Foreword
editThe first thing you must know is that I did not intend to write this book; I was pressed into it by my friends. I only took this idea seriously when I published several wikipedia books. This book, however, I did write.
Infinity and beyond
editBy the dictionary definition, infinity is "A number greater than any assignable quantity or countable number". By this definition, it is a number too large to count or write down (although it is normally written as &infty), or in other words, endless. But the concept is difficult; imagine an object with infinite mass. Where would the mass come from? It would have to be infinitely dense, and would have zero size. But since matter is made of particles, and a limited amount of them, there are three paradoxes (see the glossary):
- Since an atom has a certain size, you can only reduce the space between the atoms, or destroy particles to turn them into energy, like inside a star.
- The number of atoms in the universe limits the maximum mass of the object.
- There are more infinities that follow this: the object would have infinite... density, temperature, energy, mass, weight, and gravity (leading to infinite curvature).
So with one infinity, there are more infinities.
Take this story (that could not possibly happen, for other reasons): There was once a hotel with an infinite number of rooms in it. One day, a man turned up and asked "Do you have a spare room?" So the manager gave him the keys for room 1, and issued a call to all of the people staying at the hotel: "Can you please go to the room that is one plus your current room." They did, and the man could go to room 1. The next day, a bus turned up with an infinite number of passengers on board. The manager issued the command to all people in the hotel: "Please move to the room which is double your current room." Now, all of the odd numbers were free, and the infinite load of bus passengers could enter the hotel. So, infinity plus 1 is infinity, and infinity times 2 plus 1 is infinity. Confusing!
Now we will get to these questions:
- Does the universe have infinite size?
- Will the universe ever end?
- Did the universe have a beginning?
- If the universe is expanding, will it ever reach infinite size?
- Is it possible to reach the speed of light?
- Is it possible to exceed the speed of light?
For the first 4 questions, no-one knows. However, thanks to a clever bloke called Albert Einstein, we know the answer to the last two questions. Does the universe have infinite size? Possibly, and possibly not. As we learned in the previous story, and because of the sums I listed out, we know that if the universe did have infinite size, It could still expand. The universe having infinite size, though, disagrees with one very common Sci-Fi fact: There being more than one universe. This sounds crazy, but it is possible. I won't get too wound up in Science Fiction, so I will go on to the next question. Will the universe ever end? Well, there are lots of theories. One is that the universe started with a bang, and will end with a bang (well, a pop actually). Another is that eventually, gravity will overwhelm the expansion of the universe and it will end in the big crunch. New evidence, however, shows that the expansion of the universe is actually speeding up, overwhelming gravity. Whatever happens, it might be in such a long time that we humans, as well as the earth, and possibly the solar system, will not be here to witness it. Did the universe have a beginning? This is a short one: if the universe is expanding, it must have started with zero size. In other words, it probably had a beginning. This would have been a massive explosion, that would herald the arrival of the universe. If the universe is expanding, will it ever reach infinite size? If the universe was slowing down, no. But since it is actually speeding up, it might. If it expands to infinite speed, it will reach infinite size in an infinitely short space of time. But if the universe does not reach infinite speed, it will never reach infinite size. Is it possible to reach the speed of light? No! Albert Einstein worked this one out. Since energy is translated into mass, and the more speed an object has, the faster an object is travelling, the more mass it has. Because of some of newton's laws, the more mass an object has, the more gravity it creates. According to Einstein's theory of General Relativity, gravity slows down time, so the more an object weighs, the slower time is around it. Since getting to the speed of light requires an infinite amount of thrust, and an object travelling at the speed of light has infinite kinetic energy, and infinite mass, time would stop for the object travelling at the speed of light.
Is it possible to exceed the speed of light? No! This is for the same reason as in the previous question. It is possible for a photon to exceed the speed of light because it has no mass, but because of that thing about time, a photon would then travel back in time.
