Nowhere357

I think virtual particle theory muddies this view a little bit. Within a local area, at least, energy apparently can spontaneously appear. I see no reason to assume that the total energy of the universe cannot increase or decrease.

Stephen Maturin

Dammit, Doov! Now I'll be spending the rest of the day trying to drive Desi Arnaz's Saturday Night Live poetry reading out of my head.

Harumi

Harumaki?

Spring roll?!

Did you have to make fun of my name?

Ieyasu, I thought your name sounded pretty familiar. But I was thinking of a Japanese character in a book with the same name, so I missed the fact that Tokugawa had the same first name too.

Tokugawa bit the dust though.

But anyways:

Kimpatsu, if you could give me a web link that can explain this idea of quantum singularity (in laymen terms) I'll be happy to read up on it. It sounds pretty cool.

Kimpatsu

I'm just showing off my Japanese.
Rather than a link on the web, try reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. In-depth, enlightening, and fun.

Duvenoy

Heh. Apopogies for inconvience.

I'm now looking for still another incoherent post to answer with The Jabberwocky. Be warned!

doov the Grammer Nazi

Kimpatsu

Duvenoy may be a grammar Nazi, but I'm an Orthography Commando!

ieyeasu

Note my declaration of "basic physics". All I learned about physics, I'm learning in my high school physics class .

How does energy spontaneously appear? Does this have to do with quantam theory, and the weird bit about wandering electrons?

And as far as total energy increasing--how? Wouldn't that violate the conservation of energy?

Just trying to learn!

Nowhere357

Virtual Particle Theory is a result of quantum theory. I don't claim to understand it, but apparently the uncertainty principle allows for temporary creation of particle/anti-particle pairs. Very short-lived. Apparently this doesn't violate the conservation of energy law, because they disappear so rapidly.

So empty space is seen as a seething brew of bubbling energy, so to speak.

If this theory is even close to correct, then I think the conservation law can be seen as an approximation. Much like Newton's laws of motion are an approximation of Einstein's relativity theory.

ieyeasu

Ah. I've always understood Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to concern electrons--If you can pin its position, you are unable to pin its velocity, and vice versa. Really, (and again, this is from a person with a very basic understanding of science) it's about the idea of electrons as potentialites, not realities. They don't exist in one place, but in all, and in none at all, and that sort of business.

Makes my lobes look like pretzels, I tell ya...

Kimpatsu

Actually, Heisenberg's principle concerns all particles, not just electrons.
But maybe that's doubtful, too.