1 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: Is our corner of the universe weird? For the longest time, 2 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: we thought that Earth was everything. When people used to 3 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: wonder about the nature of the universe, they were mostly 4 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: thinking about the rules for how things worked down here. 5 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,319 Speaker 1: Even the stars just seemed like sort of decorations in 6 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: the sky. Now, of course, we know that there's much 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,919 Speaker 1: more out there, And our little slice of this planet 8 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,560 Speaker 1: is the tiniest fraction of the space in the Solar System, 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: which is an infinitesimal speck of the volume of the galaxy, 10 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: which of course is the tiniest drop in intergalactic space. 11 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,279 Speaker 1: And the stuff that goes on out there and the 12 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: rest of the universe is super crazy. It's a bonkers 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: universe out there, filled with black holes and pulsars and 14 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:03,279 Speaker 1: giant jets and crazy conditions. So is our corner of 15 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: the universe weird? Or is it the least weird place 16 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: in the cosmos? Hi? I'm Daniel, I'm a particle physicist, 17 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: and I have the weirdest questions about our weird cosmos. 18 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: And welcome to the podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, 19 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio in which we dare 20 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 1: to ask the biggest questions about the biggest things in 21 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: the universe. We explore the tiniest little particles and ask 22 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: those tiny little questions about what those crazy little quantum 23 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: objects are doing. But mostly we join you in the 24 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: struggle to understand the nature of this universe that we 25 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: find ourselves in. But we marinate in the joy of 26 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: that wonder and that curiosity. We embrace it. We ask 27 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: those questions about the nature of the universe, and we 28 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: dare to demand answers. We're not always satisfied with what 29 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: we find, but we understand it's a process. Science is 30 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: not a list of answers. It's a way of figuring 31 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: out how the universe works. It's daring to expect that 32 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: we can actually understand the way the universe functions, that 33 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: we could hold in our head a model for how 34 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: the universe works and actually makes sense of it. That 35 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: would be an exciting day. That is a day in 36 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: the future. But until then, we can peel it apart, 37 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: one little bit at a time and try to help 38 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: you understand something about the nature of the universe. And 39 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: to do that, we want to encourage you to ask 40 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: your questions, to think deep thoughts about how the universe 41 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: works and to wonder when things don't fit together. And 42 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: so for that reason, we love on this podcast answering 43 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: questions from listeners. And so you probably noticed by now 44 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: is just me here in the studio today, So as usual, 45 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: I'm going to use this opportunity to catch up on 46 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: some listener questions, and so on today's program we have 47 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: listeners questions about diamonds and Jupiter, about chips approaching each 48 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: other near the speed of light, and about what knocked 49 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: Uranus on its side. So thank you to everybody who 50 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: writes in with their questions via Twitter, via email, or 51 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: sends us an audio clip that we can actually use 52 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: on the podcast. If you have questions that you want answered, 53 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: we answer every tweet. We're right back to every email. 54 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: Please send us your questions two questions at Daniel and 55 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: Jorge dot com. We really want to explain the universe 56 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: to you. And if you're too shy to send us questions, 57 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: you can also drop into my public office hours where 58 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: I hang out on zoo and answer physics questions from 59 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: anybody and everybody, including follow up questions and crazy hypotheticals. 60 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: So please come join us if you want connection and 61 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: schedule details about my public office hours. Check out my 62 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: websites at sites dot u, se I, dot edu, slash 63 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: Daniel where you can find all the information. Alright, so 64 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: let's dig into some of these super fun questions from listeners. 65 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: Here's the first one. It's all about diamonds. Hey, Daniel 66 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: and Jorgey. This is Andy and Indiana and I just 67 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: had a hypothetical question for you. Suppose it were possible 68 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: to fly a spaceship up next to Jupiter at the 69 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,239 Speaker 1: very top of its atmosphere, and you tossed a piece 70 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: of coal out the window. Would it turn into a 71 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: diamond before it hit the ground? Thanks guys, I love 72 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: the podcast. All right, So Andy and Indiana doesn't want 73 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: to go to the mall to buy a diamond for 74 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,239 Speaker 1: an engagement ring, and instead wants to fly to Jubiter, 75 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: drop a piece of coal into the atmosphere and see 76 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: if that will turn into a much cheaper diamond. Well, 77 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's a good return on investment given 78 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: the expense of getting to Jupiter, but it's a really 79 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: fun question about what actually happens in the crazy intense 80 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 1: heat and pressure of these gas giants. So let's break 81 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: it down. How do you actually make a diamond, Like, 82 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: how does that happen here on Earth? Could you just 83 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: take a piece of coal and squeeze it really really 84 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: hard and form a diamond. Well, it's