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Dark Energy/Zero-Point Energy/Tesla
This is like a far-out physics trifecta...
As the following article points out, the effects of dark energy -- which composes some 75% of the universe's mass -- are being seen all around us rather than merely in distant galaxies. We don't know what this energy is, but it seems to have some sort of repulsive effect (I'm repulsed just thinking about it -- hardeharhar).
Then we have the general observation that contrary to what was generally theorized, at the temperature of 0 Kelvin, atoms do not come to rest, but still jump around and as such still contain energy, but not the gravitational effects normally associated with energy.
Then we have Tesla's notion that there is an "ether" of energy that permeates everything. Rather like the ancient Greek philosophers theorized.
Could somebody with knowledge about physics explain to me in laymen's terms why these three observations/theories are probably unrelated? Is it merely the matter of anti-gravitational effects being seen with regard to dark energy, but not with regard to zero point energy, and who-knows-what impact on gravity of Tesla's energy ether?
As the following article points out, the effects of dark energy -- which composes some 75% of the universe's mass -- are being seen all around us rather than merely in distant galaxies. We don't know what this energy is, but it seems to have some sort of repulsive effect (I'm repulsed just thinking about it -- hardeharhar).
Then we have the general observation that contrary to what was generally theorized, at the temperature of 0 Kelvin, atoms do not come to rest, but still jump around and as such still contain energy, but not the gravitational effects normally associated with energy.
Then we have Tesla's notion that there is an "ether" of energy that permeates everything. Rather like the ancient Greek philosophers theorized.
Could somebody with knowledge about physics explain to me in laymen's terms why these three observations/theories are probably unrelated? Is it merely the matter of anti-gravitational effects being seen with regard to dark energy, but not with regard to zero point energy, and who-knows-what impact on gravity of Tesla's energy ether?
Mysterious effect detected in galactic back yard
March 16, 2005 | 8:45 p.m. ET
Dark energy is near: For years, scientists have known that we don't know all that much about the universe. In fact, ordinary matter — the kind we can detect with telescopes and other observational tools — accounts for only about 5 percent of the universe's content. About 25 percent consists of "dark matter," which can be sensed only by its gravitational effect. The other 70 percent is tied up in "dark energy," a mysterious quality that is apparently speeding up the expansion of the universe.
Astronomers first picked up on dark energy's influence on the edges of the observable universe, but now they have found evidence closer to home, in the relative motions of the galaxies around our own. The research indicates that dark energy isn't just a way-out-there quirk, but is truly a property that permeates all of space, including our own galactic neighborhood.
"It's like traveling from Seattle to Portland, Ore., rather than from Seattle to New York, to measure the earth's curvature," said Fabio Governato, a professor at the University of Washington and a researcher at Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics.
Governato and his co-authors — the University of Zurich's Andrea Maccio and Cathy Horeliou at Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology — report their results in a paper to be published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (PDF file).
To look for dark energy's signature, the team ran a series of supercomputer simulations of the universe's evolution, varying the parameters to reflect situations with and without dark energy.
"The computer crunches models for a few weeks, and then we compare the properties of our virtual universe with those of the real ones," Governato told me today.
The researchers looked at the actual motions of the Local Group galaxies with respect to each other — a complex pattern that is influenced by the mutual gravitational attraction between the galaxies as well as the repulsion caused by the expansion of the universe. They found that the only way to explain the galaxies' motions with their computer model was by including an extra factor for cosmic expansion.
"If you leave out the dark energy, you miss the data by a factor of three or four," Governato said. "But if you include the dark energy, there’s a match."
So what is dark energy? That's the 64,000-quatloo question — and one that researchers cannot yet answer. Some theorists say dark energy is simply an unchanging property of the universe, the so-called cosmological constant that Albert Einstein proposed, then rejected. Others say it may be "quintessence," a form of energy that changes over time.
If we had more precise data about the motions of galaxies, could Governato's model make more headway on such questions?
"In theory, yes," he said. "We could see how this 'flow' of galaxies is related to the properties of dark energy. ... The more accurate we are with this measure, the more precise we can be with our models."
Check out the University of Washington's news release about the research, as well as Science magazine's report on the dark side of the universe.
March 16, 2005 | 8:45 p.m. ET
Dark energy is near: For years, scientists have known that we don't know all that much about the universe. In fact, ordinary matter — the kind we can detect with telescopes and other observational tools — accounts for only about 5 percent of the universe's content. About 25 percent consists of "dark matter," which can be sensed only by its gravitational effect. The other 70 percent is tied up in "dark energy," a mysterious quality that is apparently speeding up the expansion of the universe.
Astronomers first picked up on dark energy's influence on the edges of the observable universe, but now they have found evidence closer to home, in the relative motions of the galaxies around our own. The research indicates that dark energy isn't just a way-out-there quirk, but is truly a property that permeates all of space, including our own galactic neighborhood.
"It's like traveling from Seattle to Portland, Ore., rather than from Seattle to New York, to measure the earth's curvature," said Fabio Governato, a professor at the University of Washington and a researcher at Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics.
Governato and his co-authors — the University of Zurich's Andrea Maccio and Cathy Horeliou at Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology — report their results in a paper to be published by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (PDF file).
To look for dark energy's signature, the team ran a series of supercomputer simulations of the universe's evolution, varying the parameters to reflect situations with and without dark energy.
"The computer crunches models for a few weeks, and then we compare the properties of our virtual universe with those of the real ones," Governato told me today.
The researchers looked at the actual motions of the Local Group galaxies with respect to each other — a complex pattern that is influenced by the mutual gravitational attraction between the galaxies as well as the repulsion caused by the expansion of the universe. They found that the only way to explain the galaxies' motions with their computer model was by including an extra factor for cosmic expansion.
"If you leave out the dark energy, you miss the data by a factor of three or four," Governato said. "But if you include the dark energy, there’s a match."
So what is dark energy? That's the 64,000-quatloo question — and one that researchers cannot yet answer. Some theorists say dark energy is simply an unchanging property of the universe, the so-called cosmological constant that Albert Einstein proposed, then rejected. Others say it may be "quintessence," a form of energy that changes over time.
If we had more precise data about the motions of galaxies, could Governato's model make more headway on such questions?
"In theory, yes," he said. "We could see how this 'flow' of galaxies is related to the properties of dark energy. ... The more accurate we are with this measure, the more precise we can be with our models."
Check out the University of Washington's news release about the research, as well as Science magazine's report on the dark side of the universe.
Physics just happens to be my passion.
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