Misconceptions About Space, Time & The Universe

[@Duplicitousthoughtformentity]

Isaac Arthursday is truly the best day of the week

[@Hazellycom]

Agree

[@medot2]

Agree

[@andyc8508]

And three

[@colinsmith1495]

Arthursday is this treasure, and OurFriday is game night for me and the boys! Two great days back to back.

[@theRPGmaster]

@@Stevie-J The legend of second-Friday must not be forgotten, heed the prophecies!

[@InfiniteRegress]

Been watching for years, and I will never get tired of listening to how Isaac explains things. There's just something about the script structure, pacing, and clarity that hits exactly right for me. The effort and care put into these episodes is always evident and appreciated. Love your content, Isaac. ^_^

[@soulking6801]

Yea! We love Issac content

[@TheNonplayer]

true, he doesn't exclude any viewpoint, but "debunks them" if needed and tells you how and why, explanations are solid and clear

[@evensgrey]

One of the settings that gets sound in space more right than usual is Serenity. There are a few space battles, and explosions are silent UNTIL the explosion's pressure front gets to your 'viewpoint' ship, and then you hear it hammering on the hull, which is a suitably hammered-metal noise. You also get a few impact noises from the debris.

[@colinsmith1495]

I absolutely LOVED the way Firefly did sound in space. I think it was the first time I saw someone actually pay attention to it. Just one of many golden elements of that show.

[@evensgrey]

@MikkelRS Particularly the shot where a luckless crewman gets blow out a hull breach and it goes silent when she hits vacuum.

[@markomalmi7989]

As someone who turns 23 in a couple of weeks your words of finding ones self on thirties is reassuring. I'm currently in the academic void where I have interest in everything, yet drive and ability to do nothing. It helps to know there is time.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It really is normal, not universal but often even when you have a clear path in your 20s it gets changed later. I left grad school and joined the Army when I turned 23, it was definitely a change of pace :)

[@azorthegreat2112]

i feal you.. Wasted, my time, my life. Im 35. Do something before you are 28!

[@richardgreen7225]

@@azorthegreat2112 - It is never too late to stop wasting time.

[@dankachilles9356]

You were in the army?!? Oh crap thank you for your service brother HOOAH! I was a 68W from 09-16 myself and as a vet I truly appreciate that this is what you do with your free time. Thank you brother for sharing your insight with the world and that the army didn't break and take you away from this planet. ❤️

[@adzz8012]

Halfway there. In about 20 years almost to the date.. you will understand why.. not what the hell, you will no longer care about that possiblity, but will understand the reason you got to where you are in this universe. (Maybe.. )

[@MarcoLandin]

Good luck with your surgery, and none of us have ever has any problem with your voice, you're an amazing communicator! I always look forward to your next vid...

[@ghostofwolfmoonmani3877]

I think one of the biggest misconceptions of space is the notion that "miracle" materials like marvel's vibranium or avatar's unobtainium exist elsewhere. The periodic table is the same here as it is in Andromeda, unique isotopes and variations of known materials may exist but not some never before seen element that changes the periodic table is improbable.

[@tigerhorse6321]

No noise in space--one thing I appreciated about the original Dead Space game was having sound conducted through my boots on the hull of the spaceship when outside. Especially when necromorphs came running up behind me.

[@cannonfodder4376]

Yet another fantastic video Isaac. I always enjoy your ability to clear up misconceptions about complex topics with concise yet clear explanations.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thank you!

[@DJRCMACH]

Very nicely done always something to learn or a better perspective to view from. Always looking to another video from you Isaac good luck with your surgery

[@joz6683]

I wish that I could have sent this to the two people in my dentist office today. They managed to get so many things wrong about the universe. Thanks for another great video.

[@KiithSomtaaw_]

About the sound in space in SCI-FI. In Elite Universe (Elite: Dangerous game for example) sound effects of explosions and other things that player hears is explained that all spaceships are equipped with computer that converts all data coming from all sensors around the ship to sounds payed in cockpit to keep situation awarness of pilot and his sanity.

[@IshaanGupta00]

Thank you very much for your consistently amazing videos. Good luck for your surgery! 🙏🏻

[@tomastomasi975]

Scale is the most often thing I see people get wrong. Sci-fi media really doesn't help when they have storylines about civilizations with FTL and matter replicators running out of a resources.

[@TheEyez187]

Very true! I spend quite a lot of time around its comprehension; whether it's the scale of time or space (size). i.e if you speak to most people, they'd equate Cleopatra with the great pyramids and are shocked when you tell them she was alive closer to the moon landings than she was to the building of the pyramids; or that the T-rex was alive (65mya) closer to you than it was to Stegosaurus. (140-150mya); most people thinking they existed at the same time. Or the Earth being the equivalent of a grain of sand within the Sun's Heliopshere The avg persons grasp of time/numbers is often also askew. They know* what a million, billion and trillion are, yet fail to comprehend the reality of it. There's a million seconds in 12 days, ask someone how long a billion seconds is; astounded when you tell them its equal to 31 years and that a trillion seconds equates to 31,688 years. Love contemplating such mind-bending things that even with inference and analogy remain out of true grasp of comprehension. * like they know E=mc2... what does it stand for/mean? or even aware that's only half of the equation.

[@davidrogers8030]

You mean like 20 × 20miles/30km = earth radius (You can't escape a Black Hole) ?

[@TheEyez187]

Sorry, I'm not sure if I follow. do you mean there are some people who think that that's the Earth's radius, and that you can't escape a black hole?

[@davidrogers8030]

@@TheEyez187 It's referring to the script at 20.11ish in that section.

[@TheEyez187]

@@davidrogers8030 Yeah, got you!! I think my brain goes to bed at 4am.. even if I don't! :D

[@UpliftedCapybara]

This is a great resource to clear up many questions I hear from people. I’m sure a lot of people will be linked to this video in the future!

[@DavidKennyNZL]

I never considered why I can put my hand into a 180 C oven but not into 80 C water. I knew all the pieces of science in the answer but never thought to ask the question.

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

True for cold as well, 55F water will cause hypothermia in 15 minutes.

[@CYI3ERPUNK]

we have always appreciated your unique voice Isaac =] , regardless of whether it changes or not , i for one am honored to have been here throughout and along your journey

[@deant6361]

I’ve just discovered Isaac Arthur’s channel it’s already one of the most interesting channels out there. Just brilliant. Thanks for sharing

[@christineshotton824]

Isaac embodies what I thought was an impossibility; a physics teacher who is neither boring, nor confusing.

[@sixtenwidlund4258]

The best show on the internet is back!!

[@SpecialEDy]

Happy Arthursday fellow space fans! If youre cursed with a Canadian accent like our glorious leader Sir Isaac Arthur, y'oughta come on down here to Texas as fast as you can. Texan is superior to American English. In the famous words of Davy Crockett, "you may all go to Mars, and I will go to Texas".

[@rogersnick17]

Thank you sooooooo much for your amazing content.

[@guillermoelnino]

Thank you for a comprehensive list of space for Hollywood writers to ignore.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

:) That is an interesting and sadly probably accurate ways to phrase it.

[@commiedeer]

@@isaacarthurSFIA Only probably? :P

[@mmneander1316]

28:58 : "Some folks would say that there's no space beyond that edge. That might be the case, but there's no evidence for that. It's one of those examples where folks are speculating and extrapolating off mathematical models and logic, not data, and that's not really science anymore." -- Good man!! That is a breath of fresh air. It scares me how few people understand this.

[@glensmith491]

Because no evidence is required. It is simply a matter of human language. All language constructs are driven by context, prior beliefs, beliefs which you wish to reject, beliefs you wish to accept, experiences and what the communicator wishes the receiver to conclude.

[@johnbash-on-ger]

@craigdendy5762 Sooo ... just more space/vacuum then?

[@johnbash-on-ger]

@craigdendy5762 Seems reasonably plausible.

[@ghrey8282]

Another great episode! Thanks.

[@VHVDRAGON]

Good Luck Mr. Arthur, Love your show. Looking forward to many many more.

[@thetravelerofworlds8359]

Love the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opening.

[@killsobmeanie2300]

There are Hitch-hikers drops all through the episode... like, "blackholes are only {mostly harmless}". lol

[@Hawkwolf1017]

I still enjoy your videos Isaac.. Thank you for them.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

:) You're welcome HW

[@Raulikien]

3:25 What make us great is the fact that we can see how small we truly are

[@fubaralakbar6800]

Just a little something I'm fond of saying: For a perspective on the size of the universe, try this: use your favorite search engine to pull up a picture of a galaxy. Any galaxy. Now put your mouse pointer somewhere in the picture. The *tip* of your mouse pointer is covering more living space than humans will ever need, even if we become an interstellar species and live for billions of years.

[@TomPouce5931]

A guy once told me that infinite growth wasn't possible in a finite universe, that sooner or later we'll need to expand faster than light to satisfied our exponantial growth. He didn't understand the vastness of space. The ressources -that we knew of- in the solar system alone could let us have a two digit growth for the next 20 000 generations, without any recycling or technological advance... if we could just grab them. That's longer than human Hystory. So yes : eventually exponantial growth won't be substainable under known physics. But the stars will be cold by then.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I think I use the example that most cast sprawling galactic empires we seen in scifi would comfortably fit in one pixel of a galactic map, and include a million star systems.

[@sporovid5856]

It is for this reason that I’m intending to write a sci fi story that is your typical space opera, except it all takes place within a single star system. The way I see it, you could take Star Wars, remove FTL, set it around one star, and not much about the story would change. The space between Earth and Pluto is itself that vast.

[@MarcoLandin]

@@sporovid5856 So, The Expanse, or Firefly (a different single system) or the Red Rising trilogy. Those are among my fave space operas, as they're more likely to have elements of realism that pew pew pew ftl galactic sagas.

[@sporovid5856]

@@MarcoLandin Yeah pretty much something like those

[@cosmoscarl4332]

Space is gravity! (Actually, according to a new breed of scientists, it may be quantum fluctuations that give so called "empty space" its gravity, and matter properties such as mass, and maybe even determine the speed of massless photons via Vanderwaals Torque.) Quantum fluctuations are not virtually particles, they are very real and have clock rates and magnetic fields and moment, although they exist for a very short period of time before they annihilate back into the fields. It is the permittivity and permeability of quantum dipoles like electron positron pairs that determine how mass behaves and moves through spacetime and give light it's (variable speed). love your channel. I love your accent. My friend Royce from college had an accent like you. Unfortunately I lost touch with him but he is brilliant like you. Keep up the great work. It is so refreshing to hear people speak who have really done their homework and have such a passion for cosmology.

[@johnnypalughi1192]

Your speech is wonderful!

[@Seth-Halo]

I was once looking around the world on Snapchat with their one feature that shows like a hotspot map or whatever. I saw a little blip out in the middle of the ocean so zoomed in. And I found a tiny island and I wondered why this tiny island was such a hotspot so zoomed in further. Turns out that "tiny" island had a city with an international airport on just one little piece of it. The island looked so small but when getting down to it and seeing how large it actually was. Scale really is very hard to grasp.

[@johnbash-on-ger]

☝👍

[@112Famine]

34:12 So the Northern Hemisphere has cooler Summers & warmer Winters than the Southern Hemisphere will have hotter Summers & colder Winters.

[@mbunds]

Thanks for another excellent presentation, and belated best wishes for your recovery after surgery!!!

[@jasonwilson4283]

We can only see 13 billion years and then the light stops shining. to assume thats the END or EDGE of anything other then our limited perception is silly. its like a guy sitting on the beach with a telescope and seeing the horizon and thinking "well, thats gotta be the edge of the earth".

[@dannyschramm7983]

When he says 'grab a drink and a snack' am I the only one who grabs a whiskey and taco bell?

[@jp12x]

The aphelion and perihelion diagram seems to be adding to misunderstanding. It clearly marks the distances as 152 and 147 million km. But, the visual distance for aphelion is displayed as more than double the perihelion distance. The intuitive understanding is not merely that the distance is greater in July than January. Rather, it implies the distance is more than double, while it is a less than 5% difference. For most of my life, I understood the Earth was in a VERY elliptical orbit because of graphics like these.

