Cosmic Queries – Flat Universe

About This Episode

If you crunched the asteroid belt into one object, would it make a planet? Neil deGrasse Tyson and cohost Chuck Nice answer fan questions about the shape of the universe, the origin of matter, the Casimir Force, pizza toppings, and more!

What are gluons and gravitons made of? Can a carbon atom orbit a human? Why do aliens always use Earth time in movies? We speculate whether aliens should use Earth time and whether cryopods make sense in relativistic travel.  Could binary star systems support stable planetary orbits?

We explore binary star systems, pizza topping debates, and the shape of the universe. Does the universe curve so that you would loop back to your origin? Neil breaks down time at the speed of light, the crushing gravity of neutron stars, and whether ships could harvest hydrogen from cavitation. Where does matter come from in the Many-Worlds interpretation? Is the entire universe expanding or just the observable part?

What happens if the Milky Way stops spinning? What is the Casimir Force, and why does empty space press metal plates together? If you crunched the asteroid belt into one object, would it even be a planet? We tackle whether time and space could have existed independently before the Big Bang, and close with advice for physics students navigating uncertain science funding.

Thanks to our Patrons Keith Edwards James Murphy, River Harlan, Dashing Design Diva, Zach Ross, Federico Varano, Mark Ballard, Andres Franco-Osorio, Pascal, Emmanuel Cooper, Silvester Dimitrov, Ryan Eldridge, Ricky Isbell, David Hall, Angela Johnson, Demetrius Goosbey II, Morris Griffing, Cole Carter, Adam Huber, J B, Don Bailey, Tom Reed, Aaron Palmer, Odin Drengr, Demba Mdoye, Clay Mattson, Jason aka asmrpeople, Sage, Angel Garcia, Richard Swenson, Rich Elkerton, Kirby Sorensen, Mike Kakeeh, Kodi, John Kremer, Dwayne Boychuk, Jordan Burnam, Brittany Johnson, Aidan M, jared higbee, Theo Chambers, Levi Furber, Kelly, Hubert Dąbrowski, Julio Cataño, StellarScout, Margot Lane, Joudi Saadeh, David Foy, Jacob Sopko, Dell Rabinowitz, and Dominic Strong for supporting us this week.

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