Through the Wormhole

[scotty_le_b]

Well I was watching Throught the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman and it said something about 2 particles popping into existance in empty space then meeting and popping out of existance again. It was the black hole one. I was thinking wouldn't that violate the conservation of energy, 2nd law of thermodynamics, the one that says energy cannot be created nor destroyed. I thought mass and energy was the same so if 2 particles popped into existance is that not energy being created or am I being stupid and overlooking something.

[George Jones]

Virtual particles do not have to be "on-shell", i.e., they do not have to have the same masses/energies that their "real" counterparts have. One member of the pair of particles has positive energy and one has negative energy.

[scotty_le_b]

Oh so these particles are virtual does that mean they are not real?

[bigfoot100]

The effect is called vacuum fluctuations are as a result of the Uncertainty principle, this website is very informative.

The really crazy stuff happens around black holes, the vacuum fluctuations occur and before the particles can annihilate with each other they are pinged off in opposite directions, using up some of the black hole’s energy. This means that for smaller black holes evaporate into nothing, this is called Hawking radiation and this is why any black holes created by CERN would just disappear.

Another cool scenario is with two charge plates close together the positive particle pings to one plate and the negative to the other and the plates move together.

[JulianO]

There is some interesting stuff on wormholes here

[George Jones]

There is some interesting stuff on wormholes here

Very nice! The first guy, Philip Moriarty, has tremendous enthusiasm, and I like the way the second guy, Ed Copeland, explains things. A previous post on SGL made me aware of Copeland.

A short video (featuring Ian Morrison of Gresham College) on using a wormhole for time travell:

FORA.tv - Ian Morison: It’s About Time.

A comprehensive, up-to-date book on wormholes for the layperson:

Amazon.com: The Physics of Stargates: Parallel Universes, Time Travel, and the Enigma of Wormhole Physics (9780984150007): Enrico Rodrigo: Books

Unfortunately Amazon UK doesn't have the LOOK INSIDE! feature enabled for this book. Although this book is non-mathematical, I wouldn't say that it is non-technical. The classic, no (technical) punches pulled reference is Lorentzian Wormholes by Matt Visser.

Over the next few months, I hope to do some technical work on wormholes.

[JulianO]

Very nice! The first guy, Philip Moriarty, has tremendous enthusiasm, and I like the way the second guy, Ed Copeland, explains things. A previous post on SGL made me aware of Copeland.

Philip Moriarty has done a nice one on why

too.

I was sat in a seminar with Ed Copeland last week...

(very faintly reflected fame)

[Earl]

Philip Moriarty has done a nice one on why

too.

I was sat in a seminar with Ed Copeland last week...

(very faintly reflected fame)

Great vid that thanks for sharing !!