1 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, congratulations you're making it to the year. Thanks. 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: It was a bid harrowing. Wasn't sure we were going 3 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: to get here. Our physics is preparing for what might 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: throw at us. Man, I'm hoping we don't have to. 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: If we get to the point where we need physics 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: to save us, it's probably not a small problem. I 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: guess CERN can't help with the plumbing issues there. You know, 8 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: if you want a black hole flush down your pipes, 9 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: give us a call. I think we'll save our call 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: Discern for the big st of you know, like asteroids 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: and zombie apocalypse. Oh my goshe will probably be the 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: year of the asteroid zombie apocalypse. That's a new show. 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: It's called The Orbiting Dead. I am jorheam and cartoonists 14 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: and the creator of PhD comics. Hey, I'm Daniel. I'm 15 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: a particle physicist and I love all science fiction, except 16 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: for zombie apocalypse movies. M That doesn't count as science 17 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: fiction to you. No, it counts as science fiction. I'm 18 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: just not that into it because you don't like it 19 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: or it makes you afraid. I'm not that afraid of zombies, 20 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: you know, in real life. But it's just kind of boring. 21 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,119 Speaker 1: They're they're always just getting chased by these slowly shuffling 22 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: zombies and it's always just like, you know, how many 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: heads can you explode before they kill you? Oh? Man, 24 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: you've been watching the wrong zombie movies. But you know 25 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 1: they run and they climb walls. Now they've upgraded, all right, 26 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: I'll look for zombies to point o. Welcome to our podcast, 27 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, a production of My 28 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in which we tackled the biggest questions of 29 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: the universe. We toss our minds into the depths of 30 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: space and try to understand where everything is made and 31 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: how everything works. We zoom into the littlest particles and 32 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: try to wrap our minds around what they're doing and why. 33 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: Our goal on this podcast is to literally explain the 34 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: entire universe to you, because there is a lot of 35 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: a universe to explore, and there are a lot of 36 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: mysteries out there, a lot that we don't know about 37 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 1: the universe, about what it's made out of, what's out there, 38 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: what can happen, and what is possible in these vast 39 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: cosmos we live in. That's right, It turns out even 40 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty episodes of this podcast is not 41 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,959 Speaker 1: enough to explain the entire universe. It's a big place 42 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: with a lot of mysteries, and we love talking to 43 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: you about it, and we love hearing from you what 44 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: you'd like us to break down. Yeah, even after two 45 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: d and fifty episodes, people still send us questions. We 46 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: get questions through social media, emails to people. Ever to 47 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: choke up at your door, Daniel with questions You know 48 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: you joke, But when we had classes in person, I 49 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: used to hold office hours in person and occasionally a 50 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: random person from the street would show up and said 51 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: they looked me up and came in with a question 52 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: about the universe. So yeah, kind of wow. Is there 53 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: a zooming ovalent now? For that, you know, there is 54 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: this equivalent. I have monthly public office hours so people 55 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: can drop in and ask physics questions. Wow. Cool, All right, Well, 56 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: today we are actually addressing listener questions. We are taking 57 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: in questions and trying to break them down in fifty minutes. 58 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: Because we know that while we do our best to 59 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: talk about the mysteries of the universe in a way 60 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: that makes sense to you, there's always some angle we 61 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: didn't consider something that makes you wonder something that doesn't 62 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: make sense to you. So when that happens right to us, 63 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: let us know what you're still wondering about, and we'll 64 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: break it down for you, either over email or on 65 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: the podcast. So on the podcast today we'll be tackling 66 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: listener questions Number four teens. Teens are fourteen episode. Yes 67 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: we are officially teenagers. I think we were teenagers one 68 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: episode ago technically. But yeah, that's a lot of questions 69 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: we've answered. Each time we answered like three, so you know, 70 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: you would think out the two and fifty episodes, we 71 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: would have answered everyone's parties about the universe. Do you 72 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: think so? But they keep coming in. So today we 73 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: have three awesome questions about black holes, about our favorite topic, aliens, 74 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: and our least favorite topic, zombies. That's right, So thank 75 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: you to everybody who's sent in questions. And if you 76 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: have a question, please don't be shy. Yeah, we love 77 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: to get your questions and Daniel loves to answer them. 78 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: Will usually answer them, right, I mean you'll usually answer, Oh, 79 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: I answer every question. You engage with us on Twitter 80 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,119 Speaker 1: or send us an email, you will get a reply. 81 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: I guarantee it, but if they don't get a reply, 82 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: that means we might be doing it on the show. Right. No, actually, 83 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: I right back to everyone. Sometimes people also get a 84 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: special podcast episode if I think the question is exciting 85 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: enough that everybody might want to hear the answer, Like 86 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: if there's zombies, then I would think you want to 87 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: stay away from that question. But maybe maybe physics will 88 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: save us from zombie. We'll see, all right. Well, the 89 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: first question is about black holes, and it comes to 90 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: us from Patrick from Nashville, Tennessee, Daniel, and Jorge. My 91 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: name is Patrick oh Leary from Nashville, Tennessee. I have 92 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: a question for you guys. I was curious what would 93 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: the chemical or elemental makeup of a black hole consists of. 94 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: If our son is made of hydrogen elements fusing into helium, 95 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: and if other life stages of stars include heavier elements 96 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: fusing and so forth leading up to this big collapse, 97 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't it seem reasonable that a black hole will consist 98 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: of some super heavy element resulting from some sort of 99 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: hyperfusion occurring during and after the gravitational collapse. Would there 100 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: be an element that doesn't fit on the periodic table? 