glennmac
Veteran Member
When the tractorman is driving his tractor over a swamp at night, taking his two dogs out for their midnight frolic, he often gazes in awe at the glittering sky. And wonders. What are the stars and galaxies made of? What else is out there?
Does it bother anyone else that the answer now seems to be that most of the matter out there is "dark matter" and, just discovered in the last two years, that most of the energy out there is "dark energy". Dark matter is old hat now. But dark energy has really thrown astronomy, physics and cosmology--favorite hobbies, all, of the tractorman--into a tizzy.
When Einstein was finished with his general relativity equations in 1916, he realized that his equations could not account for a static universe--ie, a universe that is neither expanding nor contracting. And Al intuitively felt that the universe must be static and stable. So, he plugged a "fudge factor" into his equations to make them work. Translated into real world physics, this fudge factor meant there was in the universe an "anti-gravity" force. This repulsive force, according to Einstein's fudge factor, tends to push the stars and galaxies apart with just enough force to balance out gravity's tendency to contact the stars back toward each other into an ultimate collapse of universe.
In 1929 Hubble discovered that the universe was not static; it was expanding. Thinking that his fudge factor was unnecessary and wrong, Einstein proclaimed that it was his "greatest mistake".
By 2001 experiments showed that the expansion of the universe was not at a constant velocity, as had been assumed since 1929. No, the universe is expanding at an accelerating velocity. What causes that? It can only be an anti-gravity repulsive force so strong that it completely dominates and overwhelms the total gravitational force of all the matter (including the dark matter) in the universe. So the fudge factor is back, only a lot bigger and stronger than even Einstein contemplated.
What is this force? No one has a clue. They call it "dark energy" because it exceeds the calculated sum of all the known and possible energy in the universe by a factor of 3 or so. It is assumed that dark energy pervades the entire universe evenly and uniformly instead of clumping like all known forms of matter and energy. According to e=mc squared and the standard model of particle physics, all energy has a particle state. So what particles of matter make up the dark energy field? It is almost as if we were back to Newton's "ether". Pity the poor cosmologists and physicists, who seem to slide back two steps every time they think they have taken one forward.
But they don't have the tractorman's problems. No, indeedy. As the tractorman gazes at the heavens and ponders the mystery and meaning of dark energy ... as his German Shepard, Max the stickaholic, chases the coyote who is chasing his Lhasa Apso, Sasha the pushy princess ... the dark matter of the Oozama VerBoten swamp reaches out like gooey fudge, and sucks his tractor with an unseen energy that completely overpowers the Kubota engine and the useless R4 tires.
For the 14th time.
However, it will long be noted that the tractorman has extricated himself the past 5 times in a row with his handy-dandy Hi-Lift Jack, plus Jackmate and Off Road Kit, as recommended by the formerly unfettered mental force of Tractorbynetian knowledge and wisdom.
It will also long be noted, at least in one 11 acre corner of the dark universe, that the 14 tractor burials were not without resurrecting grace. The Oozama has been shorn of all its phragmites and cattails, and is now composed entirely of grass. Grass growing in wet muddy ground, but grass nevertheless. And that's easier to maintain, especially when the tractorman gets a rear finish mower to replace the fudge sucking midmount mower.
Einstein would be proud, I'm sure, of the tractorman's one step forward.
Does it bother anyone else that the answer now seems to be that most of the matter out there is "dark matter" and, just discovered in the last two years, that most of the energy out there is "dark energy". Dark matter is old hat now. But dark energy has really thrown astronomy, physics and cosmology--favorite hobbies, all, of the tractorman--into a tizzy.
When Einstein was finished with his general relativity equations in 1916, he realized that his equations could not account for a static universe--ie, a universe that is neither expanding nor contracting. And Al intuitively felt that the universe must be static and stable. So, he plugged a "fudge factor" into his equations to make them work. Translated into real world physics, this fudge factor meant there was in the universe an "anti-gravity" force. This repulsive force, according to Einstein's fudge factor, tends to push the stars and galaxies apart with just enough force to balance out gravity's tendency to contact the stars back toward each other into an ultimate collapse of universe.
In 1929 Hubble discovered that the universe was not static; it was expanding. Thinking that his fudge factor was unnecessary and wrong, Einstein proclaimed that it was his "greatest mistake".
By 2001 experiments showed that the expansion of the universe was not at a constant velocity, as had been assumed since 1929. No, the universe is expanding at an accelerating velocity. What causes that? It can only be an anti-gravity repulsive force so strong that it completely dominates and overwhelms the total gravitational force of all the matter (including the dark matter) in the universe. So the fudge factor is back, only a lot bigger and stronger than even Einstein contemplated.
What is this force? No one has a clue. They call it "dark energy" because it exceeds the calculated sum of all the known and possible energy in the universe by a factor of 3 or so. It is assumed that dark energy pervades the entire universe evenly and uniformly instead of clumping like all known forms of matter and energy. According to e=mc squared and the standard model of particle physics, all energy has a particle state. So what particles of matter make up the dark energy field? It is almost as if we were back to Newton's "ether". Pity the poor cosmologists and physicists, who seem to slide back two steps every time they think they have taken one forward.
But they don't have the tractorman's problems. No, indeedy. As the tractorman gazes at the heavens and ponders the mystery and meaning of dark energy ... as his German Shepard, Max the stickaholic, chases the coyote who is chasing his Lhasa Apso, Sasha the pushy princess ... the dark matter of the Oozama VerBoten swamp reaches out like gooey fudge, and sucks his tractor with an unseen energy that completely overpowers the Kubota engine and the useless R4 tires.
For the 14th time.
However, it will long be noted that the tractorman has extricated himself the past 5 times in a row with his handy-dandy Hi-Lift Jack, plus Jackmate and Off Road Kit, as recommended by the formerly unfettered mental force of Tractorbynetian knowledge and wisdom.
It will also long be noted, at least in one 11 acre corner of the dark universe, that the 14 tractor burials were not without resurrecting grace. The Oozama has been shorn of all its phragmites and cattails, and is now composed entirely of grass. Grass growing in wet muddy ground, but grass nevertheless. And that's easier to maintain, especially when the tractorman gets a rear finish mower to replace the fudge sucking midmount mower.
Einstein would be proud, I'm sure, of the tractorman's one step forward.
