Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping

Summary

StarTalk Radio Episode Summary: "Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping"

Release Date: December 31, 2024
Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Co-Host: Chuck Nice

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Introduction to Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping

In this engaging episode of StarTalk Radio, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson teams up with his comic co-host, Chuck Nice, to delve into one of the most profound concepts in science: time. The show, blending science, pop culture, and comedy, invites listeners to explore complex astronomical and physical phenomena through accessible and entertaining dialogue.

---

Chuck's Hypothesis: Time Does Not Exist

(04:24 - 09:12)

The episode kicks off with Chuck Nice presenting his bold personal hypothesis: "Time doesn't exist." He poses several intertwined questions:

1. Is time infinite?
2. What is time?
3. Does time exist at all?

Neil responds by clarifying the scientific perspective, explaining that while Chuck's hypothesis is intriguing, it's essential to differentiate between personal hypotheses and established theories. He elaborates on Einstein's conception of time, highlighting its connection to motion and the universe's expansion.

Notable Quote:

Chuck Nice [04:24]: "I have a hypothesis that time does not exist."

Neil concurs partially, explaining that time, as we understand it, began with the Big Bang and is "semi-infinite"—infinite in one direction (the future) but not the other.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [06:04]: "Time is what we call semi-infinite. It's infinite in one direction, but not the other."

They further discuss the idea that time is a construct dependent on the presence of motion and measurable phenomena. Without matter, energy, or space to measure against, "time would have no meaning"—aligning with Chuck’s hypothesis in a broader, more abstract context.

---

Practical Timekeeping in Space

(09:20 - 16:17)

Transitioning from theory to application, Neil and Chuck explore how time is managed in space exploration:

• Apollo Missions: Astronauts kept Houston Time, synchronizing with mission control on Earth.

• Mars Exploration: Mars has its own timekeeping due to its longer day (~24 hours and 39 minutes). Scientists use Mars time to ensure activities like rover operations align with sunlight availability.

• International Space Station (ISS): Features multiple time zones based on the participating countries' home times, leading to five different time zones on board.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [10:31]: "So, essentially, there are 360 degrees of the Earth split into 24 time zones, each spanning 15 degrees."

They also touch upon the psychological aspects of time in space colonies, noting that isolated environments might adopt non-Earth-like day cycles, such as a 25-hour day, to better suit human adaptation.

---

Relativity and the Timelessness of Photons

(13:22 - 16:31)

The conversation shifts to the fascinating realm of Einstein's Relativity, particularly how time behaves at speeds approaching light:

• Time Dilation: As one approaches the speed of light, time slows down relative to observers at rest.

• Photons: Particles of light, always traveling at the speed of light, experience no passage of time. For a photon, "time does not exist."

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [15:24]: "Time does not exist."

Chuck reacts with astonishment, highlighting the profound implications of these concepts on our understanding of existence and perception.

---

Listener Questions and Answers

1. Jeff Sloan: Big Bang and Faster-Than-Light

(21:49 - 25:33)

Jeff poses an intriguing question: "If objects moving faster than the speed of sound can cause a sonic boom, is it possible that the Big Bang was a result of something traveling faster than the speed of light?"

Neil clarifies that while Cherenkov radiation occurs when particles exceed light speed in a medium like water, the Big Bang involved the fabric of space-time itself expanding, not objects moving through space. Therefore, Cherenkov radiation doesn't apply to the Big Bang since the expansion wasn't within a medium.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [24:46]: "The Big Bang was an expansion of the universe itself, not something moving through space faster than light."

2. Clarissa Wegner: Superman and Time Reversal

(29:03 - 32:02)

Clarissa introduces a pop culture twist: "If Superman made the world spin in the opposite direction, reversing time, what would happen?"

Neil and Chuck humorously dissect the scenario, concluding that reversing Earth's rotation would lead to catastrophic consequences without affecting gravity or time itself. However, Clarissa suggests an alternative where Superman's actions allow him to "go back in time" without reversing Earth's spin, prompting further scientific musing.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [26:40]: "Nothing would happen to time and our gravity would remain exactly the same."

3. Jordan Navarro: Seeing the Big Bang with a 22-Year-Old Mirror

(32:02 - 34:38)

Jordan asks whether a mirror placed 22 light-years away could allow us to see the Big Bang in real-time. Neil explains that the light would take 44 years for a round trip, meaning we wouldn't witness the Big Bang directly. Instead, such a mirror would enable us to observe events from 44 years in the past.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [33:07]: "You would see it 44 years in the past."

4. Lightning Round Questions

(34:38 - 40:15)

In an accelerated segment, Neil and Chuck tackle rapid-fire questions, providing succinct yet informative answers:

• Kevin Castaneda: "Is the perception of time universal?"
  Neil: Universally, time passes the same at the atomic level, though perceptions may vary among different life forms.