true that diamonds 85 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: are just another form of carbon, right, and carbon has 86 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: lots of interesting forms. Coal is mostly carbon, graphite is 87 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: carbon nanotubes or carbon. You can assemble these little bits 88 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: of carbon and lots of different ways that have lots 89 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: of different properties at the macroscopic level. And to me, 90 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: that's super cool that, like the same basic building blocks, 91 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: you can reassemble in different ways and get really very 92 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,160 Speaker 1: different materials. Right. It tells you that there's something deep 93 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: about the arrangement of stuff, That it's the arrangement of 94 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,479 Speaker 1: those carbon molecules that makes a diamond a diamond, and 95 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: a piece of coal a coal, not the thing it's 96 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: made out of. And that's a deeper truth that we've 97 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: learned about the whole Nate you're of the universe, right, 98 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: That it's not what you're made out of, but how 99 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: you're put together. And that's why, for example, you are 100 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: made out of the same particles as eighty ms of 101 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: lava or of hamster. It's all the same stuff, just 102 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: rearranged in another way. And that's the cool thing about diamonds. 103 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: If you start from carbon and you get them under 104 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,719 Speaker 1: really intense heat and pressure we're talking about like two 105 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:27,840 Speaker 1: thousand degrees fahrenheit, they will form this really interesting structure 106 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: which will then survive when it goes back down to 107 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: lower temperatures. Right, it's not like the diamonds form only 108 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 1: in that intense heat and pressure and then sort of 109 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: break apart. You form this really intense thing under pressure, 110 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: and then it holds up when it gets back down 111 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: to lower temperatures and lower pressure. And that's the really 112 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: awesome thing. It takes this energy to build it, but 113 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: once it clicks into place, it's super duper strong. Now, 114 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: you don't get diamonds under normal conditions on the surface 115 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: of the Earth. Most of the diamonds that are on 116 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,800 Speaker 1: people's engagement rings walking around come from like a hundred 117 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: and fifty to two hundred kilometers below the surface of 118 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: the Earth. That's where the temperature is high enough and 119 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: the pressure is intense enough to make it. But it 120 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: doesn't come from coal. Right, Most diamonds that we have 121 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: are not in the byproduct of coal. Getting squeezed because 122 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: coal is actually a relatively late addition to the Earth's crust. Remember, 123 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: coal is basically dead plants. Plants form and grow and 124 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: they pull carbon out of the atmosphere, and then they 125 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: die and they get squished down and you get oil 126 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: or carbon. All these fossil fuels are the remnants of 127 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,679 Speaker 1: dead plants. But diamonds have been forming on Earth since 128 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: well before there were even plants, and so the raw 129 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: materials are the same for coal and for diamonds, But 130 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that the diamonds we have actually form 131 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: from coal, right And also coal tends to be in 132 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: these sort of horizontal seams. It's laid down in layers, 133 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: whereas diamonds we typically find them in the vertical pipes 134 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: inside the Earth. And the reason is that these diamonds 135 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: are formed deep deep under the Earth's surface two hundred kilometers, 136 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: but for us to find them, they need to somehow 137 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: get up to the surface of the Earth, and that's 138 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: done by volcanoes. So you need these like vertical pipes 139 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: of lava that carry the diamonds up from deep under 140 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: the Earth's surface to near the surface where we can 141 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: find them. In mind, so that's where most of the 142 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: diamonds come from. But there's actually another super cool kind 143 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: of diamond that's made on the Earth's surface, and that's 144 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: an asteroid impact diamond. Remember when our rock hits the Earth, 145 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: usually it burns up in the atmosphere, but if it's 146 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: big enough, it can make it all the way down 147 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: to the surface of the Earth and impact, and if 148 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: it's large enough that can have as much energy is 149 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: like the explosion of a nuclear weapon. Remember the rock 150 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: that killed off the dinosaurs was a really big one. 151 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: It tossed a lot of ash and dust into space, 152 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: blocking out the Sun. So that is definitely capable of 153 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: creating the conditions you would need to form diamonds. You 154 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,719 Speaker 1: get super high temperature when that think impacts, and at 155 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: the impact side you also have really high pressure, which 156 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: means you can form diamonds when they impact. And if 157 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: you go to a meteor creater, this crazy hole in 158 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 1: the ground in Arizona, you can actually see these things. 