Download as txt, pdf, or txt
Download as txt, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Eb8c_302lxs
What is Space Time and How it Works | Documentary
-----------------------------

00:01
what is our universe made of
00:05
it's the biggest unanswered question
00:08
space itself is something there's a
00:12
hidden structure and a force that exists
00:15
within space idli fundamental it's
00:17
really part of the fundamental
00:18
architecture a force that connects
00:21
everything in our universe it's an
00:24
active player and the game of life
00:28
it underpins our reality tying together
00:31
all of space and time since the very
00:35
beginning we call it space-time
00:40
it's everything space-time is what the
00:43
universe really is space-time is how our
00:48
universe works but what exactly is it
00:52
and how does it control our past present
00:55
and future
01:14
we can't see it we can't touch it but
01:22
without spacetime we wouldn't be here
01:26
space-time is a fabric of our reality it
01:29
shapes and governs our lives if we want
01:32
to understand the story of the universe
01:33
it's absolutely crucial we understand
01:36
how space-time behaves space-time has
01:40
been active since the beginning of
01:42
everything and is the key to the
01:44
evolution of everything we have to
01:49
understand space-time in order to
01:50
understand the history of the universe
01:52
to understand how the universe began how
01:54
it evolved and what's gonna happen in
01:56
the future the story of space-time is
01:59
the story of our universe to know how
02:03
the story plays out how it will end we
02:06
need to go back to the very beginning
02:08
[Music]
02:11
to a time when there was nothing no
02:15
stars no space a time before there was
02:20
time then all of a sudden our entire
02:30
universe was born in the Big Bang it
02:33
started in a instantaneous moment where
02:36
from nothing our universe was created
02:38
the very definition of the moment of the
02:41
Big Bang is that space and time were
02:44
created at that instant it is as far as
02:47
we currently know that coming into
02:49
existence of space and time itself
02:52
the infant universe a tiny speck of
02:56
energy and space-time materializes from
03:00
nowhere then the universe suddenly
03:05
expands the idea of inflation is that a
03:09
very tiny region in an incredibly short
03:11
amount of time far shorter than a second
03:13
grew by many many many orders of
03:17
magnitude so imagine myself suddenly
03:20
becoming the size of a galaxy in a
03:23
fraction of a second the universe grew
03:26
from smaller than the size of an atom to
03:29
the size of a baseball
03:31
in cosmic terms that's like a grain of
03:34
sand growing almost to the size of the
03:38
observable universe
03:40
the universe at the instant of inflation
03:42
actually expanded faster than the speed
03:44
of light it seems to be a violation of
03:47
everything you've heard in physics you
03:48
may be thinking hey hey hey mister
03:50
astronomy guy nothing can move faster
03:52
than the speed of light it turns out
03:53
that's kind of true but the rule is
03:56
nothing can move through the universe
03:59
faster than the speed of light in
04:00
inflation its space itself that is
04:03
expanding so there is no violation there
04:05
is no paradox
04:06
[Music]
04:12
inflating fast the universe went through
04:16
a phenomenal growth spurt at the moment
04:18
of the Big Bang space-time was this
04:21
entity that was flying out in all
04:23
directions it was space itself that was
04:25
expanding but the universe didn't expand
04:29
evenly one spot in the universe was ever
04:32
so slightly more dense than a spot right
04:35
next to it and we're talking about a
04:36
tiny tiny fraction of a percent one part
04:39
in a hundred thousand but that was
04:42
enough fluctuations in expanding
04:44
space-time created areas with higher
04:47
density
04:49
conflation made these high-density
04:51
regions larger
04:54
and this allowed our universe to take
04:58
shape when parts of the universe didn't
05:02
inflate quite the same way as others all
05:04
of a sudden things could start to come
05:06
together as the universe cooled energy
05:11
turned into matter
05:13
[Music]
05:15
and in the denser regions that matter
