Ask a Spaceman!

What is "information" in physics? Why do we think it's preserved, and what happens to information when it falls into a black hole? Why is this a problem? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.c...

How do cosmic voids form? What do they teach us about dark energy? What did the early universe look like? What does all this have to do with cupcakes? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/...

What's the difference between the universe and the multiverse? How can cosmic inflation make bubble universes? Do those universes get different physics? If I travel far enough away, will I meet…myself? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com...

How did Max Planck accidentally discover quantum mechanics? Why is his constant so special? What happens at the quantum level? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those quest...

Why is the strong force better known as the "color force"? What's the best way to think about protons and quarks? What do the Three Musketeers have to do with anything? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https:/...

Why are matter and antimatter symmetric? What happened in the early universe to make matter win? Do we have any clue as to why? What do puppies have to do with it? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www....

What does 'time' mean for light? What is the real lesson of the twin paradox? How can we all agree on the true age of the universe? Why is it all so technical? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsu...

How and when did we realize that atoms exist? How did we learn to understand their properties? How was Ernest Rutherford hogging all the science for himself? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutt...

Where is the Oort Cloud and what is it made of? Why do we think some comets come from there? If the Oort Cloud exists, how did it form? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep th...

What makes time so hard to understand? Why is it so different from the spatial dimensions? Is time in any way connected to that most difficult of concepts, entropy? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www...

How much energy is needed to blow up the sun? How is this connected to the idea of binding energy? Where is all the energy in the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Kee...

What do brown dwarfs teach us about stars? What do they teach us about planets? What keeps them warm, and how long do they live? And are they really brown? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter...

What are the many sources of light in the universe? Why is a spectrum so important? What's the difference between synchrotron and Cherenkov radiation? What's the best word ever in physics? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter...

Today I'm reading a sample from my new book, Your Place in the Universe! I'm also sharing details about how you can a) buy the book, b) contribute to my Patreon to get an autographed copy, c) get my book tour to swing by your neighborhood, and d) buy the book some more! 

What does the Drake Equation teach us about extraterrestrial civilizations? What does it NOT teach us? What complexities does it hide? Is it even science? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter....

What's the connection between motion and magnetism? How can something like a black hole have a magnetic field? What's the connection to quantum mechanics? How did Einstein use magnetism to develop special relativity? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://...

Part 2! What was going in the very early universe? How does inflation provide the seeds of larger structures? How can we possibly test this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Ke...

Part 1! What are some weaknesses with the standard Big Bang model? What are the horizon and flatness problems? How does accelerated expansion solve these? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter....

What is the cosmological constant? How is the expansion of the universe related to quantum fields? How does a vacuum energy produce accelerated expansion? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter....

What is a quantum state? How can two particles share the same state? What is entanglement, and does it really allow for faster-than-light communication? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.co...

Were the dark ages really dark? What is a perturbation, and how did they grow in the early universe? When the first stars awoke, what happened? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books  ...

What does momentum have to do with rockets? Why are nozzles so dang important? What is a "potent mixture", anyway? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/books   Keep those questions about s...

What is the so-called "OMG Particle"? Where could it possibly come from, and how are magnetic fields involved? How can we detect these cosmic rays? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/PaulMSutter Read a book: https://www.pmsutter.com/boo...

Part 3! How did Einstein develop General Relativity? What does it mean for different kinds of masses to be equivalent? How does gravity do what it does? Why is curvature so important in understanding gravity? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.yout...

Part 2! How did Einstein develop General Relativity? What does it mean for different kinds of masses to be equivalent? How does gravity do what it does? Why is curvature so important in understanding gravity? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:  http://www.patreon.com/pmsutter All episodes:  http://www. AskASpaceman.com Watch on YouTube:  http://www.yout...