You got me right here, combustible..
And I can't wait to finally explode..
That's the song swirling in my mind right now as I proceed to embark upon the topic of the day.
Have you ever paused your busy schedule to wonder at your origins?
Of how you came into being?
Of how your ancestors came into being?
Or,as I am now sure you must have got the drift of the bigger picture .. how this universe came into being?
There have been different theories to the origin, but the most widely accepted one is the Big Bang Theory. The theory suggested that our universe, at the origin of time, was in a very dense and hot state. This extreme heat led to sudden expansion and the expansion caused the state to cool down, resulting in the universe as we know it today.
But I bore you by prancing around familiar terrain.
Most people are aware about the beginning of the story for it has been done with. It is a thing of the past. But how many people are aware about the predictions of the termination of this universe? Of the inevitable and ultimate demise of not only all life, but all matter.
There is a concept in time and space. It's called the arrow of time, and it follows the second law of thermodynamics. Remember the law? Okay, I give you the benefit of doubt and restate it here:
"Over time, differences in temperature, pressure and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system so as to result in the natural entropic dissolution of the system itself."
~
To completely understand it, you must appreciate the profoundness. What is so beautiful about this law is that it explains why everything must decay and eventually die. Not just life. Matter. Of all forms.
Our sun is just a star out of the trillions of stars out there. Stars have been born and stars have died. Our sun is no exception. The hydrogen fueling the constant explosions is exhausting by the minute and according to predictions, we are a billion years away from the sun finally running out of all its fuel. The day that happens, the inner core of the sun will collapse and the outer layers will heat up to a temperature which our home planet will be unable to sustain. The earth will become too hot to inhabit and will eventually explode. All that will remain, if anything at all, will be charred remains, about one-hundredth the size of our present earth. Extending the same logic to all the stars, they will all eventually fade out and reduce to red dwarfs, which are stabler than the stars they degraded from, but still in a state of continuous decay. They will then convert to white dwarfs and then black dwarfs, which would be the first in the series marked by coolness instead of heat, and will eventually collapse into dust and fade away. Going by the theory of multiple universes, where each universe that has one such star in its vicinity being the one able to support life forms, the inevitable degradation and death of these stars will mean that all these planets will, eventually, cease to exist, extinguishing the possibility of life in any form. All that will remain of our universe will be specks of light and black holes. With the passage of time,these specks of light and the black holes will fade away, leaving nothing behind. Nothing will happen, and it will continue to not happen. The arrow of time will cease to exist, for all concepts of space and time will then have no meaning. Maybe that will be what they predict as the Apocalypse.
- This awakening of my inner eye courtesy 'Wonders of the Universe', a program on BBC World.
Made me realize that the things that were worrying me before I started out writing this post were .... well, trivial.
(That reference to BBC World just reminded me, I am eagerly looking forward to the Olympics Opening Ceremony in London this friday. Looks promising. )
And I can't wait to finally explode..
That's the song swirling in my mind right now as I proceed to embark upon the topic of the day.
Have you ever paused your busy schedule to wonder at your origins?
Of how you came into being?
Of how your ancestors came into being?
Or,as I am now sure you must have got the drift of the bigger picture .. how this universe came into being?
There have been different theories to the origin, but the most widely accepted one is the Big Bang Theory. The theory suggested that our universe, at the origin of time, was in a very dense and hot state. This extreme heat led to sudden expansion and the expansion caused the state to cool down, resulting in the universe as we know it today.
But I bore you by prancing around familiar terrain.
Most people are aware about the beginning of the story for it has been done with. It is a thing of the past. But how many people are aware about the predictions of the termination of this universe? Of the inevitable and ultimate demise of not only all life, but all matter.
There is a concept in time and space. It's called the arrow of time, and it follows the second law of thermodynamics. Remember the law? Okay, I give you the benefit of doubt and restate it here:
"Over time, differences in temperature, pressure and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system so as to result in the natural entropic dissolution of the system itself."
~
To completely understand it, you must appreciate the profoundness. What is so beautiful about this law is that it explains why everything must decay and eventually die. Not just life. Matter. Of all forms.
Our sun is just a star out of the trillions of stars out there. Stars have been born and stars have died. Our sun is no exception. The hydrogen fueling the constant explosions is exhausting by the minute and according to predictions, we are a billion years away from the sun finally running out of all its fuel. The day that happens, the inner core of the sun will collapse and the outer layers will heat up to a temperature which our home planet will be unable to sustain. The earth will become too hot to inhabit and will eventually explode. All that will remain, if anything at all, will be charred remains, about one-hundredth the size of our present earth. Extending the same logic to all the stars, they will all eventually fade out and reduce to red dwarfs, which are stabler than the stars they degraded from, but still in a state of continuous decay. They will then convert to white dwarfs and then black dwarfs, which would be the first in the series marked by coolness instead of heat, and will eventually collapse into dust and fade away. Going by the theory of multiple universes, where each universe that has one such star in its vicinity being the one able to support life forms, the inevitable degradation and death of these stars will mean that all these planets will, eventually, cease to exist, extinguishing the possibility of life in any form. All that will remain of our universe will be specks of light and black holes. With the passage of time,these specks of light and the black holes will fade away, leaving nothing behind. Nothing will happen, and it will continue to not happen. The arrow of time will cease to exist, for all concepts of space and time will then have no meaning. Maybe that will be what they predict as the Apocalypse.
- This awakening of my inner eye courtesy 'Wonders of the Universe', a program on BBC World.
Made me realize that the things that were worrying me before I started out writing this post were .... well, trivial.
(That reference to BBC World just reminded me, I am eagerly looking forward to the Olympics Opening Ceremony in London this friday. Looks promising. )
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