From the possible existence of parallel universes to what happens inside a black hole, today
we look at the Biggest MYSTERIES In Physics
Number 11.
"Force Unification" One of the main things that scientists who
study quantum mechanics are trying to solve is the question of how the four fundamental
forces were created and whether or not they can be combined.
Some renditions of the Big Bang Theory are built around the idea that all four forces,
gravity, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force and electromagnetism all came
from the same source and were perhaps 'one' in the beginning.
Using gigantic and powerful particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, physicists
have been able to combine the strong and weak nuclear forces and electromagnetism.
This took an insane amount of power measuring more than trillions of electron volts.
Though many consider it impossible, it is believed it would take even trillions times
more that power if they wanted to merge gravity with the other three.
Number 10.
"Parallel Universes" There are some scientists who still maintain
that space-time is curved, but the latest data that has been collected by astrophysicists
suggests that time is flat and stretches into infinity.
Meanwhile, when looking at the small side of things, the rules of the quantum level
say that there are only so many possible formations for particles.
In other words, while time is infinite, what can make up a universe is finite.
These theories when combined bring us to the possible conclusion that our universe is only
one out of a potentially infinite amount of parallel universes.
If this is true there still may never be any way to observe these parallel universes let
alone prove it.
If there are infinite universes that would mean that there are more than likely universes
that are exactly like our own except for small changes in detail.
On the other hand it would also mean there are universes that are the complete opposite
and extremely different from ours, so much so that it would be impossible to comprehend.
Now which idea is a scarier thought?
Number 9.
"Light From Sound" If you shoot sound waves in water with enough
force you can actually create bubbles in the water by displacing the water for a moment.
When these bubbles collapse they do so with an extremely intense amount of energy and
this energy for fractions of a fraction of a second creates a flash of light and heat
upwards of thousands of degrees.
What's the mystery behind this?
Well physicists have no real explanation for how or why this occurs.
It is almost as if the light appears from thin air, which we know is impossible.
Some theories that have been put forth are that some sort of electrical discharge is
created during the bubble's bursting or that there is a type of nuclear fusion reaction
occurring.
But so far they have no actually evidence to back up any of these claims.
This unique event can actually be created naturally by a species of crustacean Pistol
Shrimp who have a claw that creates the bubbles to stun their prey.
Number 8.
"String Theory" To establish and prove a theory of everything
has long been the holy grail sought after by physicists from Isaac Newton to Albert
Einstein and beyond.
One such theory that has become a leading candidate to explain everything is that of
string theory.
String Theory posits that everything in the universe when reduced to its simplest form
is made up of one-dimensional particles called strings.
These strings vibrate and interact with each other forming the building blocks for everything
such as light, gravity and matter.
Though scientists have found evidence of quantum particles that are essential to the theory,
there is currently no way to see these infinitesimal strings or prove they exist by other means
and there may never be.
Number 7.
"Into Darkness" Astrophysicists and astronomers have studied
black holes for years, they have an idea how they form and can estimate their potential
power, but we may never know what goes on inside a black hole.
These monsters that form from collapsed stars are so powerful that not even the fastest
known thing in the universe, light, can escape their clutches.
So as you can imagine this makes studying what goes on inside a current impossibility.
Quantum mechanics postulates that the quantum information of something, or evidence of what
has happened or will happen to a particle, cannot be destroyed.
However, if a particle is dropped into a black hole the forces are so strong that in theory
the particle will not be able to escape, therefore its information is destroyed.
In order to try and solve this puzzle, which is known as the information paradox, physicist's
like Stephen Hawking have gone through piles of chalk and pencils.
The best solution they have come up with is that the information never really gets fully
sucked into the black hole, but instead sits stuck on the black hole's event horizon.
Number 6.
"Time" Why does time go forward in seemingly a straight
line?
Well, because the universe is actually descending more and more into disorder and chaos every
moment.
This process is called entropy.
There is evidence to suggest that when the universe was first formed everything was much
more organized and balanced but because there are more chaotic particle formations than
those that are balanced and the chaotic formations are constantly disrupting the balanced ones,
change occurs therefore time.
What has scientist's the most befuddled about entropy is the fact that just after the big
bang, when all the matter and energy in the universe was packed tightly together, how
was the universe at it most organized state?
Many physicists believe that the secret may be unlocked if we can only find out how the
four fundamental forces were once combined.
Number 5.