• Samir Schuman: "Would time exist without motion?"
  Neil: Time relies on measurable motion; without motion, time lacks a framework for measurement.

• Tom Shilson: "Is there any evidence that time is broken into little bits?"
  Neil: Yes, time is quantized at the smallest scales, aligning with quantum physics principles.

• Joey Carasone: "If light can't escape a black hole, how would time be affected inside it?"
  Neil: As one approaches a black hole, time slows dramatically, with the outside universe speeding past relative to the observer falling in.

• Additional Questions:
  Topics included mapping time without conventional timekeeping and whether the universe is necessary for time to exist.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [39:48]: "Time as we have defined it exists only within this universe."

---

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

(40:15 - 41:09)

As the episode wraps up, Neil and Chuck reflect on the vastness and intricacies of time, encouraging listeners to continue exploring the universe's mysteries. They emphasize the importance of scientific inquiry and maintaining a sense of wonder.

Notable Quote:

Neil deGrasse Tyson [40:28]: "Keep looking up."

---

Key Takeaways

• Time's Nature: Time is intertwined with motion and the universe's expansion, having a defined beginning with the Big Bang and continuing infinitely into the future.

• Relativity: As objects approach the speed of light, time dilation becomes significant, leading to intriguing phenomena like the timeless existence of photons.

• Practical Timekeeping: Space missions require unique timekeeping systems tailored to their operational needs, such as Mars time or multiple time zones on the ISS.

• Scientific Inquiry: Listener questions highlight the intersection of science and popular culture, underscoring the relevance of astrophysical concepts in everyday conversations.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Chuck Nice [04:24]: "I have a hypothesis that time does not exist."

• Neil deGrasse Tyson [06:04]: "Time is what we call semi-infinite. It's infinite in one direction, but not the other."

• Neil deGrasse Tyson [15:24]: "Time does not exist."

• Neil deGrasse Tyson [33:07]: "You would see it 44 years in the past."

• Neil deGrasse Tyson [40:28]: "Keep looking up."

---

This episode of StarTalk Radio masterfully balances scientific depth with humor and accessibility, making complex topics like the nature of time understandable and engaging for a broad audience. Whether discussing theoretical physics or entertaining hypothetical scenarios, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice provide insightful perspectives that inspire curiosity and wonder about the universe.

Transcript

[Chuck Nice]

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[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. I'm your host Neil Degrasse Tyson. I'm an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History right here in New York City and I also serve as Director of the Hayden Planetarium. We are cosmic queries. Startalk after hours. I like to think of it. I would never do cosmic queries alone. I get Chuck, nice to join me. Yes, Chuck, Nice. Comic.

[Chuck Nice]

Uchucknicecomic. That's me. How are you?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's what they call you in the Twitterverse.

[Chuck Nice]

In the Twitterverse. I love that word. Twitterverse.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I can put a verse on everything, and it is. And we take ownership of it in the universe.

[Chuck Nice]

There you go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Yes. The chuckiverse.

[Chuck Nice]

That's scary. The chuckiverse is scary.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so thanks for being on.

[Chuck Nice]

Absolutely.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And you got a TV show where you just bust into people's homes.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's crazy.

[Chuck Nice]

I love it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

How did he even let you do that?

[Chuck Nice]

You know, I ask myself that question every time I'm on it, like, how did this happen? But, yes, the show is called Home, Strange Home, and I pretty much invade the homes of unsuspecting people, show up with cameras, and they take me on a tour of their weird, wonderful house.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And you just talk about them. And seriously, I do Home and garden tv. That's my sister's favorite TV show.

[Chuck Nice]

I love your sister.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I mean, her favorite TV network. And she'll find you for sure.

[Chuck Nice]

I love it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So we got questions. The topic today is on time.

[Chuck Nice]

Time and timekeeping. Here's the question. All right. Is time infinite? Okay. And so I'm going to. This is Scott, and this is Milad. These two questions. One, is time infinite? And so I might as well ask Scott's question along with that, which is, what is time? And now here's the third part of that. I believe time doesn't exist. So that's the third part. I just want to know if I'm right or wrong.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The theory, according to Chuck, time does not exist.

[Chuck Nice]

That's my theory. That's my personal theory, is that time doesn't exist. But the question is we have evolutionary.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Theory, quantum theory, and Chuck's theory. Yes. Just to put this in context, what you really mean is you have a hypothesis.

[Chuck Nice]

I have a hypothesis really exists. Because it's really not a theory. All right, So I have a hypothesis that time does not exist.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Einstein described time as being defined to motion. Look. Simple. Wow.

