WHAT’S A MINUTE, ANYWAY?
IF you said or thought 60 seconds, you’re right. As least according to the ancient Babylonians who used a sexagesimal (counting in 60s) system for mathematics and astronomy derived from the even more ancient Sumerians who were using it as early as 3500 BC (https://www.theguardian.com/notesandq...).
But, of course, that’s only when measuring time on Earth at an average distance of 94 million miles from the greatest time distorter in our nearby space neighborhood, roughly 1,000 light years away from the nearest black hole, and 27,000 light years away from our galaxy’s central black hole. The “problem” with measuring time on Earth is that our planet exists in a space-time “well” that is always in flux, making time at any point, run a bit shorter or longer.
Even more interesting, however, is what happens to time (the fourth dimension and to our best knowledge the only linear dimension that irreversibly “flows”) as one approaches a black hole. Or, more correctly the “event horizon” surrounding a black hole, a theoretical boundary surrounding a black hole beyond which, due to increasing mass, density and gravity, no light or other radiation can escape – think a transparent “ball” surrounding a midnight black center point.
As one’s spaceship “falls in slower and slower as it asymptotically approaches the event horizon (due to time dilation), [it] appears fainter and fainter over time (as the number of photons per “amount-of-dilated-time” progressively decreases), and eventually gets “frozen” infinitesimally close to, but still outside, the event horizon” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswi...). “At the event horizon, the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light. Since general relativity states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing inside the event horizon can ever cross the boundary and escape beyond it, including light (https://www.britannica.com/topic/even...). “To outside observers, you are gone. However, in your perspective, you are alive and well. The issue in this case is that once you pass the event horizon, you cannot turn back” (https://nineplanets.org/questions/can...). “Beyond the event horizon lies a truly minuscule point called a singularity, where gravity is so intense that it infinitely curves space-time itself. This is where the laws of physics, as we know them, break down, meaning all theories about what lies beyond are just speculation” (https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-...). I’ve always held this singularity is the “passage way” to another universe. Think “next life.”
You might, be able to “exit” a black hole and still stay inside THIS universe by traveling through a “wormhole” to another black hole (sometimes called a “white hole”) and exit’s its event horizon, a conjecture that doesn’t mean that you would be at all the same as before, or even alive. The “wormhole traveler would only experience roughly a second from one side to the other. But, sadly, anyone not traveling with them would see thousands of years go by” (https://interestingengineering.com/hu...). While theoretically, one might “time jump” and survive, remember that within the black hole, the laws of physics upon which our bodies depend, break down, so who knows, really? In fact, some say, “White holes cannot exist, since they violate the second law of thermodynamics…and it [time, one of the essential dimensions to our physical existence] does not know about which way cause and effect go (https://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/bh/sc...).
Next time someone asks you for “just a minute more” or tells you to “enjoy every minute” while you wait, think again. Think of my author-colleague David B. Seaburn’s compelling novel, MORE, MORE TIME (Savant 2015) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991562232, or my own THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859, and the upcoming sequel, PROPHECY. Minutes, not dollars, ultimately determine the course and quality of one’s life — as well as that of others.
https://i.postimg.cc/7hY14JPS/Raymond...
#RaymondGaynor #DanielSJanik #author #actor #minute #seconds #BlackHole #EventHorizon #FourthDimension #universe #multiverse #wormhole #WhiteHole #DavidBSeaburn #MoreMoreTime #TheEdgeOfMadness #Prophecy #Savant #Aignos
But, of course, that’s only when measuring time on Earth at an average distance of 94 million miles from the greatest time distorter in our nearby space neighborhood, roughly 1,000 light years away from the nearest black hole, and 27,000 light years away from our galaxy’s central black hole. The “problem” with measuring time on Earth is that our planet exists in a space-time “well” that is always in flux, making time at any point, run a bit shorter or longer.
Even more interesting, however, is what happens to time (the fourth dimension and to our best knowledge the only linear dimension that irreversibly “flows”) as one approaches a black hole. Or, more correctly the “event horizon” surrounding a black hole, a theoretical boundary surrounding a black hole beyond which, due to increasing mass, density and gravity, no light or other radiation can escape – think a transparent “ball” surrounding a midnight black center point.
As one’s spaceship “falls in slower and slower as it asymptotically approaches the event horizon (due to time dilation), [it] appears fainter and fainter over time (as the number of photons per “amount-of-dilated-time” progressively decreases), and eventually gets “frozen” infinitesimally close to, but still outside, the event horizon” (https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswi...). “At the event horizon, the escape velocity is equal to the speed of light. Since general relativity states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing inside the event horizon can ever cross the boundary and escape beyond it, including light (https://www.britannica.com/topic/even...). “To outside observers, you are gone. However, in your perspective, you are alive and well. The issue in this case is that once you pass the event horizon, you cannot turn back” (https://nineplanets.org/questions/can...). “Beyond the event horizon lies a truly minuscule point called a singularity, where gravity is so intense that it infinitely curves space-time itself. This is where the laws of physics, as we know them, break down, meaning all theories about what lies beyond are just speculation” (https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-...). I’ve always held this singularity is the “passage way” to another universe. Think “next life.”
You might, be able to “exit” a black hole and still stay inside THIS universe by traveling through a “wormhole” to another black hole (sometimes called a “white hole”) and exit’s its event horizon, a conjecture that doesn’t mean that you would be at all the same as before, or even alive. The “wormhole traveler would only experience roughly a second from one side to the other. But, sadly, anyone not traveling with them would see thousands of years go by” (https://interestingengineering.com/hu...). While theoretically, one might “time jump” and survive, remember that within the black hole, the laws of physics upon which our bodies depend, break down, so who knows, really? In fact, some say, “White holes cannot exist, since they violate the second law of thermodynamics…and it [time, one of the essential dimensions to our physical existence] does not know about which way cause and effect go (https://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/bh/sc...).
Next time someone asks you for “just a minute more” or tells you to “enjoy every minute” while you wait, think again. Think of my author-colleague David B. Seaburn’s compelling novel, MORE, MORE TIME (Savant 2015) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991562232, or my own THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859, and the upcoming sequel, PROPHECY. Minutes, not dollars, ultimately determine the course and quality of one’s life — as well as that of others.
https://i.postimg.cc/7hY14JPS/Raymond...
#RaymondGaynor #DanielSJanik #author #actor #minute #seconds #BlackHole #EventHorizon #FourthDimension #universe #multiverse #wormhole #WhiteHole #DavidBSeaburn #MoreMoreTime #TheEdgeOfMadness #Prophecy #Savant #Aignos
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