[@ChristianMcAngus]

I remember the film "Sunshine" where an astronaut is briefly blocked off from the sun, and rapidly freezes solid. Yet the film claimed to gave a science advisor didn't it? Like so many SF movies, i bet they just had the advisor come in just long enough to sign their contract.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I suspect they get selectively over-ruled for rule-of-cool moments, but that film also had a lot of executive meddling by all accounts, hence why the first half is very cerebral and the second half is practically hammer-horror.

[@bbartky]

@@isaacarthurSFIA Thanks for that tidbit, Isaac! “Sunshine” starts out so beautifully and then, as you say, it turns into a slasher film. I would love to see the original screenplay.

[@Sashazur]

I think for a lot of movies the science adviser keeps it from being even more wrong than it ends up being! In the example above for instance, it wouldn’t surprise me if the adviser talked them out of having the frozen astronaut instantly break into a million pieces.

[@stepheningermany]

This was a great episode, the music at the end was epic! I hope your voice doesn't change too much.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

The consensus is probably not much in terms of tone and flavor, I'll just be cleaerer and maybe a little deeper voiced.

[@nolimetangere2364]

At this point I just assume I’ll need a snack and a drink for your amazing videos.

[@ReapingMiner]

21:48 Did i hear a hitchikers' guide to the galaxy reference?

[@enforcerridley158]

I've always been a big fan of space and science, but much more with space. And, for that, I'm also a fan of your videos for many years now. I find your videos both educational and soothing even when I had a permanent headache which finally ended about nearly 4 years ago via surgery. Anyway, I've got to ask: what's the BG Music that stars at 12:51? The link leads to a "Page not found" on Epidemic Sound.

[@jimc.goodfellas]

You know you're in for a treat when he mentions a drink and a snack...

[@yourbuddyunit]

21:49 I'm naming my first captured black hole Issac

[@inthefade]

The gravity thing always bothers me in sci-fi. I wish people understood that you are always orbiting something, unless you’re falling straight into a gravity well.

[@theuncalledfor]

You can also technically be orbiting/falling into a gravity well while effectively just being free-floating in empty space just because you're so far away from everything else at the time. Interstellar space comes to mind here.

[@korosuchimu1479]

Until tonight, I had no idea you're 10 years younger than me. Almost to the day.👍

[@altha-rf1et]

Forgot that today is Thursday,,,,, This looks like it going to be a long and good one, going to have to get me something to eat and drink and take it easy while watching this one.

[@BaldingClamydia]

My uncle read a bunch of books to/with me (up until high school). Two of the ones we always came back to were Hitchhiker's Guide and LotR. I love catching quotes from them anywhere :D

[@richardgreen7225]

Quantum foam ideas based on delta E * delta t > h-bar ... ignore the fact that this is an ">" inequality not a "=" equality. Also: Going to zero is a math model that assumes continuity.

[@heinzie5]

I'm starting to pack on a few extra pounds from all these drinks and snacks i've been having recently

[@JohnJohansen2]

What a perfect intro! ❤

[@WayneBraack]

I FIRMLY believe Douglas Adams is correct on that point.

[@DavidEvans_dle]

I like the explanation Dr.Rush gave on why they're still alive when Destiny Star ship performed it's initial sun dive. Guess he got it wrong, when he said the outer portion of the sun was hotter than the inner core. Maybe they would have been better to have Isaac Arthur with them instead of Rush. But wouldn't want Isaac trapped on an alien star-ship, that's across the other side of the universe... unless I was also trapped. In that case he would be extremely handy :P

[@aristocraticnietzschean-ma1023]

what an interesting show, thanks

[@scottbelanger6535]

It's good to hear some one with DS.. know so much about space...good job buddy..❤

[@Wsnewname]

Referring to a black hole as "fatal to touch" is probably one of my new favorite Isaac Arthur-isms.

