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Author Topic:   Laws of Conservation?
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 6 of 86 (499127)
02-16-2009 9:11 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by grant111
02-14-2009 4:26 AM


Besides the point that cavediver made, I will point out that even in classical physics, the Law of Conservation of Energy states simply that at any two different times, the total energy content of a closed system will be the same. In the case of the universe, there was no time when the universe did not exist -- there was no "before" the universe since there was no "time." So, no, energy conservation was never violated since there was never a time when the total energy content was different. (That's not taking into account the correct GR description of the universe that cavediver is providing.)
I will also point out that the so-called Laws of Physics are merely summaries of patterns that we have observed so far. The Laws of Physics have changed quite often in the history of science when new phenomena were observed to violate what was understood to be the Laws of Physics. It was believed, for example, that there was a Law of Conservation of Matter until nuclear processes were discovered and understood.
So, correctly speaking, the Law of Conservation of Energy simply means that we have never, so far, observed the total energy content of a closed system change. But maybe it does change in some situations -- like during creations of universes, which no one has ever observed.

Speaking personally, I find few things more awesome than contemplating this vast and majestic process of evolution, the ebb and flow of successive biotas through geological time. Creationists and others who cannot for ideological or religious reasons accept the fact of evolution miss out a great deal, and are left with a claustrophobic little universe in which nothing happens and nothing changes.
-- M. Alan Kazlev

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by grant111, posted 02-14-2009 4:26 AM grant111 has not replied

Replies to this message:
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Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 79 of 86 (502679)
03-12-2009 5:42 PM
Reply to: Message 76 by onifre
03-04-2009 7:04 PM


Re: Time
Why the fuck would they name it that and totally confuse me?
"Big Bang" was the name Hoyle coined as a derogatory remark (he never really accepted the Big Bang theory). But, as often happens, the name was so silly that it became adopted by the theory's adherents.

To count as an atheist, one needn't claim to have proof that there are no gods. One only needs to believe that the evidence on the god question is in a similar state to the evidence on the werewolf question. -- John McCarthy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 76 by onifre, posted 03-04-2009 7:04 PM onifre has not replied

  
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