Temporal Powers of Ten

Many IEET readers probably are familiar with the famous (and famously brilliant) “Powers of Ten” film created in 1977 by Charles and Ray Eames. What happens if we try a similar mental exercise with time instead of space?

“10 bya   ... there is no Earth, no Sun, no Solar System. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, seems to have formed very early:along with the oldest galaxies in the universe: but our star and the planet we live on will not come into being for another five and a half billion years.”

I suppose I should ask this question to an astronomer, but this question has been bugging me for a long time: What does it mean by “the sun came into being?” Does it mean that before that point, it burst out of, or morphed from, something else? If so, how can we know that we’re dating from the right point?

For 10^1, I’d say the biggest surprise to a layperson (but not so much to a futurist) is the prevalence and ubiquity of the internet and cell phones.

Abraham, the origin and life cycle of stars (our Sun is one) is pretty well understood by astronomers. Stars accrete from swirling masses of gas and dust that gradually pull inward until their gravitational attraction brings intense internal pressures. When the pressure grows high enough, individual atoms are forced together, changing them from one type of element into another. This process is called nuclear fusion, and it releases immense amounts of energy radiating heat and light and bringing a star to life.

Here’s a new homage to Powers of Ten by IBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyvmA4mI8zU

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