05:17
started to clump together
05:20
crucially these regions had more mass
05:24
than others
05:26
masse bends space-time so anything that
05:30
is made of matter bends space-time and
05:32
the more matter you have in one place
05:34
the more you bend it in fact I've been
05:36
in space-time right now when I flex I've
05:38
been it even more because of my
05:40
incredibly high bustle density I don't
05:43
bend at the maximum I don't want to
05:44
destroy the earth in the solar system
05:45
but you know it's an effect it's a real
05:48
thing
05:48
space isn't constant it's not something
05:50
that is always the same everywhere it
05:52
actually bends curves it warps depending
05:56
on the matter inside of it we'd see a
06:04
curving grid of space-time moving and
06:06
reacting to objects within it and we'd
06:10
feel the curving of space-time as the
06:13
force we call gravity
06:16
gravity is different from all the other
06:18
forces it is intimately connected with
06:21
the curvature of space-time something
06:23
that can bend space and time has gravity
06:26
that's what gravity is the bending of
06:29
space and time itself it's hard to
06:34
visualize this but a good analogy is a
06:38
trapeze artist and their safety net you
06:42
can imagine a trapeze artist falling
06:44
into a net on purpose that net is flat
06:47
and looks like a nice orderly evenly
06:49
spaced grid but when they fall into it
06:51
they distort that grid well that's a lot
06:54
like space if you have matter in space
06:57
it warps the framework when the trapeze
07:00
artist is resting in the net they're
07:02
bending that space-time grid a little
07:04
bit if you had two trapeze artists in
07:07
there double the mass in roughly the
07:09
same volume you would get a bigger dip
07:11
you have a bigger Distortion and that's
07:13
how space-time works more mass equals a
07:18
bigger curve in space-time equals more
07:21
gravity but understanding the nature of
07:25
gravity and space-time there's no easy
07:27
thing it's an idea developed by one of
07:33
the greatest minds ever Einstein had the
07:37
idea that space itself is something
07:40
something that can be bent something
07:42
that can be stretched that we are all
07:45
bound together by space-time Einstein
07:49
says it's space and time have a geometry
07:52
they have a life of their own they have
07:54
dynamics
07:56
those dynamics are what we call gravity
08:00
the more dense the region of matter the
08:03
greater the gravity the deeper the curve
08:06
this connection is the foundation of our
08:09
physical reality it's the interaction
08:13
between matter and energy and space-time
08:15
that created the universe that we see
08:17
around us today but that doesn't mean we
08:21
fully understand it there is much more
08:24
that we don't know and that's
08:26
frustrating with the laws of physics I
08:28
can talk about how space-time behaves
08:30
but it does appear to be something that
08:32
stretches that contracts and that
08:34
gravity is the embodiment of space-time
08:38
born in the Big Bang space-time and
08:42
energy combined to create our infant
08:45
universe
08:46
these basic materials were the
08:49
foundations but how did we get to the
08:52
incredible complex structures we see
08:55
today
08:57
how did space-time build our majestic
09:01
cosmos
09:16
our entire universe was created in the
09:19
Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago
09:23
everything came from nothing
09:29
but our modern universe is a complex
09:31
mosaic of matter
09:33
I mean Marvel through our telescopes
09:37
that the fantastic structure of our
09:39
universe
09:39
and it's galaxies if you want to ask
09:42
where that come from matter in the
09:45
universe arranges itself on a vast
09:47
cosmic web galaxies and galaxies
09:49
clusters are strung out on sheets and
09:51
filaments it seems this intricate web is
09:56
organized by a cosmic architect
10:00
space-time it shaped everything from
10:04
planets to galaxies atoms to cities the
10:10
universe is made of space-time whatever
10:12
the substance is time and space bound
10:14
together that's expanding and creating
10:16
the universe we see around us it's
10:18
everything space-time is what the
10:20
universe really is it's a hard concept
10:25
