measurements

Hotman

the sixbillion dollar experiment, and many other countless references to astronomy, space, distance and time etc, im always so confused about where they get their measurements?

like talking about firing the protons at eachother and saying some of the following matter and elements that are created will only exist for "1 thousand billion, billionth of a second.." etc.. and like in distances they say that the universe is however many million trillion km it is in length etc... i always get annoyed because i don't think humans can understand these numbers really, like how can we tell that something is there for a thousand billion billionth of a second etc. even the most advanced cameras can't measure things like that.. so why are these incredibly large/long numbers thrown around so much?

rccaulfield

Hotman wrote: »

the sixbillion dollar experiment, and many other countless references to astronomy, space, distance and time etc, im always so confused about where they get their measurements?

like talking about firing the protons at eachother and saying some of the following matter and elements that are created will only exist for "1 thousand billion, billionth of a second.." etc.. and like in distances they say that the universe is however many million trillion km it is in length etc... i always get annoyed because i don't think humans can understand these numbers really, like how can we tell that something is there for a thousand billion billionth of a second etc. even the most advanced cameras can't measure things like that.. so why are these incredibly large/long numbers thrown around so much?

Everything at the very huge and very tiny is measured in powers of ten or minus ten. Popular science demands english instead of math notation so you get alot of gobbldeegook numbers! Still correct though!;)

slade_x

Hotman wrote: »

even the most advanced cameras can't measure things like that.. so why are these incredibly large/long numbers thrown around so much?

Thats why traditional optical camera's are not used. detectors are, detectors can measure what energies particles have and how long before they decay.

To understand you'd really have to understand the working principles of the equipment and the nature of what they study. Im not sure i can find a suitable source but the following may be of interest which pertains to the LHC

http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/large-hadron-collider5.htm

irishh_bob

Hotman wrote: »

the sixbillion dollar experiment, and many other countless references to astronomy, space, distance and time etc, im always so confused about where they get their measurements?

like talking about firing the protons at eachother and saying some of the following matter and elements that are created will only exist for "1 thousand billion, billionth of a second.." etc.. and like in distances they say that the universe is however many million trillion km it is in length etc... i always get annoyed because i don't think humans can understand these numbers really, like how can we tell that something is there for a thousand billion billionth of a second etc. even the most advanced cameras can't measure things like that.. so why are these incredibly large/long numbers thrown around so much?

thier showboating , they have no real certainty about theese claims

Rubecula

Hotman wrote: »

the sixbillion dollar experiment, and many other countless references to astronomy, space, distance and time etc, im always so confused about where they get their measurements?

like talking about firing the protons at eachother and saying some of the following matter and elements that are created will only exist for "1 thousand billion, billionth of a second.." etc.. and like in distances they say that the universe is however many million trillion km it is in length etc... i always get annoyed because i don't think humans can understand these numbers really, like how can we tell that something is there for a thousand billion billionth of a second etc. even the most advanced cameras can't measure things like that.. so why are these incredibly large/long numbers thrown around so much?

Ok I have to ask if you did science at school? Basically all elements produce an interference patten to light passing through them. Likewise when they emit light it is the exact opposite of this. These then produce "black" lines on a spectrum. So by looking at this pattern of black lines we can deduce what element is present in a star.

By doing this we can also see how far the black lines are moved on a spectrum. The further towards the red end the faster they are moving away from us as light waves are stretched due to the famous Doppler effect.

The further away something actually is the faster it is moving in comparison to us, and also the faster something is moving the further away it happens to be.

By taking all this into consideration it can be worked out just how far a star (or a galaxy is from us.) To gauge the distance of a galaxy very bright stars within it are targetted usually.

Hope that simplified explanation helps.