Page 34 - BBC Focus - August 2017

AUGUST 2017

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MESSAGE OF THE MONTH

Brushing up
I was fascinated by your article about the work of
Prof Richard Muller on the origins of time (May,
p38). I like the idea that time is made as a series of
‘nows’, as space-time expands following the Big
Bang. With new space, new time has to also come
into being. It occurred to me, though, that there
might not be any reason for each new ‘now’ to be Is time as consistent
the same size as the last one. as we think it is,
ponders Tim
This would have a bearing on the current work Curthew-Sanders
on dark energy and the apparent acceleration of the
expansion of the Universe. If, as space expanded,
the successive ‘nows’ were actually becoming very On the flipside always fell butter-side up. He only
slightly smaller over aeons, then the expansion of In a recent ‘Q&A’ (Summer, p86) discovered later that his children
the Universe might not actually be speeding up, you answered a question by Coco buttered BOTH sides of their toast!
but only appear to be. Objects moving at a steady Shang that indicates that work Stuart Ching, via email
speed through successively smaller chunks of time was still going on into the reason
would appear to be accelerating. for toast to usually land butter- Trying tyres
Do we need dark energy to explain this, or could side down on being dropped. Helen Czerski presents us with an
it just be an artefact of the creation of time itself? This is an old chestnut, and interesting puzzle in her latest
Tim Curthew-Sanders, London surely any school boy will tell you column (Summer, p76). May I
that the usual reason for this suggest the following explanation?
Your idea that time is not only created, as Prof Muller occurrence is that the toast From her description, the
suggests, but also in variable amounts is intriguing, but was probably buttered nail seems to have
I suspect many theorists will see it as a complication too far – at on the wrong side in entered through the
this stage, at least. Over the years, the idea of allowing the first place. thicker, treaded
fundamental properties of the Universe like dark energy, the Peter Duckworth, part of the tyre,
strength of gravity and the speed of light to vary with time has Ceredigion and then pierced
been studied, but to no real benefit. – Prof Robert Matthews, the thinner
BBC Focus science consultant Re: the ‘Q&A’ sidewall, next to
question the rim.
about toast, When first
WRITE IN AND WIN!
I recommend entering the tyre,
The writer of next issue’s Message Of ALL scientists to the nail would
The Month wins an iHealth Wireless read the excellent drag after it a cone
Blood Pressure Wrist Monitor. This book Eurekas And No tyres were harmed in of stretched rubber
system, consisting of a wristband and Euphorias by Walter the taking of this picture from the inner tube, as PHOTOS: ANDY POTTS, RAJA LOCKEY, GETTY
and accompanying Android/iOS app, will let you
measure and track your own blood pressure at WORTH Gratzer. On page 45, he Helen suggests – a skirt
home, without needing to bother your GP. £64.99 describes a US scientist around the nail. On
telmenow.com investigating this very problem, exiting the other side, the nail
who found his children’s toast would not be able to deform the

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