WEBVTT - 4 ways physics could end the world 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.480 Hey, Daniel, do you enjoy watching disaster movies? You mean, 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.680 do I like watching billions of people parish on screen? 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.520 Now you're making me feel bad about enjoying Titanic, But 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.480 I guess I mean, do you like the physics of 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.799 those disaster movies? So? Do you feel like it's always 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.440 implausible or impossible? Well? I feel like the solution in 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.040 those movies is always either nuke it or send Bruce Willis. 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.920 What's wrong with sending Bruce Willis? Is that physically impossible? 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.519 He's basically the human nuke. What about a cosmic space bananas? 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.760 Suddenly Korean stots Earth and crashes into our planet. Well, 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:47.879 I think then we have to send Bruce Willis with 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:49.919 a nuke to blow that thing up to make a 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.800 cosmics smoothie. Well, okay, So if you were in Hollywood 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.480 and you were pitching physics space disaster movie, what would 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.640 you pitch? Oh? Man, we have so many good ways 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.280 to end the world with physics. That doesn't make me 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:21.240 feel good. Hi am horror had made cartoonists and the 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.319 creator of PhD commist. Hi. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.920 and I think about how the world might end. He's 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.440 an optimist, folks, I'm a planner. Is there such a 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.080 thing as an optimist physicist or are they all pretty 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.839 pretty down at the end of the university. No, we're 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.800 all optimistic because, you know, we're relying on society to 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.080 fund our abstract thinking about the nature of reality, the 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.600 universe and stuff. So you gotta believe in a sort 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.600 of educated, optimistic, forward thinking society for physics to even 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.200 be a thing. Always believe in other people's money. Yes, 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:57.560 you're optimistic. Model. If the world ends or society crumbles, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.440 there's not going to be a lot of openings for 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.360 physics fessors in the end days. All right, Well, welcome 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.160 to our podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, a 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.080 production of I Heart Radio, in which we talk about 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.720 all the amazing and crazy and silly and bonkers things 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.480 space cheetos and giants, space bananas and talk about it 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.040 in a way that we hope you understand and enjoy. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.000 And Bruce Willis, let's not forget Bruce Willis. He's in 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.720 the category of giantspace bananas, right, He's a kind of banana. Yeah, 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.160 we talked about all the amazing things we know and 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.800 all the amazing things we don't know about the universe, 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:33.840 including some of the things we covered in our book 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.160 We Have No Idea A Guide to the Unknown Universe, Yeah, 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.000 in which we talk about all the crazy open questions 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.520 of the universe, basic stuff that we should know about 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.000 our cosmic neighborhood and our place in the universe, but 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.600 physics still hasn't figured out. Yeah. It's a book that, too, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.480 I think, up until recently, has not been translated to 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.480 over twenty languages. So those of you out there listening 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.880 across the world, I'm sure there is a book version 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:00.960 of this book in your languae. Have you read it 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.960 in any of the other languages. I've read them on 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.600 in all the different languages. I don't understanding of it, 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:07.600 but I think I had a pretty good idea of 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:09.440 what we wrote. I just wonder how all of our 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.040 bad puns were translated, like to Korean. Seems to me 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:19.600 like an impossible tath does yeah does graphical puns? I 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.880 think that's what you mean. No, it's a fun book, 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:23.720 and it talks about all the things that we don't 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.919 know about the universe and the ways we might figure 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.840 them out. One thing we didn't talk about in the book, though, 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.919 is how humanity might end. That's what we talked a 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.440 bit about, how the universe might end. But there's a 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.120 lot that can happen before the universe ends. You're thinking 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.000 they're not the same thing. You don't think humans are 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.640 gonna make it all the way. I'm thinking that when 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.360 we end, the universe ends for us, because we're going 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.440 to cause the end of the universe, nothing else matters. 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.520 That's right. I wouldn't put it past physicists to sort 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.320 of converge to those two things. I knew you were 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.440 going to paint it on physicists. You know, if somebody's 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.800 going to cause the end of the universe, I'm gonna 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.480 blame politicians, not physicists, really not physicists. It's not going 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.960 to be a physicist pressing that big red button you 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.720 know that launches the death device, the doomsday device that 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.760 creates the cosmic instability that you know, ruins the structure 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.840 of space, time or whatever. Yeah, you're right, I'll give 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.000 you that. It's probably going to be the physicist grad 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.000 student prescent accidentally putting their coffee down on the button. Oops, 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.599 what was that? But yeah, today's podcast, we'll be getting 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.200 into a topic that a little bit dark about the 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.200 outlook for humanity. Yeah, we pay attention to our listeners 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:36.719 and we read everything you guys write to us on 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.359 email and on Twitter. So if you have a question 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.479 about the universe or how humanity might end, or something 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:44.880 you heard about you didn't understand, please send it to us. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.839 But this episode is in response to a very specific 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.000 question that came in from listeners about different ways that 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.760 physics might kill you, and not just from boredom, right, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.320 not just from just kidding. No, physics is very exciting, 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.280 and Jason had a very interest think question here because 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:06.440 he envisions four ways in which physics could possibly end 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.000 the world as we know it and possibly the universe. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:10.760 Do you think or just just the Earth? I think 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.200 probably just the Earth or just humanity. I think in 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.960 all these four scenarios, the universe will truck on even 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.880 if humanity is extinguished. And what do you think Jason 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.600 is thinking here? Do you think he's worried about these 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.479 things happening? Do you think he is trying to cause 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.440 these things to happen? Perhaps hopefully not. Yeah, this is 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.520 a similar quanity. Um, I'm not sure if in answering 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.000 his question, we are enabling a super villain who's making 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.000 plans to sort of ring humanity, or maybe somebody who's 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.599 like planning to protect humanity against the coming of potential supervillains. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:46.800 This classic question in philosophy. You know, by creating technology 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.440 and spreading knowledge, are you enabling war or preventing it? 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.600 Do you think Jason might be the Bruce Willis of 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.320 Twitter or he might be the lex Luthor right, one 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.800 of those two. Either way, we're gonna answer your question, 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.760 Jason and Hope for the best and so to be. 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:11.400 On the podcast, we'll be asking the question, what are 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:16.800 four ways which physics could end the world? And we've 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.320 got more than four ways, we only have time, right, 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.800 we're under we're only explaining four of them today. That's right. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.640 This is the top four of a very very long 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.080 list of ways to kill everybody on Earth using physics. 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:31.640 These are the top just because these are the ones 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.200 Jason picked. Or do you do you think Jason nailed 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.000 the four most concerning ways that physics could end the world. Oh, 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.440 I think it's like a thousand way tie for first place. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.400 But these are the four of the Jason thought about. 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.320 I guess I guess if it ends the world, it's 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.719 they're all equally bad, right, right, We're equally good for somebody, 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.360 not us. No, but these are four very creative ways 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.720 to potentially kill off humanity, and they probe sort of 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.480 an understanding of the nature of matter and gravity and 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.440 electron on and all that stuff. So I thought it 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:02.680 would be a lot of fun to go through them 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:04.760 and really think about the physics of what would happen 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.720 in each scenario. So this is what Jason wrote in 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:11.760 his tweet. He wrote, rate these events from most catastrophic 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:16.080 to least. Number one, gravity turns off for three seconds 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:19.760 and then back on. Number two, the Earth suddenly starts 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:25.360 spinning backwards. Number three, every electron within one light year 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:30.440 of Earth suddenly disappears. Number four the Sun shuts down 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.920 for two weeks, and then he later clarified that it's 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.520 still there, but it's just sort of turned off and 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.920 went dark. It winks for two weeks. That's a long week, man, 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:45.320 it's very specific to two weeks. It's like, you know, 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.720 not you know, three weeks, not you know, sixteen days. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.520 He's like, it sounds like he's planning for this. Yeah, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.880 he's making some specific plans. These are not just arbitrary numbers, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.120 you know. I think he's really tuned. These catastrophic events 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.560 makes me wonder about how much planning he's done. Well. 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:03.480 I think it's pretty cool that one of our listeners 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.880 sort of sat around, you know, and thought of all 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.040 these all the things that could happen in the universe, 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:12.880 and wondered what how these things were possible and how 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.040 they would affect us. Yeah, and I think a lot 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.880 of these have sort of physics implications that you might 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.840 not think of when you first hear it. There's an 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.600 initial idea and then there's some subtlety to each one. 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.520 So they're awesome not just because they might cause the 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.480 death of billions of people, but they might along the 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.680 way teach those billions of people something about physics. They 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.600 all sound pretty I'm not sure how to say this, 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:39.080 were you gonna say plausible? That sounds uh, It sort 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.520 of sounds like the plot of a of a spy 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.120 movie or a disaster movie, you know. Yeah, a lot 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.679 of these movies start off with some catastrophic event or 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.760 some dramatic event that makes you wonder like, oh, how 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.360 did that happen? Or how did the aliens get control 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.600 of gravity, or you know, who's who's deleting all these 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.600 electrons from the universe or something. But most of these 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:00.840 movies end up unsatisfying, and they're like, Oh, it's the 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.120 infinitely folding proton, they can do anything or something. Oh 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.840 I see or dark matter. Always go with dark matter 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.200 or quantum realm. That's matter. Oh man, don't get me 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.679 started on the science fiction novels that lean on dark matter. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.800 You go to a dark place, do I recently read 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.199 Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, and it basically has nothing 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.160 to do with dark matter. You think he just meant 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.440 like matters that are dark. I don't know what he meant. 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.320 It's really more about the quantum multiverse. It's like the 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:33.440 many worlds theory. So dark matter. I think it was 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:38.080 just like random clickbait physics title. Maybe we should. This 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.360 is not fair though, for me to criticize him. Blake Crouch, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.560 if you're a listener, please come on the podcast and 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.760 argue with me about the science in your novel. Invitation 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.000 extended today, we'll uh it's going to be a little 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:50.679 bit of a different episodes, so we're going to tackle 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.720 each of these possible scenarios that Jason came up with, 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.360 and we're going to ask people on the street what 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:57.920 they think of it, and we're going to try to 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.199 explain what would happen if these things actually happened. That's right. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.600 So I had the hilarious and enjoyable task and walking 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.559 around campus that use the irvine and asking people what 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.240 they thought would happen in these catastrophic scenarios. And the 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.720 people look at you with a fear in their eyes, 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.800 or were they amuse they run away. They didn't look 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.280 at me the way we sort of mentally looked at 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.080 Jason for posing these questions. They weren't worried that I 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.880 was planning to enact any of these scenarios. Um. I 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.080 think they enjoyed thinking about them. Yeah. All right, well 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.360 let's tackle these one at a time. And so we'll 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.280 start with Jason's number one on the Liz, which is 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.360 what would happen if gravity turns off for three seconds 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.559 and then it turns back on. Here's what people had 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.680 to say, what do you think would happen if a 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.719 gravity just shut off for like three seconds? People, I 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.480 think would be flying up the buildings. I think like 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.199 if their foundations are strong enough, they would stay here 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.839 on the Earth. But the people would like fly up 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.160 for a little bit and then when the gravity is 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.480 back on, they'll fall down. If there's no gravities, that 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.920 means the Earth cannot held us everyone. Maybe we'll just 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:13.360 fly to the sky and three seconds and after Suicidon 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.640 gras back, we will just about what do you think 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.480 it's pretty realistic with people envision. Yeah. Mostly I think 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.320 people think about the immediate thing that they are being 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.280 held to the Earth, and then that would stop if 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.520 gravity was turned off, And then they're worried about, you know, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.120 like how high up are you going to get? And 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.319 how catastrophic would it be a gravity turned back on. Well, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.760 this is an interesting scenario, I guess. I guess we 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.160 all sort of wonder what would happen if gravity didn't exist. 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.080 But I think he's he's asking what would happen if 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.920 it's suddenly turned off, Like one second we have gravity 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:52.160 and the next millisecond we don't have gravity. Yeah, because 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.360 we wouldn't even be here without gravity, right. Gravity is 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.400 the reason why we have the Earth. It's the reason 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.160 why we have any sort of structure anything going on. 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.720 Without gravity, stuff would still be floating out their dilute 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.160 in space. So you need gravity to make the Earth 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.640 and people and the Sun and all that stuff. And 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.040 this question is about what happened if somebody like bumped 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.960 against the gravity light switch accidentally in the Universe control room. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.319 That's right, God, she she accidentally, you know, leaned against 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.280 the wall, hit the switch. Yeah, you put her coffee 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.720 down on the wrong spot or something. Right. A lot 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.760 of people said that you would fly up right, and 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.800 you know, gravity is holding us down. That's certainly true. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.880 But if gravity disappeared, you wouldn't immediately fly up. Oh interesting, Well, 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.120 I guess my first question before we get into the effects, 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.760 is this even possible? Could gravity just tron off for 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.480 three seconds and then back on? Not that I'm aware of. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.040 I mean, we have no way to manipulate gravity or 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.280 understand the structure of spacetime. We don't even really know 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.760 what gravity is, you know, Is it just like the 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.400 way that space is bent by having mass and energy around? 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.440 Is it a force like the other ones? Um? But 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.840 of course we don't have an understanding of the quantum 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.520 nature of it, so we don't really understand what gravity 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.120 is and how it works. So we definitely don't know 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.480 how to turn it on and off. We even talked 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.720 on a podcast about like anti gravity devices. Yeah, I guess. 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.640 I mean, do you know of any situation in physics 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.720 in the universe in which gravity doesn't work? You know, 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.880 like we talked once about like anti gravity particles. Maybe 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.680 could we somehow some suddenly be washed over by anti 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.480 gravity particles or you know, is it even possible for 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.040 gravity to suddenly not work? I don't think you could 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.800 turn off gravity. The thing you might be able to 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.559 do is counteracted. Like if you ranked up dark energy. 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.880 Right here at the Earth, dark energy is basically doing 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.680 the opposite of gravity, right It's stretching space and moving 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.960 things further apart. So if you somehow we're able to 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.200 manipulate dark energy in a way to like expand space 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.160 to change its curvature locally, then you could effectively have 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.760 the opposite effective gravity, canceling it out, so you might 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.960 be able to balance. I mean, this is really a stretch. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.600 We don't even know what dark energy is. But if 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:06.720 I had to go somewhere, I would instead of turning 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.120 off gravity, I would try to balance it with dark energy. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.120 But that's maybe with a maybe with a maybe on 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.520 top of it. So, if I was writing the Tom 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.720 Hanks down Brown novel, I would have the evil Zelad 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.640 create a dark energy bomb a dark gable. Yeah, that's 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.720 somehow I'm just I'm just bit balling here. Uh and 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.600 and there's not a suggestion for anyone out there. Um, 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.160 but in the movie, you might create a bomb that suddenly, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.800 uh you know, gives off a lot of dark energy 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.200 which cancels gravity for three seconds. Here, and what do 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:39.520 you think would have the most sort of first weekend 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.320 ticket sales? A dark energy bomb or a dark energy 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.560 laser or dark energy gun. As long as it's called 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.480 dark energy, I think the name will totally just sell it. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.440 Then the title of Blake Crouch's next novel that has 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.840 nothing to do with dark energy. All right, Well, it 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.960 sounds like, you know there, it's not impossible. There there's 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.360 you know that you could envision a movie using this 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.840 plot device, and like now you call it not impossible, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.040 which makes it sort of we sort of suggest that 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.720 maybe it's possible, but like in the same way, like 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.160 it's not impossible that we could be the number one 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:18.320 podcast in the world. Wait, we're not. It could happen 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.720 we need the dark podcast bomb to go off for 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.120 that to happen. It's right, and boost boost our ratings. 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.200 At least in my universe, we're number one, Daniel, We're 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.280 the number one podcast that I listened to. All right, 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.200 so let's get into what would happen if you actually 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.520 turned off gravity for three seconds and then turn it 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:50.880 back on. First, let's take a quick break, all right, Daniel, 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.600 walk us through this scenario. So paint us the picture 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.920 if I turned off gravity for three seconds, what would happen? Well, 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.040 the first thing would happen is that you would fly 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.200 off the Earth, but not straight up. Well, I can't 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.240 fly down. Um, I'm guessing you mean like I would 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.480 fly in the direction that i'm the Earth is rotating. Yeah, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.600 you can think of yourself as sort of orbiting the 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.920 Earth just above the surface. Think about what would happen 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.960 to the moon if gravity turned off? The Moon would 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.440 not fly straight away from the Earth. It would keep 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.840 going the direction it's going. It would shoot off in 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:25.240 a line tangent to the circle it's moving in, right, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.360 because what gravity is doing is it sort of bending 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.320 it in a circle. So gravity disappears, the Moon shoots 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.600 off sort of sideways. So if you're like a little 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.440 moon of the Earth, everybody is their own little tiny moon. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:38.960 Then what happens is that you shoot off sort of 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.240 at an angle to the surface. Oh, I see, like 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.120 it's tangent to the circle to right. Yeah, precisely, it's tangent. 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:48.120 Just keep going. It would no longer be reined into 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.240 an orbital circle. I would just it's like you cut 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.080 the string that is tying it to the Earth. Yeah, 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.640 and remember, when gravity turns off, there's nothing like pushing 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.320 you away from the Earth. It's not like you're getting 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.240 forced away. I've seen a lot of science fiction movies, 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:05.840 you know that when gravity, when you get into space 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.600 or whatever, things sort of automatically float away from you. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.600 They don't necessarily unless you give them a push. But 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.320 in this case, you're already moving away from the Earth, 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.840 and it's gravity that keeps you on the Earth. So 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.000 when you turn that off and you sort of keep 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.080 going in the direction you were going, so everybody would 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.040 float up. Yeah you wouldn't. I guess you wouldn't float 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.960 technically away from the Earth. But to us here on 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.320 Earth where I'm standing, it would seem like I'm floating 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.280 up because the Earth is rotating under you, right, Yeah, 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:34.679 Like the house will keep moving around the Earth, but 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.200 I am sort of now going tangent to the Earth, 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.400 but it's also moving with me. So it will seem 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.159 like I'm floating up. Yeah, it will. But eventually, if 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.879 it's for long enough, then the Earth will curve away 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.240 from you, and you no longer be directly above your 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.479 house or your garden or wherever you stood. Like if 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.000 you painted an X under you and then gravity turned off, 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.359 the X would seem to be under you for a 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.199 little while, but then it would no longer be right 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.400 under you because the curve of the Earth. So would 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.760 this happened suddenly or slowly? You know, like let's say, boom, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.000 I turned off gravity. Am I now like falling up? 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.760 Or am I? You know, be like, wait, what what's 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.679 going on? Would it be slow or fast? It wouldn't 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:14.919 be too fast. You'd be floating up because the curverage 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.600 of the Earth is pretty small and so you're mostly 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:20.960 already going in the right direction. Oh I see. It 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.199 wouldn't be like I was falling up. It would be 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.880 more like detaching from the Earth. Yeah, and the Earth 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.560 would continue to curve sort of away under you, and 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.960 you keep going in the same direction, and so the 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.920 distance would increase a sort of a nonlinear rate. But 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.800 the very first few seconds you wouldn't get that high. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.400 How high would you actually get if if gravity turned 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.480 off for three seconds and I started floating up, how 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.240 high do you think I would would I get? It's 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.320 a great question. I actually had to sit down and 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.360 do this calculation because I wasn't sure. And the way 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:53.880 to think about it is that the Earth is sort 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.760 of rotating out from under you. Remember you're still moving 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.120 in the straight line, and the Earth is rotating out 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.360 from under you. I'm now heading straight to the Moon 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.440 or something. Yeah, you're being shot out into space. It's 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:06.800 a massive slingshot, you know, or like to think about 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:08.520 the Earth is a big merry go round and you 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.760 suddenly let go and then getting flung out into space. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.280 But the Earth is really big and really round, and 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.959 the curvature, as you know, is not that easy to spot. 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.639 So the only reason you're leaving the surface of the 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.440 Earth is because of that curvature. And so in three 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.359 seconds you would actually only float up about fourteen centimeters. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:32.800 So if Garty turned off for three seconds, I would me, elephants, girafbs, 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.399 cars out there would float for about fourteen centimeters and 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:38.680 then come back down. Yeah, so it's like you take 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.280 a little hop, right. It's big enough for you to notice, 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.600 but not big enough to really be dangerous. But I 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.920 would feel it, right like, probably a lot of a 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:49.520 lot of people would throw up that feeling of free 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.160 fall for three seconds if you suddenly floated a foot 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.280 into the air. Yes, I'm pretty sure you would notice that. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.879 And if it continued, you know, if like the person 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.199 who turned off gravity was sort of like fumbling for 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.479 the switch and it took longer, then he gets more 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.040 dramatic pretty quickly. After thirty seconds, you'd be like fourteen 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.240 meters above the ground. Oh that's not good. That's not 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.520 that one. You don't recover from easily. No, unless you're 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.639 wearing a lot of protective gear. All right, So, and 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:15.879 so I would fly. That doesn't sound too bad. It 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.679 sounds at least before the world ends. I want to 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:23.520 get to fulfill my dream of flying and floating in space. Um, 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.800 and so what else would happen besides me floating? Well, 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.359 he talked about gravity turning off, and he didn't limit 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.640 it to Earth's gravity. He was just like gravity period 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:38.560 in the universe, whole universe, universe. And most importantly, that 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.200 means that like all the Earth's gravity is gone and 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.120 the Sun's gravity is gone, and that has some consequences, 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.680 like if we would shoot off into space, Yeah, just 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.199 like we would float off of the Earth's orbit, the 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.160 Earth would fall out of its orbit and keep going 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.879 for three seconds out of its orbit. Oh, and then 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:57.840 when it turns back on, we would be in a 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.040 totally different orbit. Yeah, and we might have the wrong trajectory. 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:03.879