Gravity
Category archives for Gravity
Have we reached the end of Particle Physics?
Posted by Ethan on October 17, 2012 
“The particle and the planet are subject to the same laws and what is learned of one will be known of the other.” -James Smithson The entirety of the known Universe — from the smallest constituents of the atoms to the largest superclusters of galaxies — have more in common than you might think. Although…
What Happened Before The Big Bang?
Posted by Ethan on October 15, 2012 
“The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.” -Bertolt Brecht One of the most frequent questions I get about the Universe — as a cosmologist — isn’t quite about the Big Bang in and of itself. The Big Bang is a remarkable…
The Greatest Unsolved Problem in Theoretical Physics
Posted by Ethan on September 19, 2012 
“Science enhances the moral value of life, because it furthers a love of truth and reverence—love of truth displaying itself in the constant endeavor to arrive at a more exact knowledge of the world of mind and matter around us, and reverence, because every advance in knowledge brings us face to face with the mystery…
If it comes back to you, it’s yours!
Posted by Ethan on September 10, 2012 
“Not even light can escape such hollowing, this huge mass in a small space. Even the Milky Way with its open arms is said to have a black hole at its heart.” -Susan B.A. Somers-Willett Our Milky Way is home to us all. With its hundreds of billions of stars, massive spiral arms, dust lanes,…
Say Something Smart
Posted by Ethan on August 27, 2012 
“You must learn to talk clearly. The jargon of scientific terminology which rolls off your tongues is mental garbage.” -Martin H. Fischer I’ve always thought that the Universe is absolutely amazing; that everything from the tiniest indivisible particles all the way up to the largest structures and superstructures making up the Universe has an amazing…
Where do Supermassive Black Holes Come From?
Posted by Ethan on July 30, 2012 
“Black holes, which have no memory, are said to contain the earliest memories of the universe, and the most recent, too, while at the same time obliterating all memory by obliterating all its embodiments. Such paradoxes characterize these strange galactic monsters, for whom creation is destruction, death life, chaos order.” -Robert Coover Our Milky Way,…
Empty space has more energy than everything in the Universe, combined
Posted by Ethan on July 26, 2012 
“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion.” -Democritus of Abdera When you take a look out at the Universe, past the objects in our own solar system, beyond the stars, dust and nebulae within our own galaxy, and out into the void of intergalactic space, what is it that you see? What…
How Big is the Entire Universe?
Posted by Ethan on July 18, 2012 
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” -Stephen Hawking The Universe is a vast, seemingly unending marvel of existence. Over the past century, we’ve learned that the Universe stretches out beyond the billions of stars in our Milky Way, out across billions of light years, containing close to…
Now that we’ve got the Higgs, what’s next?
Posted by Ethan on July 6, 2012 
“Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?” -Stephen Hawking After a long search spanning more than my entire lifetime (so far), the Higgs boson has finally been…
It’s hard to leave this world
Posted by Ethan on June 22, 2012 
“Some prophecies are self-fulfilling But I’ve had to work for all of mine Better times will come to me, God willing Cause I can’t leave this world behind” -Josh Ritter You sure can’t leave this world behind. At least, not very easily. The reason for it, of course, is gravity. Here on the surface of…
