,200 Speaker 1: collision with another cluster? Do we know that? Or is 335 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: it just inevitable? It's just inevitable. Eventually you're going to 336 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,640 Speaker 1: bump into somebody else. Yeah, just like the Milky Way 337 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: and Andromeda. The universe is trying to push them apart, 338 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: but gravity is so strong between them that it's pulling 339 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: them together, so that eventually they will collide. Can we 340 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,480 Speaker 1: go bigger than you? What? What's the biggest thing we 341 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: can let's just wrap this up. What's the biggest thing 342 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: we can collide that we can smash together in the universe. 343 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: So galaxy clusters organize themselves into something we call superclusters, 344 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: which basically like clusters of clusters, and these are huge 345 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: enormous things, like mind bogglingly big, like five hundred million 346 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: light years across five hundred million, so like a ray 347 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,560 Speaker 1: of light would take five hundred million years just to 348 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: like go from one side of the ing. This is 349 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: like a pretty big chunk of the universe. So we 350 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: call this a supercluster. And we're part of a supercluster, 351 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: of course, and so superclusters can smash into each other, right, 352 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: And we actually think that our superclusters is sort of 353 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: headed towards another supercluster. Really, we can track it. We 354 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: can track it is this thing out there called the 355 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 1: Great Attractor, which is a huge source of gravity far 356 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: out past our galaxy. We don't understand it. We don't 357 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,200 Speaker 1: really know what's going on, but we notice everything is 358 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: moving towards it, and other superclusters are moving towards it. 359 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,120 Speaker 1: So like deep in the future supercluster collision, oh man, 360 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: And it's all being pulled together by a mysterious force, right, Like, 361 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: we don't know what it is. We can't see anything 362 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: there that's pulling these things. We think it's probably gravity, 363 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: but we can't see what's causing that gravity. So Yeah, 364 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: we don't understand what the great attractor is? Question five? 365 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: Where is Daniel a professor? Is it a U c 366 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:02,240 Speaker 1: Irvine b UZ Berkeley ce Universe University or d sir 367 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:12,679 Speaker 1: great aspect ay you see, Irvine Daniel is a professor 368 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 1: of physics at the University of California Aderba University University. 369 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: Right now, the universe is kind of, like you said, 370 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: organizing galaxies and clusters and super clusters, and these are 371 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: like form kind of like like branches out during the universities, 372 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: everything s matches together. Does it all become like a 373 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: giant ball of stuff or like a giant black hole 374 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: or like a giant star? You know, like what's the 375 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: eventual uh uh, you know event there were consequence of 376 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: two of these giant things smashing. Yeah, what's the ultimate 377 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: spoiler of the universe? Well, you've got two big forces 378 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: a play. You have the universe trying to pull itself apart. 379 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 1: Dark energy is like accelerating everything further and further apart. 380 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: Do you have gravity pulling itself together? The question really 381 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: is like how much gravity pull stuff together before dark 382 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: energy tears everything apart? Because the far future is we 383 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: have these like islands of stuff separated by space, and 384 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: so gravity is like trying to gather as much together 385 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: as possible before the universe tears it apart. So all 386 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: this stuff is going to end up in a super 387 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: black hole eventually. What Yes, So all this stuff that's 388 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: close to us will eventually smash together, saying like that 389 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,680 Speaker 1: that's inevitable in a way, will form tiny black holes, 390 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: and then those black holes will crash into each other. 391 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 1: That's another interesting collision, black hole on black hole. Yes, exactly, 392 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: we've seen that happen already, black holes hitting each other, 393 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: swirling around each other and creating bigger black holes. They 394 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: make these amazing ripples in space time. But that's the future. 395 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: Everything falls into a black hole, which is then separated 396 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: from the nearest black hole in the universe, keeps those apart. 397 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: But everything in our little like sort of gravitational well 398 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: nearby is going to end up inside that black hole. 399 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: Oh cool. Well, like you said, I think that watching collisions, 400 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,680 Speaker 1: thinking about collisions, imagining collisions, sometimes simulating collisions is a 401 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,919 Speaker 1: big part of how we understand the universe, right, because 402 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 1: that's kind of how you test things and see what happens. 403 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: That's how that's how you learn how things actually work. Yeah, 404 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 1: you can see what's inside stuff, you can see how 405 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: they react with each other. These are great experiments for 406 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,719 Speaker 1: understanding the basic nature of the universe. So that's why 407 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: we do the underground on Earth when we can, and 408 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: we watch them in the sky when they happen for us. 409 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 1: That's how you crack open the secrets of the universe. Yes, 410 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,959 Speaker 1: exactly together. Yeah, that's when the spoilers all come out, right, 411 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: So that's when we're paying attention I see from the drama, 412 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: because I guess you can just ask the universe how 413 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: it works, do you get to Yeah, you learned from 414 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: the drama. Well, I've been asking, but nobody's answering. It's 415 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: like a mystery, right, You just got to pay attention 416 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 1: to the clue. It is a big mystery, the universe, 417 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 1: and we are slowly learning more and more about it 418 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: every day thanks to scientists and thanks to uh good 419 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: Thanks smashing into each other. Thanks everyone for joining us 420 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,119 Speaker 1: on this episode of Daniel and Jorge Explain the universe 421 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 1: and keep asking your own questions about what's out there. Yeah, 422 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: we hope we smashed your brain with some new knowledge 423 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: and blew your mind or not or just merged it 424 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: with a little bit more with the Cosmos and the Universe. 425 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:28,440 Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, see you next time. Thanks for listening, 426 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is 427 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,680 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast for 428 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 429 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah.