Comments on: The End of the Universe https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/ The Podcast of the weird, gross, & disturbing Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:18:18 +0000 hourly 1 By: Kennedy https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/#comment-3984 Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:18:18 +0000 http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?p=2113#comment-3984 Obscure and awesome Christmas & end-of-universe story (yes you read that right – think Santa v. Entropy):
http://escapepod.org/2008/12/25/ep184-as-dry-leaves-that-before-the-wild-hurricane-fly/

]]> By: Tribantine https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/#comment-3983 Tue, 09 Jul 2013 20:09:45 +0000 http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?p=2113#comment-3983 Wait, did I hear a cat in the background at 1:11:33? Mascot??

]]> By: Scott D https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/#comment-3982 Tue, 09 Jul 2013 15:45:47 +0000 http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?p=2113#comment-3982 Quick pet peeve (from someone who knows just enough about thermodynamics to be dangerous): Closed systems spontaneously tend toward the lowest Gibbs free energy possible, which is a combination of entropy and enthalpy. This often means striving for high entropy but not always, there are some neat examples of systems ordering themselves which ends up representing the lowest energy (drying salt water is a simple example where the salt forms ordered crystals from a soup of mixed ions).

The universe comment is still true though; The total entropy of the universe always increases. Small systems can sometimes become more ordered by themselves but not the universe as a whole (in the salt example this required the increased entropy on the part of the water).

There are better examples then the salt water one, but they are generally mathy and complicated (since water leaves, it’s not really a closed system).

Thanks for another great show as always!

]]> By: Drhoz https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/#comment-3981 Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:59:26 +0000 http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?p=2113#comment-3981 Asimov’s Last Question story was a Big Chill universe – one of the sequences ended with futile plans to assemble new stars, after all. Of course, that was the short story – was there a novel-length version as well that I didn’t know about, with a Crunch?

]]> By: Kurt https://causticsodapodcast.com/2013/07/08/the-end-of-the-universe/#comment-3980 Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:30:36 +0000 http://www.causticsodapodcast.com/?p=2113#comment-3980 After the collision and eventual mergion of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies, I propose the new galaxy’s name to be “Galaxy Anyway”

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