The Sky IS Falling or is Gravity Getting Weaker?
 

Hello friends
I am a long time subscriber to PhysicsForums.com and in celebration of a new Big Kahuna Questions section/thread that seems to be already flourishing I'd like to link first that one

--- The Big Questions ---


but also a glimpse into an article featured there that's a bit more "hardcore" as a demonstration of the likelihood that although a high percentage of members are PhD "eggheads" or "nerds" it is a friendly place and one that gives hardcore information but in a manner that almost anyone can appreciate.

Here is the answer to when will our Sun "burn up" or how soon will it no longer have sufficient mass to keep Earth "where it is", comfortably in orbit in "The Goldilocks Zone"

--- Is Gravity Getting Weaker or the Sun, Smaller? ---

I hope many will find this fascinating and informative and a few perhaps visit often.

Just a thought to stimulate more thought?
 

OMG!!! We're all DOOMED!
:cry:

Just to (changing) point() out the sun could be walking its dog across a street and get hit by a bus or something at any "time..." ;)

fun site, thanks. :hattip:

If the bus was Jupiter I'm quite sure the Sun would survive in some form but we probably would not. Damn! Dat Collateral Damage!

and of course you're quite welcome if you click on the Homer page, https://www.physicsforums.com/ , you can see featured articles and all of the many headings under discussion. It is indeed fun and also rather enlightening... glad you liked it.

I KNOW, right? ;)

Actually aside from the click bait intention of the thread title I hope some will get it that the Biggest Kahuna question plaguing so much of Science has to do with the nature of gravity. So far the only two things we can imagine are responsible for the "too fast" spin of galaxies and why they don't fly apart at such speeds is either Dark Matter of Variable Gravity.

Roughly 75% of serious Quantum Gravity Theories of the previous decade were permanently drubbed in the dirt due to the lucky accident of the Cosmic Drag Race possible because of a fortuitous Gamma Ray Burst Event taking place at a distance of 300,000,000 Light Years from earth and at such high energy (brightness) that extremely accurate measurements were possible in a "photon drag race" which effectively lowered the size of any possible quantum "graininess" of the Universe to orders of magnitude smaller than Planck Length. It was "back to the drawing boards" for many who had spent decades on theories that were dead ends, but in Science that's a good thing, jusy kinda hard to swallow for those hard-working individuals who must regroup with a capital "R".

How low can you go?
Old Max must've had one hell of a good tape measure to get that Planck length!

I figure methane is making everything lighter. I know it will sink ships in water.

Also helps on global warming. All them clouds in the sky getting pushed away by methane.

More breathers. More gas. Whether from refuse or just processing food.

But then. Your guys air that you hang out in is more rarefied than mine. I'd probably sit in the corner and just listen and watch. With nothing much useful to contribute.

I find string theory pretty fascinating. The E.T. deniers. Not so much.

Thanks for this thread. I joined the forum anyways.

Hahahah! Good joke. However to keep things clear for anyone I probably should point out that all units of measurement are constructs that only are as widely used as their subscription, the agreement of others that they are useful standards. It is my understanding that the Inch started out as some anatomical characteristic of some King's finger joint. Even if that is mere myth we can all get the point that standards are important but the standards are only as good as how constant they actually are and one King's digit may grow and change not to mention the next King may have entirely different size.

Max Planck derived his eponymous unit from three areas of Science - Newtons Gravitational Constant, the Speed of Light, and his own Planck Constant. It is impossible to estimate the value of Planck's work and the many items that carry his name because they are essential to any understanding of Quantum Mechanics, the most successful predictions in all of human history, despite his being confined to and limited by the technology of the late 1800s. Since we of the 21st Century are just beginning to develop technology that operates at such incredibly tiny levels and given that work in QM will likely go on for as long as humans may exist that does and will continue to powerfully affect everyone, everywhere, every time, he is an exceptionally important individual.

Rare, but true in that Methane Hydrates sometimes are triggered into sudden release rather than the more common, slow release from the ocean floor.


Actually Methane is a Greenhouse Gas that reduces how much thermal energy is reflected back into space, having the opposite effect of helping our current problem.

Listening, watching... observing is mostly what most people do and the only difference for scientists is having repeatable standards by which others can benefit from and possibly contribute to. There are some people though, that don't care to observe and grow, who prefer that things attempt to stay comfortably the same. So, rokytnji, consider yourself a fellow explorer, an important cog in the machinery of Mankind. FWIW most scientists recognize that the odds for ET are extremely high. It's just that the odds we have already been visited by any of them are (forgive the slight pun) astronomically low.

Welcome aboard! Some areas are naturally quite dry and dense, but many exist that will tickle your brain rather delightfully. The moderation is rather strict but a large part of that is the high population of very young students on one end, and extreme experts on the other. If you've ever visited any of the many YouTube and other locations more open to the general public that feature some un-moderated Science content (one example for some odd reason that escapes me is the Large Hadron Collider) it can be seen that there are large numbers of people who feel the need to fear and attack Science resulting in non-productive exchange since such people cannot be swayed by any evidence and the forum must filter those to avoid becoming an irrational circus or zoo that goes exactly nowhere.