Here’s something mind-bending about physics I’ve recently learned.
Einstein’s great dream was the “unified field theory,” under which the four fundamental forces of nature - electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear, and gravity - would all be seen to have descended from the same force.
At very high energies, Einstein believed, these four forces could be seen to have condensed out of the same fundamental force.
In the 1970s, particle accelerators of sufficient power were able to generate conditions under which the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force coalesced into one force, the electroweak force.
One of the great mysteries was the question of gravity, which is enormously weaker than the other forces.
I never thought I could understand anything about that one. But just recently, in pursuing my hobby of listening to physics lectures on YouTube, I came across an insight into this question that amazed me.
In order to understand this, you have to be aware of one of the basic features of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. That is that as an object of mass larger than zero approaches the speed of light, its mass increases. As its velocity gets very close to the speed of light, its mass increases dramatically.
Here’s the thing. In the very first nanoseconds of the big bang, the velocity of individual particles was so great, so close to the speed of light, that their individual masses were enormous. An individual quark could have a mass of millions of tons.
And this is the key. If subatomic particles have such enormous energies, their masses become enormous. So enormous that the force of gravity becomes comparable to the other forces.
The conditions for this to happen would only have existed for a tiny fraction of a nanosecond, something like a billionth of a nanosecond. But during that time, all four forces were of comparable strength, and in effect condensed out of the same fundamental force.
To me this is an awesome idea.
“That is that as an object of mass larger than zero approaches the speed of light, its mass increases. As its velocity gets very close to the speed of light, its mass increases dramatically.”
I took an online astrophysics course from Yale. The explanation for the mass increase was fascinating. A planet in orbit has kinetic energy. The faster it goes, the more kinetic energy it has. As you approach relativistic speeds, there is so much kinetic energy that, using e=mc2 we can convert that energy into mass. The number is so high that the mass equivalent is so large, that pushing that much mass to light speed requires so much more energy as to be impossible.
What the hell am I doing on this board without at least a masters. :)
Many brilliant people on the board.
But that can’t be.
A study said conservatives are far likely to be more uneducated than liberals.
That is an amazing idea, thanks. Never thought of it like that... Hmm, what happened to all that momentum? It’s supposed to be conserved, but at the moment I’m blanking on what could’ve become of it.
“the four fundamental forces of nature - electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear, and gravity - would all be seen to have descended from the same force.”
See, if the best they can do is to say that it “would all be seen to have” rather than show incontrovertible evidence then it’s no more truthful than a consensus that climate change and global warming are the direct result of human activity on earth...even if the math is seen as being correct.
To me this is an awesome idea.
It is an awesome idea. I'm embarrassed that it didn't actually occur to me independently.