101 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: That may have some sort of infinite density. Would it 102 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: even be an element or would this singularity potentially be 103 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: something entirely different? Is there something else that this matter 104 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: in the black hole could theoretically be. I just want 105 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: to see what y'all thoughts are. We really enjoy the 106 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 1: show and uh look forward to hearing your answer. Thanks. Well, 107 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: that's a super heavy question from Patrick. Yeah, it's an 108 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: awesome question thinking about weird places in the universe that 109 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,559 Speaker 1: can make weird kinds of matter. So super awesome question, 110 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: thanks Patrick. Yeah, I guess the fundamental question is what 111 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: is a black hole made out of? We know it's black. 112 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: It's I mean, it's made out of like charcoal. It's 113 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: just an aluminum sphere with black paint on it. I mean, 114 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: sorry to break everybody's bubble here, but that's all it is. 115 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: It's fake news exactly. It's fake physics news. Huh. I 116 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: can see his reason in there. It's pretty interesting and 117 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: pretty convincing. Like if you think about heavy objects in 118 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: our universe, like stars there made out of hydrogen and 119 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: things are fusing inside and gravity is crushing them down 120 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: and they get older and explode and come back together. 121 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: They're making heavier and heavier elements, and so does that 122 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: mean that when you get to the ultimate dense object, 123 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: does that mean it's made out of super heavy elements. Yeah, 124 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 1: this is a super fun question. I thought it'd be 125 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: fun first to think about, like what is the mass 126 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: of the stuff that turns into the black hole, like 127 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: just before it becomes a black hole? What mix of 128 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: stuff do you have there? And then we can talk 129 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: about what happens to it as the black holes collapsing, 130 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,119 Speaker 1: Like does it form some new weird state of matter? 131 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: Could you even call that an element? Etcetera, etcetera. Oh, 132 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: I see, like the scene of a murder. Let's go 133 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: let's go back to right before the actual event and 134 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: see what conditions are there, and then maybe that would 135 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: tell us what happens when the actual black hole forms. Yeah, exactly. 136 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: We're not murdering any iron here. I think of it 137 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: more like cooking, you know, And we want to make 138 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 1: sure we understand what are the ingredients we're just killing irony, 139 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: We learned straight to the answer that's right, or we're 140 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: cooking it up one of the two. All right, Well, 141 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: he mentioned stars because a lot of black holes come 142 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: from stars, right, and stars collapsing or super annobody. Yeah, 143 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: and so there's two categories of black holes. They're the 144 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: super massive ones at the centers of galaxies. But let's 145 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: focus on the other ones, the smaller ones that are 146 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: stellar black holes. And this happens when you have a 147 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: star and it gets too heavy and the gravity sucks 148 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: it in and eventually becomes a black hole. And he's 149 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: totally right that this is where heavy elements are made. 150 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: I mean, the universe started with mostly hydrogen, and the 151 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: way you get heavier elements is that you fuse hydrogen 152 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: nuclear together to get helium, and then helium together to 153 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: get heavier stuff, and you work your way up the 154 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: periodic table, eventually getting to iron. And so in the 155 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: center of stars are these conditions to take two elements 156 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: and turn them into a new element. Right, the amazing 157 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: thing that we once thought it was impossible, alchemy actually 158 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: happens all the time at the centers of stars, creating 159 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: new kinds of matter. So that happens in our universe. 160 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: That's pretty awesome, Yeah, because the elements are just different 161 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: combinations of the same three things, right, quarks and electrons, 162 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: and so you know, if you if you get something 163 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: that has three quarks and two electrons, and you compress 164 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: it with something that has four quarks and another three electrons, 165 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: and you get something that's additive. Right, yeah, exactly, You 166 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: just add them together and to make a new element, though, 167 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: what you need to do is to add a new 168 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: proton to the nucleus, Like a typical atom has protons 169 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: and neutrons, which of course are made of quarks in 170 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: the nucleus and then surrounded by electrons. To get to 171 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: a new element, like to go from helium to lithium 172 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,439 Speaker 1: or something, you need to add protons, change the charge 173 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: of the nucleus, and then add more electrons to make 174 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: it neutral. The other thing you can do is add neutrons. Right, 175 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: If you add neutrons, that doesn't change the element, just 176 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: changes the isotope. Right. You've heard of like uranium two 177 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: thirty eight or uranium two thirty five. That tells you 178 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 1: how many nucleons are in the nucleus. They're both uranium 179 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: because they have the same number of protons, but they 180 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: have a different number of neutrons, right, And so that's 181 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: what's happening inside of stars, is that you're making these 182 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: heavier and heavier elements, but only up to a certain point, right, 183 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: Like you can build it up through carbon and silicon, 184 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: but then you get to iron. Yeah, exactly, if you 185 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: want to make super heavy elements, you can keep doing 186 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: that fusion process, but only up to iron. Up to iron, 187 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: it releases heat, and so it drives the reaction and 188 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: makes it happen more and more. Above of iron, it 189 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: absorbs heat. So you confuse to iron nuclei together to 190 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: make something heavy, but it costs you heat, and so 191 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 1: it cools down the star. And that's why stars that 192 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: build up too much iron inside them collapse and form supernovas, 193 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,439 Speaker 1: because it's the pressure from that heat that keeps the 194 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: star from collapsing. So if the fusion actually causes the 195 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,559 Speaker 1: star to cool down, then it's actually encouraging it to collapse. 