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The Paradoxes That Threaten To Tear Modern Cosmology Apart
Medium ^ | 1/20/15

Posted on 01/20/2015 4:43:30 PM PST by LibWhacker

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1 posted on 01/20/2015 4:43:30 PM PST by LibWhacker
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping


2 posted on 01/20/2015 4:46:08 PM PST by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
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To: LibWhacker

Interesting ...


3 posted on 01/20/2015 4:49:12 PM PST by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: LibWhacker
The first is that other galaxies are all moving away from us. The evidence for this is that light from these galaxies is red-shifted. And the greater the distance, the bigger this red-shift.

I've always questioned this. I once read that light will also have a red shift as it passes through intergalactic dust and gas. So all galaxies will show a red shift, and the farther away they are, the more dust and gas the light will pass through. Hence a larger red shift.

But I don't have anything like a degree in science. I'm just a dumb lawyer, so I wouldn't bet the farm on my "theory."

4 posted on 01/20/2015 4:49:16 PM PST by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
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To: LibWhacker

Thanks for posting


5 posted on 01/20/2015 4:50:03 PM PST by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: LibWhacker
"How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress."

- Niels Bohr

6 posted on 01/20/2015 4:56:30 PM PST by Steely Tom (Vote GOP for A Slower Handbasket)
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To: LibWhacker
The Doppler effect arises from the relative movement of different objects. But the cosmological red-shift is different because galaxies are stationary in space. Instead, it is space itself that cosmologists think is expanding.

Interesting. I hadn't really considered it that way.
7 posted on 01/20/2015 5:00:36 PM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: LibWhacker
any relative velocity must always be less than the speed of light in conventional physics. And yet the velocity of expanding space can take any value.

This statement is objectively false. There is no requirement that objects in relative motion must be moving slower than the speed of light.

Then there is the cosmological red-shift itself, which is another mystery. Physicists often talk about the red-shift as a kind of Doppler effect, like the change in frequency of a police siren as it passes by.

It's not a "kind" of Doppler effect. It is the Doppler effect.

But the cosmological red-shift is different because galaxies are stationary in space. Instead, it is space itself that cosmologists think is expanding.

The galaxies are not stationary in space. Both the galaxies and space are moving relative to other objects at other parts of space, and a Doppler shift is predicted in either (and both) cases.

The mathematics that describes these effects is correspondingly different as well,

Nope. Not true.

not least because any relative velocity must always be less than the speed of light in conventional physics.

Nope. Not true.

And yet the velocity of expanding space can take any value.

This is true. It can. Doesn't contradict any known physics. Doesn't require any new mathematics to describe.

One interesting idea is that the red-shifts of distant objects must increase as they get further away.

Already known. Already measured. That's what the Hubble Constant is.

But the evidence is paradoxical. Astrophysicists have measured the linear nature of the Hubble law at distances of a few hundred megaparsecs. And yet the clusters visible on those scales indicate the universe is not homogeneous on the scales.

Nope. No paradox. The large scale clusters are the result of quantum fluctuations that existed in the universe in the time before the first nanosecond. They are the result of Quantum Mechanics, which is more fundamental than General Relativity, and certainly much more fundamental than the "Hubble Law" which depends on assumptions which are not Quantum Mechanical in nature.

And so the argument that the Hubble law’s linearity is a result of the homogeneity of the universe (or vice versa) does not stand up to scrutiny. Once again this is an embarrassing failure for modern cosmology.

Nope. It's not. It's a result of the fact that we don't have a Quantum Mechanical version of General Relativity. In terms of general, rough morphology, it's perfectly adequate, and not contradicted by any information we have.

8 posted on 01/20/2015 5:03:47 PM PST by FredZarguna (O, Reason not the need.)
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To: cripplecreek

It’s of no consequence whatsoever. Doppler shift requires only differences in relative motion of source and observer. Whether it’s a moving object or moving space makes no difference.


9 posted on 01/20/2015 5:05:34 PM PST by FredZarguna (O, Reason not the need.)
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To: LibWhacker

Does this mean they’re going to retire “string theory”?


10 posted on 01/20/2015 5:08:22 PM PST by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
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To: henkster

“I’ve always questioned this. I once read that light will also have a red shift as it passes through intergalactic dust and gas.”

As I understand it, that is not Doppler shift but rather the absorption and re-emission of light at a lower frequency, such as absorbing light, which warms the gas/dust particles, which re-emit the energy as heat.


11 posted on 01/20/2015 5:08:45 PM PST by sparklite2
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To: LibWhacker
But the cosmological red-shift is different because galaxies are stationary in space. Instead, it is space itself that cosmologists think is expanding.

This makes me suspect the whole article. Space may indeed be expanding, but it is a well known fact that the Andromeda galaxy is currently crashing into our Milky Way galaxy. This is true of other galaxies throughout the universe - you see them tearing into each other as the collision slowly happens.

Here's an example:


12 posted on 01/20/2015 5:09:21 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: henkster
But I don't have anything like a degree in science. I'm just a dumb lawyer,

Not to worry!

Distant galaxies are, at this very moment, beginning a Class Action lawsuit against Einstein, Hubble and Planck.

Higgs, of boson fame, is their attorney.... or was that Higgins of Magnum, PI fame?

13 posted on 01/20/2015 5:10:23 PM PST by BwanaNdege
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To: LibWhacker
Cosmetology....is mother nature having a bad hair day again?


14 posted on 01/20/2015 5:11:20 PM PST by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: Yossarian

Our local group of galaxies is gravitationally bound as are other galaxy groups. Those other groups are moving away.


15 posted on 01/20/2015 5:12:23 PM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: FredZarguna
any relative velocity must always be less than the speed of light in conventional physics. And yet the velocity of expanding space can take any value.

This statement is objectively false. There is no requirement that objects in relative motion must be moving slower than the speed of light.

----------------

I don't get it. I thought that's what specific relativity was all about.

Can you explain?
16 posted on 01/20/2015 5:15:55 PM PST by angryoldfatman
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To: LibWhacker

I just want to state, for the record, that it is NOT my fault.


17 posted on 01/20/2015 5:17:51 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: cripplecreek
Instead, it is space itself that cosmologists think is expanding.

Not in my storage building it's not.

18 posted on 01/20/2015 5:18:37 PM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: henkster

The “red shift” that scientists observe isn’t just a general redening, it is a shift in a characteristic frequency of certain atoms, typically hydrogen. The issue of gas and dust affects the intensity of light, which has play in observations of distant “standard candle” supernovae.


19 posted on 01/20/2015 5:18:47 PM PST by Cboldt
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To: cripplecreek

“stationary in space” is nonsense. All motion is relative, and the distance between the objects is nothing but that. Some objects close distance - what is that, space shrinking?


20 posted on 01/20/2015 5:20:46 PM PST by Cboldt
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