Magnifying by Powers of Ten

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Posted by Cliff on Wednesday January 7, 2004 @07:10AM from the drill-down-from-macro-to-micro dept.

Ron Harwood observes: "Molecular Expressions at Florida State University has a view of Earth starting at 10 million light years and working it's way closer by "powers of ten" till you are at the smallest point scientists can go in the subatomic universe."

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Book on the subject by Theory+of+Everything · 2004-01-07 07:20 · Score: 4, Informative

There's a book that's been published that is pretty much the same thing, by MIT Physics Professor Philip Morrison and others. It can be found here.
1. Re:Book on the subject by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-07 07:51 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The slideshow is here
See the Eames version by david94133 · 2004-01-07 07:23 · Score: 5, Informative

The original Powers of Ten video (by Charles and Ray Eames) is still the definitive version. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes this web version.

The original is one continuous zoom, from human-scale, all the way out, then al the way in, down to sub-atomic particles. There is narration and various clues to scale, which helps a lot.

It is a landmark film and holds up very well after all these years.
1. Re:See the Eames version by br0ck · 2004-01-07 07:29 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  The original Powers of Ten video (by Charles and Ray Eames) is still the definitive version.
  
  Screencaps Webcast (Real Player)
Easy Answer by missing000 · 2004-01-07 07:32 · Score: 2, Informative

Turtles all the way down
1. Re:Easy Answer by missing000 · 2004-01-07 10:19 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Just Turtles.
  
  It's from "A Brief History Of Time" (Stephen Hawking)
  
  From http://www.the-funneled-web.com/hawking.htm:
  
  A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.
  
  At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish.
  The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise."
  
  The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?"
  
  "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."
Hmmm.... by _RiZ_ · 2004-01-07 07:33 · Score: 3, Informative

This whole thing was very nicely animated in an IMAX movie called Cosmic Voyage. It was narrated by Morgan Freeman and the graphics and sound were amazing. If you have a nice home theater setup (too bad if you dont! =] ) get Cosmic Voyage from Netflix, turn it up and enjoy.

The fluidity of the animation from a quark to the edge of the known universe is what makes it amazing. So it ends up going further out than this one did.
Re:duplicate by AEton · 2004-01-07 08:20 · Score: 2, Informative

that's correct. That was a year and a half ago, though, so maybe new people will see it.

--
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
Re:How did it all come to be? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-07 10:00 · Score: 1, Informative

"Many Worlds Hypothesis". All mathematically consistent worlds exist from beginning to end, with varying distributions of stuff (matter, energy, whatever) and varying physical parameters and laws. It just so happens that only fairly remarkable worlds have the complexity to permit the evolution of lifeforms that can be astounded at the complexity of the world they are in. Were you looking for a Creator? Modern physics doesn't rule out that possiblity, but doesn't find one necessary.
Re:How did it all come to be? by ShavenYak · 2004-01-07 10:20 · Score: 2, Informative

Actually, Occam's Razor suggests that your theories not include entities which are unnecesary. Thus, if you can explain the Universe without sticking a Supreme Being in your theories, you're following Occam's advice.

Of course, just because Occam's Razor seems to favor one theory over another doesn't mean that theory is correct, so use it with a grain of salt.

--

Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
Re:Wheee... by DerekLyons · 2004-01-07 19:03 · Score: 2, Informative

IIRC most of the images were airbrushed. (I used to own a copy of the book, probably still do, but my library is, um, disorganized.) Check the page linked in the article at the top (the page with the animations), the full story is down towards the bottom.