196 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: It's working in the same direction as gravity, rather than 197 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,439 Speaker 1: pushing out against it. And so that's why stars collapse 198 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: after they get it big enough iron core, right, And 199 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: when these stars collapse, that's when you get the heavier elements, 200 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: right because of the explosion or what Well, actually, that's 201 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,440 Speaker 1: something we've only recently understood. For a long time, people 202 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: thought that you've got the heavier elements gold and platinum 203 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: in that collapse or in the supernova that happened just afterwards, 204 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: because they thought maybe the conditions were crazy hot enough 205 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: in the supernova to force extra neutrons onto an iron 206 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: and then those neutrons would decay into protons and you 207 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: end up with a heavier element. But it turns out 208 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: that's not the case. That most of the gold and 209 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: the platinum and the heavy stuff in the universe is 210 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: not actually made in supernovas. Yeah, and they learned this 211 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:13,319 Speaker 1: because they found bits of supernova in the ocean. What crabs, 212 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,559 Speaker 1: What does a bit of supernova look like? Yeah, Well, 213 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: on the outer layers of the supernova are these little 214 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 1: seeds like heavy elements, which then get covered and stuff 215 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: from the supernova and blown out into space. And these 216 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: are special little grains which you can later identify. And 217 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: like our Solar system is made up literally of star dust, right, well, 218 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: some of that star dust are these little grains from 219 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: supernova and you can find them and you can study them, 220 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: and they've looked at them and they've tried to understand 221 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: whether they have evidence in those grains for the formation 222 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: of heavy elements. Is like particular signal you need that 223 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: shows you that heavier elements were made during the supernova expansion, 224 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,199 Speaker 1: and they don't see them. Right, you need this marker. 225 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: It's plutonium two forty four, and they just don't see 226 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: them in these grains that they find buried in the 227 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: ocean crust. But now we have another candidate for how 228 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: we those super heavy elements were made. What's a candidate? Well, 229 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: instead of being created during the supernova, we think that 230 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: sometimes these stellar collapses lead to neutron stars, these very 231 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: very dense objects. They're not heavy enough to collapse all 232 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: the way to a black hole, but are heavy enough 233 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: to be this crazy new form of matter just neutrons. 234 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: And sometimes those neutron stars can collide, they can find 235 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: each other in a binary system, and they can spiral 236 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: in and form this collision and those of the conditions 237 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: you need to make gold or platinum or these super 238 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: heavy elements. What that's wild? Wait, so I know neutron 239 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: star is just like a giant mass of neutrons. Right, 240 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,719 Speaker 1: you don't even have elements or atoms. It's just all neutrons. 241 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: It's just all neutrons. It's like some new element that's 242 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 1: pure neutrons and new protons. It's a weird form of 243 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,599 Speaker 1: matter that frankly, we don't understand very well. And so 244 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: you're saying, and sometimes two of those collide, like crashing 245 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: to each other, and then when in the crash they 246 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: create elements, or when they break apart, they create new elements. 247 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: In the crash, they create those months, and the fact 248 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,760 Speaker 1: that there's a collision sprays those elements out into the universe, 249 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: which is why now we find those elements on Earth. 250 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 1: For example, most of the gold and the platinum on 251 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: Earth we think is produced in the collisions of neutron 252 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: stars billions of years ago. Wow, that's a weird sentence. 253 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: Neutral collision, like a collision that doesn't care. It's amazing 254 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: because it means that formation of gold and platinum is 255 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: much more rare than we thought. Neutron stars don't collide 256 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: as often as you have supernova, but when you do 257 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: have a neutron star collision, you make a lot more 258 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: of these heavy elements than you would in a supernova. So, 259 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: for example, we used to think that supernova collapse is 260 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,040 Speaker 1: produced about one moon's worth of gold. That's a pretty 261 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: big chunk of gold. And we think like the universe 262 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,320 Speaker 1: was sprinkled with all these basically moons of gold. But 263 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: now we think that it happens more rarely. But when 264 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: it happens, when you get these neutron star collisions, you 265 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,319 Speaker 1: get like a Jupiter of gold. Whoa, that's a lot 266 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,839 Speaker 1: of blink And so it's more like the universe is 267 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: sprinkled with these really big chunks of gold rather than 268 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: more like evenly distributed with little, you know, sprinkles of gold. 269 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: It's like chocolate chip cookies rather than chocolate sprinkles. All right, 270 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: so let's get made back contract of the black hole. 271 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: So that's how we get heavier elements in maybe nutron 272 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: stark collisions. But then do those neutron stars become black 273 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: holes or not? No, they usually just get torn apart. 274 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: Sometimes if they get over the threshold, they can turn 275 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: into black holes, but not all the time. Most of 276 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: the black holes that are out there, these stellar mass 277 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: black holes, start out as sort of larger suns like 278 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: ten to fifteen stellar masses, which then threw a lot 279 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: of fusion, builds up a heavy iron core, and collapse 280 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: straight to a black hole. And so they're potentially you 281 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: can imagine heavier stuff being made or weird forms of 282 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: matter being made in a supernova in the supernova which 283 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: leads to the collapse into a black hole. Yeah, oh, 284 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: I see. So there are heavy elements due to neutron 285 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: stark collisions. But when you get a black hole from 286 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: a collapsing star, you may also make heavy elements. You might. 287 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not something we understand very well. And 288 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: you know, let's think about the ingredients you have there. Say, 289 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: for example, you start with like ten solar masses of stuff. 