I was totally picturing something like Big Reelin’ 2021 Expedition 4 
. Maybe we could unlock some lawn chairs, coolers and beer koozies.
4 Likes
I might fall in love with a guy willing to challenge Stephen Hawking on theoretical physics…
2 Likes
Well, black holes are a crushing reality.
Worm holes are slippery devils. In the general SciFi area, worm holes connect to a specific small region of space.
Black holes in No Man’s Sky connect to random areas (right?).
2 Likes
They’re part of a model, and as such not to be confused with reality, true. Then again, in the field of quantum physics, they’re by no means the weirdest thing. I mean, you can take the double slit experiment, probably the most basic and best explored experiment in the whole field, and you just WTF on the result. “You’re telling me the electron does what???”. It makes no sense when trying to picture by analogues from the non-subatomic realm. It’s completely bonkers. And yet, also extremely well proven, and almost beyond doubt at this point. Which of course lead to the acceptance that reality works a lot different down there at the subatomic scale than it it does above it, which lead to a mode of thinking that would crystalise into postmodernity over the course of the last century, and here we are… So while I’m perfectly aware that virtual particles are a necessary building block for the current model, I don’t take too much issue with them, because in the overall scheme of stuff that has been sufficiently proven, they’re really not that weird. They work well enough to make predictions of behaviour, which, in the end, is what a model is here for.
As I understand it, it’s because the mass for the virtual particle is generated from the energy of the black hole, so part of that goes flying out, which leads to the energy equilibrium being restored by mass to energy transformation by the black hole. But I might be getting that part completely wrong, I’m really not well versed in the details of it all, and certainly not capable of doing the math 
Ah, there at least I can spot a misconception. Virtual particles are not to be confused with anti-particles, which seems to be a common enough mixup. I guess it comes from the part where two virtual particles “destroy” each other, which sounds a lot like a matter-antimatter reaction. Thing is, virtual particles don’t destroy each other, their wave functions cancel each other out (particle-wave-duality… another paradox we just have to deal with in bloody quantum mechanics…). So, no antimatter involved here. Which doesn’t help answer the question where the hell all the antimatter went that should be around, but that’s an entirely different topic.
Now I’m getting confused… Of course all matter is warping space time, but a singularity is pretty much defined by density being high enough to result in a collapse at infinite velocity (well, in the mathematical model at least). In short, an amount of matter that is compressed below its Schwartzschild radius. We are definitely not that, neither are the sun and the planets. In fact, that’s what we call a black hole, so I’m not sure where that “pan-singularity” idea comes from…
It usually doesn’t solve itself, but it does mostly show itself when you throw enough clocks at it
Now you’ve lost me, though. Maybe it’s because this is solidly outside the field of quantum mechanics, where you seem to know more than me, and more in the field of astrophysics, where I might have the advantage (if my bit of knowledge there counts as such…).
A star forms by accretion of gases (and that’s no different from a planet so far). It’s the gravity of the gas cloud itself that makes it slowly fall in on itself, slowly picking up speed as it compresses. In a planet, over time, most heavy elements will sink to the “bottom” (i.e. the center of the gravity well) for the same reason a stone sinks in water: Density. Thus, planets tend to form rocky cores (which includes metallic… planetologists seem to simplify all matter into gas (hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen noble gases and probably a few others), ice (methane, ammonia and co) and rock (everything that’s left)), simply because heavier elements sink below lighter elements.
In a star, the same thing would happen, if the bloody thing wouldn’t suddenly start fusing hydrogen like mad once a certain pressure is reached. This obviously creates a continuous outward pressure that keeps metallic elements at bay until the lightest thing left to fuse is iron, and then things get spectacular, because that consumes more energy to fuse than the process releases. As a result the outward pressure drops, everything collapses, and the compression results in a blaze of glory we call a supernova, after which there will be a very dense core of degenerate matter left over, its exact nature depending on the mass involved in the formation process.
In other words, if stars would have iron cores, they wouldn’t work. Because iron fusion doesn’t produce energy.
That is not my experience at all. People are asking those questions all the time. A theory of everything is incredibly difficult because… well, because it’s incredibly difficult. They’re trying to reconcile two models that are in opposition to each other. They won’t be reconciled until some stroke of genius or some earth-shattering observation gives us a clue that brings us closer to reality. You can’t force these things. Asking tough questions is great, but it’s constantly being done already, and usually proper asking already involves a damn lot of math that is completely over my head, so I can’t participate there…
3 Likes
Now that’d be a can of worms… 
4 Likes
I worked the weekend mission and was nearly hurled into space by a sandworm, Came up right under my feet.
7 Likes
Never know with SM if he is throwing us clues or red herrings…
I am gonna jump into speculation with earthworms and earth - like planets. More? Or maybe an element that makes planets more like earth? Like rivers?..the place where you would use earthworms to fish…
4 Likes
I’ll speculate:
Maybe the worm is a suggestion towards ‘worm holes’ but not as described earlier in this topic.
Maybe it’s a new ship tech that can ‘open a worm hole’ to permit massive intersteller jumps or intergalactic travel, much like the teleporters we have now can.
or
Maybe it’s just worms…as in wriggly critters in dirt & caves.
5 Likes
There is a well documented phenomenon, known to students of organisational thinking. It’s known as the “Bicycle Shed Effect”.
An illustration of the effect proposes a University Acquisitions Committee. The committee are to consider funding for two future projects - one is a new bicycle shed, for which 1,000 Euros will be required. The other is a supercondensing low quantum foam particle accelerator, which is costed at 80 million Euros.
The particle accelerator is subject to brief discussion. After 20 minutes, the committee approves the 80 million funding.
When it comes to the bicycle shed, however, there is great disagreement. Do they need one at all? Could it be made from cheaper materials? Are they using the right contractor? What colour should it be?
After four hours of vigorous discussion, the committee is unable to agree on the bicycle shed, and the matter is shelved until the next meeting.
According to the Bicycle Shed theory, the reason for this behaviour is because nobody on the committee has the slightest idea what a superconducting low quantum foam particle accelerator* is, or how much one should cost - but nobody is prepared to admit their ignorance. Everybody, however, knows what a bicycle shed is, and has a reasonable idea of how much one should cost.
*Nor do you. I just invented it. It’s a combination of particle physics and laundry technology. Excuse me, I must go and put the electrons on fast spin.
9 Likes
What’s a bicycle shed?
7 Likes
It’s a place for bycicles to shed their riders…
8 Likes
I thought it was a shed that runs twin cycles…
6 Likes
Why does this one, which leaves your bicycle exposed to the elements
Costs so much more than this enclosed one which completely protects your bicycle…
3 Likes
In my experience those vinyl sheds use no fasteners, they sort of “snap together” using molded in tabs and slots and such…and as soon as they have been in the sun for a month the pieces start to warp and in fairly short order they are pulling tabs out of slots and falling apart. That other shed might have vinyl panels, I can’t tell for sure, but the blue frame looks like square steel tubing so even if they are vinyl panels they are screwed to the frame and it won’t let them warp.
5 Likes
7 Likes
So, just how fast do those foam particles spin? And how much time will it save me?
6 Likes
We will never get our bike shed at this rate
7 Likes
I’d never get those. Like some dogs, they shed too much! 
6 Likes
Does this bi-cycle shed allow for 2 different cycles to run simultaneously or only that it can run 2 sorts of cycles.
Have we go any quotes yet? 
3 Likes
We do now.
4 Likes