This is 'What If,'
and here's what would happen if a wormhole formed in our Solar System.
You've probably heard of wormholes through Thor, Interstellar, Star Trek,
or if you're really old school, Albert Einstein.
In 1935, Albert Einstein and physicist Nathan Rosen
came up with the idea of bridges...
...in space time!
Sounds like you're catching on, because an Einstein–Rosen Bridge,
or a wormhole, is also a shortcut... through space time!
A wormhole is less like a bridge and more like a tunnel.
It's a tunnel that links two different points in space time.
And if you were to pass through it, you could end up in a different galaxy,
a different universe, or 14th century Europe!
...But only if you found a way to keep the wormhole from collapsing on you.
The trouble is, no one's ever seen a wormhole before.
And we probably won't find one any time soon.
The other problem is, if wormholes do exist in our solar system,
they're probably microscopic.
Any wormhole that could accommodate human travel
would require a crazy amount of mass.
Think about it, the smallest black hole is thought to be the size of an atom,
but with a mass of a mountain.
So while we can't really calculate the mass of a wormhole
that could fit a few of us and a spaceship,
just know that it would be astronomical.
And it's gravitational pull would probably re-direct
the tilt and rotation of all the planets in our solar system.
But things would go back to normal soon enough.
Wormholes are incredibly unstable and are prone to collapse quickly.
This is because the walls of a wormhole attract each other,
which is why the wormhole would probably close shortly after it opened...
Unless... you had some exotic matter.
Don't get too excited, exotic matter is negative energy.
And it's what you'd need in order to repel the gravitational forces trying to
bring the walls of the wormhole together.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely that such matter even exists in our universe.
But if you're already set on making a trip across the universe,
there's just one more thing you should know.
The laws of physics say that
But on the bright side, that rule hasn't been tested yet!
So, giddy-up space cowboy!
Ride on, prove their existence,
and we'll try to develop the necessary technology in your absence.
But even if we could create wormholes and travel through them,
Is it worth tilting the Earth, and rearranging the solar system
just to visit another galaxy?
Or go back in time?
Read your history, read your science fiction,
see all the movies and play all the games you want;
but let's be glad our solar system is the way it is.