"Dark Energy" For the last couple decades dark energy has
appeared so often in discussions on physics that you would think it is at least a partially
known commodity.
The truth is, as of now, dark energy only exists in theory.
It was first proposed as a solution to the problem, 'if gravity is constantly pushing
space-time in an inward direction, then why is the universe expanding at a more and more
rapid rate'?.
Astrophysicists couldn't find any visible or obvious reasons for this so they were forced
to introduce the dark energy idea so that they could continue on with their calculations
instead of just stopping and waiting for hard evidence.
As the years have passed several new theories have hinted towards theoretical dark energy
being a legitimate answer to expansion.
If dark energy does exist, modern theories and hypotheses suggest that it could possibly
make up more than 70% of the universe.
Number 4.
"Dark Matter" Dark Matter goes hand in hand with theories
on Dark Energy and just as with Dark Energy, it exists mainly as an idea.
Dark Matter does differ from dark energy in the fact that there are a few more slivers
of evidence that point to it existing.
The idea of Dark Matter came about when astrophysicists observed some unknown mass, which didn't put
out or absorb any light particles.
They saw that this matter was causing slight changes to radiation, known matter and other
parts of the universe via gravity.
These instances were observed mainly on the outer edges of the universe and may be what
give structure to everything.
Some scientists speculate that dark matter may flow and weave its way throughout the
universe causing small chain reactions along the way.
It is theorized that dark matter makes up over 80 percent of matter in the universe.
Number 3.
"Gravity" Gravity is all around us affecting us in everything
we do in our daily lives yet the powerful force that keeps us clinging to this rock
we call home is still one of the biggest mysteries in all of science.
The other three of the four fundamental forces, weak nuclear, strong nuclear, and electromagnetism
all have particles from which their powers and energy can be attributed.
But not gravity.
Physicists know that gravity has to be made up of something and have even given this theoretical
particle a name, the graviton.
There are many theories about what the graviton might look like and how it acts at the quantum
level, but no one has ever found any concrete evidence of their existence.
One of the main problems is that the scientists aren't even sure if gravitons interact with
matter like the other forces do or if they have a mass that is measurable in the physical
realm.
If they do exist they are believed to be one of, if not, the smallest particles in existence.
In string theory it is proposed that gravitons are merely closed energy loops, but so far
the math hasn't added up.
In one of the more interesting theories some physicists have proposed the idea that gravitons
only exist in a yet to be discovered dimension.
Number 2.
"Matter vs. Antimatter" 'Why is there less antimatter than matter
in the universe?', is basically an astrophysicist's fancy version of the question 'why are we
here?'
but on an even deeper level as it really is asking 'why is anything here?'.
Scientists know that antimatter exists and that it is the exact bizarro version of matter,
acting in the precisely opposite manner.
What they don't understand is why in a universe of equal and opposite reactions would more
matter be produced from the big bang than that of antimatter.
We know for a fact that there is more matter because if they were equal they would cancel
each other out so that neither would exist--but that obviously didn't happen because we are
here, so ipso facto, there is more matter than antimatter.
Number 1.
"The End" We all know that most evidence supports the
theory that our universe is currently expanding, but what happens next is the subject of some
of the biggest debates in the world of astrophysics.
Most astrophysicists agree that the universe will come to an end one day but they are still
greatly divided on how this will happen.
There are three prevailing theories on the events that would bring about the end of the
universe.
The first cosmological model of the end of the universe is dependent on an open ended
concept of space.
In this model, everything will continue to expand and accelerate until everything becomes
unbound by gravity and isolated, aka The Big Freeze, where life would be unable to exist
in any form.
After this, the acceleration would become so strong that even atoms would be torn asunder
and everything would cease to be.
This is called the Big Rip.
The second model is fairly similar to this one except instead of open-ended space the
universe exists on a flat, infinite plane.
The results would be similar, everything would expand until it stopped or it would continue
accelerating until it was torn apart.
The final model is based on a closed concept of the universe in which space-time is shaped
like a sphere that encases everything.
In this theory, there are two possible outcomes that are dependent on whether dark energy
exists.
If it does exist then a closed universe in this form could potentially expand forever
without consequence.
If dark energy doesn't exist the universe would eventually stop expanding because of
the time-space barrier and then begin contracting causing what is called The Big Crunch.
This Big Crunch could possibly end in everything being so consolidated that it would cause
another Big Bang and start the process all over again.