1 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,479 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel. People often ask me what is the target 2 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: range for our podcast in terms of age. I like 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: to think of it like nine years to years old. Wow, 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: that's a big range. Do we really have nine year 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: old listeners? Oh? We do. We even get questions from 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: six year old You know, kids are masters of curiosity? Wow, 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: they have actual masters and curiosity. They're born with it. 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: But it only goes up to ninety nine. What happens 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: if you turn a hundred? Does the audio automatically cut off? 10 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: I think if you live to be a hundred, we 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: should be asking you question. Maybe should make it nine 12 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: to nine hundred and ninety nine, just in case, you know, 13 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: aliens might live longer than us. That's true. I look 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: forward to meeting a thousand year old and I'll let 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: the marketing team know to find some ads suited for 16 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: nine hundred year old listeners. I hi am jorheamat cartoonist 17 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: and the creator of PhD comics. Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm 18 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: a particle physicist, and I wish I had the wisdom 19 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: of a nine year old, but not the body of 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: a nine year old. Well, maybe the you know, cybernetically 21 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 1: enhanced body that would be pretty awesome, yeah, or maybe 22 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: the wisdom of living inside of a computer for nine 23 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: years that would probably seem like nine million years. But 24 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: welcome to our podcast Daniel and Jorge Explained the Universe, 25 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio, in which we take 26 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: you on a tour of all the incredible and crazy 27 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: and bonker stuff in our universe. We drilled down to 28 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: the tiny particles to reveal the truth about the universe, 29 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: and we zoom out to the entire universe to share 30 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: with you the scope of the scale, the wonder, the drama, 31 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: the violence, all the incredible things that are out there, 32 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: the things that we understand and and the things that 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: scientists are still trying to figure out, and the things 34 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: that you are curious about. That's right. We take it 35 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: to the forefront of science and human knowledge and talk 36 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 1: about questions a lot. We talked about questions that scientists 37 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: are asking right now and also questions that regular people 38 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: like those of you listening might be asking yourselves. And 39 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: sometimes those questions are one and the same exactly, And 40 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: I think a lot of people don't realize that science 41 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: is pushed forward by scientists asking their own personal questions, 42 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: like the reason one scientist ends up in biology or 43 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: in physics is because those are the questions they personally 44 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,399 Speaker 1: want answered. And so science really is all about personal questions. 45 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: What do you want to know about the universe? Are 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: you saying? Scientists are people to scientists by people, for people, 47 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: and of people. It's all about people wanting to know 48 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: the answer to some one individual burning question. And you 49 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: know as well as I do that by the time 50 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: you get to your PhD, you're so narrowly focused on 51 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: one tiny little sliver of human knowledge that it has 52 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: to be Really you're driving curiosity the thing that you 53 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: want to figure out. That's right. It's your inalienable right 54 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: to ask if there are aliens out there and to 55 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: spend your life trying to figure it out. But of 56 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: course it's not just scientists who are curious. Everybody out 57 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: there is curious about the universe, especially people listening to 58 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,080 Speaker 1: this podcast. And so we don't want to just talk 59 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: about the questions that scientists are asking of the universe. 60 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: We want to answer your questions as well. Yeah, so 61 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: to be on the program, we'll be tackling listener questions 62 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: Number twelve, The dirty doesn't the dark matter doesn't? We 63 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: have a child's question on the program today, so let's 64 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: try to keep it clean. I think that I read 65 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: through the questions Daniel, and I feel like the nine 66 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: year old question is the most sophisticated one year. I 67 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: told you children ask amazing questions. You know, just last 68 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: week we got a letter from a six year old 69 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: and he asked a long list of really hard particle 70 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: physics questions that I thought were sophisticated for an adult. Wow. Well, 71 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: I feel so good knowing that we're helping to educate 72 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: six year old in bad puns and bad jokes. I 73 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: feel like you know that kid is getting an early start. 74 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: His hardest question was how does Jorge manage to eat 75 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: so many bananas? They're gross? No? I made that one up. Well, 76 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: we have a lot of amazing questions here from listeners 77 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: of our program, questions related to dark matter and the 78 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: Higgs boson and black holes, and also questions about tectonic 79 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: plates in our planet, which tetonics. That's not a rock group, 80 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: is it's it's like an actual science thing. No, I 81 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: think isn't a transformer and or a transformer? Yeah? Good 82 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: be maybe hold on, maybe it's a rock group of transformers. 83 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: Do they have bands and transformers. Let me think they 84 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: had construction vehicles, they had dinosaur transformers. Maybe maybe, yeah, 85 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: maybe they need a rock band or transformer. Maybe there's 86 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: could be one transformer that transforms into an electric guitar. Right, 87 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: Oh man, somebody out there Mattel is scrolling down these ideas, 88 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: I hope. And also banana. We haven't had fruit transformers either. 89 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: All right, well, let's jump right into our awesome questions 90 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: from listeners, and our first question comes from a nine 91 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: year old Dylan wrote to us but an awesome question 92 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: about dark about dark matter and the Higgs boson. Nim 93 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: from London, and my question is could the Higgs boson 94 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: interact with dark match? Thanks? Wow, that's amazing. That is 95 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: such a simple question, and yet I feel like it 96 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: blows my mind at the same time. It is. It's 97 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: a great question. Yeah, and he's got a wonderful accent, 98 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: of course, and it's a really deep question. And we're 99 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: gonna have to talk about a lot of really interesting 100 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: facets about dark matter and the Higgs boson to unravel 101 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: this particular one. All right, So Dnon's question was does 102 00:05:54,600 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: dark matter interact with the Higgs field and the Higgs boson, 103 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: and I guess it's one and the same thing. Yeah, 104 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: I remember that interacting with the Higgs field means essentially 105 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: exchanging Higgs bosons with stuff, and so you can think 106 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: about them together. But broadly, remember the Higgs field is 107 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: the thing that fills the universe. And you can create 108 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: a Higgs boson if you put enough energy into the 109 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: Higgs field. That's how we discovered it at certain by 110 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: smashing particles together and making enough energy in the Higgs 111 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: field to create a Higgs boson. But you can interact 112 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 1: with the Higgs field even if you don't have that 113 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: much energy around, because you can just exchange virtual Higgs bosons, right, 114 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: And so, just to recap for people who might not 115 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: know or our need to the program, the Higgs field 116 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: is one of the quantum fields that fill the universe, 117 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: and it's the one that specifically gives us mass, gives 118 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: the other particles mass. That's exactly right. It's everywhere. Every 119 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 1: piece of space we think has a bunch of different 120 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: quantum fields in it. There are fields for every particle. 