[@happykillmore349]

The sun does in fact have a defined boundary. It's where the net emissions of solar wind is greater than that which is being pulled back down by the sun's gravity. This was detected by the Parker solar probe

[@utopiandreamer04]

Isaac helps me give my daydreams and ideas more reality.

[@Kurukx]

Same as space is cold. Its radate heat in a vacuum you wont freeze quickly. Its not jumping to a cold pool cold because there is no water to pull away heat its just space,

[@harrisonb9911]

Arthur I’m curious, what made you choose to join the Army? I know you were an artilleryman, what made you choose that MOS? Were you an officer or enlisted?

[@pjd1634]

Extremely good content.

[@logangrimnar3800]

I was hesitant about a topic as broad as "misconceptions", as most authors usually take their personal misconceptions and assume they are common. Like, "a common belief is that 'space' is made of a black gas called 'vacuum', when in reality, it's empty!".

[@harrisonb9911]

People actually believe that?

[@MattSpoon07]

I've never heard anyone refer to the vacuum as a black gas, but I also don't hang out with stupid people

[@pikpikgamer1012]

“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you” Neil deGrasse Tyson

[@Nk36745]

I had an idea, perhaps a few seconds of music could be used to break up major sections on a video to make it easier to follow. Some podcast interviews I know use it well.

[@jkj420]

I wish you the absolute best with the surgery!

[@thiagom8478]

About 15:49 in this video I thought: "but that's a shame. Those scenes of people being sucked through a tiny wall into space where pretty cool!". Honestly, I feel that we should making fictional scifantasy settings where that can and do happens, from now on. Just for the sake of visual effects.

[@jamesamos6565]

This comment and concept both disturbs and intrigues me.

[@EgoEroTergum]

Aliens with a higher-pressure atmosphere might be that way. And scifi set deep underwater too.

[@Kurukx]

Space is next level big rite :) Like the univere is 16 billion years old and the earth is 4 billions years old. We are at the start of the universe,

[@MikeJones-yo8en]

I gotta be honest Isaac, I’ve grown rather fond of your speech impediment. I’d be selfishly sad if you corrected it. But I wish you the best of luck on your upcoming procedure!

[@barryon8706]

Misconceptions about Life would probably have to be a two-parter. 😀

[@bbartky]

Loved the subtle reference to Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Nine Billion Names of God”. 😉 “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

[@nickalyea3301]

you sure make me think - thanks

[@greggweber9967]

23:03 If randomly, then there will be two points very close together that will produce some very different effect that won't be offset by two other nearby points. What if there's a pattern to produce smoothness?

[@mikelanzano3806]

I'm very excited to say that I have tons of videos to watch as I recently discovered Isaac, if someone out there has a recommendation of how I should view these I'd appreciate it, for now I'll get current and then I will go to the beginning 💪👍♥️

[@TroyRubert]

Mr doctor used to work for Fermi lab and helped construct the BOREXINO instrument in Italy. We've been talking about how space-time might be a calculation tool. This universe is wild regardless of how it works.

[@innerstrengthcheck]

Love this channel. Cpmsostently great quality!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Thanks!

[@doug2424]

To think how incomprehensible reality is and how small we are I've learned two things what we do in the past has echoes in the future and all that really matters is making peace with yourself and your fellow man...

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

Can't erase the past yet it is not there. Like the earth is traveling through time carrying our baggage.

[@JonathanSchattke]

For "sound" you need pressure waves, which means the atoms need to be dense enough for some moving to make others move. That does not happen below about 0.001 ATM; the definition of vacuum.

[@Zarcondeegrissom]

some take that "no sound" thing to far tho, like implying that some one inside a ship would not hear something happening to that ship. case and point, "the crew of Apollo 13 could not have heard the sound of the tank blowing the side of the craft off", they very much did hear something and even said as much to mission control, lol.

[@darthdrezz9237]

Perfect intro...🥰

[@roberthofmann8403]

I know this was a long episode but it just didn't feel long enough

[@Trainwizard]

Would a magnetar's magnetic field feel "solid" to the touch, assuming it didn't rip and twist your atoms up? I came up with very random questions after watching this.