159 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: They find these millimeter sized micro diamonds in meteor creater. Alright, 160 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: so what would happen if you actually took a chunk 161 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: of coal and went to Jupiter and dropped it in 162 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:38,680 Speaker 1: There is Jupiter really capable of forming diamonds, And the 163 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: answer is yes, Jupiter's like a diamond forming factory. Now 164 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: a lot of this is speculation or based on models, 165 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 1: but we have ideas for what the pressure and temperature 166 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: are in the various layers of Jupiter's atmosphere, and we 167 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: have this from models that we've developed, and then we 168 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: can test them from various probes that have gone to 169 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: visit the planets and gather a little bit of data 170 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: and constrain those model and those models tell us that 171 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: in the interior of Jupiter, you do have the pressure 172 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: and the temperature necessary to make diamonds. And for a 173 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: long time, people thought that it was mostly uranous and 174 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: Neptune that were diamond making factories because they have the 175 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: raw materials you need to make diamonds, that is, methane. 176 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: Methane is a very carbonaceous molecule, and so it has 177 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: those raw materials. But these days we think that Jupiter, 178 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: which has less methane, also has enough to be making diamonds. 179 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: And so what happens is you have this atmospheric methane 180 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: sort of on the higher levels, and then you might get, 181 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: for example, a spark from lightning storms and the surface 182 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: of these planets, and that can spark the formation of 183 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: a diamond, which then drops into the interior and gathers 184 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: more material as it goes until these diamonds, which then 185 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: get heavier, fall deeper and deeper and they grow. And 186 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: nobody actually knows how big these diamonds can get. They 187 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: might just be small, like super tiny nano diamonds and 188 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: you have a whole lot of them. Or it could 189 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: be that they accumulate like hail falling in the Earth's atmosphere, 190 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: gathering up more and more water. You could even get 191 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:12,599 Speaker 1: these like massive diamond bergs they call them, forming in 192 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,439 Speaker 1: the interior of Jupiter. The only way to really figure 193 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: that out is to go into probe it, but we 194 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to do that yet. So we 195 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: think that the conditions are right for Saturn and Jupiter 196 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: to form diamonds, to have this essentially constant rain of diamonds, 197 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: and according to calculations, there were produced tons and tons 198 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: of diamonds every year, so they anticipate there are something 199 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: like ten million tons of diamonds on Saturn and Jupiter. 200 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:43,599 Speaker 1: So if you could get a probe out there, you 201 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,839 Speaker 1: wouldn't need to bring your own coal. There are already 202 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: tons of diamonds in jubiter But the question was about 203 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: whether it would form a diamond before it hit the ground. Remember, 204 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: the definition of the ground or the surface of Jupiter 205 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: is a bit fuzzy. There is a rocky, icy core, 206 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: but things get really dense before you even get there, 207 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: and so a bit of coal that turns into diamond 208 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: would probably stop well before it reached that rocky icy core. 209 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: It would stop when it hits the point where it's 210 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,000 Speaker 1: equilibrated right whereas the same density as the stuff that's 211 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: around it. And we don't actually know what would happen 212 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: to these things as they drop into the core of Jupiter, 213 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: because on Jupiter specifically, the conditions are so extreme that 214 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: it might be possible that these diamonds form liquids. These 215 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: diamonds get so compressed that you get like liquid diamond 216 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,719 Speaker 1: oceans on Jupiter. We think on Urineus and Neptune, to contrast, 217 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: that the temperatures are much cooler and you don't reach 218 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: that like eight thousand kelvin degrees you need to melt diamonds. 219 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: So Urine is a Neptune probably have huge collections of 220 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: diamonds in their interior, but on Jupiter those diamonds may 221 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: have melted and contributed to these vast oceans of liquid 222 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: diamond It's fascinating. We still don't know really what's going 223 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: on inside Jupiter. We know it's crazy. We know that 224 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,680 Speaker 1: it's very different from what's going on here on Earth, 225 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: which makes it hard to extrapolate and hard to measure. 226 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: But until we get more probes out there dropping coal 227 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: or just dropping instruments into the atmosphere of Jupiter, then 228 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: we won't really know what's going on. But it's a 229 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: fascinating place to learn about what materials can do. You know, 230 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: it's all the same basic elements, just playing different roles, 231 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,959 Speaker 1: just fitting together in different ways, and in some cases 232 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: you need special conditions in order to make them. But 233 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: the amazing thing is that they last even after those 234 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: conditions have broken, even when they get pulled out into 235 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: lower temperature and pressure conditions, we still have these literal 236 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: crystals of knowledge that come out of those situations. So 237 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: thanks Andy from Indiana for asking a fun question about 238 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,079 Speaker 1: dropping coal into the atmosphere of Jupiter. I want to 239 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: answer a couple more questions, but first, let's take a 240 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: quick break. All right, we are back and we are 241 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: talking about the crazy things that go on in our 242 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: universe and answering listener questions about the extreme conditions that 243 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: we find in our solar system and out in deep space. 244 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: So here we have another fun hypothetical question from Cole. Hello, 245 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge. This is Cole Packard and I'm from Reading, California. 