to grasp and even harder to visualize
10:28
[Music]
10:30
scientists observe the universe in
10:32
different wavelengths of light this is
10:35
the Sun in visible light x-ray and
10:40
ultraviolet now imagine if we could see
10:44
it in the space-time spectrum we would
10:47
see space-time distorting as objects
10:51
move through it
10:53
spacetime can warp and push things
10:55
around it can expand and pull things
10:57
apart but it's the shape of space-time
11:02
that dictates how we experience it
11:05
imagine you're in your car you go up
11:07
hills and you go down hills so the shape
11:10
of Earth's surface determines how you
11:12
travel across Earth's surface in the
11:15
same way the geometry of space-time
11:17
determines how light and matter move
11:20
through space-time
11:24
the rules are simple matter in fact any
11:28
object tells space-time how to curve the
11:32
curvature of space-time tells matter how
11:35
to move
11:38
because the shape of space-time tells
11:42
matter how to move what we call gravity
11:44
this means that gravity and the shape of
11:48
space-time tells matter how to clump
11:50
together and form larger and larger
11:52
structures but at the beginning the
11:55
space-time landscape was very different
11:58
from today's
12:01
and the very first matter started to
12:04
change the shape of space-time so this
12:09
space right here has a tiny bit more
12:11
matter in it than this over here
12:12
wherever there was a little bit of extra
12:15
mass that would Bend space a little bit
12:17
more well if you're bending space a
12:19
little bit more then more mass would
12:21
collect there in the early universe the
12:24
denser regions of matter created deeper
12:28
curves in space-time and as the mass
12:32
gets bigger as stuff falls into that
12:33
well it gets deeper and deeper and
12:35
deeper and attracts more stuff it's just
12:37
a runaway process gravity increased
12:41
pulling in more and more matter more
12:45
dams got more dad's got more downs and
12:47
then before you know it you've got a
12:48
star and you've got a bunch of stars and
12:50
you start to make a galaxy and these
12:52
stars evolved and began forming large
12:55
structures they sort of burn through all
12:56
their nuclear fuel and exploded and they
12:58
made all the heavier elements and with
13:01
time we got down to having things like
13:04
planets atmospheres people all the
13:08
things that we care about today all of
13:11
this started out as energy fluctuations
13:14
in expanding space-time these at first
13:17
very tiny fluctuations became these
13:19
gigantic structures that we actually see
13:22
today and over billions of years that
13:24
material began to coalesce into
13:26
individual galaxies stars planets and
13:29
you
13:31
fluctuations in the expansion of
13:33
space-time laid out the pattern of the
13:36
universe
13:38
the curvature of space-time controlled
13:41
the evolution of everything we see today
13:46
if space-time didn't have that property
13:48
and bringing mass together then all we
13:51
would be is a thin haze of hydrogen gas
13:53
not a very interesting Universal if
13:56
space-time didn't curve because of
13:58
matter inside of it the universe would
14:00
be a really weird place I mean there'd
14:02
be no gravity there'd be nothing to make
14:05
things stick together no force of
14:07
gravity means no stars no planets and no
14:11
people we owe our existence to
14:16
space-time but even scientists struggle
14:22
to understand it I wish I knew what
14:25
space-time is we know things about
14:28
space-time but at the same time we feel
14:30
like we know almost nothing about
14:32
space-time then in 2015 we caught a
14:39
break
14:39
and for the first time we heard ripples
14:43
in space-time
14:46
generated by one of the most violent
14:48
events in the history of the universe
15:11
the universe is filled with space-time
15:14
[Music]
15:18
we think it's been around from the
15:20
beginning of everything quietly pulling
15:22
the strings of the cosmos
15:25
[Music]
15:28
and sometimes we get a glimpse of this
15:31
elusive puppet master in action 2016
15:37
astronomers witness a strange optical
15:40
phenomenon a weird circle of light like
15:43
a cosmic halo this is actually what you
15:47
would see in the sky if your eyes were
