My mind is getting a bit fried right now. Maybe it’s to do with this time of year, but I’ve been thinking about time dilation, black holes and that kind of thing. This has all come about from the film Interstellar where a group of astronauts try to find a new home for the human race in a far away galaxy.
They get there through a wormhole that’s in the area of Saturn and find themselves in a star system where three planets orbit a black hole. Things are ok so far, this is good old fashioned Sci-Fi stuff.
The first world they visit is closest to the black hole and they work out that an hour on the surface for them will mean seven years will pass from the point of view of their mother ship, the Endurance. This is also ok, this is now not only science fiction but thanks to the theory of relativity also science fact (or as good as becasue no one has yet verified this fact).
This time dilation was demonstrated in the story when an unscheduled delay meant that rather than the mission to the planet taking a mere seven years, it in fact took 23 years. To them they were only a few hours, but the guy left behind on Endurance had aged 23 years and Joseph Cooper’s kids had turned into mature adults who had thought he was either dead or had abandoned them.
Towards the end of the film, the pilot Cooper ejects himself and his spacecraft from Endurance. He ejects so that the rest of the Endurance can escape to the third planet carrying Anne Hathaway’s lone survivor. In the film it gets weird and there’s a kind of 3D thought / reality thing going on and this is where I split from the plot to my thinking.
By ejecting, Cooper has essentially given himself to the black hole (called Gargantua). Our understanding is that spectacularly intense gravity would kill him, crushing anything physical completely and utterly to mere atoms. From his point of view this would happen quickly, but probably not quickly enough thinking about it.
Getting to the point here – if Anne Hathaway could watch Copper falling into the black hole and past the event horizon (again another problem with this as light has a little trouble escaping a black hole – hence it’s name) things would be happening slowly. Whereas for Cooper looking back up things would be happening very quickly.
The first thing is that this is a total brain fuck in itself.
The second thing kinda blew my mind away, I’ve been picking up the pieces all week! Cooper may never, ever reach the physical entity of the black hole. If time is moving so fast outside the black hole what may actually kill Cooper (he’s not going to be too bothered by this I think) is the end of the universe.
Think about it… while he’s merrily (Ha!) falling towards his doom, the universe is speeding by up there. So much so that it ends before he reaches it?!?!
Damn – my mind blew again. Sometimes I wish I didn’t think so much!
This is some purely wildly out there thinking – this would mean that falling into a black hole could be a bath to living forever. Firstly it wouldn’t you would die from the gravity crush, but it’s the possibility. When the kind of concepts can be thought of in mathematics and proved in theories on relativity it begs the question – what the hell else can we discover?
The only limits are the limits that our human mind can actually perceive and cope with and maybe even accept.
That’s kinda big.
Simon 🙂
No ownership claimed on images – found on Google from the film Interstellar.
What you have wrote is all scientific theory and none of it is fact or backed up by any tangible fact. Yes you have blown your mind, but only with your own imagination 🙂
Interstellar is just a film loosely based on many, many weak scientific theories, some really wild which cannot and never will be proven.
Observable evidence is king.
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Hi there, thanks for commenting. You’re right in many ways. As we understand how the universe works now these are the things we understand. While it may not be factual a good mind bending is good for one I think ☺️
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Hey Simon
”As we understand how the universe works”
On that don’t you think its odd that we supposedly landed on the Moon (well Neil Armstrong) in 1969 and now almost half a century later humans still haven’t travelled past the moon? 50 years of technological advancement but still we are no further.
My friend we don’t have a clue about the universe, not even an iota. You can make a theory on the spot and it will have as much credibility as Mr Science guy at NASA, technically.
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I’m not saying we do… That’s why the phrase “as we understand”
Just because it’s what we understand, doesn’t mean it’s right, right? ☺️
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Of course and more than likely we are wrong about a lot of things. Just like how scientists were so sure we evolved from apes and but have now realised that ‘maybe’ they were wrong.
Or when we once thought the earth was flat, but realised it wasnt. As I said observable evidence 🙂
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Huh. This is nuts. I remember Interstellar vaguely. It’s one of the many things I watched with my ex-boyfriend and thus didn’t entirely absorb…definitely didn’t remember the whole time dilation thing till you reminded me.
