3 ms·

The Scale of the Universe (2012)

18 points by nxnfufunezn 11y ago

amelius 11y ago
And we are in the middle of this scale. I wonder if there is any significance to that.
- cam_l 11y ago
  there's this stretch of road in western Queensland runs straight about 50 clicks. I drove through there once years ago just after a bushfire. horizon to horizon was dead flat. the land was the same color as the road. i remember driving past this single burnt out tree still standing. it was nowhere special.
  - amelius 11y ago
    that tree probably had some very special set of genes to be the last one surviving in that area
- huxley 11y ago
  The significance is that the human is being used as the "measure of all things" The scale is based on the ratio to the size of a human being (human being = 1 or 10^0), so if we were in the middle that would be why we'd be there, but the Planck Length is 10^-35 and "The Universe" is 10^27 so we aren't actually that close to the middle.
  - vorg 11y ago
    That's a 10^-8 difference in scale at the top end, though if we use the size of the human brain instead that's 10^-10 difference in scale. We're certain, however, about the Planck length being the smallest scale but not whether "The Observable Universe" is really the greatest distance. If some of the large scale parameters of physics, e.g. the fine structure constant, vary depending on position, then there could be a mathematical limit to the size of the Universe, which could conceivably be 10^10 times the "Observable Universe".
msane 11y ago
This is such a great demo. I saw this maybe a year ago and was just thinking about it the other day. Huge nebulas larger than the galaxy are completely mystifying.
nogridbag 11y ago
I'm always fascinated by this. Here's a few of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q http://scaleofuniverse.com/universe-large.jpg http://scaleofuniverse.com/universe-large.jpg (large image)
teh_klev 11y ago
Although this has been featured on HN a few times before, I hadn't realised it was put together by a couple 14 year old school kids. Well done them: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/page/scale-universe-cary-michael-huang-california-high-school-15573968 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/page/scale-universe-cary-mi...

18 points by nxnfufunezn 11y ago

amelius 11y ago

And we are in the middle of this scale. I wonder if there is any significance to that.

cam_l 11y ago
there's this stretch of road in western Queensland runs straight about 50 clicks. I drove through there once years ago just after a bushfire. horizon to horizon was dead flat. the land was the same color as the road. i remember driving past this single burnt out tree still standing. it was nowhere special.
- amelius 11y ago
  that tree probably had some very special set of genes to be the last one surviving in that area
huxley 11y ago
The significance is that the human is being used as the "measure of all things" The scale is based on the ratio to the size of a human being (human being = 1 or 10^0), so if we were in the middle that would be why we'd be there, but the Planck Length is 10^-35 and "The Universe" is 10^27 so we aren't actually that close to the middle.
- vorg 11y ago
  That's a 10^-8 difference in scale at the top end, though if we use the size of the human brain instead that's 10^-10 difference in scale. We're certain, however, about the Planck length being the smallest scale but not whether "The Observable Universe" is really the greatest distance. If some of the large scale parameters of physics, e.g. the fine structure constant, vary depending on position, then there could be a mathematical limit to the size of the Universe, which could conceivably be 10^10 times the "Observable Universe".

msane 11y ago

This is such a great demo. I saw this maybe a year ago and was just thinking about it the other day. Huge nebulas larger than the galaxy are completely mystifying.

nogridbag 11y ago

I'm always fascinated by this. Here's a few of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q http://scaleofuniverse.com/universe-large.jpg http://scaleofuniverse.com/universe-large.jpg (large image)

teh_klev 11y ago

Although this has been featured on HN a few times before, I hadn't realised it was put together by a couple 14 year old school kids. Well done them: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/page/scale-universe-cary-michael-huang-california-high-school-15573968 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/page/scale-universe-cary-mi...