Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Why I love Physics

I'm not the kind of person who is overly obsessed with time travel. But when I read an article like this, how can you not be enthralled? The Universe is an amazing place. And there is so much about it that we just don't know! Theories of relativity and wormholes are especially captivating. The most amazing part is that God follows/commands all these same rules of the universe that we are subject to. Isn't that spectacular?!

STEPHEN HAWKING: How to build a time machine (read the full article here!)

Wormholes and Time (by Ash)
A wormhole is a passageway in space between two very distant points. A shortcut, if you will. Imagine space (as we know it in 3D) is really a 2D flat surface, like a piece of paper. A wormhole would be like folding the paper in half so that two opposite corners are now right next to each other, drastically shortening the distance between the two points.This is the concept on which several television shows and movies are based: for example, Stargate and Star Trek both have plots that are based upon this theory.

In Hawking's article, he discusses time as a fourth dimension of space. I find that concept very interesting. So, three dimensions are length, width and height- and the fourth dimension is time. I know that sounds confusing, but think of it this way. Light travels at a constant 186,000 miles per second (which Hawking refers to as the cosmic speed limit- because nothing can travel faster than this speed). If light travels that fast each second, imagine how far it can travel in a year! Stars in the night sky are light years away. If a star is 100 light years away, it will take 100 years for light from that star to reach Earth. When you look at a star that is 100 light years away, you are looking at that star as it looked 100 years ago. Which means what you're seeing is not real time for that star, but a glimpse into the past.

So in reality, we are all time travelers!

Isn't it fascinating?

I LOVE SCIENCE!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

let's be serious- you love science FICTION. You don't love real science. Tell me again- did you enjoy your science classes in college? That's what I whought you sci-fi princess.

Ashley said...

I agree that adding a little FICTION to my science only makes it better :) BUT considering all my fiction is about SCIENCE, who's to say it's not the science I love?

xoxo
sci-fi princess

Ashley said...

And how would either of us know if we liked our science classes in college? You never took them, and I never went!

:P

Brenda said...

I love this post even more now that I have read the comments :)

Nancy said...

Ashley, you take after your Mother.
Don't you wish you had gone to those science classes now?

Ashley said...

Yes ma'am! :)

Courtney and Matt said...

I have to admit when I read the post title I skipped it altogether and just went for the comments! No science for me please, especially science fiction =D. Although I do like Punnett Squares.