The 11 Greatest Unanswered Questions of Physics

DISCOVER Vol. 23 No. 2 ^ | February 2002 | Eric Haseltine

[f.Christian]

Maybe your tank is cracked---outta water...some glue could help you!

[f.Christian]

I did see the map---your age on your bio...

is that mag-lev---super conductivity your on---higher than a liberal---just lower than anarchy?

Floating reality--Libertarianism?

[Yardstick]

Is it wise for physicists to spend so much energy figuring out the microcosmic mysteries of the universe when they still haven't adequately explained Spam to us?

[aruanan]

How many of these questions are necessitated by the assumption that red shift = recessional velocity?

[PatrickHenry]

Bump for tomorrow.

[A.J.Armitage]

Isn't there some medication you should be taking?

[VadeRetro]

The Unanswered Questions of Physics have never hurt me. The Unanswered Questions of Chemistry in the second semester of my college freshman year nearly flunked me out.

[f.Christian]

Realatarians-science on medication...you make me laugh!

[A.J.Armitage]

What the heck is a "realitarian" supposed to be? You and your cat?

[f.Christian]

Yeah the cat corners them and I smash em---rats!

[The Raven]

How many of these questions are necessitated by the assumption that red shift = recessional velocity?

Probably a lot of 'em.

[PatrickHenry]

I was hoping to find the answers to those unanswered questions; but so far this thread isn't solving the Great Problems of the Universe. So I shall lurk ...

[UCANSEE2]

Now think..... There can not be any 'missing' matter.

If it doesn't exist in the universe, it doesn't exist.

We are trying to resolve a 4 dimensional (or higher) universe with a 3-dimensional mind.

[MortMan]

Question 12: What is that stuff between al gores ears ?

I believe the technical tern for that is VACUUM!

[AndrewC]

"the universe has the simplest shape—it's flat. " ...and when you get to the edge you'll fall off. actually, it's more toroise-shell shaped.

Is this the gratuitous ridicule of the flat-universers?

[MortMan]

"the universe has the simplest shape—it's flat."

Ummmm... I hate to point out an obvious flaw here, but "flat" isn't a shape. A sheet of paper is flat, too, but it has a rectangular shape.

Oh, and the simplest shape in 3 dimensions is a sphere - it only requires one measurement to describe it (diameter or radius). (Sorry - I'm an engineer, too, and people trying to tell me how important their thoughts are using incorrect terminology drive me bananas ;-)

[Poohbah]

Question 12: what happens to socks in your dryer to make only one of a pair vanish?

[A CA Guy]

Which question was the one that tackled the issue of the first OJ jury?

[malakhi]

12. Who hired Craig Livingstone?

1. What is dark matter? ...All the ordinary matter we can find accounts for only about 4 percent of the universe. We know this by calculating how much mass would be needed to hold galaxies together and cause them to move about the way they do when they gather in large clusters

2. What is dark energy? ...That energy should produce a kind of negative pressure, or repulsion, thereby explaining why the universe's expansion is accelerating.

3. How were the heavy elements from iron to uranium made?

4. Do neutrinos have mass?

5. Where do ultrahigh-energy particles come from?

6. Is a new theory of light and matter needed to explain what happens at very high energies and temperatures?

7. Are there new states of matter at ultrahigh temperatures and densities? ...Quarks are extremely sociable and are never observed in nature alone.

8. Are protons unstable?

9. What is gravity?

10. Are there additional dimensions?

11. How did the universe begin?

[MortMan]

"technical tern"??????

Make that "technical term". I fat-fingered my cheeky response:-(