121 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: There's the electron field, their fields for the photon, there's 122 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: fields for the corks. There's this whole big set of fields, 123 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: and the Higgs field is the most recently discovered one, 124 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: and it interacts with other fields, and it interacts in 125 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: a way that makes particles move differently. It makes particles 126 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 1: move as if they had mass, right, Like, if you 127 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: push in a particle, it might take you a little 128 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: bit a bit of time before it can accelerate. That's 129 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: kind of the definition of mass almost. Yeah, and we 130 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: have two ideas of mass, but here we're talking about 131 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: inertial mass. Just as you said, it means you have 132 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: to push a particle to get it going, and you 133 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: have to pull on it essentially to slow it down. 134 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: And what he's doing with this question is really interesting 135 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: because I feel like he's mashing together these two huge 136 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: concepts that were in separate parts of my brain. And 137 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: his question is like, are these two things related? Do 138 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: they interact with each other? And so he asked if 139 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson interacts with dark matter, and so just 140 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: reacap again for folks. Dark matter is this big part 141 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: of the universe that's out there the nobody knows what 142 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: it is. Yeah, we discovered in the last few decades 143 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: that most of the stuff that's in the universe. The 144 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: matter is not the kind of matter that we're familiar 145 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: with that makes up me and you and gas and 146 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: stars and hamsters and bananas. It's this other, weird, invisible 147 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: kind of matter that we can see only because of 148 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: it's gravitational effects. It makes galaxies spin faster, it changes 149 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: the whole structure of the universe. We're really pretty sure 150 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: it's there. But the thing that's tough about dark matter 151 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: is that it's really hard to see because it doesn't 152 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: interact in any way we've detected so far except through gravity. 153 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: So we're looking for dark matter and we're trying to 154 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: figure out if there's any way to interact with it. 155 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: And that's what makes this such a great question. It's like, well, 156 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,119 Speaker 1: could we use the Higgs boson or the Higgs field 157 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: somehow to interact with dark matter? Because dark matter doesn't 158 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: interact with light or electromagnetic forces, so you can't see 159 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: it and touch it, but it does interact through gravity, 160 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: which makes you think, like, does dark matter half mass? 161 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: I guess I never I've never thought about that question, Daniel, 162 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: Is that true? Does dark matter half mass? Dark matter 163 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 1: definitely has mass because it creates gravity. Like that's why 164 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: we call it matter. It's not dark energy, it's dark matter. 165 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: It's dark matter because it's some stuff. We know that 166 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: it's there because the gravity that it generates, and so 167 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: it has some sort of energy density, some sort of 168 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,439 Speaker 1: mass that creates that. And our best model currently of 169 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: dark matter is some slow moving massive particle. So absolutely 170 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: it makes perfect sense for dark matter to have mass 171 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: so that it creates gravity. I guess if it dark 172 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: matter didn't have mass, it would be zipping around at 173 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: the speed of light, right, that's right. All massless things 174 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: move at the speed of light, and we know that 175 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: dark matter is slow. But also if dark matter didn't 176 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: have mass, it wouldn't create the kind of effects that 177 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: we see. That is that we see gravitational effects that 178 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: are out there, these things that hold galaxies together even 179 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,079 Speaker 1: though they're spinning and change the whole shape and structure 180 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: of the universe. That means that there's some gravity out 181 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: there and we can't see the mass that's creating that gravity. 182 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: And so that's what dark matter is. It's really a 183 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: description of the missing mass, the mass necessary to create 184 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: the gravity that we do see. So it's perfectly natural 185 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: to think that dark matter does have mass, and that's 186 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 1: why it's such a great idea to think, oh, maybe 187 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: we could talk to dark matter through the Higgs boson, 188 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: because that gives some particles mass, right, And again I 189 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: guess interacting with gravity is different than interacting with the 190 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: Higgs field, right, It's not necessarily the same thing. It's 191 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: not like inertial mass is not the same thing. It's 192 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: gravitational mass, that's right, And there are different ways to 193 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: get inertial mass. So there's a few things to disentangle. 194 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: Their Gravitational mass means you're creating gravity, like I have mass, 195 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: and you have mass, and the Earth has mass and 196 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: the Sun has mass. So we each have our own 197 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: gravitational field or we bend space, which changes the way 198 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: the things move around us. So that's the force of gravity. 199 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: It means that you have gravitas. It means you're so 200 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: important you have an impact on the universe, right, you're 201 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: not insignificant. So that's one concept that's like, you know, 202 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: mass as a sort of the charge of gravity. How 203 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: strong is your gravitational force will? It depends on your mass. 204 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: Then there's this other concept of mass that we just 205 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: talked about recently, which is this inertial mass, which is 206 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 1: how much force does it take to at you moving. 