[@xehpuk]

Any solid surface is made of electromagnetic fields just on a very small scale. If your object can conduct electricity then moving in a magnetic field will feel like some resistance to movement. If you could find a place where there is a sharp boundary between the magnetic field and no Magnetic field then perhaps it could feel like solid. Otherwise probably more like goo.

[@fabianothulu2712]

best episode. best music. best introduction

[@packer500]

There is nothing wrong with your voice. You are good, just the way you are.

[@ASlickNamedPimpback]

10:50 so is there a perfect spot where you both gain and lose enough heat to remain normal body temperature? aside from the blood boiling and whatnot

[@rachel_rexxx]

Gotta love those Adams quotes

[@kkrolik2106]

My speculation about why Universe expanding, simply matter is compressed/twisted space, when any matter to energy conversion happens you generate more space by unwind compressed space. This idea also can explain Length Contraction, Time Dilation, at near C speed, and istops half life, if we can imagine matter as space knot that that oscillate.

[@KennethMcQueen]

Good luck on your medical procedure, Mr. Arthur. Thank you for your videos.

[@Birdracer22]

I've never heard of a procedure for that, and I haven't heard him speak of it. If you would be so kind Kenneth, do you happen to know the episode this was brought up in? Thank you in advance good Sir.

[@KennethMcQueen]

@@Birdracer22 Mmmm... I shouldn't have to do your homework for you but he mentions it in this video. That is why I mentioned it here instead of a video from a couple of years ago.

[@Birdracer22]

@@KennethMcQueen Well excuse me, I must have missed a few minutes, thought it prior as I've seen mention of it. I'll look back over this one. I do appreciate your replie, but no, I wasn't asking you to research and send me your data, i only wanted to hear what he said about it is all.

[@freehat2722]

Great job.

[@Tranartz]

Off subject, I was wondering what kind of life could we start on Mars? There are microbes that produce oxygen and could live in a cave invironment along with other animals that could exist there too. What do you think?

[@midcentralvowel]

I lornd so much about Orth and the univorse, thanks

[@theominousalyssa4832]

Mr. Arthur you have inspired me to follow in your footsteps although i will never reach your level of intelligence, you have inspired someone to do what yyou do.

[@joanieallen1721]

But I love your speech impediment it helps me sleep

[@Cosmosisification]

Arthur Isaac told me to get a drink and snack I feel loved 🥹

[@ancapftw9113]

Shouldn't a warp drive be able to lessen the bending of space at the event horizon, thus lowering its escape velocity to below the speed of light?

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Kinda depend son if you're asking if it can move the event horizon and escape from there, which I'd have to put as a 'maybe', I would say a dedicated cosmologist might be able to answer more definitively but given how little we really know about BH and quantum gravity I'm not sure they could, lots of unknown unknowns there.

[@wetterschneider]

"You'll get slowed down by passing gas" hahahaha.

[@mikolajtrzeciecki1188]

22:30 We can reach higher altitudes if we use propelled flight rather than a ballistic one. So for example, if I need to throw a stone towards the top of a tree, I should throw it with 2 m/s. But a mosquito can reach the top of the same tree flying 0,5 m/s, because it propels itself. Would it be possible to escape from below the event horizon without achieving the escape velocity?

[@twigturt]

I have so many new ways to interrupt someone and say ”Actuaally…” now. Thank you 🙏

[@philt4346]

In 'Space is Empty' segment it is stated Earth is the densest body in the system, but what about Mercury? Giant oversize core and all that.

[@philt4346]

@@viktorm3840 ty Viktor, that's most informative

[@lgjm5562]

This video should be required viewing for all hopeful sci-fi writers.

[@SpecialEDy]

Isaac, youre wrong. 99% of your remaining speech impediment is the fact that you live in Snow Mexico. You need to move on down here to the great land of Texas, so we can impart mankind's greatest accent on you imstead of that Canadian one.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Well I'm from Ohio, even if my county literally borders Canada, but we'll see how we like Texas when I'm down there at the end of the month, might aunt has sworn by the place since she moved down there 30 years ago, I've only been before for airplane transfers. :)

[@Apollo1011]

Good luck on surgery!