[Chuck Nice]

That Einstein dude was kind of deep.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He was deep. He was deep. And in physics, what we really care about is not what is true. Yes, that's fun over a beer. But what we really care about is how does the universe reveal itself to us in ways that we can calculate and then understand what we See, and make predictions about what is yet to be tested. And so we're, we're dependent on our interaction with the universe. And so if time is a thing, if we can define it in a way to make motion look simple, we're all over it. And so time is not infinite. Time, as we have defined it, had a beginning, and that was the Big Bang. If it were infinite, it would have go to the infinite past.

[Chuck Nice]

Correct.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But there's a stopwatch that got started at the Big Bang. The birth of space and time, matter and energy. Now, as far as we know, we're going to expand forever into the future. And if that's the case, time is what we call semi infinite. It's infinite in one direction, but not the other. It's an actual math term. Semi infinite.

[Chuck Nice]

Semi infinite, Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so it's like a number line. No, like a number line.

[Chuck Nice]

Like a number. You start at one point and then boom, you just keep going.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Semi infinite. Half infinite. Like a semicircle is half a circle, right? Yeah. Semi infinite. You're half infinite.

[Chuck Nice]

Is that good God, that sounds so counterintuitive. You are semi infinite.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You are only half an infinity, right?

[Chuck Nice]

You're only half of infinity. It's like, that's really cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so in that as far as we know, time will continue going forward forevermore.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so there you have it now, the Chuck theory, Right, along with quantum theory.

[Chuck Nice]

My hypothesis.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, thank you. Is that time does not exist.

[Chuck Nice]

It doesn't exist.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And what's your evidence for this?

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so what my think of it this way. If there were absolutely nothing, then there would be nothing to measure and therefore time wouldn't exist. That's what I'm saying.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay. So what you're saying is time is a construct of the places where there are things to measure it.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly. That's my point.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'll give you that.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, really? Yeah, I'm right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, okay, I'm going with.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm right. I'm going with. Let me explain. I must explain. No, don't explain. It's too good. I love it too much. I'm going everywhere. Now, Neil Degrasse Tyson said my hypothesis was right, so screw you, buddy. I can't wait to get to a beer tonight.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

By the way, you know time doesn't exist, right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, here it is. We measure time with phenomena that repeat, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The clock dial turns. Well, initially it was astronomical, referencing the sun goes around.

[Chuck Nice]

I mean, earth goes around.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's what we thought. So the sun would go around the Earth, the moon goes around the Earth, this sort of thing. And you'd keep, you'd reckon time in these ways. And then we found you could track time to a vibrating atom. Something's got to repeat to measure time. So you could pose the following comment, that if there exist places where nothing repeats, then you cannot reckon the passage of time with any kind of reliability. Not only that, getting back to the Chuck hypothesis, you can imagine a universe, or perhaps outside of our universe, where there is no matter, there is no space, there is no energy, it's just that which is not those three.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And if it is that which is not those three, and all three of those conspire to allow us to measure time with tools, then where there aren't those three, time would in fact have no meaning.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's exactly what you were thinking.

[Chuck Nice]

That's what I'm thinking. Awesome.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

God, Chuck. So I'll give you that, Chuck.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But that doesn't mean it doesn't have meaning in our universe, but in some meta place.

[Chuck Nice]

In some meta place. Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You got it. Yeah, I'll grant you that. Yeah. So you've been dropping questions in my lap and that last one was a good one. I have more to add to it. What was it?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, the question really simply was how would a space faring people keep time?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. And so the good one, my favorite example of that is the Apollo astronauts that went to the moon, who are they talking to?

[Chuck Nice]

Talking to mission control of Houston.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And Houston. It's Houston time.

[Chuck Nice]

It's Houston time. That's hilarious.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They just say, hello, Pakistan. So they kept time. They kept Houston time. And on Mars, right. Mars actually has its own clock, which is slightly different from Earth clock. The Mars day is slightly longer than Earth day. And so that matters because the rovers that are there need sunlight to drive their solar panels. And so Mars professionals who study Mars keep a wristwatch that is Mars time and not Earth time. And they slowly migrate out of phase from one another. And. Yeah, because if you don't match perfectly, you slowly, slowly, right. You slowly migrate.

[Chuck Nice]

You drop out of phase.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You drop out of phase. And so astronomers on Earth studying Mars are on Mars time with sunrise and sunset at the location of the rover that they're studying. That's cool.

[Chuck Nice]

That's very cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, yeah. And on the International Space Station, each module is put up by a, is supported by a different country. Country and nationality. Their time is the time, but from their home base. So the Russian capsule is like Moscow time, right. Not New York time.

