I have come across those that are not interested in science or are interested, but would like not to stray too far into the depth of it due to the implications of some theories, such as multiworld (or multiverse) theory or the theories of how the universe will end. With those people in mind I have three very cool theories that are truly awesome, aren’t depressing, and doesn’t require a PhD.
Dyson Sphere
You know how there are people concerned over using fossil fuels and advocate using clean, free, renewable energy? Well, the buck stops here. The Sun is all the clean, free, renewable energy everybody can ask for, literally! Let us consider this for a moment. Our Sun is a ba-jillion ba-jillion times bigger than our planet (really, its diameter is just 109 times larger than the Earth’s, read more). But what is it exact? A ball of raging fire? Yes. Something that we can see, but can’t really look at? Yes. The big yellow thing in the sky? Yes.
In addition to all those things, the Sun is the result of a constant battle between two things that are cancelling each other out. And believe me it is one heck of a fight! Could you guess what the two contenders are? If you said gravity and explosions then you’re right! Inside the Sun, a few things are happening, but the thing happening most is nuclear fission.
Nuclear fission is the splitting of atoms into their constituent parts. This splitting causes an explosion that releases huge amounts of energy. Well, what started the nuclear fission in the first place? I’m glad you asked. The answer is gravity.
Picture, for a moment, empty space with stars littering the background. Now, imagine a cloud of dust floating about. Lets make this cloud really gigantic. Over time the tiny particles of dust will be moving, rub up against each other, slow down, and start to congregate. The more stuff there is the more attraction there is. So as more and more dust pile up the higher pressure builds in the center of the dust cloud until things start getting really hot. The heat and pressure is what causes atoms to split and release that huge, gigantic amount of energy. Since the Sun is made up of so much stuff it has gravity that tries to pull everything it’s made of towards the center. This constant outward pushing of the explosions and pulling of gravity is cancelling each other out. This is what goes on every second of every day. The state our Sun is in is called equilibrium. Neither gravity, nor fission are winning. The explosion is pushing out and then being held in place by the immense gravity of itself. It’s like capturing an explosion in glass.
I can go on and on about our star forever…I digress. So, a Dyson Sphere is a sphere built around a star for the purpose of collecting all of its energy output, a total of 384.6 yottawatts (3.846 × 1026 watts). If you think about it that’s a lot of energy! Another great thing about the Sun is it’s always on. If there was a way to collect all of the energy that, right now, is being wasted away there would be no telling of the things humanity could do. There would be no shortage of energy, no more fossil fuel, or primitive things like that. A civilization would thrive for millennia with the only thing to worry about is the self destruction that plagues all intelligent life.
Dyson spheres have several different deviations: Dyson shell ( which I refer to here), Dyson bubble, Dyson swam, and a Dyson ring.
(also see Space Gun, Space Fountain, Space Shaft)
Up Next Part II Misner Space
HumanSun 