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Posted

If the universe is infinite, why is the sky mostly black?

 

 

(Extra points if you can name the person whom this paradox is named after, and whom solved it.)

 

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Posted

Because it's expanding

Lou Gutman, P.I.- It's like I'm not even trying anymore!
http://theatomicdanger.iforumer.com/index....theatomicdanger

One billion b-balls dribbling simultaneously throughout the galaxy. One trillion b-balls being slam dunked through a hoop throughout the galaxy. I can feel every single b-ball that has ever existed at my fingertips. I can feel their collective knowledge channeling through my viens. Every jumpshot, every rebound and three-pointer, every layup, dunk, and free throw. I am there.

Posted

Why is the colour of infinity blue?

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

Posted (edited)

Olber's Paradox (named after Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers)

 

Finite age of the universe

 

This explanation of the paradox points to the finite speed at which light travels through space. As we look further out in space we see further back in history; eventually we would pass beyond the finite age of the universe. A similar explanation was first offered, ironically, by poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe in his prose poem Eureka

 

Redshift

 

While the finite age of the universe deals with the contribution of stars to the brightness of the night sky, it leads to the question of why the Big Bang itself does not visibly contribute instead. The reason is that the radiation from the Big Bang has been redshifted to microwave wavelengths as a result of the cosmic expansion, and forms the cosmic microwave background radiation. The expansion of the universe also limits the size of the observable universe, which means that light beyond this does not reach us, which creates the optical effect of living in a finite universe (see finite age argument).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers'_paradox

Edited by Tale
"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
Posted

Yes. Though you lose points for not explaining it in a sentence. :biggrin:

 

The answer I was looking for is: "Because the universe isn't infinitely old, dummy."

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Posted
If the universe is infinite, why is the sky mostly black?

 

 

(Extra points if you can name the person whom this paradox is named after, and whom solved it.)

Because the universe isn't infinitely old, dummy.

Posted

What don't you understand, Bok?

 

If the universe is infinite, then there should be stars in every direction (distance is irrelevant, except to work out time, but we'll get to that later).

 

If there are stars in every direction, then there should be light in every direction. Right?

 

The only reason that there isn't light in every direction is that the universe isn't old enough: in an infinite amount of time, the sky will be white with light because there WILL be stars in every direction. :)

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Posted

Unless it suffers a cold death (expands too fast for gravity to pull it all back into another crunch).

 

And we still don't know if Dark Matter and Dark Energy really DO make up 75% of the mass of the universe. :)

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Posted
Unless it suffers a cold death (expands too fast for gravity to pull it all back into another crunch).

 

And we still don't know if Dark Matter and Dark Energy really DO make up 75% of the mass of the universe. :)

 

I'm no scientist, but nearly everything observeable is cyclical in nature. I can't imagine why the universe itself would be different.

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

 

- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

 

"I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta

Posted

That's the burden we carry for a symbolic brain: we see patterns everywhere, even when they aren't there ... :)

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Posted

No. It's actually speeding up (that's one of the reasons why they had to invent "dark energy". :)

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Posted (edited)
I though the universe had reached it's full expansion and was starting to slowly shrink again.

 

 

 

Nope. Too much redshift on the farthest galaxies.

 

 

We can look forward to the Andromeda galaxy colliding with ours though! :sorcerer:

Edited by alanschu
Posted
That's the burden we carry for a symbolic brain: we see patterns everywhere, even when they aren't there ... :)

a phenomenon known as pareidolia.

 

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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