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Well this is the thing about time dilation, it is nuts. In reality, one would not know what is going on with the other, it’s a what if example but it screws with one’s mind a lot lol
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No kidding. Unless there was some way to measure it and send the data out…I mean it’s gotta be possible. Maybe not with current technology but someday…
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Then we have to reach a Black Hole. How hard can it be? 😉
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There’s one in the center of our galaxy. C’mon, NASA, all you have to do is give in to gravity…
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Well and work out FTL drive
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Shouldn’t be too far beyond our grasp. I’m counting on wormholes. They’re the most theoretically possible option.
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Well the essence of FTL is to create our own time and space event right?
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Suppose so, but we could always figure out how to create a wormhole. I’m guessing that’ll happen before warp speed…I’m still not sure if there’s a scientific equivalent for antimatter, lol
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Better get on the line to Stephen Hawking 😋
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No kidding!
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Hi ya, how’s it all going? ☺️
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Good. I have a post planned for Science at Your Doorstep, but I’ve been up since 7am moving into college and am basically about to conk. It’ll happen tomorrow. You?
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I’ve been busy, no writing…
You better rest soon. I commented on your global warming post a few days ago. Did you get it?
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Possibly. I’ll check. Odd, I should have noticed it if it was days ago…but I’ll go back and see, maybe I somehow missed it.
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It might be in spam. It was quite long lol
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I’ll check as soon as I get back to my computer 😊
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That’s ok, no rush. How’s life been otherwise?
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Life. I kinda lose track from moment to moment. But at the moment I finally shrugged off an impending sleep haze and got back to work organizing my dorm room. Geez I only have two days for this, one of which to get my printer fixed, and then on to classes…
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That doesn’t sound too relaxing at all. It sounds pretty full on. I never realised you were a student. What are you studying? How far down on the course are you?
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Secondary ed, general science, minor in English. I’m a sophomore. And it may not be relaxing but it’s a nice change from the nothingness of summer…
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I don’t know, a bit of nothing would be great right now.
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Suit yourself 😊 I’m looking forward to having a life. Besides, I like it here. Nice dose of independence before the next summer…plus the campus is great. There’s a Subway and Starbucks in walking distance from my room.
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That can’t be a good thing lol… I bet all you guys spend your money there
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What if I mentioned that Starbucks is literally the floor level of my building? (Close enough. They’re built together but don’t connect internally)
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So you can look out at them as they make coffee?
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Well, the angle’s all wrong, but I can watch the customers come in. Great for business—imagine watching all those frapuccinos walk by and knowing you could be down there too in five minutes…
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Lol… It must have you salivating at times
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Hey, finally found (and replied to) your comment on my GW post.
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Hi Emma, thanks for that. I saw your replied, I have yet to reply lol
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You’re right….mind blown.
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I told you! 🙂
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Wooooaaah! But now you have me wondering if the slowing down of time would also slow down Cooper’s oxygen consumption. He may indeed be falling until the end of time, but he might have run out of air millions of years before! I love thinking about this kind of stuff… Makes me wish I’d paid more attention in physics at school.
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Who knows? This is the thing, stretching your thinking on weird stuff like this stretches the possibilities.
You don’t need a physics degree for that! ☺
Hoes your week been?
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That’s true! And I’ve been busy enough this week… I don’t see the madness stopping until Christmas Eve evening, when I plan to collapse on my parents’ sofa with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie 😆 How are you getting on?
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Great post Simon.
There really is so little that we know. We truly have only just begun.
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This is it. I don’t know if we have limits to what we can process… We must do i guess.
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Providing we don’t manufacture our own Mass Extinction Event it will be our destiny to just Keep On…
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Yes, sounds easy but i think its getting more likely as time goes on.
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I enjoyed the movie Interstellar Si but you kinda lost me in the black hole. 🤔
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Oh dear… Is time moving fast up here?
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Yep, too fast sometimes.
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All the time lol
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*scratching head* huh? 😉
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Yeah… That hun 😉
How ya doing? Long time no see!
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work has been super, super busy for me and will continue to be so for about another 3 weeks then i’ll get a little breather for the holidays. of course i may very well sleep it away… lol
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Is it so bad if you have a good sleep? ☺
Take care and don’t work too hard!
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Not so bad at all…
Same to you Simon!
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Thanks Kristi. Ill have to do better at keeping in touch with you i think ☺
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This hurts my brain and is difficult to comprehend but I loved it all the same! I’ll read it again when I’m fresh 😁
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Don’t think too hard or it’ll blow your mind like it did mine lol
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