Weights and measures
editPlease note: This chapter is only meant for reference, and is not intended to read through.
| Prefix | Index notion | Full number |
|---|---|---|
| yotta- | 1024 | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| zetta- | 1021 | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| exa- | 1018 | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| peta- | 1015 | 1 000 000 000 000 000 |
| tera- | 1012 | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| giga- | 109 | 1 000 000 000 |
| mega- | 106 | 1 000 000 |
| kilo- | 103 | 1 000 |
| milli- | 10-3 | 0.001 |
| micro- | 10-6 | 0.000 001 |
| nano- | 10-9 | 0.000 000 001 |
| pico- | 10-12 | 0.000 000 000 001 |
| femto- | 10-15 | 0.000 000 000 000 001 |
| atto- | 10-18 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| zepto- | 10-21 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| yocto- | 10-24 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| Basic Quantity | Name | Symbol |
|---|---|---|
| length | meter | m |
| mass | kilogram | kg |
| time | second | s |
| electric current | ampere | A |
| Thermodynamic Temperature | Kelvin | K |
| Amount of substance | Mole | mol |
| Luminous Intensity | Candela | Cd |
| Quantity | Derived Measurement | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| area | square meter | m2 |
| volume | cubic meter | m3 |
| velocity | meter per second | m/s |
| acceleration | meter per second squared | m/s2 |
| wave number | reciprocal meter | m-1 |
| mass density | kilogram per cubic meter | kg/m3 |
| specific volume | cubic meter per kilogram | m3/kg |
| current density | ampere per square meter | A/m2 |
| magnetic field strength | ampere per meter | A/m |
| amount-of-substance concentration | mole per cubic meter | mol/m3 |
| luminance | candela per square meter | cd/m2 |
| Quantity | Symbol | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| minute (time) | min | 1 min = 60 s |
| Hour | h | 1 h = 60 min = 3600 s |
| Day | d | 1 d = 24 h = 86 400 s |
| degree (angle) | ° | 1° = ( /180) rad |
| minute (angle) | ' | 1' = (1/60)° = (/10 800) rad |
| second (angle) | 1 = (1/60) = (/648 000) rad | |
| Liter | L | 1 L = 1 dm3 = 10-3m |
| metric ton (a) | t | 1 t = 103 kg |
| electronvolt (d) | eV | 1 eV = 1.602 18 x 10-19 J, approximately |
| unified atomic mass unit (e) | u | 1 u = 1.660 54 x 10-27 kg, approximately |
| astronomical unit (f) | ua | 1 ua = 1.495 98 x 1011 m, approximately |
| Cup (canada) | 227.3 ml |
| Cup Metric | 250 ml |
| Cup US | 236.6 ml |
| Bushell UK | 36.368 ltr |
| Centiliter | 10 ml |
| Dram | 3.69ml |
| Gallon (UK) | 4.546 ltr |
| Gallon US (liquid) | 3.785 ltr |
| Gill (UK) | 142 ml |
| Gill (US) | 118.29 ml |
| Hogshead (UK) | 286.404 ml |
| Measure (anchient hebrew) | 7.7 ltr |
| Tablespoon (metric) | 15 ml |
| Tablespoon (UK) | 14.2 ml |
| Tablespoon (US) | 14.78 ml |
| Teaspoon (metric) | 5 ml |
| Teaspoon (UK) | 3.6 ml |
| Teaspoon (US) | 4.92 ml |
| Fluid Ounce (UK) | 28.41 ml |
| Fluid Ounce (US) | 29.57 ml |
| Peck (UK) | 9.092 ltr |
| Peck (US) | 8.810 ltr |
| Pint (UK) | 568 ml |
| Pint (US) | 473.176 ml |
| Pint (US DRY) | 550.61 ml |
| Quart | 1.137 ltr |
| Quart (US Dry) | 1.101 ltr |
| Quart (US liquid) | 946.35 ml |
Relativity
editRelativity was created by Albert Einstein