this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
83 points (85.5% liked)

Space

8765 readers
56 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography

Other Cool Links

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
83
The Universe As We Know It May End Sooner Than Expected (hackaday.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
40 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 90 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Clickbaity title. The estimated time until Higgs field decay has been changed from 10^794^ years to 10^790^ years. Presumably there's some tiny chance of it happening today, but practically we can just continue worrying about all the regular stuff that is about to kill us all.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Also, from what I understand, we wouldn't see it coming (as the decay would be spreading at the speed of light), and everything would be over before our senses could ever detect anything out of the ordinary.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago

😍

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

So, if I'm reading it right, everything would just rip apart at the speed of light due to a change in mass because of the Higgs field transitioning to a lower state?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

ugh i was hoping it would be before this election

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That's a huge difference, the estimate became 10,000 times smaller.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It is, but there are still quite a lot of zeros left.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

It’s like if I became 10,000 times less attractive. Same thing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Is it more than 3?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

it's still a concern for biden

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Its more like 0.5% difference.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Not really, the new value is 0.0001% of the old.

Just because the number has barely fewer digits doesn't mean it's barely smaller

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Guess I'm not spending that Christmas with my family after all...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

we'll find out who was right then