Dr. Krauss: Speaking of extra dimensions, this morning I felt like I had a ton of bricks fall on me. I finished Hiding in the Mirror a day or two ago and I’ve been rereading it paying special attention to what I highlighted the first time. In A Universe From Nothing, you explained how empty space is not empty, that it is full of subatomic particles that pop in and out of existence. Okay, I got that, but I don’t think I could have articulated it well if anyone asked me how it worked. This morning my eye fell on the story in chapter 9 of how Carl Anderson discovered how gamma rays convert into electron-positron pairs and back to gamma rays. This demonstrates Einstein’s equation that energy (the gamma rays) and mass (the electron-positron) are equal. I remembered one of my math instructors who would point to things on either side of the equal sign and say emphatically “it’s the same thing.” Hiding in the Mirror is really a valuable work! I’m looking forward to The Edge of Knowledge.
Dr. Krauss: Speaking of extra dimensions, this morning I felt like I had a ton of bricks fall on me. I finished Hiding in the Mirror a day or two ago and I’ve been rereading it paying special attention to what I highlighted the first time. In A Universe From Nothing, you explained how empty space is not empty, that it is full of subatomic particles that pop in and out of existence. Okay, I got that, but I don’t think I could have articulated it well if anyone asked me how it worked. This morning my eye fell on the story in chapter 9 of how Carl Anderson discovered how gamma rays convert into electron-positron pairs and back to gamma rays. This demonstrates Einstein’s equation that energy (the gamma rays) and mass (the electron-positron) are equal. I remembered one of my math instructors who would point to things on either side of the equal sign and say emphatically “it’s the same thing.” Hiding in the Mirror is really a valuable work! I’m looking forward to The Edge of Knowledge.