- 2104 - Universe - finely tuned for life. Either we are
living in a special time and place, or, the laws of physics are especially
biased toward life. It took billions of
years for the Universe to evolve from the Big Bang before life were
possible. It happened somehow or you would
not be reading this.. The Universe must
have known you were coming.
-
-
-
------------------ 2104
- Laws of the Universe
-
- How are the laws of the
Universe so finely and accurately tuned to be designed for life to exist? For one obvious reason it is that if it were
not so finely tuned we would not be here to ask the question.
- The basic properties of our world are uncannily suited for life that we
experience. The slightest change in the "Constants
of Nature" and life as we know it could not exist. There are 17 physical Constants in Nature.
- For
example: All of nature and matter
consists of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
The mass of a proton everywhere in the Universe is the same. If the mass were just 0.002 times heavier than
all matter would be unstable and atoms would quickly decay.
-
- The Force of
Gravity is constant. G =
6.67259*10^-11 meters^3 / kilograms* seconds^2.
-
- As far as we
know gravity is constant everywhere in the Universe. Every star, every planet experiences the same
force per unit mass. If this Constant of
Gravity were just a little more powerful stars would be smaller, hotter, and
denser, and, would burn out in millions of years instead of billions of
years. Life would not have had a chance
to evolve on these shorter time scales.
-
- There are
many of these coincidences conducive to life.
It even seems to physicists that we have not adapted to the Universe,
the Universe has been adapted to us.
Physicists call this the “fine tuning problem”.
-
- Maybe God
created the Universe for our benefit?
-
- What other
explanation is there?
-
- Maybe there
are an infinite number of Universes parallel to ours. Multiple Universes could reproduce themselves
into all possible manifestations. We
just happen to be in one Universe that is custom tailored to favor the
emergence of life. God could have
created an infinite number of universes.
-
- If we double
the mass of an electron. No life could exist.
-
- “Me” = 9.1093897*10^-31 kilograms.
-
- If we change
the electric charge between electrons and protons, No life could exist.
-
- e =
1.60217733*10^-19 Coulombs.
-
- If there were
more or less than 3 dimensions in space and one in time. No life.
-
- Life limit’s
the values that physical constants can have.
-
- Either we are
living in a special time and place, or, the laws of physics are especially
biased toward life. It took billions of
years for the Universe to evolve from the Big Bang before life were
possible. It happened somehow or you would
not be reading this.. The Universe must
have known you were coming.
- Our Sun
creates helium by fusing hydrogen. When
this reaction happens 0.007% of the mass of the hydrogen gets converted
directly into energy according to E = m*c^2.
If this percentage were 0.006% or 0.008% then the Universe would be far
too hostile. No life would exist.
-
- If the Universe
contained much more matter the increased gravity would prevent the Universe
from expanding. It would re-collapse
into a Big Crunch. It the matter were
much less the Universe would expand so quickly galaxies would not have enough
gravity or time to form. No life would exist.
-
- In 1998
astronomers discovered that there was too little mass to stop the Universe from
expanding forever. And, the expansion
rate is actually accelerating. The
explanation for this acceleration is the existence of some unknown form of energy
in the space between the matter causing the space to expand at an accelerating
rate.
-
- They call this
vacuum energy Dark Energy. Physicists
cannot explain what causes Dark Energy or why it is such a small force in the
Universe. The force of Dark Energy
itself appears to be finely tuned.
-
- Several
physicists believe that an infinite number of Universes, or a Multiverse, is
the only explanation for the fine tuning problem. When you have eliminated all the impossible options
than whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer.
-
- Inflation and
String Theory are two other reasons for the theory of a Multiverse. Astronomers cannot explain the Big Bang
theory without introducing the theory of “Inflation”. Inflation is when a quantum fluctuation expanded the Universe
thousands of times in the briefest of moments, faster than the speed of light.
-
- Inflation was like a phase change similar to
when liquid water suddenly freezes into solid ice. After the phase change the Universe returned
to expanding at its current rate. The
faster-than-light change is the only way the Universe could be homogeneous and
isotropic in all directions and all distances today.
-
- But, quantum
fluctuations happen all the time. So,
could space and time be exploding and
inflating in big bangs into other Universes all the time?
-
- String Theory
is a new math that treats all the fundamental particles as little vibrating
strings rather than particles or waves.
String Theory equations can be used to explain much of what we observe
in the Universe just like Einstein’s equations can.
-
- Einstein’s equations assume variables with 4
degrees of freedom, 3 dimensions of space and 1 dimension of time. 4-dimensons in space-time. String Theory needs 11 degrees of freedom in
order for the variables to allow solving the equations. 4 dimensions in spacetime and 7 more
dimensions that are too small for us to detect.
However, with 11 degrees of freedom and the range of the variables in
the equations the sheer number of possible solutions is nearly infinite.
-
- Therefore, it is impossible to prove a String
Theory equation because there is always some random combination that is always
right. But, does this mean that there
are an infinite number of Universes operating under these infinite number of
String Theory equations?
-
- To prove
String Theory astronomers need new and testable “predictions” about properties
in our Universe. It is not acceptable to
use existing data and then change the equations to match the results you see.
String Theory is a work in process because nothing is proven yet.
-
- The Large
Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator in CERN, Switzerland, and the Planck
spacecraft to be launched by the European Space Agency will both be searching
for experimental evidence to prove that String Theory and Multiverse exist.
-
- Skeptics need
data. If you allow yourself to
hypothesize an almost unlimited portfolio of different worlds you can explain
anything.
-
- If there are
infinite universes, where do us humans fit in?
-
- If there is
only one Universes, who is the fine-tuner to make this one just right for us?
-
- Here are a few
of the thinkers that are studying this question:
------------------------------------------------------
(1) Andrei
Linde, Russian physicist in Stanford U., California
(2) Brandon
Carter, physicist, Cambridge U.
(3) Freeman
Dyson, physicist Princeton U.
(4) Alex
Vilenkin physicist Tufts U.
(5) Steven
Weinberg, physicist U. of Texas.
(6) Leonard
Susskind physicist Stanford U.
(7) Martin
Rees, physicist Trinity College, UK.
(8) John
Polkinghorne, physicist Cambridge U.
-
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