[Chuck Nice]

So there's five different time zones on the International Space Station.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The International Space Station. Oh, that's. And here's the question of all questions. If a time zone is separated by sort of degrees of longitude every 15 degrees, multiply 15 by 24, what do you get?

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, God. I couldn't do that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This would not take God to answer. It just takes the times table.

[Chuck Nice]

So let me see. That's 240 plus five times 24.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

So it's 120. So 240 and 120. So that's nice.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Chuck gets it. It comes in at 360. So all 360 degrees of the Earth are split into 24 time zones, basically at 15 degrees of width. Right. So as you crawl east, west, you can change your time zone. As you come near the poles, the time zones get narrower and narrower and narrower. And on the Pole, every single time zone converges. So what time does Santa keep on his watch?

[Chuck Nice]

I'm gonna say pole time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Pole time. It's Hammer time. Now we got pole time. Yeah, you'd have to invent some time. There is no day. There's six months of sunlight, six months of dark. The concept of a rotating Earth loses meaning on the Pole, where there are no time zones.

[Chuck Nice]

That's weird. That's great.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, very cool. What else you got?

[Chuck Nice]

All right, let's move on here. Okay, this is a good one.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, by the way. Oh, I got to add one other thing. If you had an actual colony, space colony that was nowhere near Earth and you didn't care about Earth, then you're not dependent on the rotation of the Earth or daylight or nighttime. You can create whatever kind of days you want. Studies in psychology showed that if you lock people away and had them set up their own cycles, that their day is today. Typically 25 hours.

[Chuck Nice]

Really?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Five and a half. That's why you never quite feel right. Like the day is always a little bit ahead of you.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's because you really want a 25 hour.

[Chuck Nice]

You need an extra hour.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You need an extra couple hours.

[Chuck Nice]

And I thought I was just hungover.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, here is long ago, long ago, Earth's day was longer than it is today. Yeah, we've been. We've been slowing down.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Because of the rotation.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Did I say longer? I'm sorry.

[Chuck Nice]

We had a faster, faster day.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, but go on.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so now, here. I don't understand this question. And you're gonna have take me to school on this one. Summarize the timelessness of a Photon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, beautiful. That is beautiful. Are you ready?

[Chuck Nice]

I'm ready.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Are you ready?

[Chuck Nice]

I'm ready for this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you're not ready. I don't think you're ready.

[Chuck Nice]

You sound like Beyonce.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I don't think you're.

[Chuck Nice]

Are you ready for this? Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Are you ready for this?

[Chuck Nice]

Tell me. Are you ready? I'm ready.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you're not ready.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm not ready.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Tell me again.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, I'm ready.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right. You should know, if you study relativity, Einstein's relativity, that as you increase your speed, time ticks more slowly for you than it does for anyone who's watching you.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right? This is the relativity of time. This is well known. We've measured this. It's not just your clock that's ticking slower. Your metabolism is unfolding more slowly. Your brain synapses firing more slowly. Everything about you is slowing down. All right? As you travel faster and faster, get closer and closer to the speed of light, you age more and more and more slowly. Time ticks more and more slowly for you.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If you hit the speed of light, which we don't know how to do yet, but if you ever hit the speed of light, then time stops.

[Chuck Nice]

Stops.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Photons, which is the carrier of light. Right. Exists at the speed of light. It doesn't accelerate from zero to speed of light in 3.4 seconds.

[Chuck Nice]

Correct.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It exists at the speed of light. And because it exists at the speed of light, any watch that it's carrying never ticks. Which means if you are the photon, become the photon. If you are. This is not a proton. Now, particle in the nucleus of an atom. The photon. The particle of light. If you are a photon and you are emitted from across the universe, you will be absorbed. You will slam into whatever you are destined to hit as far as you are concerned, instantaneously. That's correct.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because no time would have.

[Chuck Nice]

Because no time's right. Because you can't. Because at that speed where you exist, that speed, time has stopped.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Stopped.

[Chuck Nice]

So for you, time doesn't exist.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Time does not exist.

[Chuck Nice]

Dude, this is mind blowing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Time does not exist.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, yo, man.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now, here's.

[Chuck Nice]

Now, wait a minute. You gotta give me a second, man.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You gotta absorb that now.

[Chuck Nice]

That was great. Anybody got some weed? I need some weed Right there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is that good for you?

[Chuck Nice]

Cause that was cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Some people would have requested it in advance of this. Let's all move to Colorado and get the weed.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly. So it's why we knew that the neutrino could not be traveling at the speed of light. Because the neutrino actually changes species midway.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There's one kind of neutrino that can become a different kind of neutrino species. How would it know to do that unless it's keeping track of time?

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It knew to do this. It does that at a predictable interval. It can only do that if it's carrying a stopwatch.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So we knew the neutrinos were not.