207 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: That's the mass that appears in F equals M A 208 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: relates force and acceleration. You have a really big mass 209 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: that takes a big force to accelerate you. That's why, 210 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: for example, even though you have the same gravitational force 211 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,439 Speaker 1: on the Earth as the Earth does on you, you 212 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: feel the Earth's gravity much more strongly because your mass 213 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: is smaller, so you have a larger acceleration for the 214 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: same force. So inertial mass is this separate concept from 215 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: gravitational mass. Although numerically everything seems to have exactly the 216 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: same gravitational and inertial masses, like, we've never measured any discrepancy, right, Yeah, 217 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: We've talked about that kind of mystery in an early 218 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 1: episode about you know, you have inertial mass and you 219 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: have your gravitational mass, and they seem to be exactly 220 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: the same, but theoretically and mathematically they don't have to 221 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: be the same. That's right. The mass that appears in 222 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,839 Speaker 1: the gravitation formula M doesn't have to be the same 223 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: mass as the one that appears in F equals M A. 224 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: But we measure them and they are exactly the same. 225 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: And that's a whole other fascinating puzzle. We actually talked 226 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: about that in our fun book, which came about a 227 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: few years ago. That amazing puzzle. I just think I 228 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: have no idea what we wrote Danniel in our book, 229 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: We have no idea. Well that you should read it 230 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,199 Speaker 1: some time. It's pretty funny. It's partially resolved by general relativity, 231 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,200 Speaker 1: but it's still a really deep interesting question in physics. 232 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: But it's also relevant to today's question about whether or 233 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: not dark matter talks to the Higgs boson, whether you 234 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: can interact with dark matter using the Higgs boson right, 235 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: Because I guess, is it possible for something to have 236 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:36,040 Speaker 1: a gravitational mass but not inertial mass? Is that even possible? 237 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,079 Speaker 1: We've never seen that happen, and general relativity suggests that 238 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: it's probably not possible. There's some weird little threads there 239 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,679 Speaker 1: to think about, like photons have energy but no mass, 240 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 1: and general relativity tells us that space curves in response 241 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: to energy density, not necessarily mass. But usually those two 242 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 1: things are identical, like for every particle, for every object, 243 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: the inertial mass and the gravitational matter us are one 244 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: and the same, so we just think of it as 245 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: the mass. But I guess maybe the point is that 246 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: we know dark matter has gravitational mass because that's how 247 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: we see it, and we also know it that has 248 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: inertial mass, because otherwise it would be zipping around. That's right. 249 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: We think we know something about the speed of dark matter. 250 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: We talked on the program before about how if dark 251 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: matter was really really low mass, but it was very 252 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: very light, then it would move really fast and that 253 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: would change the structure of the universe. The universe would 254 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,959 Speaker 1: be smoother. We think dark matter is slow moving and cold, 255 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: and that's why we got the structure that we have 256 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: today that amplified all sorts of little quantum fluctuations in 257 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: the early universe to be the weird, amazing, beautiful structures 258 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: in today's universe. So I guess that the point is 259 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: that we know for sure then the dark matter interacts 260 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: with the Higgs because it has inertial mass. Not quite. 261 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: We know that it has inertial mass, but there are 262 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: other ways to get inertial mass what not through the Higgs, 263 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: not through the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is a 264 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,319 Speaker 1: special trick that we use to get mass to all 265 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: the particles that we know quarks and leptons, etcetera. And 266 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: we had to use that trick because all these particles 267 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: interact with the weak force. Quarks and leptons and even neutrinos, 268 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: all these particles interact with the weak force, and the 269 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: weak force is really weird. It doesn't left particles just 270 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: have a mass that breaks like a special symmetry, a 271 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: property of the weak force that it likes to protect. 272 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: And so that's why the Higgs boson is such a 273 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: clever idea. It's not just like, hey, here's a field. 274 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: It's a special mathematical trick that lets you interact with 275 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: these particles in a way that so that they move 276 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: like they had mass without actually giving them any mass, 277 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: like deep down. So the Higgs is this way you 278 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: can give particles mass if they have weak interactions. What 279 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: because every other particle that we know about has weak interactions. 280 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: Every matter particle that we know about has weak interactions, 281 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: that's right, So it falls under this weak symmetry. And 282 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: so the Higgs was created. Who break this symmetry. We 283 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: call it the particle that breaks electro weak symmetry. So 284 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: every particle that feels the weak force, this weakest of 285 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: forces that we know about that's mediated by those W 286 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: and Z particles, needs the Higgs boson in order to 287 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: give it mass, because without the Higgs boson, they wouldn't 288 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: have mass. If there was no Higgs boson, they wouldn't 289 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 1: have mass. And if the Higgs Boson field collapsed, all 290 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: those particles their masses would go to zero. We talked 291 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: about how the Higgs boson could destroy the universe if 292 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: the field collapsed to some lower value. So, yeah, they 293 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: get mass because the energy in the Higgs Boson field. Okay, 294 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: But then I guess the caveat is then if something 295 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: doesn't feel the weak force, it doesn't need the Higgs field. 296 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: That's right. If something doesn't feel the weak force, it 297 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: can't talk to the Higgs boson, and it doesn't even 298 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: need the Higgs boson. It could just have a mass. 299 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: You could just put it in there. You can just 300 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: have inertial mass. You can just have inherent inertial mass. 301 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: That's right. And remember one time we talked about like 302 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: what is the real mass of the electron and we 303 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: talked about it in the context of renormal station that 304 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: the electron itself has no mass, but we add up 305 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: mass to the electron through these interactions from the Higgs boson. 306 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: It's not like a core property of the electron itself. 307 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: It's like the electron when you consider it with all 308 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: of its like quantum fluctuations and interactions with the Higgs boson. 