290 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: You have a big sun which makes a heavy iron nucleus, 291 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: and then it collapses. You might be imagined that you 292 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: start with ten solar masses of iron, but it collapses 293 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: before it turns the entire mass to iron. So you 294 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: probably have like a heavy core there that's like one 295 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: or two solar masses worth of iron that forms the 296 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: sort of gravitational center that leads to the black hole. 297 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: So you've got a lot of iron there, and then 298 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: you've got a lot of other in rushing matter during 299 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: the collapse exactly, And those are the conditions you need 300 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: to make new kinds of matter. Right, you have iron, 301 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: which is very heavy, and then you have a lot 302 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: of protons and neutrons coming in. But it's a very 303 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: strange situation. I mean, it's like much denser and much 304 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: hotter than even neutron stars. So I think that's the 305 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: guide you might be imagining. You have iron, and you 306 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: have all these other particles, and you're adding them together, 307 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: you might be making heavier elements instead. Typically what you 308 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: make are not elements like what we recognize, but weird 309 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 1: new forms of matter like you see in neutron stars, right, 310 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: because you need to get to the right density to 311 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: create the black hole, right, So at some point you 312 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: do need to sort of create this weird kind of 313 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: super heavy mass. Yeah, exactly. Formation of new elements requires 314 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: that you take a nucleus, you add protons to it, 315 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 1: and then you sort of like let it go off 316 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: by itself and be stable. Here we're taking the results 317 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: and we're squeezing it down really intensely, So all the 318 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: protons are just going to turn into neutrons because they're 319 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: gonna get an electron squeezed into them, and then most likely, 320 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: instead of forming weird new elements, you're gonna get really 321 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: strange neutron rich matter, you know, strange new kinds of matter. 322 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: We haven't even imagined weirder things than neutron stars. Right. 323 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: Maybe the answer then is that in a black hole, 324 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: or at least as you're getting into a black hole, 325 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: like regular elements can exist, Like you can't have an 326 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: element where it's like neutrons and pro autons and electrons. 327 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: It's like it's the conditions are so extreme. Everything is 328 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: compressed into this weird new type of matter. Yeah, exactly, 329 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: and the distinction between like this atom and that atom 330 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: breaks down when the atoms get so close together and 331 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:14,479 Speaker 1: get so pushed on each other. What you're really going 332 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: to get is some sort of like weird fluid of 333 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,239 Speaker 1: neutrons and protons and electrons, and that's going to get 334 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: compressed into something even weirder, and you might get, for example, 335 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,959 Speaker 1: like a quark gluon plasma where the quarks are no 336 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,160 Speaker 1: longer bound even into neutrons and protons because they're so 337 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: dense and intensely pressured. So basically you're like recreating the 338 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: conditions of the early universe sort of in reverse. Wow. 339 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: All right, well that's just leading up to the creation 340 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,679 Speaker 1: of the black hole. Let's get into what might be 341 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: inside of it once the black hole is made. But first, 342 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. All right, we're answering listener 343 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: quite Shans, and our first question was about what element 344 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: is a black hole made out of? Like is it 345 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: some kind of new kind of super heavy element. And 346 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: it seems like, at least going into the black hole, 347 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: we don't have actual elements. By the time you're you're 348 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: dense enough to create a black hole, you're in this 349 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: weird state of matter. Yeah, because elements are not fundamental, right, 350 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,640 Speaker 1: They're not like a basic thing in the universe. There's 351 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: sort of like a special configuration of quirks and electrons 352 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: that require certain conditions, you know, certain temperatures, certain densities, 353 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: and if you get hot enough and you get dense enough, 354 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: then you just don't have elements anymore. So it doesn't 355 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: really make sense to talk about like is this plutonium, 356 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: is this uranium, is this black holium? It's some new, 357 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: other weird kind of matter black holium like that it 358 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: sounds holy. All right, Well that's before you go into 359 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: the black hole. So like at the core and like 360 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: the time of birth, the black hole is probably at 361 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: the core made out of this weird super heavy neutron soup. 362 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,479 Speaker 1: But what about like after it forms like boom, suddenly 363 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 1: I have a black hole and you know, stuff keeps 364 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 1: falling into it. What can we say then about what 365 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: it's made up? Like if it grows, then it's probably 366 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: not mostly this neutron soup. That's right. We're talking about 367 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,239 Speaker 1: the super dense conditions that are going to be like 368 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,440 Speaker 1: at the very core of the black hole. What's sort 369 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: of like on the outskirts of the black hole, just 370 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: inside the event horizon, for example, but not super close 371 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: to the very dense material at the center that's maybe 372 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: forming a singularity. Well, we think that inside a black 373 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,160 Speaker 1: hole space mostly works the same way as it does 374 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: outside the black hole, except that it's sort of like 375 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: oriented towards the center. So, for example, if you toss 376 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: a banana into a really big black hole one where 377 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: the spaghettification doesn't happen until you get close enough to 378 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: the center, it'll just pass over the event horizon and 379 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,160 Speaker 1: continue drifting in towards the singularity. From its point of view, 380 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,159 Speaker 1: there's nothing special there at the boundary, it'll still be 381 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: a banana. But for how long? First of all, they 382 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: nat gets spaghettified, and does that sped getification also kind 383 00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,200 Speaker 1: of get rid of elements. Does it? Is it a soup? 384 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: Is it a bananas By the time it goes in, 385 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: It's definitely a banana smoothie by the time it goes in. 386 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: When you take a banana, you make it into spaghetti 387 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 1: and then you put that spaghetti in the blender and 388 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:13,880 Speaker 1: you get a smoothie banana spaghetti. That's probably very popular 389 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: in Italy. What kind of sauce or wait, can you 390 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: put parmesan cheese on banana spaghetti? It's gluten freedom. As 391 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,880 Speaker 1: you approach the center of the black hole, that obviously 392 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: the tidal forces are going to be very, very strong. 393 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: That's the difference in the gravitational force between one side 394 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: of the banana and the other side of the banana. 