[Chuck Nice]

Traveling at speed because if they were.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They would never change.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They would not change.

[Chuck Nice]

This begs the question. I'm going to take Todd Smith's question one step further. So if you surpass the speed of light, does time go backwards?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

No. No.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Get out of here.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And we invented a particle that we would call. If we found a particle that did that, we have a name for it. They're called tachyons, from the Greek root for the tachometer. Comes from that. It means fast.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. And so this proposed species of particles only ever exists faster than light, and they can travel infinitely fast. They would go backwards in time. If I sent you a tachyon signal, you would get it before I sent.

[Chuck Nice]

Before you sent it to Correct.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Imagine messing with the tachyons. Oh, it's fake. Never mind. It's like, oh, what are we gonna do?

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So tachyons travel faster than light and move backwards in time, and it's perfectly consistent with Einstein's relativity. We're cool with that. We just never found them before.

[Chuck Nice]

Awesome.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We don't know if they exist, but it works on paper.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, all right. Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Got time for one more question before we start.

[Chuck Nice]

Mark Swift. Why hasn't time been decimalized?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Ooh, it was decimalized.

[Chuck Nice]

What?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes. In the French Revolution. Did you know they had decimal time in the French. The French. Did you know that the metric system is conjoined with the French Revolution?

[Chuck Nice]

I did not know that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The French said, as long as we're taking stuff up, let's fix this crap. These fractions, this stuff that came out of England with the pints and the quartz and the this and the fifth and the dram and all of this. So they decimalized everything. And they got a little carried away because they wanted to decimalize time. So they turned a day into 10 hours, an hour into 100 minutes, and a minute into 100 seconds. That's correct.

[Chuck Nice]

So under that, you get a 10 hour day.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, a 10 hour day. So they decimalize time, and if you do it right, if you do the math, the number of seconds in a decimalized day is about the Same like within 10% of the number of seconds in a normal day. So you wouldn't have to do much to redefine the second. You just have to get people accustomed to decimalize hours and minutes. But it failed. It failed. The meter stuck and other things stuck, but not decimal time.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And I like my base 60 my sexageimal time from the Babylonians. What do you got against 60? We are StarTalk Radio when we come back, More cosmic Queries.

[Chuck Nice]

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[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We'll pay off your existing phone and.

[Chuck Nice]

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[Chuck Nice]

Hello, I'm Vinki Baroque Allen and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This is StarTalk. I'm Neil DeGrasse Tyson, your personal and private astrophysicist in studio here in New York City with Chuck Nice. Yes, you're with me on my Cosmic Queries part of the show. That's right, you've called questions from the Internet.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes sir.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

From our [e-mail] and on Twitterverse. Tartalkradio. Where else? Google. We're everywhere.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, we got Google, we got Facebook.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You name it, you name it, we're there.

[Chuck Nice]

Pinterest, YouTube. I mean, we're not taking questions from there, but we're still there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We're still working it. All right, so what do you got for me? All right, we're talking about time reckoning, I guess. Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. So I think. All right, here's a funny question. So this is from Jeff Sloan, and Jeff says, just an interesting thought that I had that I would like you to explore or completely debunk. If objects moving faster than the speed of sound can cause a sonic boom, is it at all possible that the Big Bang was a result of something traveling faster than the speed of light? If I'm correct, please provide an address where I can pick up my Nobel Peace Prize.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

First of all, the Peace Prize is not given for discoveries in physics. That would be the Nobel Physics Prize.

[Chuck Nice]

Aha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Just to clarify that.

[Chuck Nice]

There you go, Jeff. Sorry, buddy. No Peace Prize for you. No matter what.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No matter what. Occasionally, a scientist can win a Peace Prize, but it's rare. It usually goes to a politician in power.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Or a dissident in power. Right, Right. So what do you want? So he wants to know if you can get a sonic boom. A light boom.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, Basically, a light boom is what he's talking about.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The answer is yes. It's called Cherenkov radiation.

[Chuck Nice]

Dude, you are killing me.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If you go travel, if you travel faster than light, there is the light equivalent to a sonic boom, where the light pulse builds up on itself and it's a flash of light, and it's called Cherenkov radiation. Now, but since you can never travel faster than light, you might ask, how does one come up with this stuff?