15:49
as sensitive as a telescope
15:51
they're real this is not some artifact
15:53
of how we adjust the images something is
15:56
actually bending space and time itself
15:58
into a lens that something is a red
16:03
galaxy which is over 7 billion light
16:06
years away from Earth it's bending the
16:09
light from a blue galaxy which should be
16:13
hidden behind it
16:15
it's called gravitational lensing
16:19
gravitational lenses are caused by
16:21
objects with huge masses say clusters of
16:24
galaxies that distort space and time so
16:26
much that when light comes from farther
16:29
objects has to pass around the galaxy
16:32
clusters the light bends it really is a
16:35
true warp in space-time
16:37
mass from the foreground galaxy creates
16:40
curves in space-time which we know is
16:43
gravity
16:44
light follows those curves and is warped
16:48
so it bends around the galaxy massive
16:52
objects like clusters of galaxies can
16:55
bend the path of light through
16:58
space-time a lot like a piece of glass
17:01
can bend the path of light so when we
17:04
look at a distant galaxy as the light
17:06
passes through a galaxy cluster we see
17:08
multiple images of the same galaxy we
17:12
see arcs in circles as if that galaxy
17:15
cluster were made of glass we are seeing
17:19
the warping of space-time literally
17:22
played out in front of our very eyes
17:26
gravitational lensing gives us a way of
17:29
seeing the effects of space-time on
17:31
light
17:34
but it's only an indirect observation of
17:37
space-time could there be another way of
17:43
experiencing space-time right here on
17:46
earth not everything that happens in
17:49
space can be seen sometimes you have to
17:51
listen for it as well
17:55
[Music]
17:57
believe it or not space is a material
18:00
much like this iron sheet and like this
18:03
iron space can distort if I put a very
18:06
heavy weight on this sheet of metal its
18:08
shape is gonna change and it's gonna
18:09
distort amazingly space can carry waves
18:12
and so can this iron sheet but to get
18:14
this sheet wavy you need something
18:17
really powerful something like me and my
18:20
hammer to see those ways to travel
18:28
through that iron sheet
18:30
well waves pass through space in exactly
18:34
the same way we call these gravitational
18:37
waves gravitational waves are vibrations
18:42
from cosmic events-- transmitted through
18:45
the material of space-time to set off
18:49
waves in space you need the biggest
18:51
baddest most powerful events in the
18:53
universe something like the collision of
18:55
two black holes when two black holes
18:58
collide the energy released sends
19:02
shockwaves through space-time across the
19:05
universe
19:08
by the time they reach Earth they're so
19:10
small they're immeasurable almost in
19:16
2015
19:17
scientists at the LIGO Observatory made
19:20
a groundbreaking observation they
19:25
detected ripples in space-time
19:29
gravitational waves rumors began flying
19:33
but became clear after a while that this
19:35
was indeed the first direct detection of
19:38
gravitational waves seen by man-made
19:40
instruments on the earth when we
19:45
discovered gravitational waves it had
19:47
been so long that we've been waiting for
19:49
signals not only did most of us not
19:52
believe it I went so far as to be so
19:54
skeptical as to look into all kinds of
19:56
conspiracy theories for ways it can be
19:58
faked when I saw this data
20:00
I still think back on it now and the
20:03
emotional impact it has on me the only
20:05
thing capable is when I saw my
20:07
daughter's face for the first time after
20:09
she had been born it was that kind of an
20:12
emotional impact just having all of this
20:16
things that we had worked for coming to
20:18
fruition in one moment it's mind-blowing
20:24
we can actually hear these gravitational
20:26
waves on earth part of what makes this
20:30
so amazing it's a bit of a coincidence
20:31
but it's a really cool coincidence is
20:33
that the signals that LIGO actually
20:35
measures are in the same frequency band
20:38
as the sounds that the human ear is
20:40
sensitive to we can hear the waves
20:43
change frequency as the two black holes
20:46
get closer and collide it's a swoop up
20:53
in frequency that sounds like what we