395 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: That's what's responsible for the spaghettification. It's going to pull 396 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: it apart, and then as it gets closer and closer, 397 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,440 Speaker 1: those tidal forces get stronger and stronger, pulling those little 398 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: bits of the banana apart further and further, and eventually 399 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: it's got to hit some really dense part of the 400 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: black hole, someplace where the matter is really dense, and 401 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: then it'll just you know, join whatever that is, whatever 402 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 1: that is Is that an official element in the in 403 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: your physics table. That's the official way of us saying, 404 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 1: we really just have no idea what's going on at 405 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: the center of the black hole. So yeah, whatever that is. 406 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,479 Speaker 1: So then that's kind of the real answer, because all 407 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: these things that we think are might be happening beyond 408 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: even horizon, we don't really know right for sure, We 409 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: don't really know for sure. And the sort of two 410 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,719 Speaker 1: directions in which we don't know, Like we don't know 411 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: from a sort of nuclear physics theory perspective, what happens 412 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,400 Speaker 1: if you squeeze neutrons together even harder than the conditions 413 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 1: of a neutron star, Like we can't do those calculations 414 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: right now for a neutron star, Like we can't sit 415 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,400 Speaker 1: down on a computer and simulate a neutron star because 416 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: the calculations are too difficult. So even heavier than that, 417 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: even crazier conditions that we also cannot do. Also from 418 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: a sort of like black hole theory point of view, 419 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,199 Speaker 1: we just don't know what the distribution of matter is 420 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: inside the black hole. General relativity says there's a singularity 421 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: of infinite density, but we know that doesn't really make sense, 422 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: and the quantum mechanics says it's impossible. So there's a 423 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,160 Speaker 1: lot of questions about what's going on at the heart 424 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,439 Speaker 1: of the black hole, not just like what is the 425 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: matter made out of? Once you get there? All right, Well, 426 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 1: it sounds like the answer for Patrick is that a 427 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: black hole is made out of We have no idea 428 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: exactly or black holio. It's kind of a mystery, but 429 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: we know that when you make a black hole, it's 430 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: not like an element. There aren't any elements inside. It's 431 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: more like this kind of hot mess of a soup 432 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,240 Speaker 1: of neutrons. Probably probably exactly. All right, let's jump into 433 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,719 Speaker 1: our next question, which is about aliens from space. So 434 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: we have a question from Ignacio, and he's from Jupiter. 435 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,400 Speaker 1: Is that Jupiter Florida? Uh No, I'm not sure if 436 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: he's talking about Jupiter Florida or Jupiter the Solar System. 437 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,360 Speaker 1: He might actually be an alien, in which case, why 438 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: is he asking us? All right, everybody, get ready to 439 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: listen to the first message from alien. His name is Ignacio. 440 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 1: There is this question, Hi from Jupiter. Apparently my question 441 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: is that, well, we are always wondering it would be 442 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 1: to receive my search from an advanced aliens realization. But 443 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: if we were to discore in disputable evidence of an 444 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: abilience relization existing different way planet that is roughly equal 445 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: to us in technology, how could we send them a message? 446 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: How will we make ourselves known to them? All Right, 447 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,919 Speaker 1: that's a pretty cool question. The question is if we 448 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: ever find evidence of aliens, like if we get a 449 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,879 Speaker 1: signal from far away or like we figure out the 450 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: aliens out there, how can we ever reach them or 451 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: a column or or text them or send them at 452 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: d M. Yeah, that's a really fun question. I mean 453 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: I always like to think about what would be like 454 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,639 Speaker 1: to get that message, But then it's really interesting to wonder, 455 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: like how could we respond with technology is available to us? 456 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: And what should we say? Yeah, like, I guess if 457 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: you find that they're aliens, like you know, the next 458 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: star over like four light years away or thirty light 459 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: years away, Like, do we have technology that can beam 460 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: a message that far know? We do, or at least 461 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,239 Speaker 1: until very recently we did. We probably heard of the 462 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: Arecibo radio telescope. That antenna can receive messages, but it 463 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,719 Speaker 1: can also send messages out into space. It's a giant 464 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,200 Speaker 1: like dish wouldn't we want something more I guess focused 465 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: or can that do? Like a focused beam of message? Well, 466 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: the dish allows you to basically capture a bunch of 467 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: the messages put out by the antenna and focus it 468 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: all in the same direction. That's the idea behind a 469 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,719 Speaker 1: parabolic dish is that it bounces off the message from 470 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,439 Speaker 1: the antenna all in a parallel direction, so allows you 471 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: to create a directional beam. And a directional beam would 472 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: be very very important. Otherwise the power of your message 473 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: would fall really really quickly as it got further and 474 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: further from Earth, right like if you transmitted like in 475 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: a broadcast antenna, it would just kind of spread out 476 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,920 Speaker 1: in all directions and by the time it gets to 477 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,680 Speaker 1: you know, thirty light years away, they probably couldn't hear it. Yeah, exactly, 478 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,359 Speaker 1: just like a candle in the dark. It's very bright 479 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 1: close up, but it falls off like one over distance squared, 480 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: and so twice as far away it's one fourth the intensity, 481 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: and a hundred times away it's one ten thousands the intensity. 482 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: And so I've actually done this calculation to figure out 483 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,680 Speaker 1: how far away could an alien planet be for us 484 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: to hear a message using Arecibo, and it turns out 485 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 1: that if they have an air cebo sized telescope and 486 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,479 Speaker 1: they're broadcasting in every direction, we would have to be 487 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: within a one light year of their planet to hear 488 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: it with our air cbo telescope. That's not good enough, 489 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,120 Speaker 1: because we're we're further away from that. That's right. There 490 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: are zero stars within one light year of Earth. So 491 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,679 Speaker 1: basically for us to get a message from another solar system, 492 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,400 Speaker 1: they would either have to broadcast it in all directions, 493 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: much more powerfully than our technology could, much more powerfully 494 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:45,199 Speaker 1: than air cbo could broadcast, or they would have to 495 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: beam it at us directly, which means they would have 496 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: to know we're here and send it to us intentionally. 