Spaghettification
September 12, 2000
7:25 a.m.
"Wormhole Physics," Brigid said, reading the screen in front of me. "Yep." She was dressed for school, her hair dangling in wet cords from the shower. It was morning--just a few minutes ago, actually. Her eyes still held a bit of sleep from the morning's earliness. I was doing some reading in preparation for completing a story I started before Worldcon. The document on screen was discussing theoretical compositions of wormholes. Brigid was preparing to go into school an hour early to take part in Spell Bowl practice (she's been on the team two straight years, this is her final time). She had already eaten breakfast. Her mother had informed her that there would be no Nintendo playing in the morning before school, so apparently not knowing what else to do, Brigid decided to come see what was up with me. I scooted my chair back and gathered her onto my lap. She's eleven, you know? We're not going to get many more of these mornings. She peered at the screen. "How do you make a wormhole?" she asked. "No one really knows," I answered. "Haven't we sent an astronaut to one?" "No. Not yet." "Are they real?" "Mathematically." There was more on this subject. Lots more, but I can't really capture it here. We talked about the problems associated with finding wormholes, and what they might look like if you could find one. We talked about what they could be good for. We talked about math, and energy, and tension required to keep a wormhole open. "What about black holes?" "No one's gone to one of those, either--though we're pretty certain those are real." She nodded. "Besides, standing on a black hole would be pretty bad for your health," I added. "Do you know what ould happen?" "Spaghettification," Brigid said knowingly. "What?" "That's what the book I read on black holes said would happen. You would get all strung out like spaghetti." "That's right." "It also said your watch would stop, and you would turn all red. It had a picture." "That's right." "Why would you turn all red?" "I think that's because of a red doppler shift that occurs as the space-time field changes." I watched Brigid's face as I said this to see if she understood. She seemed to almost be hanging in there. "It's has to do with the frequency of waves, and whether something's moving toward you or away from you--like the way a police car uses radar to judge whether you're going too fast or not." "Ah," she said. "Why is it red?" "If things move away from you, it moves their energy wave further into the red spectrum. If they are moving toward you, it shifts everything toward the blue. That's one way they can tell the universe is still expanding." "Cool," Brigid said, obviously thinking. I couldn't have said it better.   Have a great day.  Nothing beats starting your day with lighthearted morning conversation... Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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