246 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the podcast and I love 247 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: listening to you guys. While I'm driving, I was listening 248 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: to your episode about how special relativity affects how we 249 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 1: perceived time, and it got me thinking, what if two 250 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: observers were traveling towards each other, both going near the 251 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: speed of light, would their relative philosophies be close to 252 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: twice the speed of light? Would the time distortion make 253 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: each observer look extremely slow to the other. Looking forward 254 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: to hearing your answers. Thank you all right, Thanks very 255 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: much Cole for asking a question about one of my 256 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: favorite topics, which is the crazy bonkers nature of our 257 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: universe at high velocity. Because we here on Earth are 258 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: used to things moving pretty slow, and we developed an 259 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: intuition that tells us what happens when you throw a baseball. 260 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: How fast is that baseball moving relative to the ground. 261 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: And it turns out that intuition is just flat wrong. 262 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: I mean, it mostly works if things are moving slow, 263 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: but it turns out the rules are actually fundamentally different, 264 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: and that only when you get to very high velocities, 265 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: velocities approaching the speed of light, do you see that 266 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: intuition breaking down and reveal the true nature of the universe. 267 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: But this is one of my favorite examples. This is 268 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: why we push ourselves to understand the extreme situations of 269 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: the universe, because it's there that the truth is revealed. 270 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: And we don't want just an intuitive understanding of the 271 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: universe that's sort of kind of works. We want to 272 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: know the truth. We want to read the fundamental truth 273 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: of the universe. We want to reveal its source code. 274 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: We want to understand how the universe actually works, not 275 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: just some approximation that kind of works in some situations. 276 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: So that's why I love special relativity and examples like 277 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: this that make us try to understand how things work 278 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: in crazy conditions. Now, Cole was asking us a fun 279 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: question about what happens when two ships approach each other 280 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: each moving close to the speed of light, and also 281 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: what happens to the clocks on those ships. So Cole 282 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: has managed to touch on basically all the critical elements 283 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: of special relativity. So to answer this question, we're gonna 284 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: need to remember a few things. First, remember that all 285 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: speeds are measured as relative speeds. You can't talk about 286 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: a spaceship moving near the speed of light. You have 287 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: to say moving near the speed of light as measured 288 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: by who, or moving near the speed of light relative 289 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 1: to what. Because there are no absolute measures, there's no 290 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: like reference frame floating out there in space that can 291 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: measure the speed of a ship. You always have to 292 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: say the speed relative to what. And it's especially important 293 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: and special relativity because two different observers moving in different 294 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 1: speeds will see the same ship and report different results. 295 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:11,479 Speaker 1: The thing we have to remember, number two, is that 296 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: we can't simply add velocities. You know, if you are 297 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: in a car moving at twenty miles an hour relative 298 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 1: to the ground, and you throw a baseball at twenty 299 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,719 Speaker 1: miles an hour, how fast is that baseball moving a 300 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: relative to the ground. Well, you think, oh, that's easy. 301 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: It's twenty miles an hour from the car plus twenty 302 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: miles an hour from your arm, you have forty miles 303 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: an hour. And that's true for small velocities. But because 304 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: in special relativity nothing can go faster than the speed 305 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: of light, you've got to change that rule. And it 306 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: turns out that as you get too high velocities, you 307 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: can't just add those velocities in a simple way. The 308 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: velocity is added in a really weird, nonlinear way, and 309 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: that's one thing that prevents you from going faster than 310 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,679 Speaker 1: the speed of light. So, for example, if you are 311 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: in a spaceship flying at seven tenths the speed of 312 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,400 Speaker 1: light relative to the Earth, and you throw a baseball 313 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: with your amazing arm at seven tenths of the speed 314 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: of light in the same direction, do we measure that 315 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,880 Speaker 1: baseball going at point seven plus point seven or one 316 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,439 Speaker 1: point four times the speed of light. No, we don't, 317 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: because you can't just add those velocities. Instead, you get 318 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: something like zero point nine five times the speed of light. 