309 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: But these other particles, dark matter particles could just have 310 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: a mass inherent to that. What I feel like, you 311 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: just took the Higgs field down and not like I 312 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: thought it was like super fundamental to the universe. But really, 313 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: when we say that the Higgs field give its particles mass, 314 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: you really just have to say all the particles that 315 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: we've know about so far, yeah, yeah, like you have 316 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: to count it. Right. It gives mass to all the 317 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: particles that feel the weak force, but there might be 318 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: particles that don't. That's right, and we think that dark 319 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: matter doesn't feel the weak force because if it did, 320 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,520 Speaker 1: we would have seen it already. We have really sensitive 321 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: detectors looking for dark matter interacting with normal matter, and 322 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: if dark matter could feel the z for example, if 323 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: you could use the z boson to talk to protons, 324 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: then we think we would have seen that already. We've 325 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: been running those experiments for decades. So we think that 326 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: dark matter does not feel the weak force, or we 327 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: would have seen it, and so very likely it gets 328 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,640 Speaker 1: its mass in some way other than the Higgs boson. Now, 329 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: there's always some crazy theory out there, there variations of 330 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: supersymmetry that have loopholes that allow the dark matter to 331 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 1: talk to the Higgs boson, or sometimes these theories have 332 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 1: a special extra higgs boson, a dark higgs boson that 333 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: gives mass to the dark matter particles. Yea, the dark 334 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 1: higgs boson. Wow, that is a plot twist for a 335 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 1: telenovella I've I've ever heard, or the name of the 336 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: band in the Transformers movie. We're dark higgs Bosons. We're 337 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: to rock you out and give you mass. You don't 338 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: feel the weak force, that's right. So we don't know. 339 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,200 Speaker 1: We don't think that the Higgs boson gives mass to 340 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: dark matter particles, because otherwise it probably would mean that 341 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: dark matter particles feel the weak force, and we're pretty 342 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: sure that's not true. But you know, we're not sure 343 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: about anything when it comes to dark matter. Oh man, 344 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,719 Speaker 1: I feel like nine year old Dylan just took down 345 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: the Higgs field good job, Dylan, A good job Daling. 346 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: What an awesome question. You just destroyed the Higgs field 347 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: and it made it seem inadequate for our universe. Yeah, 348 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: it's a great question. And unfortunately, you know, asking whether 349 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: or not you could discover dark matter through the Higgs 350 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: boson it's really just the same thing as asking whether 351 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: dark matter feels the weak force, and the answer to 352 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: that it's probably not, probably not, but we don't know, 353 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: So stay tuned. That's right, and hey, build an awesome 354 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: dark matter detector out of your legos, Dylan and prove 355 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: us wrong. Yeah, or or wait a few years and 356 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,959 Speaker 1: and then actually make the discovery, build your own particle collider. 357 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: I foresee. Great, thanks for Dylon, keep at it doing. 358 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,119 Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's an awesome question and in a 359 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: mind blowing answer, And so let's get to some of 360 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: these other great questions about black holes and ticonic plates. 361 00:18:55,320 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break, all right, Daniel, 362 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: you and an annual just blew my mind about the 363 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 1: Higgs field in the first twenty minutes of this. So 364 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 1: let's get to some of these other amazing questions. The 365 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 1: next question is from John from Norway and he has 366 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: a question about articles and black holes. Hi guys, John 367 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: from postion norwhere listening to one of your episodes about 368 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: black holes. You talked about how on the density of 369 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: energy is high enough in a volume of space a 370 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: black hole is formed. Then why is it that a 371 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: point particle that has some energy to it, like an electron, 372 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: does not turn into a black hole. It has energy 373 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: that is concentrated into a point, so it should have 374 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: infinitely dense energy concentration. What time I missing here? Please explain? 375 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: All right, Thank you, John, awesome question. The question is 376 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,880 Speaker 1: can you make a black hole with the thing? Go particle? 377 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: Because I guess particles are point masses, so technically they 378 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: have infinite density. So does that mean that every particle 379 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: is a black hole? I'm as confused as John here. Yeah, 380 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: it's a great question. It's basically like, why isn't every 381 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: electron a black hole? We're all black holes? Is that 382 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: what we're saying? Everything is a black hole? Everything that 383 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 1: feels a week forced me. I feel like you have 384 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: to add caveats now all over the place. I love 385 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: this question, and it's this sort of a genre of 386 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: questions here we get, which is like why isn't X 387 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: a black hole? You know, like, why didn't the Big 388 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: Bang just turn into a black hole? Why wasn't the 389 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: early universe filled with black holes? Or how do we 390 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: know there aren't black holes out there in the atmosphere. 391 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 1: Somebody asked me, what's the smallest possible black hole that 392 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: could be hiding in my basement? Did you answer, because 393 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: there probably is a minimum kidding black hole in their basement? 394 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: I did answer. I did answer. Yeah, you could have 395 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: a black hole the size of a grain of sand 396 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: and you wouldn't even really notice it. Oh wow, And 397 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 1: it wouldn't grow or would it just evaporate right away? Yeah, 398 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: it would grow, and so then you would eventually notice it. 399 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: But you know, until then, while it's small and tiny, 400 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 1: you wouldn't notice it. So there's fodder for a horror 401 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: movie right there. For a few milliseconds, you you could 402 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: be unaware of a black hole before you you get 403 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: sucked into it. And that's right, Your life and fantasy 404 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: could continue unaltered for a few more moments before it 405 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: comes crashing down, all right. So the question is, if 406 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: particles are point masses, don't they have infinite density? And 407 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: if they do, shouldn't they be sort of a black 408 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: hole in and of themselves. What's the answer, Daniel. The 409 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: answer is that John has poked a really really good 410 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 1: hole in two of our really important theories, general relativity 411 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 1: and quantum mechanics. Mostly quantum mechanics though. And he's right 412 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: that if you applied what we said before on the podcast, 413 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: that we treat particles as point masses, and you turn 414 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: around and use general relativity on that and says, well, 415 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 1: a point mass has infinite density and so it should 416 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: be a black