20:58
were hearing in that where two black
21:01
holes that are orbiting around one
21:02
another and then coming together that
21:06
was it
21:07
listening to ripples in space-time has
21:10
given us a powerful new tool to
21:12
investigate the universe we are now
21:16
hearing things in gravity for the first
21:18
time it's a sense that we have never
21:20
been able to apply to the universe and
21:22
we're beginning to learn what is out
21:24
there the observation of gravitational
21:26
waves from black holes is one of the
21:29
most significant findings in astronomy
21:31
by anyone in the recent hundred years
21:34
it's hard to overstate the importance of
21:37
gravitational wave astronomy much like
21:39
when Galileo first pointed his telescope
21:41
at the stars to see something new we now
21:43
have an entirely new window into the
21:45
universe
21:49
gravitational lensing and gravitational
21:51
waves offer us an insight into the
21:54
complex relationship between gravity and
21:56
space
21:58
[Music]
22:02
but what about the other half of the
22:05
equation time but it turns out you know
22:10
it's space time gravity not only
22:12
distorts space it actually distorts time
22:16
too we think of time is something that
22:18
can't be changed it simply flows ahead
22:20
at a constant rate but that's not the
22:22
universe we find ourselves in and some
22:25
crazy circumstances my time might even
22:29
according to you stop
22:33
it might even be possible to travel
22:36
through time and go back to the future
22:40
[Music]
22:55
[Music]
22:57
for sci-fi fans space is the final
23:01
frontier for scientists exploring time
23:05
is a much bigger challenge originally we
23:10
thought of time is the same thing as the
23:13
Sun rising and setting but now we've
23:15
come to realize the time is a more
23:17
fundamental concept than that time isn't
23:20
just something that passes time is an
23:23
essential part of our universe it's part
23:27
of the fabric of space-time
23:30
the Big Bang was the beginning of space
23:33
and time since then space has been
23:39
expanding and time has been ticking
23:42
forward it's been doing this for 13.8
23:47
billion years creating the universe we
23:50
see today there's sort of two sides of
23:53
the same coin
23:54
you can't have time without space or
23:56
space without time so when matter
23:59
influences space-time it's not just
24:02
creating deformations in space it's also
24:05
affecting the flow of time this is where
24:08
space-time becomes really cool just as
24:11
gravity bends space it also distorts the
24:15
flow of time this isn't how we perceive
24:18
time this is actually the rate at which
24:20
time flows very massive objects can warp
24:23
and twist space-time itself so not only
24:26
a space distorted but time itself can
24:29
slow down or even stop the stronger the
24:33
gravity the greater the distortion what
24:37
has the most gravity a black hole
24:42
found in space near a strong
24:44
gravitational tug from a black hole
24:45
clocks can do funny things and this is
24:48
where things start getting really
24:49
interesting around the black hole space
24:54
time warps and twists slowing time down
24:59
scientists dream of sending a probe
25:01
there to test their hypothesis
25:05
there's a famous way of thinking about
25:07
this called the twin paradox where two
25:09
twins are born on exactly the same time
25:11
right so they're the same age but one of
25:13
them zips very very close to a black
25:15
hole hangs out awhile and then comes
25:17
back if I had an identical twin who
25:20
stayed back on earth while I flew near a
25:21
black hole when we had our daily video
25:24
phone calls he would see me and I would
25:30
see funny we would literally notice the
25:35
time is running in a different pace for
25:37
all the other one the closer to the
25:40
black hole the slower time passes
25:44
if instead of coming back home I
25:46
accidentally fell backwards into the
25:48
black hole my twin back on earth would
25:49
see me slow down even more ago
25:54
and completely dry into halt and seemed
25:58
frozen on the event horizon time appears
26:02
to stand still why we just have a
26:05
sinking feeling that I would be able to
26:07
come home again but if the twin could