319 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: Things don't just add up linearly, and that's another thing 320 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: that's going to make it really weird to observe the 321 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,439 Speaker 1: same events at different velocity. And the last thing we 322 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: need to understand to answer Cole's question is how time 323 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: is affected by special relativity. And the thing to understand 324 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: there is that moving clocks run slowly. If you see 325 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:47,439 Speaker 1: a clock that's moving away from you really, really fast, 326 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: you will observe it's time running slowly, all right. So 327 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's dig into Cole's question. Cole says, 328 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: what happens if these two ships are approaching each other 329 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: and both are moving near the speed of light. So 330 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: first let's clarify if both are moving near the speed 331 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: of light, who is measuring that speed? So let's put 332 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: Earth at the center of that and say that one 333 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: ship is coming at Earth near the speed of light, 334 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,199 Speaker 1: and the other ship is coming at Earth from the 335 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: other direction, also near the speed of light. So we're 336 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,679 Speaker 1: on Earth and we measure ship one coming at us 337 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,280 Speaker 1: near the speed of light from Mars, for example, and 338 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: the other one is coming the other direction and also 339 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: near the speed of light. Now you look at those 340 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 1: two ships and you ask yourself how fast are they 341 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 1: moving relative to each other? If these velocities were very 342 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: very slow, we were on the surface of the Earth 343 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: and you had, for example, two cars both coming at 344 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,360 Speaker 1: you at twenty miles an hour, you could say, oh, 345 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: the cars are approaching each other at forty miles an hour, 346 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: but zoom back out to space. If both ships are 347 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: approaching you at seven tenths the speed of light, you 348 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,160 Speaker 1: can't say that they are approaching each other at one 349 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: point four times the speed of light because the velocity 350 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: addition is not linear. Instead, on each ship they could 351 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: measure the speed of the other ship and they would 352 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:10,479 Speaker 1: see something like of the speed of light, and that 353 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: works for both ships because the situation is symmetric. So 354 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: on Earth we measure each ship as coming towards us 355 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: at like seven tenths the speed of light, but each 356 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: ship doesn't measure the other one is traveling faster than 357 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 1: the speed of light. Because you can't just add the 358 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: velocities linear, we have this crazy non linear velocity addition 359 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: rule which changes things. Now here's a bit of a 360 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: brain twisty part. The distance between the two ships, as 361 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: seen from Earth is decreasing as faster than the speed 362 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: of light. That is, from Earth, both ships are moving 363 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: it less than the speed of light. But if you 364 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: measure the distance between the ships from Earth, that number 365 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:53,400 Speaker 1: is decreasing faster than light could move between the two ships, right, 366 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: Because that's just measuring the distance between the two ships, 367 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: and we see one ship going in one direction is 368 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 1: seven tenths of speed of light and the other one 369 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 1: going in the other direction at seven tenths of speed 370 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: of light. So we see the distance between them decreasing 371 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: at faster than the speed of light. And that's okay, 372 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: because nobody in the scenario is moving faster than the 373 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: speed of light relative to anybody else, because if you 374 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: transform to the frame of one ship, they only see 375 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: that distance decreasing at the speed of light. And that's 376 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: the crazy thing is that different people can see the 377 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 1: same events and report different answers and everybody can be correct. Right. 378 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: We can give different conflicting reports of the same scenario 379 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: and all be correct. That's the most crazy thing about 380 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: the universe I've ever learned about in physics, that there 381 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: isn't one true history of the universe that we could 382 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: all agree on, that if we all had accurate clocks 383 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: and devices and rulers, then we could all figure out, 384 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: like what really happened? There is no what really happened 385 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: for the whole universe. There's a what really happened? If 386 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: you were at this location and moving at this velocity. 387 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,400 Speaker 1: Then there's another what really happened if you were over 388 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: there moving at that velocity. And the crazy thing is 389 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,120 Speaker 1: that they do not have to agree and they can 390 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: all be correct. We talked about this in our episode 391 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: about time dilation. For example, different people might have different 392 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: stories to tell about who won a race, and that's 393 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: because the definition of now. But whether two things happen 394 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 1: at the same moment also depends on where you are 395 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 1: and how fast you're moving. And that leads us to 396 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: the second part of Cole's awesome question about time. You see, 397 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: we know that moving clocks run slowly. That means that 398 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: if you see a clock moving at high velocity relative 399 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: to you, you will see that clock's time running slowly. 400 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: So say both of these ships which are approaching Earth 401 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: at seven tenths of speed of light in opposite directions. 