Would it be posible (in theory) to create the subtle knife?

[muddmania]

I was wondering if any one out there beleveivs it posible to create a device that could cut in to a paralel universe?
Ive done a bit of reaserch in to it but its all a bit complex for me, the string theory and stuff but if anyone knows a bit more on the stuff i've metioned please say.

[jessia]

you'd first have to prove the existance of parallel worlds.

more practically, could you create a knife that could cut through anything?

[Kahlan]

if you have magic, anything is possible..

[muddmania]

Well there are some quite strong theories about the existance of paralel universes, if onley it could be proven. A well, we need more Einstines!! Or magic, as Kahlan said

[Naomi Silvertongue]

It comes down to whether you strongly believe in things like that. I myself believe in spiritual beings, so the thoughts of parallel worlds do cross my mind.

We would have to find a way to prove it, though. I would not know how to do that. And it depends on the type of magicks.

Muddmania's right we need more Einsteins in the world. Now if someone would just lend us their own personal time machine we could just go back and borrow him for a while.

[Tomsy]

I was wondering if any one out there beleveivs it posible to create a device that could cut in to a paralel universe?

Yes, it's called the Holly Hop Drive.

[darkemagick]

Even if there are parallel universes, ss it possible to create a knife that's less than one atom thick at the tip?

[eloquent]

And not just any atom. For it to cut anything, it would have to be.... an isotope of hydrogen. Which would just be a nucleus with no shell.

[Max]

Even if there are parallel universes, ss it possible to create a knife that's less than one atom thick at the tip?

Scanning Tunnelling Microscopes, which use beams of electrons, are (obviously) less thick than atoms at the tip, and can interact with individual atoms in various ways. *Geek Smiley*

And not just any atom. For it to cut anything, it would have to be.... an isotope of hydrogen. Which would just be a nucleus with no shell.

You mean.. A proton? Unless you mean H-3. Isotopes are versions of an element with more or less neutrons; perhaps you mean ionised hydrogen?

You can certainly split protons, or neutrons, in particle accelerators, but that just releases quarks, without opening any windows to parallel universes..

The only way of travelling to a parallel universe I've heard theorised about (outside of fiction) is travelling into a black hole, assuming that those singularities create parallel universes as some theroies state. Good luck to anyone who wants to dive into a black hole!

[eloquent]

And not just any atom. For it to cut anything, it would have to be.... an isotope of hydrogen. Which would just be a nucleus with no shell.

You mean.. A proton?

Yes, in effect.

[muddmania]

The only way of travelling to a parallel universe I've heard theorised about (outside of fiction) is travelling into a black hole, assuming that those singularities create parallel universes as some theroies state. Good luck to anyone who wants to dive into a black hole! said Max, my quotes wont work!

I heard it theorised that black holes just slow down time for any thing that enters them, so if you were to go in to one, you would think no diferent but in less than a fraction of a second to you our sun would do the blowy up thing.(i think )

[Max]

I heard it theorised that black holes just slow down time for any thing that enters them, so if you were to go in to one, you would think no diferent but in less than a fraction of a second to you our sun would do the blowy up thing.(i think )

That's a fully accepted theory: time would slow to a stop from the perspective of any outside observer, but would carry on as normal for you. You would be torn apart by the difference between the gravitational pull on your head and your legs, but if you could counteract that* in some way, you would converge with the singularity intact. All events that would occur in the universe until the extinction of that black hole would occur for you in the instant you crossed the event horizon, unless I'm confusing my terminology.

Sun's blowy-up thing = supernova.


*I've read that if you could encase yourself in a giant asteroid (or whatever; a massive object), this would be possible.

[muddmania]

man you make me feel stupid, GCSE's clearly don't teach enough for this kind of thing!!

[eloquent]

It's just the fact that light (and all EM waves) are slowed down by the gravitational well of the black hole, so events appear to slow down to an outside observer. But that doesn't mean that time is slowing down. It's just that the only means we have of tracking the progress of time in other locations is being distorted.

[Blossom]

You see this is what i don't get. how can time slow down in places? time is time, it's always going on. even if you went 'back' you'd still be going forwards. and why do people think that to go forward in time you'd have to go faster than light? what has light got to do with time? it's all awfully silly. i don't see why there need to be 10 dimentions for string to work. if anyone can explain that to me then please, go ahead.

[eloquent]

It's all to do with these rather deep questions physicists have been asking themselves for years (since Einstein's era and, more precisely, relativity) 'what is time?' 'Why, nesecarily does it have to be a universal constant?' 'Is it a dimension, of sorts, in its own right?'. It just depends on which angle you look at it from.

Sorry about being so vague... I'll return to this tomorrow with some actuall explinations of theories about FTL travel and such.

[Max]

Time can be warped, as it is part of the space time continuum, but this only affects our passage in time relative to others - ie, you're moving as normal for you, but in a way that is different compared to somebody outside of the distortion.

It all come back to light cones. At any event, because light speed is the limit to the rate at which any causal chain can progress, a hypothetical light cone moves outwards, which is the distance encompassed by light moving out from the event over time.

Now, because light is a wave, it accords to s=fw, or wavespeed = frequency x wavelength. Because it is energy, it is determined by e=mc² and e=fh, or energy = mass x speed of light² and energy = frequency x the Plank constant. So, because light is energy, it has mass: its energy divided by c². Gravity acts on this mass, so for the light to continue it has to do work, or expend energy to resist the gravitational pull. e is reduced, so, in accordance with e=fh, its freqency is reduced (because h is a constant). So, to go back to the start , because f is reduced, s, which is in this case c, the speed of light, is also reduced (w isn't increased instead for a reason I've forgotten).

Now, the speed of light in a vacuum remains constant to any observer, so this can't happen. Another more familiar equation comes into play: s=d/t, or speed equals distance divided by time. As s is reduced, time is increased, or stretched to you and I to maintain the relative constancy of the speed of light. So all the gravity actually does to light is bend it, so the light cones bend to - and dear god this is the worst explained exposition ever written by anyone ever, isn't it?

And I'm only embroiling myself in it because I can't answer a single question on my physics homework sheet.

EDIT - I just found this in a sketch book of mine, written when I was a couple of years younger and all of this was a lot fresher in my mind:

Speed of light is reduced when moving from massive body [for reasons decribed above]. This means that the light cone appears to have moved backwards, ie, a longer time appears to have passed since the event, so time has effectively slowed. So something situated in a weaker gravitational field has had longer time relative to something situated in a stronger one, so it has experienced a longer passage of time.

[Blossom]

*grabs bio and chem text books and hides from scary physics*

that went way over my head. who knew time could be so complicated? i guess we'll never know the truth.

[Botanic 2004]

You see this is what i don't get. how can time slow down in places? time is time, it's always going on. even if you went 'back' you'd still be going forwards.

Ever wondered why flies seem to have such fast reflexes?
well. its to do with the fact that their brains slow down time (in effect) so they see you hand, book (whatever your trying to hit it with) in slow motion and move out of the way. *I don't know much, ask eloquent*

[darkemagick]

I remember someone telling me that time should be viewed not as a one-way road (or something), but as a pool of water. Can't remember why exactly was it a pool of water, but it did make sense to me at that time. Something about it existing all at once and not in terms of past and present and future. And how if you disturb one area the ripples will spread to each and every part until everything is affected. Anyone care to explain?