26:11
escape from the black hole he would be
26:14
returning to the future maybe it's only
26:17
been a few days or weeks experienced by
26:20
the one that traveled to the black hole
26:22
while the other is you know gray-haired
26:25
and as grandkids by now as it lived
26:28
decades here on earth
26:33
the black hole warped space-time so much
26:36
that the ultimate science-fiction
26:38
fantasy becomes reality
26:42
time travel is a staple of science
26:45
fiction and we know that time travel
26:48
into the past
26:49
appears to be ruled out in our universe
26:52
but time travel into the future is
26:55
totally acceptable time travel isn't
27:01
possible just yet but space-time has a
27:04
very real effect on our daily lives it
27:08
controls how we age
27:12
the key to different rates of flows of
27:16
time is gravity
27:18
if you experience different
27:20
gravitational environment you will have
27:22
a different flow of time as I climb up
27:26
these stairs and I put myself further
27:29
away from the mass of the earth my own
27:31
clock runs a little bit faster if you go
27:35
down closer to the surface the more your
27:38
clock slows down we have sensitive
27:42
enough clocks that we can measure this
27:45
different flow of time
27:48
exaggerate this effect and we would see
27:51
the flow of time change in front of us
27:55
those closer to the earth would look
27:58
slowed down those higher up the opposite
28:02
which means the wealthy in their pent
28:05
houses actually would age faster than
28:08
people on the ground this is a
28:11
mind-blowing concept but it's reality
28:15
Earth's gravity even controls time high
28:18
above the planet twelve and a half
28:21
thousand miles up there's an array of
28:23
global positioning satellites crucial to
28:26
the navigation systems and our cars and
28:28
cell phones we here on earth use the
28:31
global positioning system as a way of
28:33
getting around okay most people these
28:35
days would be lost if they have to go
28:37
more than about a kilometer from their
28:38
house unless they have their GPS app on
28:40
their phone to tell them where to go the
28:43
GPS receiver in your cell phone bounces
28:46
signals over four satellites to figure
28:48
out exactly where you are it's an
28:52
exercise in precision timing onboard
28:56
each satellite is an atomic clock the
29:00
weaker gravity in orbit means the
29:03
satellite clocks tick fractionally
29:05
faster than those on the ground
29:09
if we didn't know to correct for the
29:12
fact that the clocks and our satellites
29:13
move at different rates the GPS system
29:16
here on earth would not work it would
29:18
actually lose accuracy at such a rate
29:20
that the entire global positioning
29:22
system will become useless in less than
29:24
an hour we correct for that every moment
29:26
of every day space-time has controlled
29:33
every phase of the universe's evolution
29:35
since its birth
29:38
now we're discovering space-time will
29:41
also dictate how the universe will die
29:48
[Music]
30:03
our universe started with a bang 13.8
30:08
billion years ago it's been expanding
30:11
ever since
30:14
will this expansion last forever or will
30:19
our universe come to a violent end for
30:25
almost a hundred years we've now known
30:27
that the universe is expanding
30:28
everything in the universe is expanding
30:30
away from everything else we can test
30:33
this by measuring light from exploding
30:35
stars type 1a supernovas all explode
30:41
with the same brightness so scientists
30:43
can accurately work out their distance
30:45
from Earth for decades astronomers have
30:50
measured this light being stretched by
30:53
expanding space-time the universe is
30:58
expanding and there's matter in it that
31:00
matter has gravity and that is
31:01
distorting the curvature of space-time
31:04
so it made sense to us that as the
31:06
universe expanded all of the matter in
31:08
the universe would hold on to each other
31:10
gravitationally if there's enough matter
31:13
in the universe it can actually pull on
31:15
itself enough that the expansion gets
31:17
slower but in 1998 astronomers took new
31:23
measurements and made a sensational
31:25
discovery people had expected it to be
31:29
slowing down to decelerate but instead
31:31
they found the opposite the expansion is
31:33
accelerating
31:35
if expansion was slowing then these
31:39
distant lights should seem brighter
31:41
instead they were dimmer
31:45
they were getting farther away much
31:47
faster than expected it could only mean
31:51
one thing that expansion is getting
31:55
faster it's accelerating every day
31:59
this discovery turned our understanding
32:02
of the universe upside down for the
32:05
first seven billion years of the
32:07
universe the rate at which the universe
32:09
was expanding was going slower and
32:11
slower but then something crazy happened
32:15
It was as if gravity had become the
32:19
opposite instead of attracting the
32:21
galaxies it was almost as if it was
32:23
pushing them apart that's a very
32:25
surprising result we're still struggling
32:27
to understand it was gravity losing its
32:32
power
32:34
where was there something else pushing
32:36
space apart there is another ingredient
32:40
in our universe an ingredient that
32:43
behaves very oddly the mysterious
32:47
quantity called dark energy
32:50
like space-time dark energy is all
32:54
around us we can't see it but it makes
32:57
up 70% of the stuff in our universe but
33:02
what is it exactly
33:03
dark simply means that we have no idea
33:06
what it is we don't know what form it is
33:08
in something is pouring energy into the
33:10
universe causing it to accelerate we
33:13
don't know what it is no clue whatsoever
33:15
we don't understand it that's the
33:17
greatest mystery out there today
33:21
dark energy behaves in mysterious ways
33:26
ordinary matter is attractive dark
33:30
energy is repulsive that's why it's
33:32
causing an acceleration ordinary matter
33:35
feels gravity it comes together but this
33:37
stuff doesn't his dark energy a new
33:41
force in the universe or like gravity
33:44
could it come from space-time itself
33:48
dark energy may very well be a property
33:51
of space-time it may be that space
33:53
itself has an energy and it's this
33:55
energy that's driving it to accelerate
33:57
in its expansion dark energy is a thing
34:00
we don't really know exactly what it is
34:02
but it will have a huge effect on the
34:04
future changes in the universe so what
34:08
will happen if dark energy keeps
34:10
accelerating the expansion of our
34:12
space-time universe
34:14
because of the presence of dark energy
34:17
it'll expand faster and faster and
34:19
faster which means the universe is going
34:22
to become a lonelier and lonelier place
34:24
to be all the galaxies are accelerating
34:27
away from each other the universe gets
34:29
dimmer and dimmer and colder and colder
34:32
everything gets darker and more desolate
34:34
and right now that is the leading
34:36
candidate for what's going to happen in
34:38
our future eventually our space-time
34:40
universe freezes the big freeze is the
34:45
ultimate endgame of the universe as we
34:48
know it it is an ugly fate it's a
34:52
depressing fate but luckily for us it's
34:54
not until an unimaginably long time from
34:58
now
35:01
trillions of years from now the universe
35:03
could end in a big freeze
35:10
but a 2017 study hints had an even more
35:14
frightening possibility dark energy
35:19
might be getting stronger one horrible
35:24
scenario for the ultimate fate of the
35:26
universe is if dark energy eventually
35:29
grows so strong enough that it can
35:31
overwhelm the gravitational attraction
35:33
of a galaxy itself it's even able to rip
35:36
black holes apart the very fabric that
35:41
holds everything together could be
35:42
ripped apart this idea is called the big
35:45
rip first clusters then galaxies like
35:48
our own Milky Way will be torn apart
35:52
then our solar system will break up and
35:57
in the final half-hour of the universe
35:59
the earth will explode in the final
36:04
second atoms will vaporize everything in
36:09
the universe would individually be torn
36:11
apart by the expansion of space we don't
36:14
understand dark energy is it constant is
36:17
it getting stronger is it getting weaker
36:19
at this stage we simply don't know the
36:23
future of our space-time universe hangs
36:27
in the balance
36:28
will it end in a big rip a big freeze or
36:34
is the end really just the beginning
36:56
spacetime controlled the birth of our
36:59
universe it will also dictate its death
37:03
[Music]
37:05
now we're discovering these two events
37:08
may be linked a link that reveals a flaw
37:12
in our understanding of the Big Bang
37:15
[Music]
37:16
all the galaxies all the planets and
37:19
stars all of this matter was compressed
37:21
into a tiny volume shrunk down to
37:24
infinitely small size we call this tiny
37:27
infinitely dense point a singularity
37:34
singularities are predicted by the
37:36
general theory of relativity but the
37:40
universe is also governed by another set
37:43
of rules quantum mechanics quantum
37:50
mechanics is our description of the sub
37:53
atomic realm of fundamental particles
37:57
and fields and forces in how they
37:59
interact
38:00
[Music]
38:02
quantum mechanics says that nothing can
38:05
be infinitely small or dense
38:10
so singularities cats exist singularity
38:15
is a bit where everything kind of goes
38:17
to hell because the densities become
38:19
infinite gravitational forces become
38:21
infinite things just sort of break down
38:23
there in the equation sort of stopped
38:24
making sense no singularity would be no
38:28
big bang as we understand it
38:30
so then how did the universe spark into
38:33
existence
38:37
scientists now think they have an answer
38:40
a solution that works with both general
38:44
relativity and quantum mechanics quantum
38:49
space-time
38:51
a successful theory of quantum
38:53
space-time should answer the question of
38:55
what really happened in the earliest
38:57
moments of our universe
38:58
hopefully the correct quantum theory of
39:01
gravity won't have any singularities it
39:04
will replace the Big Bang with something
39:06
else if we only knew what that something
39:09
else was we might have a clue as to how
39:11
and why the universe began
39:14
in a quantum space-time Big Bang there
39:18
was no singularity bursting from nothing
39:21
the universe formed from the remnants of
39:25
another dying universe it's possible
39:29
that before the Big Bang there was still
39:31
universe there was still space and time
39:33
but rather than expanding the universe
39:35
was contracting perhaps universes don't
39:40
end in rips or freezes perhaps they
39:45
collapse an ancient universe expands but
39:52
then begins to collapse under its own
39:54
gravity
39:55
crunching space-time down to a spec but
40:01
instead of forming a singularity
40:04
space-time once again explodes as matter
40:09
gets more dense than as the matter
40:11
crunches down this force will push
40:14
everything back out the near verse would
40:17
bounce and reignite in a new round of
40:21
expansion a new Big Bang what we
40:23
perceive as the Big Bang is the
40:25
aftermath of that bounce
40:28
[Music]
40:29
this suggests that the space-time that
40:32
dictates our lives today comes from the
40:35
collapse of an old universe and we live
40:39
in an infinite space-time cycle of birth
40:42
death and rebirth
40:46
a bouncing space-time universe if we
40:50
live in a bouncing universe it's very
40:52
plausible universes infinitely old that
40:54
it's gone through an infinite series of
40:55
bounces and there is no absolute
40:58
beginning it could be that we are just
41:00
one iteration of an infinite number of
41:03
cycles in the lifetime of some meta
41:05
universe we barely understand space-time
41:11
perhaps we will never understand it
41:14
completely
41:15
but one thing is clear without
41:18
space-time we would not be here
41:23
space-time is something absolutely real
41:26
it's really part of the fundamental
41:27
architecture the furniture of reality to
41:33
really understand the ultimate fate of
41:35
our cosmos it's not enough just look
41:37
more with our telescopes you also have
41:39
to understand the basic nature of
41:41
space-time
41:46
I think the biggest thing to take out of
41:49
all of this is that the universe is
41:52
weird you hear about these very weird
41:58
things that we talk about when we study
41:59
the universe and cosmology and
42:01
relativity it sounds like it could be
42:03
all made up
42:04
but trust it's not
42:08
you really are right now living in a far
42:11
more complex and beautiful universe than
42:14
the human mind can comprehend

You might also like