hole, then yes, all particles would be 417 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: black holes. But they aren't. And so what that tells 418 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: us is that there's a problem in those theories. And 419 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: you know, you can't just always take these theories and 420 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: apply them to crazy extreme situations because we don't think 421 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,920 Speaker 1: they hold up in every single circumstance. He's poked a 422 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: whole into our theories. He's shine the light on a 423 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: part of the theory that we know already we don't 424 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 1: understand very well, which is what happens in really strong 425 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: gravity situations for quantum objects, because we just don't have 426 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: a theory that describes gravity on a quantum scale. We 427 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: know how to describe gravity for really big stuff, even 428 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: for really heavy stuff, even for really massive stuff, but 429 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: for really small stuff on the quantum scale, we don't 430 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: know how to combine gravity with quantum mechanics and answer 431 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: these questions. We just don't even really have a theory 432 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 1: that makes predictions, right, And it's mostly about scale, right, 433 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: Like when you get down to the quantum levels, scales 434 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:59,200 Speaker 1: like of a single particle, then you know, our theories 435 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: about gravity that work on like a galactic scale don't 436 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: necessarily work at those small scales, that's right. And because 437 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: gravity is so weak, it's very hard to test, like 438 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,440 Speaker 1: how do you do experiments that test the gravitational pull 439 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: between two protons? Right? The gravity between two protons is 440 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: really tiny because protons way almost nothing, have almost zero mass, 441 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: and they have all these other forces that are always 442 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: getting in the way. So it's very difficult to probe 443 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: gravity on the quantum scale. I guess the question is 444 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: more like, you know, if you have a particle and 445 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: it's a point particle and I get really really close 446 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: to it, at some point, do I get sucked into it? 447 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,399 Speaker 1: Kind of like is there a black hole at the 448 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: center of every single particle out there? I don't think 449 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: that there's a black hole the center of every single 450 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,679 Speaker 1: particle out there. It would really change the behavior of 451 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,120 Speaker 1: those particles. But I think it is interesting to think 452 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,360 Speaker 1: about the extreme of these theories, Like when we talk 453 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: about these particles as point particles, do we really mean 454 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: physically that there's a dot there infinite density? Of course 455 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: not right, it's an approximation. We make it our theories 456 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: because it's convenient. We don't think that there's an actual 457 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 1: dot of infinite density there. We talked about on the 458 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: podcast before, like how small is a particle? What does 459 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: the size of a particle even mean? And we don't 460 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: even really have a good answer for that, Like what 461 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: do you mean the size of the particle? Is it 462 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: the width of the quantum wave that describes where it is? 463 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,159 Speaker 1: Is it where it pushes back on things? You know, 464 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: where it's forcing your probe back? And so there isn't 465 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: really even from like philosophically speaking, a great definition for 466 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 1: the size of a particle. So you can't actually talk 467 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,960 Speaker 1: about the density of it because you need volume to 468 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: talk about density. Yeah, exactly, so, but I guess you 469 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: know from a distance, like if we're talking on a 470 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: large scale you do treat them as point particles in 471 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: the math and in the just practically speaking, but once 472 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: you get down to that small level, then it gets fuzzy. Yeah, 473 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 1: we treat them as point particles because it doesn't really matter, 474 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: doesn't change any of the calculations. It's just sort of convenient. 475 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:58,160 Speaker 1: But that's because we're not doing calculations where it makes 476 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: a difference. And then when it does make a diference, 477 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: when you're getting really really close, then we can't treat 478 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: them as point particles anymore. And then it gets really fuzzy, 479 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: and it depends exactly on the question you're asking, like 480 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: are you poking at this electron with a photon or 481 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: with the w moson or with the z boson or 482 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,199 Speaker 1: with the Higgs boson. You'll get a different sort of 483 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: response from it based on how you're poking it. So 484 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,640 Speaker 1: there's not like a concept of the electrons size itself. 485 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: So that's one thing is like the limitation of our 486 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: understanding of these things as point particles or not. So Unfortunately, 487 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 1: we talked about them as point particles even though you 488 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: know physically that doesn't make any sense. But we also 489 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: don't have a better way to think about Well, maybe 490 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: a good way to approach this question is to, like, 491 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: let's ignore quantum mechanics for a second. You know, like 492 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: let's say let's just see plantum mechanics doesn't exist, and 493 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: we still lived in a classical world and there are 494 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: point particles like an electron is really is a point 495 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: of with a certain mask to it. Wouldn't there be 496 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: a black hole sort of at some point as you 497 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: get closer to that point. Yes, if you could isolate 498 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: mass in a very very small region and we remove 499 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics from the universe, then general relativity tells us 500 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 1: that that would be a black hole. Like in general relativity, 501 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: there is no minimum mass for a black hole. A 502 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: black hole can have any arbitrary mass down to like 503 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:22,160 Speaker 1: really infinitesimal values. There's no minimum in general relativity. Yeah, 504 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: Like if you could take the mass of a single 505 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: electron or a proton or a court and put it 506 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: in a point, then it would form a black hole. 507 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: It would be a black hole. Yes, And if your 508 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: universe was nothing but point particles with masses, then it 509 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: would be nothing but black holes. Man, all black holes 510 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: all the time. Yeah, Or think about it the other way, 511 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: that means quantum mechanics is saving us and just being 512 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 1: a universal black holes, right, all right, So then if 513 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics didn't exist, every particle, every point mass would 514 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 1: be a black hole like you know, electron, if you 515 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: get close enough down next to it at some point 516 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: you would see a little event horizon exactly. But then 517 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,159 Speaker 1: now let's put back in quantum mechanics. And the problem 518 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: is that, I like how you just like, you know, 519 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,679 Speaker 1: you're flipping the quantum mechanics knob on the universe