Nothing stays the same

Travelling back from Poland this last weekend, I was given time to think. Quite a lot of time, in fact. The plane was cancelled so I had to stand in line – most patiently, with no food and/or drink – for around 6 hours while the airline staff tried to figure out the options. I managed to get home in the end, which I guess represents some level of success. I also learned that you can make a transfer through Vienna airport in less than 30 minutes, even without a boarding card. Well impressed with that! Might have been a new world record.

Anyway.

After a couple of hours of standing in line, I started experiencing the effects of gravity. At first my feet felt a bit sore. A bit later the calf muscles were aching. Later still, I was acutely aware that I had feet… and that they did not agree with the shoes anymore.

The experience made me think of a talk I went to a couple of years ago on the topic of the constants of nature.  These would be things like the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the charge of the electron and so on. They pop up all over physics and relate to how strong various effects are. Now, the question is; what if these aren’t actually constant at all, but change as the Universe evolves? Who says that the speed of light has remained the same since the Big Bang? Why could the strength of gravity not vary as time passes?

Uh?

Actually, my experience in that airport would be fully consistent with gravity getting stronger the longer you stand in a queue.

But maybe this would be expecting things to change a bit fast…

I’m also not thinking about the fact that walking up stairs gets harder as you get older. That’s not a change in gravity, just the perception of it.

I am thinking about a gradual shift and how this would affect the world around us.

If the constants of nature change, then the Universe could end up rather different provided you wait long enough. This is fun to think about. For example, change the relation between the gravitational constant and the speed of light and you can suddenly make smaller or larger black holes with a given weight. Fiddle with Boltzmann’s constant (which enters in thermodynamics) and you can adjust how hot the black hole is, as well. Finally, jiggle Planck’s constant and you can make quantum physics relevant at a completely different scale. 

You can come up with the weirdest things this way.

And thinking about it may keep you entertained.

Which is a good thing.

Especially if you have to stand around waiting for 6 hours…