Sunday 18 January 2009

All Talk 36 - Entropy Explained and The Dr. Gets A Gold Star

HUTCHBACK

No, but here's an interesting fact – that always precedes a very boring fact, whenever you hear someone say "and here's an interesting fact" there's always..

DR. NOSTRUM

..A boring fact before it..

HUTCHBACK

A lead in to a really boring piece of information...

DR. NOSTRUM

Oh, right.

HUTCHBACK

...however...

DR. NOSTRUM

Yeah, go on.

HUTCHBACK

You may or may not find this interesting...

DR. NOSTRUM

Yeah

HUTCHBACK

For the first 300,000 years of the Universe..

DR. NOSTRUM

It'll be more interesting than Wii Fit. (pause) Yeah. (pause) Ants? Were there any ants?

HUTCHBACK

The...

DR. NOSTRUM

No.

HUTCHBACK

Light could not have been seen in the Universe.

DR. NOSTRUM

What, cos it was too dusty?

HUTCHBACK

There were no - gaps, if you like.

DR. NOSTRUM

Too dusty?

HUTCHBACK

Yes, it was just..

DR. NOSTRUM

It was solid?

HUTCHBACK

Not exactly solid, but you couldn't pass light through it.

DR. NOSTRUM

Sounds like Diarrhea.

HUTCHBACK

Huh?

DR. NOSTRUM

Sounds like someone talking about stool samples.

HUTCHBACK

You couldn't pass... you couldn't.. No. Light could not...

DR. NOSTRUM

Be seen.

HUTCHBACK

...be seen. That's pretty good. So, in fact, The Bible..

DR. NOSTRUM

It just doesn't make sense.

HUTCHBACK

...The Bible's right.

DR. NOSTRUM

What? "Let there be light." Cos when it thinned.. it started thinning out.

HUTCHBACK

Yeah. No, "And first there was darkness...

DR. NOSTRUM

And then there was light.

HUTCHBACK

...and then there was light."

DR. NOSTRUM

That's not bad.

HUTCHBACK

See?

DR. NOSTRUM

So, actually, it's much more concise than the Guardian...

HUTCHBACK

Yeah.

DR. NOSTRUM

...really?

HUTCHBACK

Much more concise. No, but I can go into more detail.

DR. NOSTRUM

Right. No, no, but what I'm saying is – The Bible, succinctly, whenever that was written; two, three thousand years ago, was a lot easier reading than that supplement.

HUTCHBACK

Yeah.

DR. NOSTRUM

Before they started talking about killing people for wanking.

HUTCHBACK

Yeah, so, basically, the Universe was an average of about a thousand degrees centigrade – so quite hot...

DR. NOSTRUM

Yeah, that's pretty hot.

HUTCHBACK

That's pretty hot.

DR. NOSTRUM

Although some places, no, no actually, thinking about it, cos some places were stars and some places weren't...

HUTCHBACK

No, no. There were no stars.

DR. NOSTRUM

So why was it hot?

HUTCHBACK

It was still hot from The Big Bang.

DR. NOSTRUM

From the exspanktion?

HUTCHBACK

(mocking) Yeah. From the expanktion. It exspank-e-ted. It ex-pangéd.

DR. NOSTRUM

No, but if the stars were billions of degrees, and space is nothing...

HUTCHBACK

Stars aren't billions of degrees.

DR. NOSTRUM

So.. so what's the average now?

HUTCHBACK

The average no is just above zero. Just above absolute zero. There's a lot of space.

DR. NOSTRUM

So it's getting colder.

HUTCHBACK

It's getting a lot colder, yes. Clearly. But it won't, it won't.. it won't...

DR. NOSTRUM

It doesn't carry on getting colder?

HUTCHBACK

Yes it does. Until...

DR. NOSTRUM

Until it's too cold.

HUTCHBACK

...until everything dies.

DR. NOSTRUM

Yes.

HUTCHBACK

The Heat Death of The Universe.

DR. NOSTRUM

So before there was light, there was heat?

HUTCHBACK

Yes

DR. NOSTRUM

So if it..

HUTCHBACK

There was a lot of heat (pause) and there was no light. The Big Bang...

DR. NOSTRUM

So why doesn't it say "Let it be hot"?

HUTCHBACK

...was completely dark.

DR. NOSTRUM

"And Lo, God said "Let it be hot""

HUTCHBACK

"Let it be hot." So they all went to Eilat. And so the Prophet went to Eilat and he, um, he sunbathed for a bit and shaved his beard off. No, no this is.. interestingly enough (laughs) again, interestingly enough, Stars...

DR. NOSTRUM

Hmm.

HUTCHBACK

...are millions of degrees, but...

DR. NOSTRUM

Yeah

HUTCHBACK

...A red dwarf is only around 3000 degrees, so, you know, quite mild, really. Compared to millions that's quite mild.

DR. NOSTRUM

I knew there was an 'illions' in it.

HUTCHBACK

Yeah, but not billions, I think billions is too hot. But anyway, so the reason was..

DR. NOSTRUM

Is that's what's called Entropy then...

HUTCHBACK

Yes, pretty much.

DR. NOSTRUM

...The slow heat death of the Universe?

HUTCHBACK

Yes, very good. Very good, that's a gold star for the DR.

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