here. 520 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: We're just like you're just like willy nilly, like turning 521 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: things on and off and expecting us to make sense 522 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: of it. What happens if I do this? What happens 523 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: if I do that? Don't do anything more rocking your 524 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,760 Speaker 1: brain here, You're gonna break things, man. And I just 525 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: walk into the control room at the Universe stud flipping 526 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: and you're like, what exactly what if our universe really 527 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: is a simulation and you got to visit it one day, 528 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: would you just be flipping these switches just to see 529 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,520 Speaker 1: what happens. Let's see what happens. Let's answer John's question 530 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: from Norway, and we'll find out. We'll just see what happens, 531 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,399 Speaker 1: oops destroyed the universe. I guess that's the answer. I 532 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: guess what I mean. It's like, if you suddenly turn 533 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,880 Speaker 1: on quantum mechanics, then you wouldn't be able to see 534 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,439 Speaker 1: that event horizon around that electron, because that event horizon 535 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: would be sort of within the fuzziness that quantum mechanics introduces, exactly. 536 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: So you turn quantum mechanics back on, and then you 537 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: can't allow the electron to be a point particle anymore, 538 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: because quantum mechanics says you can't know the location of 539 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: a bunch of energy that precisely. It is an inherent 540 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 1: fuzziness there. So if you replace the point particle with 541 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: the quantum mechanical blob that has some uncertainty in its 542 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,199 Speaker 1: location um, and we take sort of the size of 543 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: that distribution to be the Compton wavelength of the object, right, 544 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 1: We just sort of like proportional to the width of 545 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,679 Speaker 1: its wave function, the thing that tells you where to 546 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: find it. It's not a great definition for the size 547 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: of the object, but it's it's one that we can use, 548 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,479 Speaker 1: and a lot of times in physics we don't have 549 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: great answers. We just use the best one that we 550 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: can find, and we just remember that there's like a 551 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: lot of asterisks associated with it, like this is probably, 552 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: you know, not correct, but it's also less wrong than 553 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: anything else we can imagine. That's what we aim for 554 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: in this podcast. Let's be less wrong than all the 555 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: other podcasts. Well, you know, John is asking his personal 556 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: curiosity question about the unif ears, And when you're the 557 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: first human to like adventure into intellectual territory, you don't 558 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: always have the tools you need to really get an answer, 559 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: so you just like do the best you can. You say, well, 560 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: let's see what happens if we bang on it with 561 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: this and try to answer it with this, do we 562 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: get a reasonable answer? And if not, does it inspire 563 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: something better? And so this is the way you push 564 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: forward on human knowledge, Right, you give the least wrong 565 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: answer you can. Yeah, So I guess the the answer 566 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: then is that the roould be a meaning black hole 567 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 1: around every particle. But quantum mechanics, like the blobbiness, the 568 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: fuzziness of quantum mechanics kind of smushes that out, like 569 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: it's the fuzziness is bigger than where you would find 570 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: the black hole around every particle. Yeah, and they actually 571 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: converge in a really interesting way because the size of 572 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: the black hole is dependent on the mass of the particle. 573 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: So it gets bigger as a particle gets more massive, 574 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: but then this wavelength of the particle gets smaller as 575 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: it gets more massive. So you can set them equal 576 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: to find the minimum mass of a black hole generated 577 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: by a quantum object. So we said early or if 578 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: no quantum mechanics, there is no minimum. Once you turn 579 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics on, you get a minimum mass for a 580 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: black hole. Interesting meaning like, if I have a massive 581 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,239 Speaker 1: enough particle, it would are you saying it would make 582 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: a black hole? I'm massive enough particle, Yes, but this 583 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 1: minimum mass is twenty one micrograms, which is like much 584 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: much heavier than any particle we've ever seen. You know, Electrons, 585 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: for example, are like ten to the mine is twenty 586 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:29,959 Speaker 1: four ms. But here we're talking micrograms, like the massive 587 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: grain of salt. Oh. I see, so if there was 588 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: a particle with the mass of a grain of salt, 589 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: it would be a black hole. Yes, salt tents are 590 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 1: all black holes. You heard it here first, as in, 591 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: don't put salt on your food, you'll turn into a 592 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: black hole. That's right. Every time you shake that salt canister, 593 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 1: you're pouring black holes into your food. Yeah, that's why 594 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,160 Speaker 1: it salt is salty. Yeah, that's what black holes taste like. Yeah, exactly, 595 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: We've answered the ancient philosophical question what does the black 596 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: hole taste like? And why does salt taste salty? Also, 597 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: all at one, that's right, that's right. That's the black 598 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: hole flavor theorem, invented by Jorge Chamont and John from Norway. 599 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: We're gonna share the credit, right all right? So um, okay, 600 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: So I guess yester then is a particle can be 601 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: a black hole, but it would have to be super heavy. 602 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: That's right. And all of this is probably wrong because 603 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 1: we just don't have a quantum theory of gravity here. 604 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: What we're doing is reusing two theories, general relativity and 605 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics, both of which we know fail in this regime, 606 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: and we're trying to like combine them in an awkward 607 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: way and use both of them to kind of agree 608 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: on a black hole particle mass. So this is probably wrong, 609 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: but it's the best answer we can give today. Right, 610 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: we need to throw some salt over our shoulder and 611 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: just too, wishes luck. Yes, and that's actually the other 612 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: caveat which is it might be possible to make black 613 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: holes out of electrons or protons. The key thing there 614 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: is not just to increase mass up to like a 615 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: grain of salt, but to increase the energy, because remember, 616 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: gravity is in response to energy density, not just mass. 617 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: And so that's what we do with the Large Hadron collider, 618 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: for example, we smash protons together at very high energy, 619 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: and that's why we think there's a possibility that we 620 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: could one day create a mini black hole out of 621 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 1: particles because we've used the energy of the proton to 622 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: like ramp it up to black holes. Did you just 623 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: admit that you're trying to make black holes the Large 624 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: Hadron Collider? I am a d P hoping we make 625 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: black holes to the large Yes, a d That would 626 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 1: be fascinating. We would get to study them. They are 627 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: also a hundred percent safe. Wow. All right, well, I 628 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: guess that answer is John's question. The answer is, yes, 629 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 1: you can make a particle be a black hole, but 630 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: it's almost unrealistically heavy or unrealistically fast or what are 631 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: we saying, or you have to elbow your way into 632 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: the universe. Control room and turn off quantumic are flipping 633 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: switches not recommended, by the way. Well, if it ever happens, 634 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: I'll bring you along, Daniel, and you can restrain me. No, 635 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,520 Speaker 1: I'm the one who likes to press big red buttons. 