402 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: Both of these ships have a clock on them, and 403 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: they have awesome telescopes so that the people on the 404 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: ships can read their own clocks and they can also 405 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: peer through these super telescopes to read the clock on 406 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,359 Speaker 1: the other ship. So you're on a ship, you're moving 407 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: at seven tenths to speed of light. Most people make 408 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 1: the mistake of thinking that you will feel time and 409 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,719 Speaker 1: running slow. You won't. You always feel your time running 410 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: the same way, running at one second per second. And 411 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: if you look down at the clock in your hand, 412 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 1: you will see it running normally. Why is that? Doesn't 413 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: time move slow at high speeds? It does, but it 414 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: only slows down for moving clocks, And your clock, which 415 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 1: is in your hand, is not moving relative to you. 416 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: You are not moving relative to you. And that's why 417 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: time passes normally for you. Now, if you look through 418 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,640 Speaker 1: your telescope and you look at the clock on the 419 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,639 Speaker 1: other ship, you see that clock moving really really fast, 420 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: coming towards you at of the speed of light. And 421 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: so you see that clock running slowly. You think, for 422 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: every ten seconds that passes on your clock, you only 423 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: see one second tick on that clock. So that's really weird, right, 424 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: is time passing differently on that ship? No, you can't 425 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: make statements about that. You can only make statements about 426 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,880 Speaker 1: what you observe. Because now flip it around and put 427 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: yourself on the other ship. Right that other ship, they 428 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,879 Speaker 1: see their clock running normally. They don't see their clock 429 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: running slowly the way you see it. They see their 430 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: clock running normally, and when they look through their telescope 431 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: they see your clock running slowly. It's another example of 432 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,879 Speaker 1: how two people to observers can give faithful accounts but 433 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: come up with different stories about what happens. You say 434 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,399 Speaker 1: their clock is running slowly, they say your clock is 435 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: running slowly. The physics part of your brain says, what 436 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: what actually is happening? And the answer is, there are 437 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: different things happening based on where you are and how 438 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: fast you are going, right, because truth and history are 439 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: not absolute anymore. They are relative, and they are a 440 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: function of location and velocity. And you might think to yourself, 441 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: how can that possibly be the reality? How can our 442 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: universe actually work that way? Doesn't it lead to all 443 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: sorts of contradictions. Well, you know, all these effects happen 444 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: when people are far apart or moving relative to each 445 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 1: other at very high speeds, and so it makes it 446 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: hard to spot these things. And you just have an 447 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: intuition that the universe works in a certain way, that 448 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: there's like a universe clock that ticks forward, and the 449 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: universe has sort of a state right now, and then 450 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: it takes forward and has another state, sort of like 451 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,640 Speaker 1: a universal movie that's sliding forward in time. But that's 452 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: just not the situation. What we've revealed to our experiments 453 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: is that things really do depend on where you are 454 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 1: and how fast you are going. That there is really 455 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: no absolute truth to what happens in the universe. Alright, cold, 456 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: thanks very much for asking that super fun question. I 457 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: want to get to one more question, but first let's 458 00:25:48,320 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 1: take another break. Okay, we're back, and we are talking 459 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: about the crazy things that happened in our universe, things 460 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: that happened at light speed, things that happened it's super 461 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 1: high pressure and temperature, and now we're going to talk 462 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: about some of the weird things that we see in 463 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: our universe, specifically in our solar system. Hey, Daniel and Jorge, 464 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,679 Speaker 1: this is Brendon from St. Louis, Missouri, and I have 465 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,639 Speaker 1: a question for you guys that I've been thinking about 466 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: for a little while. Now. You can only find that 467 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: we apparently don't know. I'm just wondering if that's really 468 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,680 Speaker 1: true or what our latest understanding is of what happened 469 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: to uriness to make it sideways and could that have 470 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: been what gave it its rings or is that just 471 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: wild speculation? Would love you guys, input on something like this. 472 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: All right, thanks very much for that awesome question. I 473 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: love Urinus because Urinus is really weird. It's not just 474 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: that it makes diamonds that rain in the interior. It's 475 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: a very unusual planet relative to the other planets in 476 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: our solar system. Right, if you look at the Solar 477 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: system sort of from the top down, the Sun is 478 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: spinning counter clock wise, and you notice that most of 479 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: the things in the Solar system follow that pattern. They 480 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 1: move around the Sun counterclockwise, and they rotate counterclockwise. And 481 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: there's a reason for that. That's not an accident. That's 482 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: conservation of angular momentum at work. You see all the 483 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,360 Speaker 1: stuff that made our Solar system, the big blob of 484 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: gas and dust and little particles and flex of gold 485 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: from previous solar systems. All that stuff, when it formed, 486 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: was already spinning. And that spin can't just go away, right. 