The Unknown Universe
Is the Universe Exploding?
Read Professor Hammond's theory that explains the unknown expansion
CAREFUL---This link is for physicists :) http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.1277
Is the Universe Exploding?
Read Professor Hammond's theory that explains the unknown expansion
CAREFUL---This link is for physicists :) http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.1277
Winning awards from NASA for his research
and teaching, and international acclaim for his
research on gravity, Richard Hammond, Ph.D.,
turns our view of the cosmos upside down in his
new title, The Unknown Universe: The Origin of
the Universe, Quantum Gravity, Wormholes, and
Other Things Science Still Can't Explain.
TheUnknownUniverse@yahoo.com
Claimer
I learned enough HTML to make this page, but nothing works like I think, and things "float" around with "padding" and "style" as if they have a mind of their own. There I am on the right, but don't ask me how I got there!The Unknown Universe helped me to understand many questions I had about the origin of the universe. I really liked how it was written, using interesting questions for the reader to answer at the beginning of the chapters. Also, the style of writing was fun to read, not like many science books which are (to this reader) usually very technical and difficult to understand. Professor Hammond helped to make the topics that he wrote about understandable in a fun and interesting way that anyone could understand. I had trouble putting it down once I got started! ....Janet Ryan
This book is a novel approach to awakening interest in science in the general reader. I recommend it to the senior High School or Freshman college reader in search of stimulus in the selection of a career path.
Professor Bob Guenther, Duke University.
Professor Hammond guides us on a personal tour
of the unsolved mysteries of physics at the
forefront of current research. His sense of
humor and writing style make this book an
exciting read. He discusses unsolved mysteries
from the Higgs particle all the way to dark energy.
I really enjoyed this book.
Professor Terry Pilling, North Dakota State University.
Nature often gives us clues,
revealing her inner working and exposing her true beauty,
but as physicists we must unearth their significance.
The Unknown Universe also contains
clues to a hidden meaning. Crack the cypher, send the
author the hidden message at
TheUnknownUniverse@yahoo.com and win a free copy
of The Unknown Universe
This sounds like I was in Andromeda when I recorded it.
The microphone I used is no bigger than
a gnat, which explains (I think) the static and extra whistles.
Over on the right is my artistic coup d'essai via
mathematics
This book is a series of delightful interviews in
which natural objects such as an electron, a black hole, a
galaxy, and even the vacuum itself, reveal their innermost
secrets - not only what they are but also how they feel. A
hydrogen atom tells us about quantum mechanics and why we
live in a non-deterministic world; a black hole explains
curved space and naked singularities; and a uranium atom
talks of its life on a meteor, its tremendous collision
with Earth, and properties of radioactivity - all while
grappling with its own mortality. A neutron star gives a
personal account of its creation and goes on to discuss
quasars and other extraordinary astronomical objects,
while an iron atom describes its birth in a remote
supernova explosion and its series of adventures on Earth,
from its early use in wrought iron processes to its time
in a human body, and then to its latest misadventures.
Questions (in blue)
Kara Reynolds and Kirsten Dalley
Win a Free Book, Signed by the
Author
Name that tune....
Read Excerpts
from The Unknown Universe
Also check out
From Quarks to Black Holes
This book, already translated into Arabic, is now being
translated into Japanese.
Ask The Author...
&emsp
With answers (in black)
I was fortunate to have two very talented Editors at Career Press,
Dear Dr. Hammond: I listened to your program on Coast to Coast A.M. and
The Richard Syrett show. I was very intrigued by your theories,
thanks to keeping your descriptions to terms I can understand.
With this in mind, I now have an opportunity to throw at you
some of my theories ( which may come across amateurish to your
way of thinking).
First of all, with the appearance of an accelerating
expansion of the universe, could the cause be created when
the planets have crossed the threshhold of gravitational
pull? When the big bang took place the force sent particles
out into space and through time all the wonderful galaxies
and planets were created. While this creation occured, all
matter was still within a strong gravitational pull on each
other, thus keeping the speed of expantion regulated. The
force of the expansion is still on the matter as of today,
but with one difference, the gravitational pull on all matter
has now started to deteriorate due to the distances between
matter. This I call the threshhold.
Sincerely,
Terry Rondeau
&emsp Hi Terry, Yes, this is a possibility. The problem is,
your theory would require a modification to the theory of gravity.
No one has developed such a generally accepted theory, but check the
link at top of this page to read my paper about this.
"If we observe that a more distant object is moving away
from us faster than closer objects in Space, wouldn't it
be because the light of the more distant objects takes
longer to get here and is therefore much older than the
light coming from closer objects and carries with it much
older information; suggesting that the Universe used
to be expanding faster than it is currently, but is
no longer doing so, as is measured from "newer"
light that carries more recent information?
Might this be a possible explanation of the
information we are receiving rather than
suggesting that the Universe Expansion is
speeding up ?"
