1 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Hey, or Hey, I have an important star geasing question 2 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: for you. Hit me so obviously, to fortify yourself for 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: a cold night of dark sky watching, everyone needs to 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: make s'mores on the campfire after dinner. Is that any 5 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: mean a question? It's a s'mores are required when you 6 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: go camping. Yeah. Absolutely, But my question is how do 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: you like your marshmallows? You like them white, gently toasted, 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: or totally blackened? Because I'm pretty picking about my smores. 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: They need to be like just slightly toasted. But mostly 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: I just want more of them. I should have known 11 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: the marshmallow jokes. We're going to make for a rocking 12 00:00:44,280 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: road that makes more of them. Hi'm orhand make cartoonists 13 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: and the creator of PhD comics. Hi. I'm Daniel. I'm 14 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: a particle physicist and a professor at U c Irvine, 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: and I have strong opinions about marshmallow tisting. Interesting. Is 16 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: there a special physics technique to make perfect moores? You 17 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: have to keep at exactly the right distance for exactly 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: the right time, and any deviation from that results in 19 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: inedible garbage. Interesting? And I guess you have to rotate 20 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: it too. That's very important, you know, experimentally determined rotation rate. 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: Did you rotate your marshmallows at and did you hook 22 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: up some kind of motor to it so it's always 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: precisely the same. I will say I have done a 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: lot of extensive experimentation on this front. You know, for science, 25 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: you have a lot of data points in your stomach 26 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: and around your waist. That's exactly My data collection device 27 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: gets bigger and bigger as I keep taking more data. 28 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: But welcome to a podcast. Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, 29 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: a production of My Heart Radio in which we twist 30 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: and turn the entire universe around, trying to understand exactly 31 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: the right distance to look at it. So that makes 32 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: some sense. We ask the biggest, the deepest, the squishiest, 33 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: the tastiest, the toastiest of questions about the nature of 34 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: the universe. What's in it? How big is it? And 35 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,239 Speaker 1: how can we possibly understand it? Yeah, because it's important 36 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: to understand the universe, not too much so that it 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: gets toasted, but not too little so that it's too hard. 38 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: And the chalk that doesn't melt. You think it's possible 39 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: to understand the universe too much like we ruined the mystery. 40 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: It's no fun anymore. Yeah, you know, it's sort of 41 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: like knowing too much about a movie before you go in. 42 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:31,799 Speaker 1: It's hard to enjoy it, you know. Or it's like 43 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: knowing too much about writing, and then you can't enjoy 44 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: a book or a TV show anymore. Oh man, give 45 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: me all the physics spoilers. I want to know them. 46 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: I'm happy to have all these surprises being ruined. I 47 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: don't want to hear about the next year's Nobel Prize. 48 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: I want to know about it now. But then you're 49 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: gonna spoil it for everybody else. Isn't that the whole 50 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,639 Speaker 1: point of physics to disseminate the knowledge and spoil it 51 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: for everyone that's in the clubhouse plaque? Right? That is 52 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: part of it. But you know, I think that it's 53 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: impossible to know the universe too well because I think, 54 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: honestly jokes aside, there's an infinite amount of things to know. 55 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: I think we will never know everything about the universe. 56 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: They will always be more marshmallows to toast and more 57 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: physics puzzles to unravel. Maybe you should preface every research 58 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: paper you published, but that you know, warning spoilers ahead. 59 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: Finding the spoilers is exactly the job of physics, right, 60 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: Physics is basically the spoilers. Or maybe we should just 61 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: like figure out the universe and very slowly dull it out, 62 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: you know. We should talk to the Marvel folks and 63 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: like have plot twists and stuff like that. Yeah, and sequels, 64 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 1: lots of sequels, that's important. And multiverses. I guess now 65 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: that's the thing. Yeah, I would definitely like sequels and 66 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: multiverses for my funding. I guess if you spoil one universe, 67 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: it's always more universes. Technically to watch movies right with 68 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: different actors. There's an infinite audience out there and an 69 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: infinite possible box office infinite spoiling war. It will be 70 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: the name of the big culmination movie Marvel. We get 71 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: a cut of that one one millions of infinity. But 72 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: it is an amazing universe, a delicious universe, and an 73 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: incredible universe to think about and to ask questions about it, 74 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: and especially to be curious about. That's right. And it's 75 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: not just academic physicists who are toasting marshmallows and thinking 76 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: deep thoughts under dark skies while on camping trips. It's 77 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: everybody out there who looks up at the night sky 78 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: and wonders what's going on around that start is there 79 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,239 Speaker 1: an alien looking back at me? Or what's the physics 80 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,719 Speaker 1: of this marshmallow? How is it really getting roasty and toasty? 81 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: Everybody out there who is curious about the universe is 82 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: doing physics and being a physicist, that's right. We get 83 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: questions on this podcast from little kids from seven years 84 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: old to seventy seven year old who look at the 85 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: universe and wonder how it all works and what makes 86 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: it the way it is. And we love that because 87 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,239 Speaker 1: we think that being curious is part of being human 88 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: and that science belongs to everybody. So if you're the 89 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: kind of person who thinks about the universe and wonders 90 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: how things work, then right to us, please send us 91 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: your questions. Don't feel alone, we are all sharing these 92 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: mysteries together. Right to us too, two questions at Daniel 93 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: and Jorgey dot com. We answer every email. We right 94 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: back to everybody. And let me send a special encouragement 95 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: to those of you who have been listening to the 96 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: podcast for years and haven't written to us yet. I 97 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: know you have questions and we'd love to answer them. 98 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:16,840 Speaker 1: It sounds like you're scraping to the bottom of the 99 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: barrel now, Daniel. But actually you get a ton of 100 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: questions every day. You get questions every day through Twitter, 101 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: through email, and also through our discord channel. We have 102 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 1: a discord channel. That's what it's called, right, That's what 103 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: my fourteen year old tells me. It's called a discord server. 104 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: I think it's called Yeah, it's not a discord TikTok 105 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, exactly. We interact with people on Twitter. 106 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: We answer dozens of questions over email, and on discord. 107 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: We have a community not just me answering questions, but 108 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: other listeners talking about cool things they've read, interesting stuff 109 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: they've seen, and talking about the episodes, asking questions about 110 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: things they heard. So please come interact. You're not out 111 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 1: there alone wondering about the universe. Well, have you gotten 112 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,279 Speaker 1: listeners to answer their own questions? Like one listener aswers 113 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: the question of another listener sounds like you might, you know, 114 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: put us out of the job here. That's exactly what happens. 115 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: You know, somebody asked a question like two am, and 116 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: then by the time I log on at seven am 117 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: or so, there's a whole discussion and people proposing answers, 118 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: and it's a lot of fun. Obviously, you need to 119 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: stay up all night every night on Discord, just like 120 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: your fourteen year old son. Yeah, exactly. Maybe we should 121 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: work in shifts euro Upe that time. Anyway, Yeah, there 122 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 1: you go. But yeah, we do get a lot of 123 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: amazing questions because people are curious. They look at the world, 124 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: they listen to this podcast. They hear about things happening 125 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: out there in the cosmos and the very nature of 126 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: our atoms and courts, and the questions come up. Questions 127 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 1: do come up, and they send them to us. And 128 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: sometimes those questions are so fun that I think other 129 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: listeners would like to hear the answers that we pick 130 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: a few of them and answer them right here on 131 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: the podcast. And so today on the podcast, we'll be 132 00:06:51,080 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: tackling listener questions number twenty four or is that like 133 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: the TV show twenty four? Are we going to talk about, 134 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,480 Speaker 1: you know, nuclear bombs? And if we don't answer it, 135 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:08,599 Speaker 1: something terrible's going to happen. I don't know which one 136 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: of us is, Jack Bauer. Are you going to torture 137 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: physics answers out of me? Torturing physicists. That might make 138 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: a good show. I hope it doesn't get a big audience. 