487 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: If you start something spinning in space and leave it, 488 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: it will spin forever. And so if you have a 489 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: huge cloud of gas and dust, it might be spinning slowly, 490 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: but then when gravity coalesces it into something smaller and 491 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: denser than it needs to spin faster in order to 492 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: have the same total amount of spin. It's like a 493 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: figure skater. If she pulls her arms in, she goes 494 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,600 Speaker 1: faster because she has to have a higher rotation rate 495 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: to have the same total angular momentum. And so as 496 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: that huge cloud of slowly spinning gas and dust coalesced 497 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: into the Sun and the planets, that spin couldn't just 498 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: go away. And that's why we get the planets mostly 499 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: going around the Sun in the same direction that the 500 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,479 Speaker 1: Sun is spinning, and also spinning around their axes in 501 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: that same direction. And that's why it's really interesting and 502 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,160 Speaker 1: really weird that it's only mostly the case. Those exceptions 503 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: are fascinating because they might just reveal crazy stories about 504 00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: what happened in the formation of our solar system. And 505 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: so urine is in particular is an odd ball, quite literally, 506 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: because it's tilted more than ninety degrees. It's not just 507 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: on its side, it's on its side plus a little bit, 508 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: and it spins clockwise instead of counterclockwise, so it really 509 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 1: stands out. And because urine is is not a small thing, right, 510 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: it's not like one tiny little rock that happens to 511 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: be spinning the wrong way. It's an enormous ice giant 512 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: of a planet. It's got a lot of mass, which 513 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: means it has a lot of kinetic energy and a 514 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: lot of angular momentum. It's not something that happens very easily. 515 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: And the more you look at Uranus, the more you 516 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: see that it's weird. I mean, it's not just that 517 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 1: it's tipped over, so it has like vertical rings and 518 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: vertical moons. But in the summer, it's north pole points 519 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: towards the sun right. That makes really weird seasons, and 520 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: the definition of north pole is sort of odd on 521 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: Urinus also because it's defined by the axis. But the 522 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: magnetic poles are not very well lined up with its spin. 523 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: It has this really weird off center magnetic field. And 524 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: you know, on most planets we think the magnetic field 525 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: is formed by like the slashing around of currents of 526 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: molten metals, but we don't really know what's going on 527 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: inside Uranus, and we don't know why that spinning would 528 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 1: give you a different magnetic field direction than the actual 529 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: spin of the planet. So for a long time people 530 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: have thought this must be evidence of some cosmic collision. 531 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: Why would you think a cosmic collision, Well, the reason 532 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: is that in order to have something stop spinning or 533 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,479 Speaker 1: to change its spin, you need something external. You need 534 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 1: something to come from outside the solar system, some new 535 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: source of angular momentum that comes in and can stop 536 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: the spin or knock the spin, or change the spin. 537 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: That's why we think about Uriness maybe having such a 538 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: strange configuration because it got knocked into by some huge 539 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: thing that came in from outside the solar system. But 540 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: this thing would have to be huge, like the calculations. 541 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: Until about a year ago, people were thinking this needed 542 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,600 Speaker 1: some object like twice the mass of the Earth. So again, 543 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 1: this is not a little rock that hit Urin. It's 544 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: you know, a little rock like the size of the 545 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: one that killed the dinosaurs. This is a rock twice 546 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: the size of the Earth that collided into Urinus and 547 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: knocked it over. At least that was the theory for 548 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: a while. But you know, let that marinate in your 549 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: head for a minute, Like, what would that have looked 550 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: like if you could have seen that up close? Oh 551 00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:58,959 Speaker 1: my gosh, it would have put Michael Bay and all 552 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: the Transformer movie to shame. I would have loved to 553 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: see that sort of real effect in action. Of course, 554 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 1: from a safe distance. The problem is that it would 555 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: have been a very cataclysmic event, and we should see 556 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: records of it all around the environment of urine is. 557 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: But when we look, for example, at the moons if 558 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: urine is, we don't see that. If such an event happened, 559 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: you would expect, for example, all the ice to be 560 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: stripped from those moons and to have mostly just like 561 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: little bits of rock, as those moons would have been obliterated. 562 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: But we don't really see that, and so there's not 563 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: the evidence of that huge collision. But we still have 564 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: urine Is knocked over on its side. What could have 565 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: done that other than some weird external source of angular momentum, Well, 566 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: it could also be a weird interplay. But with the 567 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: angular momentum inside the Solar System, which you can sort 568 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: of slash around from object to object, and you might wonder, well, 569 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 1: how can that happen without collisions? Will remember that there's 570 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: still gravity here, and there's lots of different objects slashing around. 