NationStates Jolt Archive

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..

no

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..

Sure. Our masses would change. Scales still work as normal.

Yes. As one dimension doubles, area is 4 times bigger, but volume is 8 times bigger. So you'd be supporting 8 times the weight and 8 times the muscle power on 4 times the cross sectional area of bone. A lot of people would end up in hospital.

Buildings would fall down.

Things in general would be bad.

Also as c remains constant physicists would be able to tell what had happened through experiments, and even tell you exactly what factor everything had got bigger by.

Hope that helps :-D

Sure. Our masses would change. Scales still work as normal.
But if everything in the scale were exactly twice its normal size, then the readings would be different. I think what he means is, if every sub-atomic particle were twice its normal size, in which case there really wouldn't be any difference, since there wouldn't be anything "normal-sized" to compare it to. I think... I'm certainly not an expert on the subject.

Yes. As one dimension doubles, area is 4 times bigger, but volume is 8 times bigger. So you'd be supporting 8 times the weight and 8 times the muscle power on 4 times the cross sectional area of bone. A lot of people would end up in hospital.

Buildings would fall down.

Things in general would be bad.

Also as c remains constant physicists would be able to tell what had happened through experiments, and even tell you exactly what factor everything had got bigger by.

Hope that helps :-D
Yeah, but would it be the same if each individual atom were bigger? I've heard of the squared-cubed rule before, but I'm not sure it would apply in this instance.

Yes. As one dimension doubles, area is 4 times bigger, but volume is 8 times bigger. So you'd be supporting 8 times the weight and 8 times the muscle power on 4 times the cross sectional area of bone. A lot of people would end up in hospital.


Hope that helps :-D

But wouldnt the cross sectional area of the bone have also increased?

If everything is relative, yes. IMO, unfortunately, that's not true.

Based on your premise, assume the following:
1) The Sun is 2 times as big.
2) The Earth is 2 times as far away from the Sun.

Does this factor mean the Earth has the same temperature as it has right now? Its factors like this which change how the Earth and mankind would be. I don't know if factors like this would mean mankind exists, yes or no, but its doubtable the planet would be as-is (except the obvious change of double size).

But wouldnt the cross sectional area of the bone have also increased?
Yes, but only by 4 times. The strength of our bones and muscles is determined by the cross-sectional area, not volume, so we would be 4 times as strong, but 8 times as heavy. Of course, my question on if the atoms themselves increased in size still stands.

Interpret the question anyway you like.

Even if you think 1 old second = 2 new second.

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

No, you wouldn't be able to tell; because everything in the univerise, including yourself, would be doubled in proportion to everything else. So, it would all even out again...

Another interesting view is the following: using maths.
Take the following simple formula:
100 ^ 2 - 5000 = 5000
Now double everything:
200 ^ 4 - 10000 = 1599990000
See the problem already?
An exponential formula will grow much more (or if it is a negative one, will shrink much more) in relation to the non-exponential (i don't know the exact English word, sorry)

Si if everything is relative, exponential math formulas are an exception :)

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..

It all depends whether the universal constants vary as well in proportion to the increase in size of everything else: I don't believe it is possible that they could all alter in such a manner that the change would be indetectible.

[Spurland #1]
If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..

The universe is constantly fluctuating up and down in size, in a rather Brownian motion sort of way.

You don't notice it because GOD says you are not to notice it.

Do you really think god has enough time to deal with thoughtfully listening to each persons petty little prayers AND keeping the size of the universe constant..?

I don't THINK so..!

It all depends whether the universal constants vary as well in proportion to the increase in size of everything else: I don't believe it is possible that they could all alter in such a manner that the change would be indetectible.

Agreed

Be happy with how Gaia is, she's working fine right now :) support the cause of keeping our ecosystem intact, minimizing humanities' influence on Her as much as possible for without Gaia we have no life on planet earth. Even God won't have mercy on your soul, for she'll be gone then.

VOTE FOR 2005 BEING THE YEAR OF BIODIESEL! :)

The universe is constantly fluctuating up and down in size, in a rather Brownian motion sort of way.

You don't notice it because GOD says you are not to notice it.

Do you really think god has enough time to deal with thoughtfully listening to each persons petty little prayers AND keeping the size of the universe constant..?

I don't THINK so..!
Ummmm... Well, that was certainly... enlightening?

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..Yes. No. It depends on exactly what you mean by "doubled". If everything is suddenly twice as far apart in whatever coordinate system you're using, that might not mean anything. But if distances of everything as measured in metres[1] suddenly doubles you'd be able to tell (If ceasing to exist counts).

[1] A metre being defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 of a second, a second being defined as 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation emitted by transition between the two hyperfine ground levels of caesium-133 atoms.

You'd be able to tell even if atoms doubled in size. Relationships which depend on squared or cubed terms would still change. The strong nuclear force is very short ranged, for instance, so you'd have trouble making sensible atoms with sub-atomic particles being further apart.

The energy reaching us from the sun is a squared term (we get a small portion of all the energy on the skin of a sphere of radius 1AU, centered on the sun).

If you start saying "time doubles in length, the nuclear force doubles in distance but not strength...." then you start going beyond my casual understanding of physics, and I can't help you anymore.

If everything in the universe doubled in size, would you be able to tell?

You double in size as well..

I wouldn't mind if certain objects doubled in size.