Posted by Tyler Bradley on January 10, 1997 at 07:35:26:
In Reply to: Re: Science Education crisis posted by Stephen Charchuk on January 09, 1997 at 10:43:18:
: Actually it isn't. The stars and galaxies, and the like, which we can see is only between 1 to 10% of the total mass of the Universe. Out of this plasma is the most common form of matter/energy.
I'm still not sure about your plasma claim, but how do we detect plasma? From observations of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. photons). Perhaps I should have defined better that all emissions in the EM spectrum are described in packets of energy... photons. So, I am talking not only about visible light, but all frequencies of radiation. One atom/particle of plasma, gas, liquid or solid matter can release unlimited amounts of photons (in theory) so I will maintain my position on it. You bring up a point that I had not considered though. It is a problem for cosmology that we can account for only 1%-3% of the mass that should appear, and I cannot answer this most serious question. I will research it though, stay tuned....
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: I thought that traveling at, or near, light speed that time slows down for the traveller? You are thinking of a 4th dimentional (sp) perpective.
I think you're confused here. 4-space is the fusion of time and space. As temporal perception changes space, its complement, does also. In our experience, a second of time delineates a segment of space that we'll consider a 186,000 mile long caterpillar. This space contracts for an observer moving through it, and it gets both shorter and thicker the faster one travels through it- imagine the analogy as the 186,000 mile long caterpillar compressing its segments. At luminal velocity, the space in his frame of reference is contracted infinitely thin; the ideas of "ahead" and "behind" have no meaning for this rather brave astronaut. Front and rear are all at one place, and objects would indeed appear as the Cubists depict them- front, sides and rear faces of a cube would assault the viewer all at once. Time will dialate for this observer; all events in the history of the universe would appear all at once for a luminal observer.