636 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: Like every time I'm in the control room with the 637 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 1: LHC is that big red button and I'm just like 638 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,560 Speaker 1: desperate to touch it and push it and feel the click. 639 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: All right, well let's get into our last question, which 640 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: is about tectonic plates. But first let's take a quick break. 641 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: Al Right. I know, I'm not sure my mind can 642 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: handle anymore mind blowing. Here we've discovered that the Higgs 643 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: boson may not interact with dark matter, and that parkles 644 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: can be black holes. What else we have here today? Well, 645 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: let's bring it back down to Earth. Here's a question 646 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: from Canada. Hello, Daniel and Horrey. My name is Hard Jock. 647 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and my question for you 648 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: is what would happen to life on Earth and the 649 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,520 Speaker 1: landscape of the Earth if the Earth was no longer 650 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: tectonically active. I look forward to your answer. Thank you, 651 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: awesome question, Thank you, her dread. It's a tricky question. 652 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: She's saying, what would happen to the Earth and to 653 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: us and to life on it if suddenly we didn't 654 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 1: have tectonic activity in our mantle, in the in the 655 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: Earth's crust. Do you think she's worried about an earthquake 656 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,840 Speaker 1: and hoping tectonic stop, or she's like writing a science 657 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,880 Speaker 1: fiction novel in which the Earth freezes. No, but it's 658 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: a fun question. And I like these what if questions 659 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: because they make us think about how fragile our existence is. 660 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: We're dependent on so many different processes happening in exactly 661 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,400 Speaker 1: the right way all the time for life to continue 662 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: as we know it. So it's fun to imagine, like 663 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:51,839 Speaker 1: how life would be different if just one of those 664 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 1: things went away. So again, maybe to refresh people, what 665 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,440 Speaker 1: does the tectonic activity? What does tectonic mean for us? 666 00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: It means essentially that the Earth is still in motion. 667 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 1: It's not just a frozen ball of rock. But we're 668 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 1: sitting on top of the crust, which is sitting on 669 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: top of essentially liquid rock, and so these big pieces 670 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 1: of land that we still sit on, that we stand on, 671 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,319 Speaker 1: are floating around and and changing. You know, if you 672 00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 1: look back at the history of the Earth over millions 673 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 1: of years. You can see the continents moving like floating, 674 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: as if there were, you know, on a pool of 675 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 1: hot lava. We're not on solid ground, yeah, we are 676 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: not in solid ground. In fact, most of the Earth 677 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: is molten, right, and there's activity down there. There's all 678 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,360 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff swirling around. And that's good because it 679 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 1: means that we have things like magnetic field that we 680 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: think are generated by the motion of all that hot 681 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: swirling metal inside the Earth, and so the Earth is 682 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:46,280 Speaker 1: not just a frozen cold ball. It's like it's hot 683 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: and it's active and this stuff going on down there. 684 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 1: And we talked about how if because we have a 685 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,800 Speaker 1: magnetic field, we have kind of a shield against cosmic 686 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: rays which would strip our atmosphere and basically kill us 687 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: right pretty quickly. Yes, space is filled with death bullets 688 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 1: from the Sun, and if you don't have great shielding, 689 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 1: then you get cancer and diet really quick. And the 690 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,480 Speaker 1: Earth has an awesome literal force field, which is its 691 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:14,280 Speaker 1: magnetic field, because these particles are charged, and charged particles 692 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: bend when they hit a magnetic field and so basically 693 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: just deflects most of this space radiation, which is good 694 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: because otherwise we'd all get cancer made all right, So 695 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: then that's what tectonic means. It means that, you know, 696 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:28,760 Speaker 1: the plates of the Earth's cross are still moving around 697 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: kind of a molten core. And so the question is 698 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 1: what would happen if that stopped? Like I guess, first 699 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: of all, what would cause it to stop? Yeah, it 700 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:39,520 Speaker 1: would be pretty hard to stop. Like if you are 701 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,640 Speaker 1: a cartoon villain and you want to stop you know, 702 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 1: the motion of the Earth. That would be pretty difficult 703 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,439 Speaker 1: because it's at an enormous amount of energy. How much 704 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: energy is stored in like a cubic mile of liquid 705 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: iron A lot, right, but we have a lot more 706 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: than one cubic mile of liquid iron. So it's just 707 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 1: an incredibly vast amount of energy. Oh, I see, you 708 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 1: were saying a lot of the tectonics come from just 709 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: having stored energy inside of the Earth. It's not you know, 710 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: like if the Earth got cooler and cold and frozen, 711 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,719 Speaker 1: wouldn't we still have some motion? Or would we will 712 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: we then turn into a solid ball of rock. Now 713 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,239 Speaker 1: that is the future of the Earth. We think that 714 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: in a billion or two years, the Earth will cool 715 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,719 Speaker 1: and it's internals will stop moving as much, and our 716 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,680 Speaker 1: magnetic field will dim and our tectonics will stop. And 717 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:35,320 Speaker 1: that's in fact what happened to Mars. Mars is smaller 718 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,399 Speaker 1: than the Earth, and so it cooled faster, and so 719 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: we think that it's essentially frozen on the inside, and 720 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: it's magnetic field, which it once had is gone, and 721 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 1: it has no more plate tectonics. So plate tectonics are 722 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,759 Speaker 1: sort of like a feature of a younger planet. It 723 00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 1: tells us that we're still like hot, we're still young, 724 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: and yes, exactly, hot and flowing. We're still hot. And 725 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,439 Speaker 1: so one question ask is like, what happened ends when 726 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 1: play tectonic stoff? The other one is like, how does 727 