497 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: Now can you do that? Can you stand out an 498 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: electromagnetic signal in a focus way, kind of like a laser? Sure, exactly, 499 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: you could use a laser for example. I mean, radio 500 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: waves are just a kind of light. A laser also 501 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:06,119 Speaker 1: sends out a beam of light, So it's just a 502 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: question of like what frequency do you want to use? 503 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: The best way to communicate through the universe is to 504 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: choose a frequency that's not easily scattered or distracted or 505 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: absorbed by other stuff, and so things in the radio 506 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: spectrum are actually a great way to communicate. Is there 507 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,199 Speaker 1: such a thing as a radio laser? Can you shoot 508 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: like a radio beam? Actually? Yeah, there are people working 509 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: on building semiconductors capable of generating radio frequency laser beams, 510 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: so that would be super cool. That's one way to 511 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,120 Speaker 1: communicate with aliens is to send them a message basically 512 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: using electromagnetic radiation, which means, you know, light or ultraviolet 513 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: or infrared or radio somewhere on the spectrum, pick something 514 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: that is sort of quiet in the universe. But you know, 515 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,639 Speaker 1: if we get a message from aliens, then we should 516 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: respond basically in the same way that they wrote to us. Right. 517 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: If you get an email, you don't then send somebody 518 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:03,359 Speaker 1: a text? Why not? That's totally inappropriate. Man, If you 519 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: get a text right back with text, you get a 520 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: phone call, you don't write somebody a letter in response, right, 521 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,880 Speaker 1: So if somebody sends us a message via e M waves, 522 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: you know, radio message, then we should respond in the 523 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,239 Speaker 1: same frequency. Right. But I guess the problem might be 524 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: that maybe we got it in one way, but we 525 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: don't have anything powerful enough to send it the same way. Back. Yeah, well, 526 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: I guess that would make a pretty good case for funding, right, Like, hey, look, 527 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: we got this message, although you know, I'm not sure 528 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: it's such a great idea to respond to aliens. You know, 529 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: we don't know these folks at all. It's like, do 530 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: you pick up the phone when you get a number 531 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:39,239 Speaker 1: you don't recognize? Not all the time. That depends how 532 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 1: bored ant anyway, and how lonely I am, and depending. 533 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 1: I mean, imagine that we're out there in the universe 534 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 1: and we've just become technologically savvy enough to get these messages. 535 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: We're probably the youngest civilization out there because we've just 536 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: burst on the scene, and so we'd be a pretty 537 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: easy mark, you know. Alright, well, so be mean with 538 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: some sort of radio laser would be our main options. 539 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: We have any other options to send the message out Well, basically, 540 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 1: it's just all kinds of radiation, and the kinds of 541 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: radiation that can transmit through space are either photons or 542 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: other kinds of particles. So we could imagine, for example, 543 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,679 Speaker 1: shooting a beam of particles at an alien star and 544 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: use that as a way to send messages, you know, 545 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:24,120 Speaker 1: like Morse code via neutrinos for example. M I wonder 546 00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: if the problem would be, like, if we shoot a 547 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: laser at an alien civilization, would they interpret that as 548 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: a as an act of war or something? You know 549 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: what if they don't get the message, what if it 550 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: just goes over their head and they're like, they're shooting 551 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: at us. Well, I would encourage us to not use, 552 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: for example, Morse code in nuclear explosions. But I think 553 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: that a laser beam would not be interpreted as an 554 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: active warming. By the time I guess to them, it's 555 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 1: going to be so faint they would have even trouble 556 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: picking it up. So if they interpret that as an 557 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: act of war, then they were just looking to start something. 558 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: I see they're happy, in which case maybe we shouldn't 559 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: be something exactly exactly all right, So it sounds like 560 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: the answer is we have the technology to write to 561 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: any aliens folziation, and we've done it. In fact, in 562 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: the seventies, there was a really weird message that we 563 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,040 Speaker 1: saw come from space. It's called the Wow signal because 564 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 1: nobody understood it. And at the time that we saw 565 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: this message come in, some astronomer wrote wow on the 566 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: transcript of it as it printed out from the like 567 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 1: old school printer, and we got this and it came 568 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: from space, and we don't understand it. We don't know 569 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: was it Aliens, was it just some weird new kind 570 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: of star. Nobody's ever understood it because it's never been repeated. 571 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: It was just a one time event. But we drafted 572 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: a response and sent it out back in the direction 573 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: of the signal, hoping maybe someday somebody would read it. 574 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: What do we say in this message? Up, we said, 575 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: new phone. Who did know? What we did is we 576 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: communicated something about where we live and how our life works. 577 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: We showed them our number system, We described the basics 578 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: of our chemistry. There's a little illustration of the shape 579 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: of the human body, and and then the sort of 580 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: directions to the solar system. Well everything a alien species 581 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: would need to come and conquer us, basically all of 582 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: our passwords, our biggest weaknesses save words exactly, our elementary 583 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: school teacher, all that stuff. Yeah, it was sort of 584 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: a naive message, but it's sort of like hopeful, you know, 585 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: we hope that somebody reading it would understand it. And 586 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,959 Speaker 1: in this spirit of exploration of the universe and physics 587 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: and whatever, come and send us a message back and 588 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: tell us something about their civilization. All right, so we 589 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,719 Speaker 1: sent out using the RCIBOW antenna, and do we think 590 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: it made it or do you think it's too weak? 591 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: By the time it gets there, it might be too weak. 592 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: But we don't know what their technology is. But it 593 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: won't get there for quite a while. We don't know 594 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: who's out there and maybe receiving that message. But the 595 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: message came from something called M thirteen, a globular cluster 596 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: that's about twenty five thousand light years away, so it's 597 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 1: going to take a while before it gets there if 598 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: that's where their original message came from. All right, it 599 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: sounds like we have options for sending messages