August 30, 2005

"W": A DARK FORCE THAT PERMEATES THE UNIVERSE? ---------- by Steve Nadis

I'm currently studying dark energy. You may have heard of it--the stuff that supposedly fills all space, constituting 70 to 80 percent of the matter and energy in the universe. One problem with dark energy is that nobody knows what it is. To learn more about its properties, astronomers are trying to determine the "equation of state parameter," abbreviated as "w," which describes how the energy density changes as the universe expands.

A cosmologist I know at MIT hates the focus on w and never uses the term. What's more, he strongly encourages others to find alternative ways of saying it, apart from the longwinded "equation of state parameter." I finally asked him why he dislikes the expression so much. "It reminds me of the president," he said.

Posted by Snake at 15:30:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (9) |
Comments
1 - This is supposed to be a volleyball blog. What are you bringing the universe into it for? (Comment this)

Written by: Burt at 2005/08/30 - 19:41:05
2 - Sorry about that. Sometimes the universe has a way of butting in. And now, back to volleyball... (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2005/08/30 - 19:44:11
3 - Dark matter is really just all those missing socks everybody keeps looking for. The wormholes created by your dryer's rotation sends them to the outer edge of galaxies where they drift in a nylon-cotton blend cloud. (Comment this)

Written by: DrMax at 2005/08/30 - 23:07:06
4 - Well now we know the "Dr" is not merely honorific. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2005/08/30 - 23:17:14
5 - Why don't we send W into outer space to investigate w? (Comment this)

Written by: OldRoses at 2005/08/31 - 09:41:04
6 - Interesting... The Dark Energy Probe has always been conceived of as an unmanned mission, but your idea has promise. I'll take it up with NASA. (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2005/08/31 - 12:30:09
7 - .
.
!! (Comment this)

Written by: . . at 2005/08/31 - 16:08:23
8 - i believe the above was a comment from
a resident of the dark matter universe. ;)
They make a good point... if we could only see it. (Comment this)

Written by: Marco at 2005/08/31 - 16:10:54
9 - I agree, Marco. The above comment was surely to the point. Or should we say, "to the points," of which there are many? (Comment this)

Written by: Snake at 2005/08/31 - 16:12:47
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