571 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: Urinus is there, and it has rings and very barious 572 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: objects in the Solar System can transfer angular momentum back 573 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: and forth between each other just using gravity. For example, 574 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: the Earth's moon is slowing down the spin of the 575 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: Earth as it leaves, it's sort of stealing our angular 576 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 1: momentum because of these gravitational interactions. And so recently there's 577 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: been a new theory for how Urinus might have gotten 578 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: its weird direction and weird spin, and it has to 579 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: do with how Urinus is orbit around the Sun interferes 580 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: and interacts with its spin. And that is that Uranus, 581 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: like most planets, doesn't orbit the Sun in a perfect circle. 582 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,959 Speaker 1: It orbits it and an ellipse, and an ellipse, un 583 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: like a circle, has a preferred direction that a long axis, well, 584 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: that long axis moves around the Sun, and that's called precession. 585 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: In a similar way, there's a precession for the spin 586 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 1: of the planet. It turns out that those two things 587 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: can create a resonance which can actually affect the angle 588 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: that the planet is tilting at, sort of like if 589 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: you think about a gyroscope here on Earth. You can 590 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,080 Speaker 1: spin a gyr scope and then see it's sort of 591 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: like tilt over. They're all these really complicated dynamics with 592 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 1: angular momentum that can get your brains would twisted up. 593 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: But they have done these calculations and they've done these models, 594 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: and they've seen that like a gyroscope effect. If you 595 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 1: get Uriness in the right configuration, then it's spin procession 596 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: and it's orbit can interfere in a way that tilts 597 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: it over. But the funny thing is that in these 598 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: models for their calculations, they've only ever gotten the urine 599 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: is like planet to tilt over about like sixty five 600 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,360 Speaker 1: or seventy degrees. They can't get into tilt all the 601 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 1: way over to ninety degrees just using this trick with 602 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: the interference of the processions. And so then they added 603 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: the collision of a smaller object. So it turns out 604 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: if you tilted over using this gyroscope procession effect, and 605 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: then you toss in a planet just about half the 606 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: size of Earth instead of twice the size of Earth, 607 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: then you can knock Uriness over on its side without 608 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: blasting all the ice from its moons. So that means 609 00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: that if you hit Urinus with an object half the 610 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: size of Earth instead of twice the size of Earth, 611 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: it can survive. It can get the right tilt, and 612 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: the moons can keep their ice. So you know, a 613 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: lot of this is guesswork. We really just don't know 614 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:12,719 Speaker 1: what we're doing. Is we're looking at the clues that 615 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: we see here today in our solar system, and we're 616 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 1: trying to explain things that happen maybe billions of years ago, 617 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: and we're doing these calculations and try to say, hey, 618 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,359 Speaker 1: could this be an explanation? So we're building up more 619 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,799 Speaker 1: and more sophisticated possible explanations for what might explain what 620 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 1: we see. That doesn't mean conclusively this is what happened, 621 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: right the way science work, Since you come up with 622 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: a potential explanation for what you see, and then you 623 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: ask yourself questions like what would be unique about this 624 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,400 Speaker 1: or what can I predict? How else could I test 625 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: this model? And that's, for example, how people came up 626 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: with this curiosity of the fact that there is still 627 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 1: ice on the moons of Uranus, which is not consistent 628 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: with having Urinus be impacted by an object twice the 629 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,320 Speaker 1: mass of the Earth. So as you make more refinements, 630 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: you ask yourself more questions, as this explain this be? 631 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 1: Could I test it in this other way? You come 632 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:05,719 Speaker 1: up with more and more clever ideas for how to 633 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: test your theory, and if he keeps passing those tests, 634 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: then you build confidence in this explanation and if it fails, 635 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: one of them go back to the drawing board and 636 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,000 Speaker 1: you come up with a new idea. But hey, that's 637 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: the process of science. That's why we ask these questions, 638 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: because by asking them, we learn things, and we slowly 639 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,240 Speaker 1: peel back layers of reality to reveal the true nature 640 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: of the universe. And so I'm just excited to be 641 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,280 Speaker 1: on this journey here with you, trying to understand the universe, 642 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,719 Speaker 1: trying to peel back those layers of reality, trying to 643 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,800 Speaker 1: get us closer to the ultimate truth about the way 644 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: the universe actually works. So thanks to everybody who's sent 645 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: in those questions, and thanks to everybody who engages with 646 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Daniel and Jorge or sends us 647 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: questions to questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. We 648 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: love hearing from you. We want to answer your questions 649 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,759 Speaker 1: about the universe. We want to explain the universe to you. 650 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: So thanks everybody for your attention and your questions and 651 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: for sharing your curiosity with us. Tune in next time. 652 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explained 653 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,920 Speaker 1: the Universe is a production of I Heart Radio. For 654 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: more podcast from my Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio, 655 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:26,480 Speaker 1: Apple Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 656 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 1: YE