• Question: Does the parallel space-time exist?

    Asked by jamilahzhao to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 12 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      No-one knows whether or not a parallel universe exists! This is because there would be no way of detecting one if it did! There are a few reasons some scientists think parallel universes exist though.

      You might have heard of quantum mechanics, which describes our universe on a very small scales. For example, atoms are described by quantum mechanics. One of the odd things about quantum mechanics is that there is literally no way of telling exactly what will happen in a given situation – we can just say the probabilities for different outcomes. For example, there is no way of predicting when a radioactive atom will decay. Some people think this randomness is impossible, and one solution is that whenever there is a quantum decision the universe splits into two universes! So there would be one universe in which the atom does decay , and one universe in which it doesn’t.

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      We don’t know. Some scientists believe that other Universes can exist, with their own space-time. Also, some scientists believe that there are an almost infinite number of parallel universes, some very similar to ours, but some being very different.

      The problem is that is parallel universes exist, no-one has come up with a way to detect them. So we’re not sure!

    • Photo: Deepak Kar

      Deepak Kar answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      We dont know! But it will be hard to know if it is parallel and there is no overlap!

    • Photo: Lilian Hunt

      Lilian Hunt answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      I have no idea and wouldn’t have a clue how to find that out anyway!

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Good question! That’s the sort of question that some of the smartest people in the world are thinking about, so it’s good that you’re thinking about it too. I admit that I don’t know, and I certainly don’t know how to test the idea. What do you think?

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