139 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: Who wants to see a physicist suffered? Come on, that's right? Yeah, 140 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: physics our self torturing anyways, exactly why else would you 141 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: choose that career if not to torture yourself? Otherwise we 142 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: just would have been a cartoonist, you know, easy, laid back, 143 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: no stress career. That's right, Eat cereal at eleven am. 144 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: You put on your earphones and you you hop on 145 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: a podcast. Yeah, twice a week, easy living. I do 146 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: get risk cramps though, that is the one hazard in 147 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: the job. Also, your pajama pants and sometimes get a 148 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: little bit cheap, but you know you have to remember 149 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: to change them. So are you ambidextrics? Can you switch 150 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: to the other wrist when you know the right wrist 151 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: runs out of good jokes? You know? I just turned 152 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: my computer around. I don't know how that works. You're 153 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: the physicist, OK, yeah, I think you just violated parody symmetry. 154 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: Did you just say I violated parrot tree? Did? Yeah? 155 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: The parents are very upset about their tree. I flipped 156 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: their tree. Yeah. This is the twenty four episode in 157 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: which we answer listener questions, and so people send us 158 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: questions and how does it work down and you ask 159 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: them to record it and then send it to us. Yeah, 160 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: if there's a question I think will work well on 161 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: the podcast, I ask them to just record themselves at home. 162 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: They use the phone, to use their computer, they use 163 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: whatever they have, and they just email it to us. 164 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: And so it's very easy, no big deal. And so 165 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: that's why we get this fun audio from listeners all 166 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: around the world with cool accents. Yeah, very cool. And 167 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: so today we'll be answering three pretty awesome questions from listeners, 168 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 1: and they're pretty exciting and kind of delicious as well 169 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: to think about. One of them is about roasting marshmallows 170 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: in space, the other one is about the impending collision 171 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: of our galaxy with another galaxy. And the last one 172 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 1: is about I guess what would you call that space rain? 173 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: Dangerous space rain? About how to survive the cosmic weather 174 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: between here and other stars. Interesting. I guess if you're 175 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: roasting marshmallows out there, you want to be safe as well. 176 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: You don't want to be extra crunchy, that's right. So 177 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: we have deep questions about the future of our galaxy 178 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: and practical questions about how to roast marshmallows. All right, well, 179 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: let's tackle our first question, and this one comes from Aiden, 180 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: who is a question about eating snacks. I was wondering 181 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: how close would you need to get to the sun 182 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: to safely roast a marshmallow, or basically, how close could 183 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: a single person get to the sun and be safe, 184 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: or how much closer to the Sun would the Earth 185 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 1: need to move for humans to even notice a difference. Thanks, 186 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: all right, thank you, Aiden. And I'm a little confused 187 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: he sort of posted the same question in three totally 188 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: different ways, I feel. I think his question is trying 189 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: to understand sort of the temperature things get when you 190 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,839 Speaker 1: get closer or further from the Sun, because you know, 191 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: the Earth is sort of like at the perfect temperature 192 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:57,599 Speaker 1: for water to be liquid on the surface and for 193 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,839 Speaker 1: humans to have like nice relaxing vacations in Haaii and 194 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: not get too hot, but if we were any closer, 195 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: things would get a little toastier. And so I think 196 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: he's really asking about, like, what is the temperature gradient? 197 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: You know, how close do you have to get to 198 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,319 Speaker 1: the Sun before things get uncomfortable? I see, well, he 199 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,599 Speaker 1: painted a picture of roasting marshmallows in space. So I 200 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,839 Speaker 1: guess I'm picturing Aiden in a spacesuit holding a stick 201 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: with a marshmallow on it, and is he wondering like 202 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: how close does he have to get to roast the 203 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: marshmallow or how close can you get without you know, 204 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: burning up? Yeah, it's a good question because he's using 205 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 1: the marshmallow as a probe, right, like what happens to 206 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: the marshmallow? Is it going to survive? The problem is 207 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: that if the marshmallow gets toasted, he's probably also getting 208 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: toasted because you know, unlike a fire, if you're near 209 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,719 Speaker 1: a fire, then the temperature drops off really quickly. So 210 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: you know, you can have the marshmallow be a foot 211 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: or too closer to the fire than you are and 212 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: it'll get toasted and you won't. But when it comes 213 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: to the sun, the temperature drop off is you know, 214 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: over a much larger scale, and so if the marshmallows 215 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: a foot closer to the sun than you are, you're 216 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: probably getting just as toasted as the marshmallow. I see, 217 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: unless I guess you have some kind of shielding, special shielding, 218 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: like what if it's he's behind like a big shield 219 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: with a little hole that you can stick the marshmallow 220 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: through so that it gets roasted by the sun, but 221 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: not yeah, or his stick is like really really long. 222 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: That's a good physics solution there. Just make a roasting 223 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: stick that's you know, three hundred thousand miles long. Yeah, exactly. 224 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: I just ponwned off the problem to the engineers, like, please, 225 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,599 Speaker 1: you know, send me three prototypes by tomorrow. Yeah, just 226 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: don't make it out of chocolate. That would defeat the purpose, 227 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: like a chocolate cover roasting thick. I'm gonna write that down, Daniel, 228 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: that's my next pat Okay, Yeah, I wonder how many 229 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: of those will actually make it out of the lab 230 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: or you know, well, I made it three hundred kilometers long, 231 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: but it seems to have been chewed on. That's right, 232 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: and I had a heart attack before it could write 233 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: the pen. But I think there's actually two interesting questions 234 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: here about roasting this marshmallow in space, assuming that aiden 235 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: can somehow get to a safety ins or has shielding, 236 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:02,959 Speaker 1: and you know, one is like what happens to a 237 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,199 Speaker 1: marshmallow when you put it out in vacuum? And the 238 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,079 Speaker 1: other is then how close do you have to bring 239 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,560 Speaker 1: it to the Sun to get it toasted. I see 240 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: you're thinking, like maybe let's just send the marshmallow by itself, 241 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: Like let's throw it into orbit around the Sun, and 242 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: when it comes back it'll be nice and toasting. Yeah, 243 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: But also I'm wondering, like, well, listening actually be edible. 244 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: If you put a marshmallow into outer space, it might 245 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: like explode, right because of the internal pressure. And so 246 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: then even if it is toasted, is aiden really gonna 247 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: want to eat it? I mean, I just want to 248 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: deliver to our listeners the treat that they're looking for. 249 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 1: It sounds like you just said like that the marshmallow 250 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: would explode or get bigger, which all both of them 251 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: sound good, But you're not going to get more marshmallow, right, 252 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: be the same marshmallows, just less dense. The idea, of course, 253 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: is that marshmallows have air bubbles inside them. The way 254 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: you make a marshmallows, if you whip up all this 255 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: fat and this sugar and so it's really like a 256 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: little froth. It's like a big foam. And so we 257 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: take that into outer space, it might just explode because 258 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: all those air bubbles no longer have air pressing on 259 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,079 Speaker 1: them from the outside. Interesting. But wait, is a marshmallow 260 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: like a sponge or does it actually have air trapped inside? 