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Here's how it works. If you have light traveling through water, transparent water, light travels slower through water than through a vacuum. It travels. So let's start. It's fastest in a vacuum. Travels a little slower going through air. Travels a little slower going through water. Travels even slower going through glass. Travels even slower going through diamond.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. And of course, that is because it is both a wave and a particle.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. It's trying to get through the meter. You gotta get through them. And in fact, the diamond, I remember my number. It's 40% as fast in a diamond as in a vacuum. Wow. Yes. It's slow. That's a huge difference. That's what makes diamonds so cool. So if you put facets in the diamond at the right angles, at the correct angles. Because the right angle would be 90 degrees at the correct angles. Because what we call the index of refraction is so large, because light travels so slowly in a diamond that it bends back on itself multiple times within the angles that you can create on your ring, and then it shows up again in a different direction. So that's why a diamond looks like it sparkles. Because if it was only light coming from where the light came from, you say, well, that's just the light I'm looking at. But if it comes from a new angle, you say, hey, that diamond is sparkling, is talking to me.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So now you have light going through all these media. Now you send a particle through there faster than that speed, that will create a mini sonic boom. Except it's not sound. It's light. A mini light boom. And it was first described by the physician named Cherenkov. And he won a Nobel Prize for this discovery.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So tell him the Nobel Prize has already been claimed.

[Chuck Nice]

It's already been. Sorry, Jeff. Your prize has been claimed. You were right. But somebody beats you to the punch.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wait, wait. But let me get back to the Big Bang. So the Big Bang was an expansion of the universe faster than life, but it's not the universe expanding faster than light in a medium.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It is the very fabric of space and time itself expanding. And you don't get Cherenkov radiation for that from that.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, right. Because it's actually happening in the vacuum, which is space.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, no, I mean, all of space is the explosion. It's not a vacuum within the space.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, okay. So the space itself is the explosion.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is the explosion. Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Duh. Look at that.

[Chuck Nice]

That's too. That's awesome.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

All right. All right, let's move on. Okay, I love this question, too. This is Theo Potter. What would actually happen to the planet if. Stupid. If Superman made the world spin in the opposite direction like in the 1978 movie? I'm assuming our gravity would shift and time would not rewind. Okay, so now let's just say, for instance, you can spin the Earth backwards. Okay, what are the results?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, so while Superman was flying around the Earth the opposite way, and we saw the Earth slow down. Well, okay, The Earth is going. If you're at the equator, you're moving a thousand miles an hour on the rotation path that the Earth brings you. If you slow down from 1,000 miles an hour to zero. Excuse me, if you're not wearing a seatbelt. Connected to Earth, you're going to fall over and roll due east at 1,000 miles an hour.

[Chuck Nice]

So you mean the whole Earth, Everything on Earth.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Everything on Earth is not bolted, would fall over and roll due east commensurate with the speed that it had going east west at the beginning of this, Santa would be fine, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Cause he's up on pole time on pole time. And he's chilling.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He's chilling on pole time. So everyone would just fall over and then he stopped earth and then spun it back and you'd fall, but you'd roll back the other way. So we'd be completely battered from this process and nothing would have happened to time and our gravity would remain exactly the same.

[Chuck Nice]

So basically nothing would have happened to time. Nothing happens to gravity. We're just in a huge planetary auto accident.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Auto accident. A train wreck of an auto accident. Yes. And so right, right now, by the way, you're a little lighter on the equator because of the centrifugal force of the rotating earth, but not enough that's going to matter. You're a couple of ounces lighter. So if it stopped turning, you'd be just a little heavier, but nothing that anyone would notice. We got to come back to start talk cosmic queries with Chuck Knights. We'll see you in a moment.

[Chuck Nice]

At and T customers switching to T Mobile has never been easier.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We'll pay off your existing phone and.

[Chuck Nice]

Give you a new one free. All on America's largest 5G network. Visit t mobile.com carrierfreedom to switch today.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

Pay off up to $650 via virtual prepaid MasterCard in 15 days. Free phone up to $830 via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax qualifying, porting trade in service on Go 5G next and credit required. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance and required finance agreement is due.

[Kia Announcer]

If you're ready to elevate your driving experience, the first ever Kia K4 is worth a closer look. It combines style and performance with a sleek, futuristic design. Featuring Starma headlights and an available panoramic display for unforgettable looks. SiriusXM comes standard in every Kia K4, bringing you closer to what you love. Plus, with an available 190 horsepower turbocharged engine, the Kia K4 delivers everything driving enthusiasts crave. Learn more at kia.comk4 did you know.

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[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We're back on StarTalk Radio Cosmic Queries. I'm Neil Degrasse Tyson, your home astrophysicist, with Chuck Nice. Yes, Chucky baby tweeting at Chuck Nice comics.

[Chuck Nice]

That's correct.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So we. At the. At the intermission, we were talking about Superman's feet, right? Not his feet, but his feet of.

[Chuck Nice]

Spinning the earth backwards.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Thank you. Not his anatomical feet. He spun the earth backwards, reversing time.

