Obligatory Monthly Plug Drug's Philosophical Ramblings Thread

[Plug Drugs]

Well, wikipedia is saying that the main explanation proposed for an accelerating universe is the nature of dark energy in that it tends to spread out fairly homogenously in space. Which would mean that as the universe expands, the dark energy in the universe thins out, leaving a thinner medium that becomes increasingly easier for matter to travel through. So that makes me wonder, will it necessarily ever thin out to the point that matter reaches the speed of light and annihilates itself?
That is very interesting, because it would mean that with dark energy stretched that thin, all matter would travel through space with such ease that any amount of kinetic energy and a particle would immediately be traveling at light speed.

It's starting to sound in my head a lot like what I was saying earlier, about the laws of physics themselves starting to break down once the universe reaches the age where particle annihilation due to acceleration occurs

[Plug Drugs]

It's not just that but how a particle reacts to travelling through that dark energy actually determines what that particle actually is. I do not think mass can travel at the speed of light... "The same theory says that objects gain mass as they speed up, and that speeding up requires energy. The more mass, the more energy is required. By the time an object reached the speed of light, Einstein calculated, its mass would be infinite, and so would the amount of energy required to increase its speed. To go beyond the infinite is impossible.
So for mass to actually travel at the speed of light it would have to have zero rest mass (light has zero rest mass which is why it is the universal speed limit) so no I do not think mass as we know it could travel AT the speed of light. Close to at best but never AT it. It would have to be something other than matter (as we know it in this universe) for it to travel as fast as or faster than the speed of light.

But with the model of an accelerating universe, it's going to happen -- at some point on that exponential curve, the speed of the matter expanding will surpass the speed of light; of course the matter will annihilate itself right before it reaches the speed of light though. And if dark energy's density decreasing is what's causing the universe to accelerate, then it means that the particles aren't picking up more energy causing them to accelerate (which would make them more massive), but rather they travel greater distances from the same kinetic energy they already had.

[maks]

For the matter to move THROUGH space as fast as or faster than the speed of light would require to use up more than all the energy in the whole universe, so it can't really happen.

This is the biggest pile of bullshit I've ever seen. I hope you weren't a science teacher.

[maks]

No it's not a pile of shit you simpleton. It's a concept that is accepted in physics.

I'm in the top 1% for science so don't even bother going there with me half-wit, look it up.

It takes near infinite energy to accelerate to the speed of light. If you're already travelling 99% of light speed then accelerating to 100% wouldn't take any more energy than accelerating to 1% would.

Dumbass.

[maks]

Wrong.

In so many ways you fucking retard, you don't even know what we are talking about. You look like an idiot.

You spent 4 pages discussing this and I came in and gave you the answer in a single post. I can understand why you're mad.

[Plug Drugs]

well no bubble, because it is not the matter itself that is accelerating but rather the "space" between, the dark energy, so it might be possible for it to APPEAR that a galaxy is moving away faster than the speed of light but in fact it isn't the galaxy that is moving that fast, it is the "space" between them that is inflating at an accelerating rate, if it were to APPEAR that it was moving away from us faster than the speed of light we would cease to be able to observe it anyway. For the matter to move THROUGH space as fast as or faster than the speed of light would require to use up more than all the energy in the whole universe, so it can't really happen. Matter itself could not travel that fast, the "space" between it could POSSIBLY.

i've gone cross-eyed