261 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: You know, like a sponge you can squeeze and and 262 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: somehow all the holes are connected to each other. Right, 263 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:13,319 Speaker 1: it's a really good question. You know. I think that 264 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: there is some air trapped inside this marshmallow. So I 265 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: actually went and did some research. And there's a physicist 266 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,199 Speaker 1: at you see, Santa Barbara that did this experiment. He 267 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: took a marshmallow and he put it in a vacuum chamber. 268 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: So it's kind of vacuum chamber in his lab, probably 269 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: for other real physics reasons, probably cause a few million dollars, 270 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: but funded by the NSFU, Yeah, probably exactly. I mean 271 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: the National Snack Foundation for Research and Snack Physics. Yeah, yeah, 272 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 1: not to be confused with the nih which is the 273 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: National Imbibing Headquarters in the National Indigested Headquarters. Well, he 274 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: took some marshmallows and put them in a bell jar 275 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: of vacuum chamber, and the marshmallow expanded to about twice 276 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,599 Speaker 1: its normal size, And so that suggests that there is 277 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:58,719 Speaker 1: some air trapped in there. And if you reduce the 278 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: pressure on the outside of a marsh it really will inflate. Wow, 279 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: did he or she polished these results just on a blog? 280 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: So this is not a peer reviewed right, you know, 281 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: so take it with the grain of salt people, right, 282 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: or as a piece of chocolate. But there's another question, 283 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: because the vacuum of space, of course, is much much 284 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: colder than the atmosphere in this lab, and so you 285 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: might also imagine that the marshmallow might flash freeze, in 286 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,680 Speaker 1: which case it wouldn't expand. It might freeze first and 287 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: then the air would sort of leak out through cracks. 288 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: And so it wasn't exactly clear what would happen in 289 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: that case. They need to do more experiments, which also, 290 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: you know, thinking about it, sounds like exactly the kind 291 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: of research that goes on in the place like did 292 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: you see Santa Barbara. Oh, they followed up more experiments. 293 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: They took the marshmallow and dipped in liquid nitrogen and 294 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 1: then put it in the vacuum chamber, and it didn't 295 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: expand as much. And so you know, that's not exactly 296 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:49,760 Speaker 1: what would happen in space. But I think it's a 297 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,240 Speaker 1: pretty good proxy, and so I think this marshmallow before 298 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: it gets toasted, is going to puff up a little bit, 299 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: but still be recognizably marshmallowy. I see, But then as 300 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: you get closer to the Sun, it's going to heat up. 301 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: Then it's gonna heat up exactly. So then then it 302 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: might expand to twice its size. Yes, because as marshmallows 303 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: heat up, they do expand, right, because the error that's 304 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: trapped inside them gains in pressure and volume. So it 305 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: might not explode. Or maybe it depends on how quickly 306 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: you put it in a vacuum too. So then you 307 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: put this marshmallow out in space, it expands, and then 308 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: how close do you have to be to the Sun 309 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: before you can it gets nice and toasty. It's a 310 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: good question, and you have to make some assumptions here 311 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: about how you're going to heat the marshmallow, because there's 312 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: some subtleties like if you take an object and you 313 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: put it at the same distance from the Sun as 314 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: the Earth, it'll get heated to about five celsius. So 315 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: that's like, you know, forty five or so degrees fahrenheit 316 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: just from being out in space, just from being out 317 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: in space and getting radiation from the Sun. And that's 318 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: assuming that it gets thermalized. That like, the energy coming 319 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 1: on one side goes through the object and heats up 320 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: also the other side of the object, and it goes 321 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: into sort of thermal equilibrium. That's not true. For example, 322 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: of the Moon. The Moon is an object, you know, 323 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: very similar in distance as the Earth from the Sun, 324 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: but it gets very very hot on one side and 325 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: cold on the other side because it doesn't normalize. Like 326 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: the Moon gets more than a hundred C on one 327 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: side and it's very very cold on the other side 328 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,520 Speaker 1: because the heat is all trapped on one side doesn't 329 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: like bleed all the way through the Moon. So if 330 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: we're talking about a smaller object, we're not just that's 331 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: like spinning, so the heat gets evenly through it. Then 332 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: something at the distance of the Earth gets to about 333 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: five C. I say, thinking about kind of the physics, 334 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: I guess, you know, it's getting all this radiation and 335 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: energy from the Sun on one side, but I guess 336 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: all around it, it's still in a vacuum and a 337 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: really cold vacuum, and so it's shooting off heat in 338 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: all directions. Right, it's like just trying to get cold. 339 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: But then it also has this source of energy from 340 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: the Sun and so you're saying, at some point, maybe 341 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: it gets to it clirium and it gets to an 342 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: even temperature. Yeah, and things here on Earth they also 343 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: cool off. Right, you have something really hot, like a pie, 344 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: you put it on your counter, it's going to cool off. 345 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: That happens mostly because the heat is diffusing. It's the 346 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: molecules of the pie are bumping up against the air 347 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: molecule and they're warming them up, and then that air 348 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: gets pushed away and you get new cold air. There's 349 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: another mechanism for cooling, which is that you can just 350 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: radiate off heat. Like things that are hot get red 351 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,080 Speaker 1: hot or white hot, they glow. They give off heat 352 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,400 Speaker 1: through radiation, and so in space you don't have air 353 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: to cool things down, but you can still radiate heat. 354 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: So things cool down slower in space than they do 355 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: on Earth. It's harder to lose your heat in space 356 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: than it is here on Earth because there's no air, 357 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,919 Speaker 1: no wind basically to cool you down. But you're exactly right. 358 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: We're talking to hear about an object that comes into 359 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: thermal equilibrium, where it's gaining energy from the Sun and 360 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: radiating some energy away, but it comes into equilibrium, And 361 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: so what that equilibrium temperature is depends on how close 362 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: you are to the Sun. If you're very, very close 363 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: to the surface of the Sun, you're gonna be basically 364 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: at the Sun's surface temperature, which is like thousands of degrees. 365 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: And if you're out where the Earth is, you'll be 366 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: around five degrees celsius. But I guess the question is, 367 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: you know, at what point will it get toasty? You know, 368 00:17:57,960 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: like if it's facing the Sun and you get close 369 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: to it, I would imagine that at some point the 370 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: side of the marshmallow facing the Sun is going to 371 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: start to melt, maybe and maybe even toast. Yeah, And 372 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: so I did a little calculation using stuff on Boltzimann approximation, etcetera. 