The Big Suck!

Back on May 9, 2013, I posted “The Big Pffft! to this blog site in which I gave a brief introduction to the Big Bang Theory (the academic attempt at explaining the observed behavior of the known universe, not the hit CBS-TV comedy airing Thursday nights at 8:00 PM, 7:00 PM Central) and some problems I have with the current state of hypothesis regarding the creation of the Cosmos.  If you haven’t read it or don’t remember, take a moment now to go back and soak in the wisdom.  The rest of us will wait here.  Go ahead, take all the time you need.  Our toenails need a good trimming any way.

You’re back; good.

Now as we have established, according to the theory, the universe began about 13.798 billion years ago give or take 37 million years.  That’s not a lot of give and take; a little more than one-quarter of one percent. Okay, I promise, no more numbers.  Well, just one.  A feature of the Big Bang Theory that gives me heartburn is the period of cosmic inflation, a period of the early (very early, a number so small I can’t even give it a name… it is so small a fraction of a second that that you need 37 zeros between it and the decimal point) universe in which the it expanded exponentially.  The cosmologists invented this phenomenon to reconcile the age they assign the universe with the size they can measure; never mind that it violates all of the rules of physics we had been reared to accept.  But I digress.

Turning to the Dark Side

I know what you’re thinking, “No! Dale, don’t look into the… shadow?”  Don’t worry Obi Wan, we’ll wear our night-vision goggles.  In addition to cosmic inflation, the cosmologists have also invented (not discovered, mind you… that would take actual observation) the phenomena; dark matter and dark energy.

Isaac Newton defined it mathematically.  Albert Einstein corrected his errors.  And by the early twentieth century, we had a pretty good understanding of how (not why… nobody knows why) gravity works.  Observation of our own solar system shows us that the closer a planet is to the sun, the shorter its orbital period, or greater its speed.  But when we look at our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, we see that stars on the outer edge of that galaxy are traveling the same speed as those near its gravitational center.  The scientists who cogitate such things decided that the mass of Andromeda must be greater than that which they could calculate based on the visible light (energy) of the galaxy.

Thus, they invented… Dark Matter!  No, not because it is evil, but because it cannot be seen.  So let’s make sure we understand this.  Regular matter gives off energy, e.g. a star; so we can see that.  We cannot see Dark Matter because it gives off no energy? Do I have that right?  And mind you, this here to fore unseen Dark Matter is allegedly made up of sub-atomic particles.  You know, those particles created by smashing atoms together in the Large Hadron Collider. Yeah, the unstable ones that evaporate into energy within nanoseconds of their creation.  But wait, I thought Dark Matter didn’t give off any energy and that is why we can’t see it. Are you keeping up with this?

For dark matter to explain the observations of galactic motion, the cosmological wizards calculated that it must make up 84.5% of all the matter present in the universe.  Imagine that, almost eighty-five percent of the matter in our universe is observable only on paper.  These guys must be smart.

But wait, it gets better (?).  Observations of the galaxies show us that space (the universe) is expanding; bringing us back to the rationale on which the Big Bang Theory was developed.  And to make it even more interesting, the farther away from Earth a galaxy is, the faster it is accelerating away from Earth.  Okay, who knows what that indicates?  That’s right Tinker Belle, it means that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.  Think about that for just a second or two.

Yeah, I know, the time didn’t help.  You are still asking yourself, “Huh?”  This is the way it should work.  The big bang, like an explosion, drives all energy and matter away from the singularity (the epicenter of the bang) in all directions.  But as the universe cools, matter forms.  And matter has mass.  And all mass is gravitationally attracted to all other mass.  And energy always moves from a higher state to a lower state (see entropy).  So eventually, you expect the energy of the bang to dissipate and the gravitational influence of the matter (dark, light or swirl, your preference) to cause the universe’s expansion to slow and then reverse its course as the galaxies all begin to move toward each other.  This imagined phenomenon is known as The Big Crunch.  But our observations tell us that is not going to happen.

So, to explain this violation of the known and demonstrable laws of physics the scientist create another mathematical plug-in they like to call Dark Energy.  Dark Energy is pushing on the outer boundaries of the universe causing it expand at an ever accelerating rate.  You will recall, Dark Matter is dark because it gives off no energy.  Well, guess what fellow travelers; we can’t see Dark Energy either (hence, the name).  We can’t see it, touch it, smell it or taste it.  “But it’s energy!” you cry. “Why can’t we see it?”  To which the physicists reply, “Uh, we don’t know.”

Keep in mind that a principal tenet of the Big Bang Theory is that everything in the universe; energy, matter, mushrooms, clowns, all emanated from that bang. The highest state of energy the universe will ever experience was just before the cosmic inflation. And that energy always moves from higher states to lower states.  Where would the universe be getting the additional energy to power an ever accelerating expansion?

  

You may recall that Dark Matter comprises 84.5% of the matter in the universe.  Well, Dark Matter and Dark Energy (matter and energy are all that the universe is made of, by the way) account for, wait for it… 95.1% of the universe.  That means that all we can see is 4.9% of the universe.  The rest of it exists only on paper; in the mathematical formulas created by people whose I.Q. levels suggest they walk a fine line between mega-genius and bat-shit crazy.

This Sucks!

My leadership mentor, the late Honorable Judge Robert J. Cooney (1928-1990) often told me, usually while holding a length two-by-four over my head, “If you don’t like something, offer an alternative.” (expletives deleted)

So I offer an alternative to the Dark Matter/Dark Energy proposition.  I recall from my elementary school years that we were told space is a vacuum; devoid of matter.  Once one traveled beyond limits of our planet’s atmosphere there was nothing.  Today, we know that is not true (and I suspect that even in 1963 the scientists knew).  Space is full of matter and energy.  Compared to the density of matter on Earth, it may seem a little desolate.  However there is a lot going on out there.  But what exists beyond space, or our universe, as we know it?  There are speculations of parallel universes.  Some physicists offer a model where there are infinite universes each like a bubble wafting about in the nothingness of whatever.

I will propose that perhaps there is nothing out there; just a big vacuum.  And that our universe is expanding into the void.  That would explain how the expansion is accelerating.  As the stuff in our universe is expanding in all directions, the gravitational attraction of galaxies is weakened by the increasing distance between them, therefore allowing the expansion to accelerate.  The universe is not being pushed from within, but pulled from without!

Imagine a balloon.  This balloon is essentially empty except for a few thousand air molecules that fill in the little wrinkled areas of the balloon’s skin.  Tie a knot in the balloon so as prevent any more air going in or out.  Then put the balloon in a chamber and pump out all the air in the chamber.  The here to fore flat balloon will begin to expand; not from inflation, for it still has the same amount of air inside as when we tied the knot.  It expands because of deflation, or the vacuum, created inside the chamber.  And as the chamber continues to empty, the balloon will continue to expand until it reaches the limit of its elasticity and pop.

Now here’s the question you have to ask yourself:  Does the universe have an elasticity limit, or will it continue to expand forever?

Maybe my next missive on cosmology should be titled, “The Big Pop!”