Can We Break the Universe?

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: ↓ More info below ↓ Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! Today we’re going to delve into a couple of the most famous paradoxes of special relativity: the Twin Paradox, The Ladder Paradox (aka the Barn-Pole Paradox), and a paradox suggested by our very own viewers, which asks whether a spaceship could wrap around the universe & destroy itself. We’ll explore these paradoxes and see why, against our intuition, the universe really does work in this seemingly nonsensical way. But the point of this episode is to go much further - we’re going to try to break the universe by pushing these paradoxes beyond the limit. Special Thanks to our Patreon Supporters Hank & Mark for suggesting the questions that inspired this episode! #space #relativity #paradox Check out the Space Time Merch Store Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! Hosted by Matt O’Dowd Written by Matt O’Dowd Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Assistant Producer: Setare Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by . Schattenberg: Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Supporters Sandy Wu Matthew Miller Clinton Robinson Sean Maddox Brodie Rao Scott Gray Ahmad Jodeh Radu Negulescu Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal David Nicklas Quasar Supporters Hank S Christina Oegren Mark Heising Vinnie Falco Hypernova Supporters William Bryan Mike Swayze muON Marketing Russell Pope Ben Delo L. Wayne Ausbrooks Nicholas Newlin Mark Matthew Bosko Jason Finn Антон Кочков Alec S-L Julian Tyacke John R. Slavik Mathew Danton Spivey Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Joseph Salomone Matthew O’Connor chuck zegar Jordan Young m0nk John Hofmann Timothy McCulloch Gamma Ray Burst Supporters Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Nick Ádám Kettinger Sylvain Leduc Matthew Harlow Robert C Schupp Anthony Kahng MD3 Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Pratik Mukherjee Geoffrey Clarion Astronauticist Nate Darren Duncan Lily kawaii Russ Creech Jeremy Reed Magistrala Хемус [Kybrit] Derek Davis Eric Webster Steven Sartore DrJYou David Johnston J. King Michael Barton Christopher Barron James Ramsey Justin Jermyn Mr T Andrew Mann Jeremiah Johnson fieldsa eleanory Peter Mertz Kevin O’Connell Richard Deighton Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Dawn M Fink Bleys Goodson Darryl J Lyle Robert Walter Bruce B Ismael Montecel Andrew Richmond Simon Oliphant Mirik Gogri David Hughes Christopher Hartnett Mark Daniel Cohen Brandon Lattin Yannick Weyns Nickolas Andrew Freeman Brian Blanchard Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Astaurus Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Martin Skans Michael Conroy Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Greg Smith Tonyface John Robinson A G Kevin Lee Adrian Hatch Yurii Konovaliuk John Funai Cass Costello Geoffrey Short Bradley Jenkins Kyle Hofer Tim Stephani Luaan AlecZero Cody Malte Ubl King Zeckendorff Nick Virtue Scott Gossett Martin J Lollar Dan Warren Patrick Sutton John Griffith Daniel Lyons DFaulk Kevin Warne Andreas Nautsch Brandon labonte