Bilbo's Questions on life and stuff

[Kev]

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?

[Master]

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 ...?

[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.

[Kev]

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.

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!

[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.

[BoxingGorilla]

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

[No Contest]

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 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.

[El Kabong]

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

[Dizaster]

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).

We live in a strange strange world....

And this type of stuff freaks me out..

[donnydarkoIRL]

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.

[BoxingGorilla]

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.

[donnydarkoIRL]

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

[BIG H]

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

[Big_Deuce]

you guys gotta quit smokin that fuckin hash lol

[Tins06]

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