5 Science Trivia Questions to Get You Thinking

[Rhondazvous]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?
2. In relation to the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, is the orbit of the Earth around the sun perpendicular or parallel?
3. Do all the planets orbit the sun on the same p lane, i.e., around the equator of the sun at the same angle
4. Why if it we can’t drink sea water, but we can eat sea salt??
5. According to one website, dark energy is made of neutrinos. If we know what it's made of why do we still call it dark?


Happy thinking!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

#1: Space is expanding with the Big Bang.

[downbeatplumb]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?
2. In relation to the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, is the orbit of the Earth around the sun perpendicular or parallel?
3. Do all the planets orbit the sun on the same p lane, i.e., around the equator of the sun at the same angle
4. Why if it we can’t drink sea water, but we can eat sea salt??
5.    According to one website,   dark energy is made of neutrinos. If we know what it's made of why do we still call it dark?


Happy thinking!

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?

because of two things the initial expansion/inflation was enormous and fast and the universe continues to expand like a balloon.
 
2. In relation to the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, is the orbit of the Earth around the sun perpendicular or parallel?

3. Do all the planets orbit the sun on the same p lane, i.e., around the equator of the sun at the same angle

not quite all but mostly they orbit in the same plane. Pluto orbits in a strange loop.


4. Why if it we can’t drink sea water, but we can eat sea salt??

You can drink sea water but not very much of it because of osmosis it would actually dehydrate your body. If you were to eat loads of sea salt it would not do you any good for the same reason.
 
5.    According to one website,   dark energy is made of neutrinos. If we know what it's made of why do we still call it dark?

We don't know its neutrinos.

In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. The first observational evidence for its existence came from supernovae measurements, which showed that the universe does not expand at a constant rate; rather, the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

[brewer]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?

I'm not a physics guy but it seems that time is linear where expansion would be nonlinear/exponential.

No comment on dark matter. I'd just make poop jokes.

[Pat Mustard]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?
2. In relation to the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, is the orbit of the Earth around the sun perpendicular or parallel?
3. Do all the planets orbit the sun on the same p lane, i.e., around the equator of the sun at the same angle
4. Why if it we can’t drink sea water, but we can eat sea salt??
5.    According to one website,   dark energy is made of neutrinos. If we know what it's made of why do we still call it dark?


Happy thinking!

1) Inflation was much greater during the first instants of the universe, we only know what various constants were from shortly after the big bang happened. Before then the evidence suggests that a much higher speed of light was the rule.

3) spiral.

3) Kinda. All planets lie within the the ecliptic, but they aren't on the exact same degree of the plane. And if Pluto were still considered a planet, the answer'd be no. It's significantly off the ecliptic in its orbit.

4) Drinking small amounts of sea water is ok. Drinking large amounts is bad, because it takes more water (as urine) to flush the salt from the body than you're actually drinking. We need a certain amount of salt to live (at about 0.9% of or body weight) so eating sea salt is ok (as long as it's not to excess). Of course this assumes that both the sea water and sea salt are both clean.

5) Largely because it's very hard to detect.

[Fake Messiah]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?

You should really check Fermilab channel on YouTube, Dr. Don Lincoln deals with that kind of stuff and he's a very charming person

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Or you can have fifty hours of "How the Universe Works" on your DVR.

[Paleophyte]

1. How can the universe be 93 billion light years in diameter when the big bang was only 13 billion years ago? Can dark energy cause regular matter to move faster than the speed of light?

Because the equation v=d/t ( c = 1 light year / year ) is only valid when space-time is static. In our universe space-time is expanding, so the math gets a bit trickier.

2. In relation to the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, is the orbit of the Earth around the sun perpendicular or parallel?

Neither. The plane of the ecliptic is inclined at about 60 degrees to the galactic plane.

3. Do all the planets orbit the sun on the same p lane, i.e., around the equator of the sun at the same angle

More or less. Jupiter and the sun force the orbits of the less massive planets into the same plane as Jupiter's orbit give or take a little natural variation.

4. Why if it we can’t drink sea water, but we can eat sea salt??

Because seawater is much saltier than most mortals would enjoy on their food. Seawater is roughly 3.5% salt. To get a similar amount in your food you'll want about a teaspoon of salt on 1 cup of mashed potatoes.

5.    According to one website,   dark energy is made of neutrinos. If we know what it's made of why do we still call it dark?

That website is wrong. Neutrinos suffer problems as dark matter or energy. The biggest is that they aren't entirely "dark". They also don't have enough mass and don't properly account for several properties of dark matter or energy.