[Chuck Nice]

So theopter had said, you know, wanted to know what would happen if the earth actually went backwards. And you answered that. But Clarissa Wegner actually says, at Theo, I think what happened was that Superman didn't reverse the spin of the earth. He was just going so fast that he himself went back into time and was able to do whatever he had to do. So.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Nice]

So not the earth spun backwards. He went backwards into time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so this is who now?

[Chuck Nice]

This is Clarissa.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So. So Clarissa is talking to Theo, and we ain't even in that. We're.

[Chuck Nice]

They are having their own conversation.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm sorry, Theo, I didn't get your answer fast enough to get other readers jumping in on it. So I remember when I saw that movie, because my girlfriend at the time, you know, I'm people's own astrophysicist, right? So they asked me the questions. So she said, could that really happen? She asked. At no time else in that movie did she ask me if what she saw could actually happen. Like, could a man in blue pantyhose fly? That question did not come up. Can he block bullets off his chest? That question did not come up. But can he go back in time? That came up. So could he have been taking himself back in time? But why would we watch Earth slow down, stop in reverse? You can't go back in time yourself.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And. Well, unless back in time, we are revisiting the earth at that rotational phase. Okay, now that I think about it, yeah, I can let that go.

[Chuck Nice]

So Clarissa has some legs here.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He is not turning earth backwards. He is going back in time, rewinding the clock.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So Earth didn't actually stop.

[Chuck Nice]

Right? That's what Clarissa is saying.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I gotta give her that.

[Chuck Nice]

Clarissa's onto something.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Clarissa, you're onto something.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'll give you that. Okay, now, why she would do that for Lois Lane? That's a bigger question.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, that's rough.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Sorry, sorry.

[Greenlight Announcer]

Cold blooded.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. That was cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, we need Lois. We need Lois. Sorry.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Plus, I met Superman in the comic. You didn't see this comic? I was in the comic. I was in the Superman comic. Me and Superman were chilling.

[Chuck Nice]

Yo, man, I think that's so cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But Lois Lane was not there. I didn't meet Lois Lane. Maybe I feel differently about her if I got to know her as a.

[Chuck Nice]

Person, you know, I'm just glad that you didn't meet her, because that would have been awkward. All right, here we go. Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about this. This is from Jordan Navarro. I've been hearing a lot about this theory that if we place a giant mirror 22 light years away from away and point it at an extremely efficient telescope, we would see things happening in real time, in the past. That's what he's saying. So since the mirror is 22 light years away, wouldn't it still take that light 22 years to travel back to the mirror? So I think what he's saying is, if you were to put a mirror 22 light years away from Earth, point it back at Earth, would you be able to see Earth 22 years in the past?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you would see it 44 years in the past. Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Because it's got to go there and come back.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Do the math.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, you got to look at it, and then it's got to come back. Back to your eyes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly. So you see yourself in a mirror not as you are, but as you once were 2 billionths of a second ago.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If you're a foot away.

[Chuck Nice]

If you're a foot away.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Light travels a foot every billionth of a second. One foot per nanosecond, if you want to be exact. We came up with the number 22. I don't know. Stick a mirror out there, let the light go, and come back. You will see however many light years away. Double that, because it's the round trip time. That's how far in the past you were viewing events on Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

So you're viewing the events that you're actually looking at the past in real time for you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's exactly what's happening. That beam is on its way to the mirror, and it's on its way back, and you're catching it.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's all. And by the way, we see other objects in the past. Because their light has just reached us. So this is not magical thinking.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

My favorite is a galaxy that's 65 light years away. I'm sorry, 65 million light years away. It's a galaxy called M100 M100 M165 million light years away. And guess what they're seeing on Earth right now? If they had a telescope big enough.

[Chuck Nice]

What?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The extinction of the dinosaurs.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that. That's so cool.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That beam of light that conveys the information that they got slammed is just now reaching them. It's just reaching them because they're 65 million light years away. And when did the dinosaurs go extinct on Earth?

[Chuck Nice]

Six, five million years ago.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You got it. We hardly got through any of these questions. Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

So, you know, we got through a goodly amount. But you know what? Because we're gonna try to get to as many as possible now. We're gonna call this our lightning round.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Lightning round. So now you want me to answer fast?

[Chuck Nice]

It's just. Yeah, you know. Well, look, if we get to it, we get to it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, I'll try. I'll try.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, so let's jump right into it here. We got the lightning round, the lightning round.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I need a bell.

