Thread: Largest structure in the Universe

Originally Posted by Koojo

I thought this was going to be about a Chinese shopping mall.

Me too.

Anyway, let the boffins do their boffilising. I'm off to the IT mall.

Originally Posted by hazz

if you think about it from the photos perspective

^^ yeah, I realise now, I had read/learned that before.

In fact, I recall being impressed that they conducted an experiment showing this. (By sending a very accurate watch into orbit and then measuring the time it had 'lost' on return).

I just had a brain fart.

GPS only works if you correct for relativistic effects of gravity and velocity on the satalites internal clock. but you don't even need to go that far, they demonstrated the effect using ceasium clocks installed on commercial aircraft in the 70's.

I also read about a chap work i believed worked for HP in the states. he had a couple of attomic clocks and took one of them on a trip to yellowstone park (where earths gravity it a little stronger) with his son. when they got back there was a very small difference between the two clocks.

wasn't socal's arsehole the largest?

Originally Posted by poorfalang

wasn't socal's arsehole the largest?

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Ooh.

Gotchya!

I'd better apologize again!

:sheepish:

No need, happens all the time, sometimes I write something press submit post, no signal for a few hours. I just have to live with it. Jim

Originally Posted by poorfalang

wasn't socal's arsehole the largest?

wrong. The OP is about the largest structure in the universe, you are refering to the biggest hole in the universe which not quite the same thing

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

Originally Posted by hazz

if you think about it from the photos perspective

when I was doing serious heavy shit like this, I found the digesting small bits at a time over a period of years managed to avoid embrassing incidents like this for the most part and I gained a very perverse view of what reality really is

Is that Ronald McDonald's head exploding?...

Originally Posted by kingwilly

^^ yeah, I realise now, I had read/learned that before.

In fact, I recall being impressed that they conducted an experiment showing this. (By sending a very accurate watch into orbit and then measuring the time it had 'lost' on return).

I just had a brain fart.

It's more a dilemma. How can they say that light travels at appr. 300,000 km per second if time doesn't exist for light?

bastards.

Originally Posted by wasntme

Originally Posted by Rainfall

Originally Posted by kingwilly

^^ yeah, I realise now, I had read/learned that before.

In fact, I recall being impressed that they conducted an experiment showing this. (By sending a very accurate watch into orbit and then measuring the time it had 'lost' on return).

I just had a brain fart.

It's more a dilemma. How can they say that light travels at appr. 300,000 km per second if time doesn't exist for light?

Conundrum really but nicely put.

Someone smarter than me will come along soon but i will have a crack at this for now.

It is relative. Time does exist for light but given its usage as a measure, you will need an alternative measure to gauge time re light. The problem with the science here and measure for us is mass. We cannot fathom massless entities let alone use them as a measure. It just dissolves quantum mechanics into theory. So, does light have mass or if not how does it have momentum? Gravity becomes problematic now. A real conundrum!!

How can light be massless if we use it to transfer data?

It seems just recently the bods announced that they have managed to trap a light beam (speed=0) for about a full minute, using that time to record the event for further study. But being massless, which no doubt helps it be the fastest thing in the known universe, surely a) it cannot be trapped b) if trapped it could not be viewed, and as both a) and b) are claimed to be successful, then c) once trapped how could it escape from a sealed unit?

signed

clueless

And don't forget when doing experiments on the quantum level the observer has a direct influence on the outcome of the experiment just by the act of observation. I love the quantum world it will change the way we think of everything including ourselves.

Originally Posted by beazalbob69

And don't forget when doing experiments on the quantum level the observer has a direct influence on the outcome of the experiment just by the act of observation. I love the quantum world it will change the way we think of everything including ourselves.

Yes it's a really strange world/ universe seen through quantum level. The Buddhist may very well be right, all life is just an illusion.
If the universe is made of quantum packets and they have 0 mass, 0 plus 0 no matter how many times you add it will come to zero. Jim

I still hold that time is a construct of our brains just like colours, and does not exist as a constant of the universe, dimension, or unit in physics. We perceive change and successions of events, and recurring events, and to make sense of it, we invented time. Denial of time makes it so much easier to contemplate physics.

^
Exactly. It helps if you believe the Universe never had a beginning or an end; it just IS.

I suspect most Thais would have no problem with this concept.

Originally Posted by beazalbob69

And don't forget when doing experiments on the quantum level the observer has a direct influence on the outcome of the experiment just by the act of observation. I love the quantum world it will change the way we think of everything including ourselves.

Ya, I found that documentary intriguing about the photons that behaved one way whilst being observed and entirely different when unobserved, with the force of the very light beams generated by watching them influencing the spectacular change of behaviour.

Who knows, we might eventually begin to think outside of the box and accept that our understanding of "universal laws" doesn't stack up at all well with what's actually out there. For example, I cringe on hearing experts say there can be no life on certain planets that hold no water, which sets me off imagining intelligent beings in some distant galaxy discounting Earth as a life source, specifically because we have water.