373 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: And I'm figuring that you need the marshmallow to get 374 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: to be about fifty c in order to toast, in 375 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: order to melt, which is a temperature with the marshmallow melts, 376 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,719 Speaker 1: And in order to get to that temperature, you need 377 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,200 Speaker 1: to be about point four a U. So of the 378 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: distance between the Earth and the Sun is a temperature 379 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: where an object will get to fifty c in equilibrium 380 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: somewhere between Venus and mercury. I see, that's an equilibrient 381 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: meaning I guess if you're constantly rotating your marshmallow, or 382 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 1: you give it a little bit of a spin in 383 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: space before you throw it out there, it might reach 384 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 1: some sort of equiproum, right, because it's going to be 385 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: you know, kind of basting calm almost rotisserie marshmallow solar rotisserie. Right, 386 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: that's really what you're doing when you're rotating the steak. Right, Yeah, 387 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: that's right, the poor man's rotissory. And so that's assuming 388 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: that it's spins it's equally distributed. If it's not, then 389 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 1: one side of it will get hotter. So, for example, 390 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 1: if you have a marshmallow at that's just stationary and 391 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,199 Speaker 1: all the energy is going to the surface of the marshmallow, 392 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: then it's going to be like the Moon where it 393 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 1: gets really hot on one side even at our distance. 394 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: You know, a marshmallow in space that isn't rotating is 395 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 1: going to get roasted on one side, even at one 396 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: au from the Sun. Oh I see, So just putting 397 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,360 Speaker 1: a marshmallow out in space in orbit around Earth, it's 398 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,159 Speaker 1: going to get toasted or melted at least. Yeah, if 399 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: it gets like tidally locked to the sun, so one 400 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: surface of it is always facing the sun. Then the 401 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:33,920 Speaker 1: sun will eventually toast, it will heat it up to like, 402 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: you know, more than a hundred seed and then and 403 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,439 Speaker 1: then what will happen. It will become like goof floating 404 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: in space and I know which sentence, and then an 405 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: attack Earth. It will be warm and so it'll be liquid. 406 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: I don't know if life can spontaneously form inside space marshmallows, 407 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: So I think that's a topic for another podcast. But 408 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 1: then you're saying that it can't actually roast like you will. 409 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: You'll never get it that nice brown color because in 410 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: space you can't have that. Yeah, the roasting, that browning 411 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,920 Speaker 1: is actually an oxid Asian effect, right, that's reacting with 412 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: the air. And so that can happen because there isn't 413 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: any air out there. So you can melt a marshmallow 414 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: in space. But I don't think you can brown it 415 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: because there's no oxygen out there. Really wouldn't at least 416 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: like you know, totally convert into carbon or something. You know. 417 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: I find it hard to be heat up something in space, 418 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: even to a million degrees, and when in't like char 419 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,479 Speaker 1: at least. I think the charring in some biochemists out 420 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: there should correct me, involves the process where you are, 421 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: you know, using oxygen to react with the elements and 422 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: doing chemical transformations. If all you're doing is heating it up, 423 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,160 Speaker 1: and you're just going to be heating it up, you're 424 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: not gonna be making any other chemical transformations. But I 425 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,160 Speaker 1: guess there is a little bit of oxygen, right, because 426 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: the marshmallow does have some air tract into it, as 427 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 1: as scientists have found out. Oh that's true. So if 428 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: the marshmallow freezes and cracks and expels a little bit 429 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: of oxygen, so now it has its own tiny little atmosphere, 430 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: and you heat it up fast enough, it could also 431 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,720 Speaker 1: use that oxygen to brown I suppose. Yeah, there's like 432 00:20:55,760 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: an interdisciplinary study here. We need like biochemists and physicists 433 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: engineers to build this giant stick. Well, we're writing a 434 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,880 Speaker 1: grand proposal to the National Snack Foundation and uh, maybe 435 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: they'll fund this study. But they don't give you money. 436 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 1: They just give you more snacks in kind costs. They 437 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: call it all right, aiden, Well, I think that's that 438 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 1: the answer for you there. You need to put the 439 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: marshmallow to roasted in space. You need to put it 440 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: about point four adu, so the way to the sun, 441 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: the somewhere between Venus and Mercury. If you put a 442 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: marshmallow out there, spin it around, it will eventually melt 443 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: and turn goody, delicious, and maybe even a little crispy. 444 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 1: Let us know, and don't forget to publish your work, 445 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: and stay tuned for our next episode, in which we 446 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 1: asked the same question for chocolate. But in the meantime, 447 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: we'll answer more questions from listeners when we come back. 448 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: We have questions about galaxy collisions and micro meteors. Will 449 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: get to those, but first let's take a quick break. 450 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: All right. We are answering listener questions and also getting 451 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: a little hungry talking about marshmallows, sns more. We should 452 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: stop recording this podcast around lunchtime, and I think it 453 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 1: focuses our jokes around feud, or at least after lunch. 454 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: You know, so they were hungry for dessert, but then 455 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,880 Speaker 1: we're going to be full and sleepy. But who needs 456 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: to dessert when you have the knowledge and the mysteries 457 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 1: of the cosmos to snack on? Exactly? But we're supposed 458 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: to be soothing our listeners to sleep and not going 459 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: to sleep ourselves on the podcast. What do you mean 460 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: we're actively trying to make people sleepy? No, but I 461 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: got a lot of listeners who write in and say 462 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 1: that they enjoy listening to our voices as they fall asleep, 463 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: which I think means we put them to sleep. Or 464 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,239 Speaker 1: did they like our voices to be the last thing 465 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: to hear before they fall asleep. That's very feels very intimate. 466 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:57,280 Speaker 1: You're getting very sleepy. What's your day? I don't know. 467 00:22:57,800 --> 00:22:59,680 Speaker 1: Did you turn off the lights now you're going to 468 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: give the nightmares? Is the stove still on? Is there 469 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: somebody right behind you staring idea you're gonna give me nightmares? 470 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: Is there a physicist standing over your deck right now? 471 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 1: Did you lock the windows? Everything is fine, nothing is 472 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:20,680 Speaker 1: screwed up. Go to sleep. The universe is going to 473 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: turn on without you. Everything's out of control, I mean 474 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:26,640 Speaker 1: in control. But as you go to sleep, think about 475 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: the nature of the universe and what your questions are. 476 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: It's right, yeah, and a lot of people have because 477 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: they send us their questions and we are answering them 478 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,880 Speaker 1: here today on the podcast. Is our next question comes 479 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: from Ryan, who is a question about our impending collision 480 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: with the Andromeda galaxy. Hey, Daniel and Jorge, I have 481 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: a question that spent on my mind for a while 482 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: regarding galaxies, and they're galactic collisions that can occur. So 483 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: my question is, how is it the galaxies like Andromeda 484 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,399 Speaker 1: and Milky Way are destined to collide with each other 485 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,879 Speaker 1: in the far future. I know that the universe is 486 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: expanding and therefore all matter isn't a constant motion, but 487 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: how can two massive objects like galaxies just be going 488 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: towards each other? Thanks for inserting the question by all right, 489 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,199 Speaker 1: Thanks Brian. It sounds like it's something that's he's been 490 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: thinking about it for a long time. Yeah, maybe Ryan 491 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 1: falls asleep wondering about the cosmic fate of the galaxy. Well, 492 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: he would have to sleep a lot for it to 493 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: happen in his sleep, right, Maybe he's wondering how long 494 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: can I sleep? Should I set my alarm clock for 495 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,399 Speaker 1: a million years, for a billion years? I don't want 496 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,440 Speaker 1: to miss it? Or do I have to set my 497 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: alarm or will joint galaxy crashing into us waking up? 498 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: If you can sleep through that, then like wow, that's 499 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: a superpower. I haven't managed to sleep through my morning 500 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: at our kids morning routine, So maybe if a galaxy 501 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: collision happened, I wouldn't know it. Well, that's another question. 502 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: How many galaxies would it take to wake up Rhead 503 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: or any cartoonist. But yeah, Ryan asked about our impending 504 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: collision with Andromeda, and so phillis in Daniel. We're going 505 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,479 Speaker 1: to collide with another galaxy. We are going to collide 506 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: with another galaxy, and Jomeda is headed our way, and 507 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: Drameda is the nearest galaxy to us, but it's still 508 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: pretty far away. It's millions of light years away. But 509 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: there's something really cool that I think is not widely 510 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: enough appreciated about Andromeda, and that's how big it is. 511 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: It's millions of light years away, but it's actually so 512 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: big that if you could see it in the night sky, 513 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: it would be bigger than the full moon. It would 514 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,679 Speaker 1: be like a huge object in the sky. Well, I mean, 515 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: if if it's right next to us, it would occupy 516 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: our entire night sky, right, that's right. But even millions 517 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: of light years away, it's still enormous. You know. Somebody 518 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,639 Speaker 1: wrote me and asked me a question about seeing distant 519 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: objects using telescopes. And the thing that telescopes do is 520 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: not so much magnification as gather more light so you 521 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,920 Speaker 1: can see dim things right there, like enhance the brightness 522 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: of things more than they make them bigger. Because a 523 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: lot of exciting things the nice guy are already really big. 524 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 1: They're just too dim to see. So Andrameda is like that, 525 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: it's incredible if you can see Andrameda in the nice sky. 526 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: It's really very dramatic. Oh, I see, you're saying, like 527 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: if we could keep our eye cones open and of 528 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,400 Speaker 1: and looked at the sky at night, we would see 529 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,880 Speaker 1: Andromeda and it would be about the size of the moon. Yeah, 530 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,160 Speaker 1: it would be larger than the full moon. People imagine 531 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 1: that all the galaxies are out there are like the tiniest, 532 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 1: dimmest little dots. They're even dimmer and further than stars. 533 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: But this is like look up in the nice sky. 534 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: You would see this enormous spiral galaxy like right there. 535 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: It would be incredible, but it's just so dim that 536 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,440 Speaker 1: you can't see. It's not newly as bright as the 537 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: full moon or many of the other stars in our galaxy. 538 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: Maybe it's a good thing we can't see it. You know. 539 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: Imagine if every time you looked up at the sky 540 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,679 Speaker 1: you saw this giant galaxy coming towards you. I mean, 541 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,159 Speaker 1: be frightening, right when it's like, oh I look at 542 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:45,720 Speaker 1: that beautiful moon and the giant galaxy. Yeah, be like 543 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: is it getting there? Is it coming this way? It 544 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: is getting bigger, but by a very small amount every year. 545 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: And this is a question people ask kind of often. 546 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 1: They're trying to reconcile two things they've heard. One is 547 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: that Andromeda is coming towards us, and the other is 548 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: space between galaxies is expanding, and the whole universe is expanding, 549 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 1: and everything is getting further and further apart. And these 550 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: two things seem to be in contradiction. So I get 551 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: a lot of people writing in asking this kind of question, 552 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: or this very exact question. That's right, because we have 553 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: talked a lot in this podcast about how the universe 554 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 1: is expanding due to dark energy, and the universe is 555 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: getting bigger and bigger, and so I guess Ryan's question is, like, 556 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: very everything is getting bigger and bigger and farther and 557 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: farther away. How is it that we are even in 558 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: danger of colliding with another galaxy. Yeah, and so there 559 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: are two effects happening there right. One is the universe 560 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: is expanding. New space is being created all the time, 561 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,560 Speaker 1: and that new space is not just being made out 562 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: there in deep space. It's made everywhere. It's made between 563 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: me and you, it's made between the atoms in your body. 564 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: It's made between the Earth and the Sun, it's made 565 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,600 Speaker 1: between the Sun and other stars. It's everywhere. Home geniously, 566 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: like everywhere in space is expanding. But that expansion is 567 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: not that dramatic, you know, over a light year or so, 568 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: it's like a centimeter per year, and so it's sort 569 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: of like a very gentle breeze. And the other effect 570 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: that's going on, of course, is gravity or other bonds. 571 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,719 Speaker 1: The reason that dark energy is not tearing you apart 572 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: is because the bonds in your body are more powerful 573 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,880 Speaker 1: than dark energy. Over short distances, they win, and over 574 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: distances like between the Earth and the Sun, gravity winds. 575 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: So gravity, even though it's super duper weak compared to 576 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: the other forces, is more powerful than dark energy over 577 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,200 Speaker 1: these short distances. But as distances get larger and larger, 578 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: gravity gets weaker and weaker. Right, you don't feel the 579 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: gravity of distant objects as much as you feel the 580 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: gravity of nearby objects. So as distances get larger, gravity 581 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: gets weaker, but dark energy doesn't. Dark energy gets more 582 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 1: powerful with distance, so at some point, over long distances, 583 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: dark energy winds, and over short distances, gravity winds. Like 584 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: right now, dark energy is trying to pull our solar 585 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: system apart, or even you apart, right, but the gravity 586 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: is sort of keeping things tightly bound together. Yes, it's 587 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: like there's a very gentle breeze, but you and your 588 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: friend are holding each other's hands, so you're not getting 589 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: pulled apart. But over large distances that that gentle breeze 590 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: becomes like a hurricane almost right, Like it's additive like that, 591 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: The breeze just gets more massive the longer use sample it, 592 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: and gravity gets weaker. Because if we're talking about gravity 593 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: between galaxies or between clusters of galaxies, now we're talking 594 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 1: about hundreds of millions of light years. And while gravity's 595 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: extent is infinite, right, you do feel the gravity of 596 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 1: Andromeda and other galaxies, it drops off like one over 597 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 1: the distance squared, and so you get twice as far. 598 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: It's four times weaker. Over those vast distances, gravity gets 599 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: pretty weak and then dark energy takes over. So if 600 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: you look at the universe only at the scale of 601 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: like superclusters of galaxies, right, the structure is our solar system, 602 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,280 Speaker 1: that our galaxy, and then clusters of galaxies, then clusters 603 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: of clusters of galaxies that we call superclusters. Between superclusters, 604 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: dark energy is winning. Superclusters are moving away from each 605 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: other faster and faster every year. Gravity cannot hold them 606 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: together because the distances are too great. Yeah, it's almost like, 607 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: you know, we're on a tiny little island and the 608 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: other galaxy cluster isn't another tiny little island somewhere in 609 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: the over the vast ocean, and the ocean is getting 610 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: bigger yea, And the largest thing that gravity can hold 611 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: together is sort of one galaxy cluster. So like the 612 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: Milky Way and Andromeda and the other galaxies in our 613 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 1: cluster that we call the local group, these things are 614 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: gravitationally bound. Gravity is strong enough to hold them together 615 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,479 Speaker 1: like a little group of islands, but the ocean between 616 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: our cluster and other clusters is expanding like a supercluster. 617 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,040 Speaker 1: Astronomers argue about whether it's even really a thing, because 618 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: they don't not sure whether it's gravitationally held together or 619 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: just sort of currently right now near each other, but 620 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: dark energy will eventually tear it apart. I see, that's 621 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: kind of sad, but I guess you know, it sort 622 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: of depends on the distances, right, Like, if our cluster 623 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: was closer to another closter close enough, then they would 624 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: maybe feel more gravity towards each other. It just so 625 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: happens that there's a bunch of space in between. There 626 00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: is a bunch of space in between, and so that 627 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: lets us answer Ryan's question. You know, how is it 628 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: possible if space is expanding, for Andromeda the Milky Way 629 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: to becoming close to each other. Well, the answer is 630 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: that gravity wins over dark energy between neighboring galaxies. Even 631 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 1: though in Drameda is millions of light years away, it's 632 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: got a lot of gravity, and that gravity is pulling 633 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: us towards it, and our gravity is pulling it towards us. 634 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: So what you're saying that the Milky Way does feel 635 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: gravity towards Andromeda, like we feel it, like it's actually 636 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: changing our trajectory. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a huge object. It's 637 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,320 Speaker 1: much much bigger than the Milky Way. It's much more 638 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,200 Speaker 1: massive than the Milky Way. So we do feel it's gravity, 639 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: and you know it's going to take a long time. 640 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: It's billions of years for these large distant objects to 641 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: pull each other together. But eventually that's what gravity does. 642 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: You know, gravity operates over large distances in long times, 643 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 1: but it's very patient. It just keeps going. It's like 644 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: the energizer Bunny of the universe. But you know, I 645 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: kind of interpreted Ryan's questions a little bit differently because 646 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: he used words like destiny and like why is our 647 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: galaxy destined to crashing to another one? And so I 648 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: think his question sounded more like he was wondering, how 649 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: is it a coincidence that we, in this vastness of 650 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: space our galaxy isn't a crush collision course with another 651 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: galaxy when you know it could have easily, you know, 652 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: be aimed to to miss this or you know, it's 653 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: almost like trying to hit two pebbles out there in 654 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: the vastness of space. Yeah, and if you just imagine 655 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:23,000 Speaker 1: like a bunch of bouncy balls in a huge volume 656 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: of space, you figure they're never going to hit each other. 657 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: But these bouncy balls are attracted to each other. Gravity 658 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: is pulling these things together, So it's not random that 659 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: these things are pointed towards each other. It's not just 660 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: bad luck or good luck, depending on which side you're 661 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,480 Speaker 1: rooting for. Gravity is actively pulling this stuff together. The 662 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: whole reason the galaxy exists is because gravity has pulled 663 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: the matter together to make the stars, and then pulled 664 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: those stars together to make galaxies. And now it's pulling 665 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,880 Speaker 1: those galaxies together to make bigger galaxies. And this wouldn't 666 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: be the first collision for the Milky Way. We've collided 667 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,160 Speaker 1: with many other galaxies. We have other little dwarf galaxies 668 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: inside our galaxy that we've already gobbled up and eaten, 669 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: and most galaxies out there, I've been through several rounds 670 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: of collisions, and so more collisions definitely in our future. 671 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:08,480 Speaker 1: But I guess that you know, there is sort of 672 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: an element of luck to it as well, Right Like, 673 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: we're not destined, Like our whole galaxy cluster isn't destint 674 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: all destined to crash into each other at some point 675 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,720 Speaker 1: in the future, right Like it's not all going to 676 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: be just a giant black hole eventually, is it? Yeah? Actually, 677 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: it kind of is definitely become a giant black hole. 678 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: If you look really far into the future, these islands 679 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: that gravity is controlling, eventually they will pull them all 680 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 1: into a black hole. The only thing that lets us 681 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: resist that is angular momentum. Like the reason our Milky 682 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 1: Way hasn't yet collapsed into a black hole is because 683 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: those stars have a lot of velocity, so they can 684 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: maintain an orbit around the black hole. But eventually they'll 685 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: lose that. They'll radiate away some of that energy and 686 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 1: gravitational waves, or they'll bump into each other and they 687 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: will collapse into the black hole. And similarly, all the 688 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: galaxies and our local group eventually will coalesce into one 689 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 1: meta galaxy with a super duper black hole at its 690 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: center eventually will eat all the stuff. Wow. But then 691 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: we're talking like trillions of years now, right, not like billions. 692 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: We're talking like maybe even like, you know, hundreds of 693 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:12,240 Speaker 1: trillions of years. Yes, exactly. But the deep, deep future 694 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: of the universe, assuming dark energy keeps going, is that 695 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: it's nice and cozy, little crowded. It's a bunch of 696 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,800 Speaker 1: super isolated, super massive black holes, and it's going to 697 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:23,759 Speaker 1: take a really really long time. But The cool thing 698 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:25,960 Speaker 1: is that if you took like a time lapse movie 699 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:28,919 Speaker 1: of this process, it would look like it's happening really fast. 700 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,359 Speaker 1: It would make a lot of sense. You're like, oh, crash, crash, crash, 701 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 1: and then the whole thing coalesces. We're just sort of 702 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:38,239 Speaker 1: watching it in super duper slow motion. Interesting. So it's 703 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: a little bit of a coincidence we're crashing into Andromeda 704 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 1: in the next couple of billion years, but it's not 705 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: a coincidence in the long term of things, where you know, 706 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 1: eventually everything's going to collide with with itself exactly. It 707 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: wasn't predestined that we would collide with this galaxy at 708 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 1: this particular time, but there was no way we were 709 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,799 Speaker 1: going to avoid colliding with other galaxies at some point. 710 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,280 Speaker 1: So either way, it's still a few trillion or billion 711 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 1: a year US and so Ryan used to have a 712 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:03,440 Speaker 1: lot of time to sleep in. It's right in Rusty 713 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: marshmallows the rest easy. All right, let's get to our 714 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 1: last question of the day here, and it's about micro 715 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,560 Speaker 1: meteors and surviving being out in space. But first let's 716 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 1: take another quick break. All right, we are answering the 717 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: listener questions here today on the podcast, and we've had 718 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,240 Speaker 1: two awesome questions and our last one is about micro 719 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: meteors and it comes from Bess Hi Daniel Jorge. My 720 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,800 Speaker 1: name is boss Um from in the Netherlands. I have 721 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,279 Speaker 1: a question for you guys. So if you travel really 722 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: quickly to space, like you go really fast, maybe almost 723 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,359 Speaker 1: just feel a light, what would happen if you would 724 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: hit like a tiny piece of debris or maybe like 725 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,880 Speaker 1: a tiny rock. Would it bounce off or would it 726 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:00,320 Speaker 1: explode the ship? And if so, like, how are we 727 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: able to to travel in the future without having to 728 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: worry about exploding with flight? I was really curious about that. 729 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: Thank you, bye bye. Alright, awesome question here about being 730 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:13,840 Speaker 1: out in space, I guess is space is not a 731 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,280 Speaker 1: complete empty vacuum, right, There's stuff floating out there in space. 732 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,480 Speaker 1: There is a lot of stuff out there in space, 733 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,840 Speaker 1: and not just like the tiny quantum fields that are 734 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: fluctuating at very low energies. There's really stuff out there. 735 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,359 Speaker 1: You know, the Sun pumps out the solar wind which 736 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:29,800 Speaker 1: is filled with particles, but also there's lots of space 737 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,320 Speaker 1: dust and micromedeors and all sorts of things. Whizzing around 738 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 1: out there in space. Yeah, he talked about micro meteors, 739 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: and so what is the micromedia. Micromedia is just like 740 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,839 Speaker 1: a pebble that's out there in space, you know, micromeding 741 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: really really small. And the stuff that's out there in 742 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: space has been coalescing in the Solar System for a 743 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: long time, and so most of it's in the form 744 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 1: of the Sun and the planets and even big asteroids. 745 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,160 Speaker 1: But sometimes those things collide and leave debris. And we 746 00:36:56,239 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 1: talked on an episode recently about space dust, which are 747 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,400 Speaker 1: like little particles of stuff that are out there in 748 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: the Solar System. Nobody's exactly sure where they come from. 749 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:07,960 Speaker 1: Maybe they're whipped off of storms on Mars. Maybe they 750 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: come from collisions of asteroids and the asteroid belt. We're 751 00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:15,680 Speaker 1: not exactly sure. Exploded marshmallows, perhaps from failed experiments by aliens, 752 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: alien campers. That's right, edible space junk, just open your 753 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: mouth and space. And there is also a lot of debris. 754 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,719 Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of debris near Earth from 755 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: you know, satellites that have fallen apart and burned up, 756 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,960 Speaker 1: and you know, screws dropped by astronauts and stuff like that, 757 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: and some of the stuff is moving pretty fast yea. 758 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: And in fact, the Earth sort of gets pelted by 759 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:38,920 Speaker 1: micromedeors all the time, right, Like we're literally getting showered 760 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: by these tiny little rocks, except that they get burned 761 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,920 Speaker 1: up in the atmosphere. Yeah, the size of the rock 762 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,880 Speaker 1: is inversely proportionals the frequency of the chances that it 763 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 1: hits Earth. So really really big rocks like the one 764 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 1: that killed the dinosaurs really rare, small enough rocks to 765 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: make shooting stars, not that rare, like you can see 766 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,120 Speaker 1: them on a random night. Really really tiny rocks that 767 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:02,040 Speaker 1: don't even make shooting stars happen all the time, like constantly, 768 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:04,239 Speaker 1: and so like if you see it as a shooting star, 769 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: it means the atmosphere burned it up. But if you 770 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: are above the atmosphere, those things can hit you, right, absolutely, 771 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 1: those things can hit you. And they're moving pretty fast. 772 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 1: You know. The Earth is moving around the Sun at 773 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: like thirty kilometers per second, so these speeds are really high, 774 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: and things are flying through the Solar system, you know, 775 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: like five to twenty kilometers per second is totally not 776 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: unusual for micromediors. These tiny little space petals, whoa You 777 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:30,520 Speaker 1: just made me realize that maybe it's not the meter 778 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:33,120 Speaker 1: hitting you, it's like you hitting the meteor, like it 779 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: was just floating out in space peacefully, and then the 780 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: Earth just kind of you and the Earth so came 781 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,040 Speaker 1: barreling around and and you hit the little rock. Yeah. 782 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:44,399 Speaker 1: The rocks have their own little podcasts like, Hey, I'm 783 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:48,520 Speaker 1: worried about people coming and hitting me at high speed. Yeah, 784 00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: I had to dream or a giant marshmallow totally engulfed 785 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 1: or ecosystem. It was delicious and it had a lot 786 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 1: of air in it, but now everything's really sticky, I 787 00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 1: don't know, embedded in giant marshmallow. Pretty good way to 788 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:05,400 Speaker 1: what if our entire milky way like an andramatous sized marshmallow, right, 789 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,719 Speaker 1: that would be interesting. It depends is it melted marshmallow 790 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,319 Speaker 1: or is it nice and room temperature. Because I don't 791 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: want to be boiled alive, and so I have a 792 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: molten marshmallow. That's times horrible. That's true. That probably also 793 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: ruined the marshmallow. Nobody wants to eat marshmallows with boiled 794 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: cartoonists inside. That's right, nobody wants more of those. But 795 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 1: Boss's question is also about like how do we survive 796 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 1: this field of micro meteors. Like, if we're moving through 797 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: space at high speed, you know, then these things basically 798 00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: coming at us at high speed, how can we possibly 799 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,440 Speaker 1: survive transit between stars? Right? It's it's kind of like 800 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: being shot at by bullets, right, Like these things are 801 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:43,120 Speaker 1: going faster than a bullet. Yeah, these things are super fast, 802 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,160 Speaker 1: and like bullets, they can be small, but they can 803 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: carry a lot of energy. Right, bullet rips right through 804 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,759 Speaker 1: you because it's going super duper fast, so it's a 805 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:54,280 Speaker 1: lot of kinetic energy. So yeah, these things are dangerous 806 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,839 Speaker 1: and everybody that goes out into space, even near Earth, 807 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 1: needs shielding to protect themselves from these things. Remember we 808 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: talked about the Juno spacecraft that went out to explore 809 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:06,880 Speaker 1: the outer reaches of the Solar System and it was 810 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,520 Speaker 1: pelted by space dust so much so that it's solar 811 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,200 Speaker 1: panels had all these little spellations that came off that 812 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:15,239 Speaker 1: helped them even measure the amount of space dust. So yeah, 813 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,600 Speaker 1: it's like being in a dust storm right where it 814 00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:19,560 Speaker 1: can shred you kind of right, because these things are 815 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:23,240 Speaker 1: going like like kilometers per second, like three to eighteen 816 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: kilometers per second. Exactly. Imagine being in a dust storm 817 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:30,160 Speaker 1: where the winds are kilometers per second velocity that it's 818 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: like sandpaper, right, it would totally shred you. And so 819 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:34,320 Speaker 1: I guess the solution if you're at third space is 820 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,160 Speaker 1: to have shielding. I guess, like something to block those 821 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 1: incoming bullets. Yeah, and so we got a lot of 822 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,279 Speaker 1: stuff out there in space, and so NASA has worked 823 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,120 Speaker 1: on this kind of thing, and for example, the I 824 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: s S the space station has shielding. And the standard 825 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 1: solution to this is something called a Whipple shield, named 826 00:40:50,200 --> 00:40:52,400 Speaker 1: after an engineer whose last name is Whipple. And the 827 00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: basic idea is to have like multiple layers of shielding. 828 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 1: So you have like your internal shield, and then you 829 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: have a gap and you have another layer of shielding 830 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:04,800 Speaker 1: and the outer layer shielding. Its job is to break 831 00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,800 Speaker 1: up the micro meteorite into even smaller pieces, so instead 832 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,719 Speaker 1: of having like a bullet instead you have like a 833 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,480 Speaker 1: bunch of smaller bullets. And the idea is that it 834 00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 1: spreads out, so it's not like one localized impact on 835 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,880 Speaker 1: your inner shield, like spreads it out over multiple smaller 836 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,399 Speaker 1: impact sites. Interesting, but what is this outer shield made 837 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,759 Speaker 1: out of? Doesn't it get destroyed when a bullet hits it, 838 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,440 Speaker 1: so eventually you can get used up. It cannot last forever. 839 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,640 Speaker 1: You don't want to get hit twice in the same spot. Though. 840 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,240 Speaker 1: Some people are working on these shields that are self 841 00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:39,239 Speaker 1: healing that will repair a hole in themselves. Interesting. How 842 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: does that work? Well, they use some sort of gel 843 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: so that at low temperatures it's solid and it can 844 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,239 Speaker 1: act as a shield. But then when something passes through it, 845 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,840 Speaker 1: the friction of it heats it up and so it 846 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,239 Speaker 1: becomes liquid and then it like flows just close up 847 00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:56,840 Speaker 1: the whole automatically. Oh whoa interesting Now, of course you 848 00:41:56,960 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: make me think of what if we make it out 849 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 1: of marshmallows, like it bounce to get absorbed and with 850 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:06,520 Speaker 1: the heat also you know, reseal it. I think we're 851 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,480 Speaker 1: gonna have to consult the marshmallow lab, but you see 852 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,080 Speaker 1: Santa Barber to find out. I'm thinking like a layer 853 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:14,839 Speaker 1: of marshmallows to slow down the meteor, than a layer 854 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:17,840 Speaker 1: of chocolate to really take out the kinetic energy. And 855 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: then Graham Cracker plates to um to really fortified. And 856 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,680 Speaker 1: when we walk into the lab and see somebody heating 857 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 1: this thing with a laser, and you're like, no, seriously, 858 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:32,800 Speaker 1: we're doing space physics. Here. You see somebody with like 859 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:38,160 Speaker 1: a gun pointed at a Smores sandwich. There doing real science. Yeah, 860 00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:39,680 Speaker 1: and so this is sort of the state of the art. 861 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 1: It's a whipple shield. You have like a thin outer 862 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: bumper and then you have a gap, and you can 863 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,400 Speaker 1: have multiple layers of it, right to try to like 864 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: make yourself protected from even higher energy objects, so you 865 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,600 Speaker 1: can break them up in several stages. You can do 866 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,560 Speaker 1: things like stuff the gap with materials that could help 867 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:59,080 Speaker 1: absorb the energy, like kevlar, etcetera, like a bulletproof vest literally, yeah, 868 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 1: like a bulletproof But in the end you have to 869 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 1: build shielding because, as Vast says, if this thing passes 870 00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,120 Speaker 1: through your ship and punctures it, then boom your toast, right. 