[Chuck Nice]

Let's go, Steven. Kevin Castaneda says, is the perception of time universal, or do we all perceive time differently? I wonder if a house fly and other organisms perceive time to be quicker, so shorter lifespan, shorter time span. I mean, do you. So you know what I mean?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Like, it's fun to think about other life forms that live shorter or longer as perceiving time differently, but typically when we do that, we are humanizing their life. So one dog year is seven human years. Yeah. Dogs don't care about humans, but the passage of time, as measured by the atomic vibrations of atoms within them, is the same for everyone.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

So that's it. On an atomic level, that's it. That's it. No difference.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You can slow it down, speed it up with relativity, but otherwise, if you put the frog and the mayfly and the human and the elephant together in a room, the passage time is the same.

[Chuck Nice]

I got you. And that makes great sense for dogs because that means a dog would be licking its butt for about two months.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Total out of its life if it were a human. Yeah, right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, here we go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Keep going.

[Chuck Nice]

Samir Schuman, would time exist without motion?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Next question. Oh, well, no, it could exist. You could never measure it.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And not only that, you'd have to be able to Measure it with motion that repeats. If it's motion that's non repeats, you'd have no real way to measure it. Okay, all right, got it. Next.

[Chuck Nice]

Here is Tom Shilson and Tom Shilson asks, is there any evidence.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Next. Lightning round.

[Chuck Nice]

You're good at this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, man. Man.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, no. Is there any evidence that time is broken into little bits? Now this guy, he's going on some space time continuum trip now. Man. So here's Tom says, can time be broken into little bits?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

What?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes. I said no. But the answer is yes. All of our understanding of the nature of reality tell us that time is quantized on the smallest scales. It is quantized so that time, it does not pass continuously. But there's the smallest possible unit of time you can measure and you need quantum physics to recognize that. So yes, time gets quantized.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, man. We don't have time for my follow up question.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Next.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, here I gotta ask my question.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This is the lightning round. Go. I've done a lightning round. You go.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, here we go. Joey Carasone. Joey says if like.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Joey.

[Chuck Nice]

Hey, Joey. Joey. If light can't escape a black hole, how would time be affected inside the black hole? So now you got a force that is stronger. The gravity is stronger than light itself.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

As you fall into a black hole, time ticks more slowly for you and you look out to the rest of the universe. And the rest of the universe goes by quickly. In fact, as you descend to that cosmic abyss, moments go by for you and trillions of years go by for the universe itself. You will outlive the universe in your descent to the center of a black hole. Next.

[Chuck Nice]

Whoa, dude, that's awesome.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, enlightening. Round. There's no time to comment on whether it's awesome.

[Chuck Nice]

There is no comments in lightning round. Okay, here we go. If you were living in an era without time keeping as we know it, how would you map out time?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I would map out time by asking what happens before what. So you're a baby before you're an adolescent. You can sequence events even if you cannot measure the interval between those events. And that way you get some sense of the ordering of life.

[Chuck Nice]

So whatever is measurable, that's what you use to measure?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you don't even measure. You say this happened before that.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, that's what I measure. Whatever is a sequence, that's what you use, right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You just sequence it. And so, yeah, so that's what you do.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, let's move on. Next. Danish Memon says is the universe necessary for time to exist? For example, was time present within whatever came before for the universe?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Time as we have defined it exists only within this universe. If we go outside of our universe, we'll have to think up something else to keep track of things. Maybe there's some meta time that we can think of, just the way we can think of a multiverse, a word bigger than the word universe itself. Maybe we are longing for that word, such as meta time, that can accommodate our measuring needs when we exit this universe in which we're born. Next.

[Chuck Nice]

Jeez, that was good, man. You're just making this stuff up.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, we're running down. Quick. I got one last one.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, here we go. Here we go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Knock it out.

[Chuck Nice]

Is there a place in the universe where you could still see the Big Bang happening? In other words, can you still see the Big Bang?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, we see it. Now. You look far enough away. The light from the Big Bang, From a distance 13.7 billion light years away is only now just reaching us. Everybody looking in every direction, look. If you look far enough away, you see the birth of the universe. And the remnants of that is the cosmic microwave background itself. The universe is a time machine.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Writ large to the light that reaches our telescopes.

[Chuck Nice]

Awesome.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Did I do okay?

[Chuck Nice]

Yo, man, you killed it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right. You nailed it. We are StarTalk Radio, brought to you by Bob Grant from the National Science Foundation. I'm Neil Degrasse Tyshen, bidding you once and forever to keep looking up. Chuck, thanks for being here.

[Chuck Nice]

You got it.

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If you're ready to elevate your driving experience, the first ever Kia K4 is worth a closer look. It combines style and performance with a sleek, futuristic design featuring StarMap LED headlights and an available panoramic display for unforgettable looks. SiriusXM comes standard in every Kia K4, bringing you closer to what you love. Plus, with an available 100200 and 90 horsepower turbocharged engine, the Kia K4 delivers everything driving enthusiasts crave. Learn [e-mail] K4 Parents did you know.

[Greenlight Announcer]

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