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 1: that happen? What makes it happen? And to make it happen, 728 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: you have to basically cool the Earth, which means waiting 729 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:11,280 Speaker 1: a billion and a half years, or developing some awesome 730 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,000 Speaker 1: technology that sucks all the heat out of the center 731 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: of the Earth, or maybe to prevent it, we could 732 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,319 Speaker 1: inject energy into the earth. Yes, exactly, we could keep 733 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,600 Speaker 1: the youth. We could inject botox effectively into the Earth 734 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: and keep it young and prevent those you know, tectonic wrinkles, 735 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 1: you know. The tectonic wrinkles essentially are a way that 736 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,239 Speaker 1: the Earth gives off some of this energy, burns some 737 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,000 Speaker 1: of this energy. And so if you like try to 738 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 1: freeze the crust of the Earth without cooling it in 739 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: the inside, and that would like build up somehow, and 740 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: then where would that heat all go, and so that 741 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,279 Speaker 1: could be pretty devastating. I see, well, I thought that 742 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,480 Speaker 1: a lot of like the moltenness and the meltiness and 743 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: the heat and the energy inside the Earth was due 744 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: to gravity and like the pressure of all this rock, 745 00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:57,040 Speaker 1: you know, being compressed down there at the center. So 746 00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:59,120 Speaker 1: are you saying that we we could freeze that or 747 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: maybe are you saying that it wouldn't be enough for 748 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: just from gravitational pressure to keep the magnetic field going. Yeah, 749 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: it's not enough. Eventually we will cool Like you're right, 750 00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,040 Speaker 1: a lot of it comes from gravitational pressure. There's also 751 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: a little bit of heat that comes from vision, just 752 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,800 Speaker 1: like heavy stuff in the center of the Earth decaying 753 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,600 Speaker 1: and giving off energy. But you know, we're not dense 754 00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: enough to cause fusion life happens in the sun to 755 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:25,880 Speaker 1: stay hot and so over a long time, eventually we 756 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 1: will cool. Like gravity compressed the Earth to a certain density, 757 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:32,400 Speaker 1: but you know, the Earth pushes it back. It has 758 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: a certain rigidity to it, and so we will not 759 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: gravitationally collapse to anything more dense. It'll just eventually cool 760 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:43,279 Speaker 1: and become, you know, much colder. All right, So I 761 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 1: guess then the answer to the question what would happen 762 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,360 Speaker 1: if tectonics stop? The answer is nothing good. We we 763 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: get fried by the sun mcnetic field collapses. We get 764 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: fried by the Sun, but it's unlikely to happen for 765 00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:58,719 Speaker 1: another one and a half billion years. Yeah, and I 766 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:01,240 Speaker 1: wouldn't say nothing good. I mean, living here in southern 767 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: California where we're always thinking about earthquakes, there is one 768 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,640 Speaker 1: upside to freezing the Earth is that, hey, no more earthquakes. Right, 769 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: earthquakes are caused by tectonic activity. We get fried, but 770 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 1: we wouldn't have to worry. We wouldn't have to get 771 00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: earthquake insurance, is what you're saying. That's right. And this 772 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:19,720 Speaker 1: way we get fried from above instead of from below. 773 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:22,600 Speaker 1: Because if there's no tectonic activity in the Earth is cold, 774 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 1: that means also no volcanoes, right, So no like devastating 775 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,839 Speaker 1: lava flows and super volcanoes. You've seen that movie where 776 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:33,000 Speaker 1: a super volcano comes up from underneath Los Angeles and 777 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,000 Speaker 1: basically kills everybody but the good looking actors. Wow, is 778 00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: that the one with the mega shark in it or 779 00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: that swims through magna? I want to see that one. 780 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: I think there's a Robomega shark too, I believe. I mean, 781 00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:48,520 Speaker 1: I wouldn't know. I don't watch these kinds of movies, 782 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 1: but yeah, and it transforms into an electric guitar, right, 783 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:54,640 Speaker 1: so that on the good side, you would have no 784 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: more earthquakes and you would have normal volcanoes. But yeah, 785 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:00,800 Speaker 1: you would also you would have no more athetic field 786 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,720 Speaker 1: and then you would have no more mountains because remember 787 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,239 Speaker 1: that mountains like the Himalayas, these are caused by tectonic 788 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,480 Speaker 1: plates ramming into each other and forcing dirt up and 789 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,560 Speaker 1: up and up, and then mountains are sort of worn 790 00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,560 Speaker 1: down by rain and wind and all that stuff. And 791 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,560 Speaker 1: so if you have no more tectonic activity, you don't 792 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: have any fresh mountains. Wait, are you saying that we're 793 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 1: still making mountains today? The Earth is still like making 794 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:27,720 Speaker 1: fresh mountains? Yeah, I think the Himalayas get higher every 795 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: year because India is basically ramming into the rest of 796 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: Asia and causing the Himalayas, and so that's still going on. 797 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,800 Speaker 1: A lot of mountains are getting softer and softer because 798 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:40,600 Speaker 1: you know that tectonic activity has ceased for whatever reason, 799 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 1: and then the rain wears them down. But yeah, there's 800 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,400 Speaker 1: still some fresh, sharp mountains out there. Well that's the 801 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,680 Speaker 1: reason I haven't climbed Mount Everest, to be honest, because 802 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: it's just gonna get taller. You're waiting for it to 803 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 1: be waiting for the peak to peak. Yeah, that's right, 804 00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:58,480 Speaker 1: because if you climb it this year, then next year 805 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: comes somebody say, well, you didn't climb the real not everything. 806 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,360 Speaker 1: You missed a centimeter. I want to I want to 807 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 1: climate a peak peakness. Okay, all right, I'll sign you 808 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,359 Speaker 1: up to climate everything about two million years when point 809 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,880 Speaker 1: seven billion years, I guess that would be all right. Well, 810 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:15,799 Speaker 1: thank you for Dran, and thank you to everyone who 811 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,800 Speaker 1: submitted a question. We had tons of questions, right Daniel, 812 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:22,239 Speaker 1: We do, and we love them and we answer every email. So, 813 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,640 Speaker 1: if you have personal curiosity about the university, if this 814 00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:27,080 Speaker 1: is something that you were just dying to know, the 815 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:30,879 Speaker 1: answer to then, hey, become a scientist or just email us. 816 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,440 Speaker 1: That's probably easier. And if you're a year old alien, 817 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,600 Speaker 1: we definitely want to hear from you because we have questions. 818 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,640 Speaker 1: That's right, how did you stay so young? And lava 819 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:45,640 Speaker 1: botox obviously, Daniel answer that's right. All right, Well, thanks 820 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:56,440 Speaker 1: for joining us, see you next time. Thanks for listening, 821 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is 822 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,799 Speaker 1: a production I Heart Radio. For more podcast for my 823 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio Apple Apple Podcasts, 824 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows