Bilbo's Questions on life and stuff

Ok folks as a rather thoughtful soul I often contemplate the mysteries of life and think great and puzzling questions.

I have a few that I would like to share and wonder if other people could answer them. I don't know the answers to these questions, I don't even know if there are answere but they have puzzled me for many years all the same.

Ok my first question is this.

If EVERYTHING in the entire universe doubled in size every 24 hours would be able to notice? I mean could science prove that everything was gaining size if there was nothing that was not gaining size to compare it to?


Leading on from this, If everything was to double in size in the entire universe and such a change could not be detected because there would be no point of fixed reference to compare then would it even be possible to double in size?


Ok question two. Scientists tell us that the fastest velocity in the universe is the speed of light. It travels at 186,282.397 miles per second. Scientists also can tell how old stars are by how long the light takes to reach us.

Anyway my question is simply, if light travels at 186,282,397 miles per second where does it go?

I mean you turn a light bulb off and the light instantly vanishes, but the light that has already eminated from the bulb and shot off at 186,000,000 odd miles a second, where does it go to? And can it travel through walls?

If you shone a torch in a cave in pitch darkness would the light that eminated from the torch continue to travel for all eternity to somewhere or does it die and cease to exist? Scientists tell us that matter cannot be created or destroyed so I'm guessing something must happen to it.....but what?


Ok my third question is more mundane and trivial but no less puzzling to me.

It is a well known fact that alcohol makes your breath stink. With this in mind why is it a major ingrediant in virtually every single mouthwash?


Ok those are questions, does anybody know the answers?:)

People say I am easily distracted but I will prove them wrong by answering your question. By the way how did you get those green rep lights ...?:confused:

Firstly, are you talking about the actual size of the known universe doubling or every single thing in it ? For instance, we know that Wales stays exactly the same size as it was the day before and we can determine this by measuring it with known units of measurement. If you're saying that the units of measurment somehow double without us knowing, a metre (for example) is measured in light-seconds and is roughly one three hundred millionth of a light-second. Since the speed of light and seconds* are constant we know that any change in its size would be, um, rapidly detected. :)

*Seconds are measured by the atomic radiation of the caesium 133 atom which again wouldn't alter should everything be secretly doubling in size.

God I'm bored. :)

Light is absorbed by things it reflects off and the photons are also then radiated in different colours. Even the act of seeing light absorbs and slightly alters it. Light energy tends to disperse and increase its distribution and so the high frequency energy drops rapidly below visibility. That's why turning off a light source simply results in the room going black when the light is turned off. The energy is rapidly dispersed and the room goes dark. Shining a torch allows a strem of light to eventually disperse, radiate, split into different frequencies, turn into other energy eg. heat.

Alcohol stinks because of the other stuff in it reacting with enzymes in your mouth. But it generally just stinks anyway as it's full of esthers and other compounds which give off smells. Something that's been refines like vodka which is close to pure alcohol (and water) doesn't smell as much. If you drink bottle or cask conditioned beer that still has yeast in it it's still fermenting when you drink it and reacts with enzymes in your digestive system to create even more smells.

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Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing

Firstly, are you talking about the actual size of the known universe doubling or every single thing in it ? For instance, we know that Wales stays exactly the same size as it was the day before and we can determine this by measuring it with known units of measurement. If you're saying that the units of measurment somehow double without us knowing, a metre (for example) is measured in light-seconds and is roughly one three hundred millionth of a light-second. Since the speed of light and seconds* are constant we know that any change in its size would be, um, rapidly detected. :)

*Seconds are measured by the atomic radiation of the caesium 133 atom which again wouldn't alter should everything be secretly doubling in size.

God I'm bored. :)

Light is absorbed by things it reflects off and the photons are also then radiated in different colours. Even the act of seeing light absorbs and slightly alters it. Light energy tends to disperse and increase its distribution and so the high frequency energy drops rapidly below visibility. That's why turning off a light source simply results in the room going black when the light is turned off. The energy is rapidly dispersed and the room goes dark. Shining a torch allows a strem of light to eventually disperse, radiate, split into different frequencies, turn into other energy eg. heat.

Alcohol stinks because of the other stuff in it reacting with enzymes in your mouth. But it generally just stinks anyway as it's full of esthers and other compounds which give off smells. Something that's been refines like vodka which is close to pure alcohol (and water) doesn't smell as much. If you drink bottle or cask conditioned beer that still has yeast in it it's still fermenting when you drink it and reacts with enzymes in your digestive system to create even more smells.

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My friend you may have only 1 reputation on this board but I can certainly see your true value. Allow me to add to your rep.

The second answer in particular sounded incredibly clever and articulate. I didn't understand it but that is doubtless because my intellect does not match your own.

Very clever man!

And you've got to have enough light energy for it to actually do something. Shining a torch at the moon just isn't going to cut the mustard, much as setting off from England to drive to India with a teaspoon of petrol in your tank just isn't going to work. So just turning a light on in a room doesn't exactly create huge quantities of energy just bursting to get out and travel at a couple of hundred thousand miles a second. You really need a great big fucking electron beam to do that properly.

I am sure that people would notice things doubling in size when the electric bill came.

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Originally Posted by Kirkland Laing

And you've got to have enough light energy for it to actually do something. Shining a torch at the moon just isn't going to cut the mustard, much as setting off from England to drive to India with a teaspoon of petrol in your tank just isn't going to work. So just turning a light on in a room doesn't exactly create huge quantities of energy just bursting to get out and travel at a couple of hundred thousand miles a second. You really need a great big fucking electron beam to do that properly.

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I was baffled when I saw a program on space exploration, the probe satellite that they were using had a photon engine which just looked like a light beam shooting out the back, and that was what was propelling it thousands of miles out in space...off topic but interesting.

It's amazing what they can do these days the telescopes are amazing as well....see any pictures of all the galaxies from deep space....well not ALL the galaxies but a good amount of them, thousands of them


I always wonder...you see models of our Solar System and it's always perfectly horizontal....well what is up and down in space in regards to how Earth is orbiting

I remember reading somewhere that if the speed of light did not travel at the speed of light, but infact traveled very slowly,,,,

You could stand still in a fully lit room, but if you took a step forward, their would be black space where you were just standing, and would take a certain time to fill up again with light... :) That would be fun....

Another one is, if 2 twins were born at the same time (duh), both put on precise identical watches set to the exact same time, then one stayed on earth while the other traveled at near the speed of light and then returned to earth, The twin that was travelling at near speed of light would still look young (in their 20's), and the one that stayed on earth would be old (in their 80's)....
That's only if you consider that their is only one real time... See, if you looked at the twins watches. The one that went into space would have a watch that said 20 years had passed, and the one from earth would say that 80's had passed... So relatively, they are both aging at the exact same rate,,, just the further away from gravity you are and the faster you travel, the slower time goes... (well, relative to earth time that is...)

But then, even earth time is not 'exact'

They tested this by taking 2 very very precise clocks, and placing one at the bottom of a large dam, and one at the top.. If you sat at the bottom with that clock, you could measure that it kept exact seconds..... If you sat at the top and measured that clock, that would also keep exact seconds.. But if you bring them together after a day, the one that was at the top of the dam will be behind the one at the bottom. Seeming that it ticked slower...

If the effects were exhagerated, you could sit at the bottom with your own ticking watch, and look up at the top top clock and see that it was ticking slower, but as you climbed up the dam, they would slowly even up until you reached the same height and they would be ticking at the same speed..

*strange*

So basically, if 2 twins were born, and one went to live on the highest mountain while the other lived at see level, and met back up in 80 years, one would be older (only by a small amount though, compared to the lightspeed example).
:newdb:
We live in a strange strange world....

And this type of stuff freaks me out..

If EVERYTHING in the entire universe doubled in size every 24 hours would be able to notice? I mean could science prove that everything was gaining size if there was nothing that was not gaining size to compare it to?
If everything in the universe doubled in size every second it would be of no concern to us! As long as the growth in the universe was equal each time and the growth was equally dispersed, our units of measurements would not be affected and therefore would be of no concern to us.


If everything was to double in size in the entire universe and such a change could not be detected because there would be no point of fixed reference to compare then would it even be possible to double in size?
Precisely, If everything doubles equally then even our millimetres double in size and would leave the scale of measurement used by us humans untouched and as accurate as it was.

Anyway my question is simply, if light travels at 186,282,397 miles per second where does it go?
Light is moving heat energy which will tarvel until it reaches a surface. Should it meet with a reflective surface it will reflect and continue it's journey elsewhere. Should it meat with a conductive or dull surface it's energy will be absorbed. I.e the Earth conducts heat from the suns rays and therefore limits it's travelling power. Energy will be conducted by any solid particle really and that is why the suns heat energy is deecreased so much by the time it reachess Plutio etc.

I mean you turn a light bulb off and the light instantly vanishes, but the light that has already eminated from the bulb and shot off at 186,000,000 odd miles a second, where does it go to? And can it travel through walls?
As I explained light cannot travel through walls as heat energy is conducted and stored by natural materials, solids, gases, liquids and atmospheres.

If you shone a torch in a cave in pitch darkness would the light that eminated from the torch continue to travel for all eternity to somewhere or does it die and cease to exist? Scientists tell us that matter cannot be created or destroyed so I'm guessing something must happen to it.....but what?
It is absorbed by the cave walls/stone/water etc. A bigger light source would light the cave, a small torch will only emmitt enough heat energy to light a small region of the cave.


It is a well known fact that alcohol makes your breath stink. With this in mind why is it a major ingrediant in virtually every single mouthwash?
Ok, alcohol, does not cause bad breat exactly. It is the extra ingredients included that cause bad breath and odour. The alcohol humans consume rarely tastes like actual alcohol as pure alcohol would cause us to ga and vomit on in take.
What alcohol does do is linger in moist areas (i.e the mouth) for long periods of time. So when it is attached to hops and barley it causes beer breath, when attached to mint it leaves a nice fresh taste.


I believe thems some simple explanations.

Kirkland drove in the nail with his statement about measurements.


I am positive that I could look at my hands and tell they were bigger than the day before. I am very self aware.

And I was serious about the electric bill. It would take more energy to run your bigger household. More fuel to heat your home etc.

The price of gas wouldn't change per se it would just take more of it to fill your tank. Hence more money spent at the pump.

BG you have to consider that....wait are you messing with me?

I have a question! What do blind people see in their dreams?

you guys gotta quit smokin that fuckin hash lol

Quick thought on things doubling obviusly at the moment it impossible to directly see a quark(the inside of the nucleus of the atom) if things kept doubling in size surley your talking Atoms incresing in size as well...so you would be able to directly see the atom as we could magnify much closer right? so would the atoms be increasing in size..wich is impossible or are we talking just more atoms to create larger elements?

Cos if things kept doubling yes we would know...because we would be able to directly see atoms right...because they would get so big...obviusly wouldn't change in relativity to us but if they got bigger we would be able to see them directly right?

dont even know if that makes sense but bit baffling

EDIT - i fucking hate physics as soon as you ask a quistion theres a million diffrent answers

Thanks for all the feedback and opinion guys, I think together we could solve many of life's mysteries.

Donny good answer my friend, the same as Laing basicially but phrased so simply that even an American could understand them.......well not Boxing Gorrilla :rolleyes:

It seems there is disagreement over the size doubling model. I'm really not sure, which is why I asked the question in the first place. I tend to agree with you Donny that if everything in the entire universe increased in size we wouldn't know any difference. Speed of light would stay the same as the light particles themselves would double in size and hence still travel at the same speed.

It's an interesting question though I think and asks the question as to whether or our measurements are based on anything absolute which cannot change. The jury is still out on this one for me.

I think the what to blind people dream in in a good idea, and it's not just dreams. IF someone has been blind since what would they percieve the people in their life and the world around them to look like?

It would probably be a weird trip to take, that one!

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Originally Posted by hitmandonny

If EVERYTHING in the entire universe doubled in size every 24 hours would be able to notice? I mean could science prove that everything was gaining size if there was nothing that was not gaining size to compare it to?
If everything in the universe doubled in size every second it would be of no concern to us! As long as the growth in the universe was equal each time and the growth was equally dispersed, our units of measurements would not be affected and therefore would be of no concern to us.


If everything was to double in size in the entire universe and such a change could not be detected because there would be no point of fixed reference to compare then would it even be possible to double in size?
Precisely, If everything doubles equally then even our millimetres double in size and would leave the scale of measurement used by us humans untouched and as accurate as it was.

Anyway my question is simply, if light travels at 186,282,397 miles per second where does it go?
Light is moving heat energy which will tarvel until it reaches a surface. Should it meet with a reflective surface it will reflect and continue it's journey elsewhere. Should it meat with a conductive or dull surface it's energy will be absorbed. I.e the Earth conducts heat from the suns rays and therefore limits it's travelling power. Energy will be conducted by any solid particle really and that is why the suns heat energy is deecreased so much by the time it reachess Plutio etc.

I mean you turn a light bulb off and the light instantly vanishes, but the light that has already eminated from the bulb and shot off at 186,000,000 odd miles a second, where does it go to? And can it travel through walls?
As I explained light cannot travel through walls as heat energy is conducted and stored by natural materials, solids, gases, liquids and atmospheres.

If you shone a torch in a cave in pitch darkness would the light that eminated from the torch continue to travel for all eternity to somewhere or does it die and cease to exist? Scientists tell us that matter cannot be created or destroyed so I'm guessing something must happen to it.....but what?
It is absorbed by the cave walls/stone/water etc. A bigger light source would light the cave, a small torch will only emmitt enough heat energy to light a small region of the cave.


It is a well known fact that alcohol makes your breath stink. With this in mind why is it a major ingrediant in virtually every single mouthwash?
Ok, alcohol, does not cause bad breat exactly. It is the extra ingredients included that cause bad breath and odour. The alcohol humans consume rarely tastes like actual alcohol as pure alcohol would cause us to ga and vomit on in take.
What alcohol does do is linger in moist areas (i.e the mouth) for long periods of time. So when it is attached to hops and barley it causes beer breath, when attached to mint it leaves a nice fresh taste.


I believe thems some simple explanations.

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If everything in the universe did double in size every second in less than an hour* earth would be burnt to a crisp by the sun.

*Possibly a little longer, can't be arsed to even guess more accurately than that.

We do have a point of fixed reference for measurments. If everything doubled in size overnight we'd know about it first thing next morning.

Laing, If everything in the universe doubled in size every second, the space between the sun and earth would double too.

It's simple algebra really.
x=earth y= space between earth andsun z=sun

x + y = z;
In English;The earth's location plus the distance between the earth and sun brings you to the suns location

Double it up.

2x + 2y = 2z
An Eart Double the size with a distance of double the original amount form the sun still brings you to the suns loaction even if it is double the size.



Thanks for the kind words Bilbs

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Originally Posted by hitmandonny

Laing, If everything in the universe doubled in size every second, the space between the sun and earth would double too.

It's simple algebra really.
x=earth y= space between earth andsun z=sun

x + y = z;
In English;The earth's location plus the distance between the earth and sun brings you to the suns location

Double it up.

2x + 2y = 2z
An Eart Double the size with a distance of double the original amount form the sun still brings you to the suns loaction even if it is double the size.



Thanks for the kind words Bilbs

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But the radiation from the sun would increase exponentially, cooking the earth in record time. After 24 hours the earth would look like Mars.

Well here's where objectivity comes in.
I feel the radiation emitted by the sun would increase. However, I believe it wouls simply double.
If the distance between the sun and earth doubled at the same time, would we not be exposed to an equivalent amount of sun radiation?

I everything doubled our point of measurment would not stay the same would they. If a Mili metre is the space between these two lines /.. / double it /......./....Its not a milimetre anymore. So we would know.

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Originally Posted by Tins06

I everything doubled our point of measurment would not stay the same would they. If a Mili metre is the space between these two lines /.. / double it /......./....Its not a milimetre anymore. So we would know.

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We would double at the same time. The sapce would appear the same and everything you would try to measure would be twice as big. Therefore the unit remains the same or equivalent, as I said algebra.
x=y
2x=2y

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Originally Posted by hitmandonny

We would double at the same time. The sapce would appear the same and everything you would try to measure would be twice as big. Therefore the unit remains the same or equivalent, as I said algebra.
x=y
2x=2y

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I'm agreeing with you on this Donny,

Thanks Bilbo, alwyas good to have some backup :)

If the Earth doubled in size every second then everyone would be crushed by the massive shift in the gravitational pull well within the first 2 seconds

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Originally Posted by Lyle

If the Earth doubled in size every second then everyone would be crushed by the massive shift in the gravitational pull well within the first 2 seconds

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Well first off it's every 24 hours not every second. And besides that we are talking about EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE doubling in size.

Every single atom, particle and piece of anti matter in the universe double in size.

How would we tell? Is there a way?

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Originally Posted by bilbo

Well first off it's every 24 hours not every second. And besides that we are talking about EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE doubling in size.

Every single atom, particle and piece of anti matter in the universe double in size.

How would we tell? Is there a way?

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Well that doesn't change things too much....if something grows it doesn't necessarily mean it grows stronger as well or in proportion to the size/mass growing

This Is a little off topic, But Is there anyf!!!! thing that smells worse than when you run steaming hot water over a knife with peanut butter on It ??? I noticed It while doing the dishes and Man THAT s!!! was stanky!
Ok,smart people back In the thread please.

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Originally Posted by Spicoli surfs 'Nawlins

This Is a little off topic, But Is there anyf!!!! thing that smells worse than when you run steaming hot water over a knife with peanut butter on It ??? I noticed It while doing the dishes and Man THAT s!!! was stanky!
Ok,smart people back In the thread please.

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Yes plenty of things....apparently you've never been behind a hog truck or for that matter one with turkeys in it

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Originally Posted by hitmandonny

Well here's where objectivity comes in.
I feel the radiation emitted by the sun would increase. However, I believe it wouls simply double.
If the distance between the sun and earth doubled at the same time, would we not be exposed to an equivalent amount of sun radiation?

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If the sun doubled in size you'd have twice the mass and consequently twice the amount of nuclear fusion going on. But the sun's gravity would also double, and it's the amount of gravity that determines the rate of fusion -- as fusion takes place and hydrogen is converted into helium, the pressure drops, gravity takes over and causes the sun to shrink. As the sun shrinks, pressure and heat begin to increase again and when the sun hits a certain temperature a round of fusion starts again. This contraction round of fusion releases vast amounts of energy compared to the expansion phase. Double the gravity and you'd speed up the rate of expansion/contraction and consequent increase in radiation exponentially above the level created by a double-size sun compared to if you had eg. two identical original size suns next to each other.

If the sun did double in size it would burn out a lot brighter and faster than the estimated four or five billion years it has left*. If it doubled every day or every second as per Bilbo's original contention, it'd soon collapse into a black hole, but not before giving the galaxy a hell of a firework display first.

*Judged by observation of some of the hundreds of billions of suns in our galaxy, itself one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. It's just lucky that the sun in our solar system is just the right size and distance from us for life on earth to have been possible. Even a relatively small difference in either would have left the earth far too warm or cold to support life.

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Originally Posted by hitmandonny

We would double at the same time. The sapce would appear the same and everything you would try to measure would be twice as big. Therefore the unit remains the same or equivalent, as I said algebra.
x=y
2x=2y

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Metres and millimetres are measured using the speed of light and time, a metre being roughly one three hundred millionth of a light-second (the distance light travels in a second.) Both time and the speed of light would be unaffected if everything doubled in size, so a milli/metre would still be the same size it was previoulsy.

Well I'm still not convinced to be honest, but we'll never settle it here.

I'm going to email a scientist and find out. I'm going to start googling NASA scientists and ask one of them.

Then we will know definitively.

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Originally Posted by bilbo

Well I'm still not convinced to be honest, but we'll never settle it here.

I'm going to email a scientist and find out. I'm going to start googling NASA scientists and ask one of them.

Then we will know definitively.

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What bit are you not convinced about?