Best regards,
James
&emsp
Hi James, We take that into account. Let me give
you an example. Consider a galaxy named El Mundo Unknown,
75 Mpc *away which is traveling 75km/s (kilometers per second).
Suppose we have a linear relation between the
distance of the galaxies and their speed. This means that
a galaxy twice as far as El Mundo Unknown would travel twice
as fast, in this case that galaxy, let’s call it Mundo del
Destino, would be traveling 150 km/s. It turns out that in
this linear case, the expansion rate is constant; the
expansion
rate is neither speeding up nor slowing down. Are you
with me so far? Now suppose instead that Mundo del Destino
is traveling 160 km/s (El Mundo Unknown is always going
75 km/s). When we measure Mundo del Destino, we are
observing the universe in the past, as you point out,
in fact, when we observe Mundo del Destino, we are
looking about 450 million years into the past. If it is
traveling at 160 km/s, then the rate of expansion back
then was bigger than it is now, because it is bigger than
150 km/s—the linear case. Or, in other words, the expansion
rate is smaller now than it was. In fact, this is what we
used to think, and an expansion rate that is slowing down
is consistent with the idea that all of the galaxies are
tugging on each other, tending to slow them down. BUT,
if Mundo del Destino is measured to be moving at 140 km/s,
this means that the acceleration rate was smaller back then,
because it is less than the linear rate. Or, in other words, in this case
the universe is expanding faster now than it was. The measurements I
document in The Unknown Universe are essentially these.
This is why we now believe the universe expanding faster than ever
before.
*One megaparsec = one million parsecs = 31 million light years,
about.
Hi--I so appreciated your interview on Coast2Coast,
as well as your respectful responses to all manners of
questions. I'm looking forward to reading your new book
& wish you all the best!!
Rosanna D'Agnillo, Visit
http://www.rosannad.com
&emsp
THANKS... And you have a beautiful voice!!
Gravity bothers me, as do most current theories of what it is.
So I've looked backwards to an earlier time where different theories
were put forward. The 1920's and 30's,
Ernest Rutherford had just discovered the atom and two of the particles
of which it is made, the positive proton and the negative electron.
The British Chemist James Chadwick had identified the electrically
neutral neutron.
By the mid-1930s scientists were still baffled (as they are today) by
two fundamental questions;
Why do protons in the nucleus of the atom simply not spring apart, given
that positive charges repel?
And, secondly, why did the orbiting negative electrons simply not get
sucked into the positive nucleus, given that positive attracts negative,
and in so doing annihilate the atom?
This assumes that current theories on the unidentified tiny particles
which are said to hold them together, don't really exist. jtcapa
&emsp
Gravity bothers a number of people, physicists included. But you really
answered your own question in your last sentence. The "unidentified tiny
particles
which are said to hold them together" are the gluons, which holds the quarks
together, which hold the protons and neutrons together, so that they do not
"spring apart." I explain all this in The Unknown Universe (this is a part
we know, we think).
Dr.,
If we go along with the theory that the Universe is akin to a balloon
that is being "blown up", i.e. expanding rapidly, this infers there
is a finite "edge" or end to the Universe. If we were traveling in
a spacecraft and arrived at the end of the Universe - what would it
look like? Would we hit a cosmological wall? Or would we cross
back to the beginning/other side of the Universe?
Regards,
Daniel Sekerak,
Oregon City, OR
&emsp Hi Daniel,
The human brain (at least not mine) cannot envision curved three
dimensional space. This does not mean such a thing cannot exist,
it means we must rely on mathematics—an entity that can reach far
beyond the severe limitations of our thoughts. We can, however,
imagine a curved two dimensional space, so let’s utilize this fact.
I want you to imagine a two dimensional world, such as the surface
of a table or the rubber part of a balloon. Imagine further that
there are 2 dimensional intelligent beings in this 2D world.
They can look in any direction, but not a direction that is
perpendicular to the surface. They have no inkling of such a thing,
it does exist to them. They can take measurements, and they can even
determine if their space is flat (table) or curved (balloon).
They can do this without ever leaving their 2 dimensions.
Now I want you to imagine that the 2D beings draw an equator
on their balloon. One of them, say Joe, starts to walk along
the equator. I ask you, what happens? Does Joe hit a wall? No,
eventually he will come back to his starting point. We call a
space such as this a finite, unbounded space. Now that you know what
an unbounded space is, you can accept the fact that we live in
an unbounded space. I discuss this in more detail in The
Unknown Universe.
Read more questions with answers...
Dr Hammond's
radio schedule...
Interview ---JUNE 7---
Virato Live!
Interview on the
Hilly Rose Show
Interview with
Lights on with Nancy Lee June 23
More to be announced................
PAST:
X-zone Radio......................May 29, 11-11:30 (EST)
Coast to Coast with George Noory.....May 27 2-5 am (EST)
New Realities with Alan Steinfeld