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Cosmic ages have come and gone since I listened to Slipback, the Doctor Who audio written by Eric Saward. I don't remember it terribly clearly, except for a general impression that Saward was, as usual, out to make the Sixth Doctor appear as great a twat as possible. And Valentine Dyall saying "See how my pustules GROW!" But I do remember the puzzling term "the monobloc", used for the universe quote before unquote the Big Bang -- "a dense monobloc of matter". I'd forgotten all about this odd expression until I stumbled over it last night re-reading Larry Niven's short story The Borderland of Sol. Googling reveals the word originates with Loren Eiseley, a scientist and philosopher, who seems to have coined it in his 1953 essay for Scientific American, "Is Man Alone in Space?". Sadly I can't get my paws on the essay, but I think Eiseley must have been using it as a way to refer to a point of infinite density. Well there you go -- I thought Saward must have made it up!
Infinite Space
Feb. 15th, 2020 09:58 pm"According to general relativity, the inward gravitational collapse never stops. Even though, from the outside, the black hole appears to stay a constant size, expanding slightly only when new things fall into it, its interior volume grows bigger and bigger all the time as space stretches toward the center point. For a simplified picture of this eternal growth, imagine a black hole as a funnel extending downward from a two-dimensional sheet representing the fabric of space-time. The funnel gets deeper and deeper, so that infalling things never quite reach the mysterious singularity at the bottom. In reality, a black hole is a funnel that stretches inward from all three spatial directions. A spherical boundary surrounds it called the “event horizon,” marking the point of no return." -- What Keeps Black Holes From Expanding Everywhere? (The Atlantic, 10 December 2018)
Great horny toads!
(Cf the behaviour of space-time in the Big Rip, and the volume of negatively curved space.)
Great horny toads!
(Cf the behaviour of space-time in the Big Rip, and the volume of negatively curved space.)
Books read, September 2010
Sep. 30th, 2010 11:59 pmQuentin Crisp. Resident Alien.
Christopher Isherwood. Down There on a Visit.
Seth Lloyd. Programming the Universe.
( Books borrowed )
Christopher Isherwood. Down There on a Visit.
Seth Lloyd. Programming the Universe.
( Books borrowed )
Books read, August 2010
Aug. 31st, 2010 11:59 pmAlfred Bester. The Rat Race.
Ray Bradbury. Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Minister Faust. The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad.
Jack Repcheck. Copernicus' Secret.
( Books borrowed )
Ray Bradbury. Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Minister Faust. The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad.
Jack Repcheck. Copernicus' Secret.
( Books borrowed )