neutrinos or 600 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,480 Speaker 1: radio telescope or maybe these radio lasers. But you were 601 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: telling me there is one way right now, if you 602 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: want to broadcast a message out into space, there is 603 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: a way to do it. It turns out that if 604 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,120 Speaker 1: you use Craigslist, there's an option on Craigslist to broadcast 605 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 1: your message out into the Solar System. No what, seriously, 606 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: the CEO of Craigslist, this guy, Jim Buckmaster, bought a 607 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: bunch of time on the deep space communication network this 608 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: place in Florida that can broadcast into space. So they're 609 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: picking ten thousand ads to broadcast into space. So if 610 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: you're having a garage sale and you think, you know, 611 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: maybe Ignacio from Jupiter should come by and check out 612 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: what you're selling, then hey, click the button and Craigslist 613 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: will advertise in space. Wow, that's crazy. So not only 614 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: are we inviting people to to come attack us, reminding 615 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: them to come rate our garages. Like, I don't want 616 00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: my junk to just reappear somewhere else in the neighborhood. 617 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,440 Speaker 1: I want it off planet. Well, we do have a 618 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: lot of junk, and it would be good if evan 619 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: alien came and took away all of our our unused 620 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: and outdated toys. Hey, one species junk is another species gold, right, 621 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: so yeah, maybe they love all televisions and satellites. All right, well, 622 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: thank you Ignacio from Jupiter for that question. And now 623 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: let's get into our last question about zombies. But first 624 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. All right, we're answering listener questions, 625 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 1: and our last question here is it's sort of debatable 626 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: whether it's a physics question at all. Maybe I don't 627 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: know you have a question from Lucas from Finland. Hello, 628 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: Daniel and Harney, Greetings from Finland. This is Lucas. Have 629 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: a question, Um, which would you more likely survive using 630 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: physics and nuclear winter or a zombie be apocalypse? Wow? Yeah, 631 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 1: I guess the question is in an apocalypse, what are 632 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: physicists useful for besides food? Maybe? Like if you had 633 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,479 Speaker 1: a physicist in your little, you know, survival group, are 634 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: they an acid or are they allowed a liability? When 635 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: you say food, you mean to cook the food right 636 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: as a chef, right, not as a source of sustenance. 637 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,400 Speaker 1: That's what I'm assuming you're talking about here, you know, 638 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: and the apocalypse. You know, you gotta You're gotta be 639 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: flexible when you're thinking. You really learned who's your friend 640 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: when the apocalypse comes? And who's your dinner? I really 641 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: learned from shows like The Walking Bead. Maybe I should 642 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:40,640 Speaker 1: watch some of those shows. You want to be prepared. 643 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: This is a fun question because I often put questions 644 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: on the podcast that stumped me and I'm like, hmm, 645 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: I don't know the answer that right away. I gotta 646 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,280 Speaker 1: do some reading, And this one definitely stumped me. Were 647 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: you a little offended that they would someone would question 648 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: your usefulness in a post apocalyptic scenario. No, I'm a man. 649 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: Is that they think that physics could be useful in 650 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: the apocalypse. I've often thought of myself as definitely a 651 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: luxury of a society. I'm not a blacksmith, and when 652 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: the end times come, I don't have that many useful skills, 653 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 1: Like nobody needs calculations done? Are the rates of particle 654 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 1: collisions when you're scrambling to escape the zombies. I definitely 655 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 1: see myself as something supported only by a wealthy society. Well, 656 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,520 Speaker 1: I'm an engineer, a mechanical engineer, and actually this question 657 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,319 Speaker 1: kind of gives me anxiety. You know, like what if 658 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: it's an apocalypse and someone's like, quick, your a mechanical engineer, 659 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,760 Speaker 1: make us a water filtration system with a power source, 660 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,839 Speaker 1: and be like, um, Like, I could draw you one. 661 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: I could simulated using that lab. I could send the 662 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,520 Speaker 1: order out to a machine shop. Yeah, it'd be it'd 663 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,359 Speaker 1: be kind of difficult. It tells you something about how 664 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:49,799 Speaker 1: far we've come from all being like self sustaining little 665 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: societies you know that can live off the land and 666 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: do everything for themselves, were so far developed as a 667 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 1: society were so specialized that if society fell apart, a 668 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: lot of us would find ourselves useless. All right, So 669 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: I guess the question from Lucas is, if you're a physicist, 670 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:05,840 Speaker 1: or if you knew a lot about physics, which one 671 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:09,280 Speaker 1: would you most likely be able to survive? A nuclear 672 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: winter or a zombie apocalypse? Yeah, exactly, And so a 673 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: nuclear winter, right, that's a scenario where you have a 674 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,040 Speaker 1: nuclear war and a large fraction of humanities arsenal of 675 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,239 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons get exploded and they send into the atmosphere 676 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,720 Speaker 1: a lot of dust and ash and all sorts of stuff, 677 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,360 Speaker 1: and then basically you block out the sun. So you 678 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: get this layer of cloud which blocks out of the 679 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,600 Speaker 1: sun from a significant fraction of the planet, causing an 680 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,440 Speaker 1: artificial winter. So it's basically constant winter. Yeah, like a 681 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: permanent winter. Like a permanent winter. And you know that 682 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,840 Speaker 1: could be like a runaway effect because plants need sunlight, 683 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,239 Speaker 1: and without plants to grow, then you're not going to 684 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: get food at the bottom of the food chain, and 685 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:50,280 Speaker 1: then US apex predator, US physicists and mechanical engineers won't 686 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,800 Speaker 1: have anything to eat, right, And that's trouble because everything 687 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,359 Speaker 1: on Earth depends on that solar power, right, I mean, 688 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,279 Speaker 1: all the food we eat, all of the weather that 689 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: kind of creates rivers and hydroelectric stations, that all depends 690 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: on the sun. So if the Sun is blocked, we're 691 00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,960 Speaker 1: sort of energy less. Yeah, exactly, you are almost literally 692 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: pulling the cord on the entire ecosystem if you yank 693 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 1: out the Sun. At the base of it, all is 694 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: solar power, gathered by plants or gathered by rocks or whatever. 