871 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:10,480 Speaker 1: So this could be a real problem, and it is 872 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 1: going to be a real problem if we ever do 873 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: get to travel in between the stars. Yeah. I've always wondered, like, 874 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,479 Speaker 1: if you're going through space and you're going really really fast, 875 00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 1: almost at the speed of light, like if a tiny 876 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 1: rock hits you, it's your toast, right, Like it would 877 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,479 Speaker 1: have so much energy exactly unless you have a really 878 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: good shielding at the front of your ship that can 879 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,560 Speaker 1: break it up so that it becomes like many smaller rocks. 880 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 1: And the key here is the pressure applied for each rock, Right, 881 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,680 Speaker 1: it's amount of kinetic energy delivered, like per area. Same 882 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:41,200 Speaker 1: kinetic energy that's in a bullet isn't a big deal 883 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:43,839 Speaker 1: if it hits over a much broader area. Like that's 884 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,240 Speaker 1: how a bulletproof vest works, right. It takes a bullet 885 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:48,359 Speaker 1: which is trying to put a lot of energy into 886 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,240 Speaker 1: like one half a square centimeter, and it just spreads 887 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,359 Speaker 1: it out over your entire chest. And so that's why 888 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: when you're hit with a bullet and you're wearing a 889 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: bulletproof vest, you get knocked over, right, but you don't 890 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,879 Speaker 1: get penetrated, doesn't like go into your body. So that's 891 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: the idea is to spread out the energy over a 892 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,839 Speaker 1: larger area. But yeah, if it gets through, then you've 893 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:08,719 Speaker 1: been shot with a bullet and you're dead. I guess 894 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,760 Speaker 1: the International Space Station that's covered in all this shilling, 895 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,000 Speaker 1: they have all sorts of shielding on the space station. 896 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:17,160 Speaker 1: They have like a hundred different kinds of shields based 897 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,480 Speaker 1: on like how much time the astronauts spend there because 898 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,240 Speaker 1: you have to balance mass, right, these things are heavy, 899 00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,279 Speaker 1: and so lifting them into space costs energy and money, 900 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: so you don't want a bunch of shielding where you 901 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,040 Speaker 1: don't need it. So they have like more shielding with 902 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:33,360 Speaker 1: the astronauts spend more time, and then they have like 903 00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 1: one special room that's like super shielded, so if they 904 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,640 Speaker 1: see like a shower of these things coming, the astronauts 905 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:41,879 Speaker 1: can like you know, basically go into their panic room. 906 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:44,400 Speaker 1: And recently, one of these things like smacked into the 907 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:46,839 Speaker 1: one of the windows. They have this like observation room 908 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:48,560 Speaker 1: in the I S S. We have big windows you 909 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,080 Speaker 1: can look on the Earth, and the micromedia right hit 910 00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,080 Speaker 1: one of those windows and you know, took out a 911 00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: little vivid and so that was a little bit scary 912 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,719 Speaker 1: because if it cracks the window, it's kind of a 913 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:00,279 Speaker 1: panic time. But there, yeah, exactly then it time to 914 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,759 Speaker 1: do space marshmallow experiments. Yeah, quickly before you can run 915 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,879 Speaker 1: out of auxin. And and like you said, these things 916 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,360 Speaker 1: were out right, like they're constantly getting pelted by micrometers 917 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,560 Speaker 1: and so they were out right. So is is a 918 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:13,960 Speaker 1: space station doesn't have like a maintenance program where it 919 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,800 Speaker 1: replaces its shields every now and then. Yeah, exactly, you 920 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,000 Speaker 1: got to replace them and launch new ones. And that's 921 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,880 Speaker 1: why everything in space is constantly getting degraded. And so 922 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,160 Speaker 1: when you hear people talking about, like, you know, launching 923 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:27,759 Speaker 1: space based solar power or space based or space space that, 924 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,880 Speaker 1: remember that these things will not last that long in space. 925 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,880 Speaker 1: This huge radiation to fry the electronics. But there's also 926 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:38,640 Speaker 1: basically space sandpaper wearing down everything. Is this you know, 927 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,320 Speaker 1: constant wind of stuff just like trying to destroy in space. 928 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:45,520 Speaker 1: Remember the atmosphere protects us from all of this. You know, 929 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,160 Speaker 1: it's basically a huge shield. It sounds like you want 930 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:50,960 Speaker 1: to have maybe some air trapped around your space station 931 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:56,480 Speaker 1: to protect you. Maybe maybe trapped in the form of marshmallows. Yeah, 932 00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:58,680 Speaker 1: or maybe we should use the plan we talked about once. 933 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:02,560 Speaker 1: Instead of lying somewhere else away from our solar system, 934 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,040 Speaker 1: we should just move the entire solar system, like we 935 00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:07,520 Speaker 1: want to go visit another star. We just turn our 936 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,360 Speaker 1: son into our rocket. Remember that idea. Yeah, Yeah, we 937 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:12,919 Speaker 1: had a whole podcast about it. Yeah, And that would 938 00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:14,919 Speaker 1: solve a lot of these problems, right, because you could 939 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,840 Speaker 1: bring your atmosphere shield with you as you move around 940 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,160 Speaker 1: the galaxy. And you also need shielding if you're going 941 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:22,640 Speaker 1: out in space by yourself, right in a space suit. Yeah, 942 00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:24,800 Speaker 1: that's one of the dangers of these e v A 943 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,480 Speaker 1: s when the astronauts leave the space station and they're 944 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,160 Speaker 1: just protected by their suit. They have some shielding on 945 00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:33,000 Speaker 1: these suits as well, but you know, that's a pretty 946 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:35,359 Speaker 1: dangerous if you're hit by a micro meteorite, it could 947 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,880 Speaker 1: puncture your suit. And so they do have them shielded, 948 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:41,680 Speaker 1: and they do some calculations. You know, they say, we 949 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,040 Speaker 1: want less than a one percent chance that we're gonna 950 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:47,440 Speaker 1: lose an astronaut per decade, and that's the threshold they 951 00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,160 Speaker 1: apply to figure out like how much shielding they need. Yeah, 952 00:46:50,239 --> 00:46:52,360 Speaker 1: I guess it's like walking out into the middle of 953 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,120 Speaker 1: a gunfight, kind of hoping you don't get hit. Yeah, 954 00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:57,319 Speaker 1: you're doing signs in the middle of a gun range. 955 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:05,319 Speaker 1: That's gutsy, Daniel. How dangerous is your day job. I'm 956 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:07,200 Speaker 1: not taking any risks like that. I'm just eating too 957 00:47:07,239 --> 00:47:10,480 Speaker 1: many marshmallows for science. And so you're building a little 958 00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 1: you know, shielding around your middle section, not so a 959 00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: little anymore. All right, Well, that answers a question for Boss. 960 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:20,160 Speaker 1: I guess micrometers would shread you? Is the answer to 961 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,120 Speaker 1: his question. You know, if you're out there without any shielding, 962 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,919 Speaker 1: eventually probably something is gonna start poking holes, So start 963 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:30,400 Speaker 1: training your your outer suit. That's right. So before you 964 00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: make plans to move out of the Milky Way to 965 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,600 Speaker 1: avoid the collision with Andromeda, pack a lot of marshmallows, 966 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:37,759 Speaker 1: and also pack a lot of shields and sorry, in 967 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:40,680 Speaker 1: a suit of armor if you can, guess be iron 968 00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:44,319 Speaker 1: man if you can, or carbon fiber man. Maybe all right, Well, 969 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,239 Speaker 1: that answers all of our questions. Thank you to all 970 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 1: of our listeners for sending in. There are questions. We 971 00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:52,200 Speaker 1: really enjoy answering them here online. Please don't be shy, 972 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:54,799 Speaker 1: right to us two questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. 973 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: And keep being curious and keep tasting those marshmallows just right. 974 00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,439 Speaker 1: If not while you're awake, then while you're asleep, which 975 00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:04,960 Speaker 1: hopefully most of you are by now. If we did 976 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:08,280 Speaker 1: our job, maybe we should be talking quieter and quieter 977 00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: as the podcast gets on. Yes, what you start whispering 978 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:17,319 Speaker 1: good night, pleasant dreams? Al right, everybody, thanks for joining us. 979 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:27,840 Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks for listening, and remember that 980 00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:30,719 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge explained the universe is a production of 981 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:34,160 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcast from my heart Radio, 982 00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:37,880 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 983 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:41,480 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. Ye