695 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: All of it is in the end solar energy. And 696 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,120 Speaker 1: so this is like asking the question, what would happen 697 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: if the sun went out? Right? So, then physicists would 698 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: be useful because maybe you could make us a new 699 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,919 Speaker 1: power source. Maybe we could go into overdrive. I guess 700 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,799 Speaker 1: with nuclear power or fusion power. Would that be enough 701 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: to kind of sustain a civilization, to grow plants and 702 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: things like that. It could, It would be a big effort. 703 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,000 Speaker 1: But yeah, there are ways to generate power that do 704 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: not rely on the Sun. Obviously, solar power is out. 705 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: Even things like wind power, right, are mostly driven by 706 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: patterns of wind that come from solar heating. So you 707 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,439 Speaker 1: need something like nuclear power. But of course nuclear power 708 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,800 Speaker 1: to scale to support agriculture and have massive growth. Farms 709 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: would produce an enormous amount of waste. So really, I 710 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:04,799 Speaker 1: think what you would need to do is just accelerate 711 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,120 Speaker 1: the fusion research and really try to ramp up fusion 712 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,760 Speaker 1: as a source of power, because remember, fusion can provide 713 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: electrical power basically just using water as a fuel. All right, 714 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 1: So then physicists would be kind of useful in a 715 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,960 Speaker 1: nuclear winter apocalypse, although to be fair, you would have 716 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,760 Speaker 1: to also blame them for the nuclear winter apocalypse because 717 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: they made the nuclear weapons in the first place. They 718 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,359 Speaker 1: designed the nuclear weapons. They didn't drop the bombs, right, 719 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,440 Speaker 1: I see, I just made the thing that killed us. 720 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,719 Speaker 1: I didn't use the thing that kills No. I joke, 721 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: But that's an important question. And you know, my parents 722 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,200 Speaker 1: actually both working all those alumos and worked on weapons programs, 723 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: and I on purpose became the kind of physicist that 724 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:46,840 Speaker 1: would be totally useless when it comes to weapons development, 725 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: because there are real moral complications there. If you are 726 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: developing weapons of mass destruction and you know they will 727 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,800 Speaker 1: be pointed at cities, then yeah, you could be considered 728 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 1: complicit if they're ever used. Yeah, all right, so then 729 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 1: now let's consider or a zombie apocalypse. Let's say that 730 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: zombies are real. What what could a physicists do? Could 731 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,800 Speaker 1: they engage in dialogue with the zombies or I don't know, 732 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,799 Speaker 1: shoot lasers. Can you develop a zombie killing laser? They 733 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: could bore the zombies with calculus lessons or something. Well, 734 00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: that's the mathematicsies. You're gonna use them for something. I 735 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: don't really know, like how a physicist would be helpful here. 736 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,440 Speaker 1: Perhaps if the biologists figure out what the zombie weakness is, 737 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,240 Speaker 1: then yeah, the physicist could develop some kind of weapon 738 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,160 Speaker 1: that could use that weakness, a laser that goes right 739 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: to the heart of the zombie brain or something. Or 740 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: maybe we could just decide, hey, earth this toast, it's 741 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: covered in zombies, it's contaminated, and we need the physicists 742 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,520 Speaker 1: to ramp up work on development of terraforming technology for Mars. 743 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,479 Speaker 1: I see go there and then have another apocalypse in Mars. 744 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:50,960 Speaker 1: So now we have martians zombies. A second, who's putting 745 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: the zombies on the spaceship. It always happens, Daniel, There's 746 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 1: always that one person who gets on board and they're 747 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: like coughing and sweaty, and you're like, oh, shoo, let 748 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:01,640 Speaker 1: him in, all right, let him in, and then it 749 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:04,760 Speaker 1: all turns out badly. One scientist who brings some zombie 750 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:10,719 Speaker 1: tissue along, you know, just to study. Yes, yes, scientists agree. Well. 751 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:13,919 Speaker 1: I always wonder in these zombie movies and shows. It's 752 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,120 Speaker 1: like it doesn't seem physically possible. I feel like zombies 753 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,399 Speaker 1: violate the laws of physics, Like where do they get 754 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 1: the energy? That's true. I mean it's like they never sleep, right, 755 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: you know, I certainly can't eat brains for that long 756 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: every single day. You mean, like, what's power in the zombie? Yeah? 757 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:30,800 Speaker 1: What's powering? If they're not eating all the time? You know, 758 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: they always to zombies like danning around forever. Yeah, where 759 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,000 Speaker 1: do they get the calories to move their muscles and things? Like? 760 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:39,560 Speaker 1: Maybe they're solar power. So maybe what you need in 761 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,359 Speaker 1: the zombie apocalypse is a nuclear winter to block off 762 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,600 Speaker 1: all the solar power so the zombies fail. Or better 763 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: you make the zombies into a power source. Instead of 764 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:52,759 Speaker 1: making solar panels, you just have like zombies on a 765 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,280 Speaker 1: treadmill and you're just like shoveling zombies into the furnace, 766 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: like having empowered like a hamster wheel or something. Right, 767 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 1: you like angle a brain in front of them and 768 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:05,160 Speaker 1: you just get them to walk forever. Yes, alright, better 769 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,120 Speaker 1: start thinking of that, Danny, just in case. Okay, all right, 770 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,800 Speaker 1: I'll drop some diagrams this afternoon. I'm just desperate to 771 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:12,399 Speaker 1: find a way to be useful in the end time, 772 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 1: so you don't eat me or get eating. I gotta 773 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:18,920 Speaker 1: prove my worth, all right. I think that answer is 774 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,759 Speaker 1: Lucas's question, which is most likely a nuclear winter. You 775 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 1: would be useful, but you will also be kind of 776 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: partly to blame. Yeah, I'll take it, but there might 777 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:29,359 Speaker 1: be a ways for you to redeem yourself in these 778 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,320 Speaker 1: zombie apocalypse I'll do my best, That's all I can promise, Lucas. 779 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,080 Speaker 1: All right. So those are our three questions. Thanks to 780 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: everyone for sending in their curiosity and their thoughts. Thanks 781 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:41,840 Speaker 1: to everybody for sharing with us you are desired to 782 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 1: understand the universe and for writing to us with those 783 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,239 Speaker 1: things that make you wonder. We're here to help you 784 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,560 Speaker 1: understand and hopefully not eat you in the end times. 785 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 1: All right. We hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for joining us. 786 00:40:53,360 --> 00:41:03,080 Speaker 1: See you next time, ye thanks for listening, and remember 787 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production 788 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcast from my heart Radio, 789 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,280 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio Apple Apple Podcasts, or wherever 790 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.