• Question: what is a wormhole?

    Asked by jesusjones to Andrew, Ben, Beth, Heather, Louisa on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      A wormhole is something that could exist in the centre of black holes. We do not know exactly what happens at the centre of a black hole but it is thought that the extreme gravity can puncture space-time, the stage on which the Universe is set. If this is the case then 2 punctured areas of space-time could form a link and this is a wormhole.

      As an example get a blank piece of paper, this is our model of two dimensional space-time. Draw 2 dots on the paper somewhere towards opposite ends of the paper.

      What is the shortest distance between them?

      If you said a straight line and then measured this then you are correct, given just plain old space time.

      But if we could puncture space time and link those punctures then the answer would be zero, it would be as if we could fold the paper until the two points meet and simply punch our way through from one point to another!

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Blimey! Big questions! I assume you mean a wormhole in space? My understanding of it is that it is a link between two points in space, giving a shorter path than would normally be possible. Now, this is where my understanding gets a bit flaky, but I’ll try my best.

      Space has many different dimensions (apparently!) – up to 10 dimensions i believe. We’re familiar with 3 – Up-down, Left-right, and forward-back (think x, y and z axes on a plot in maths). Space is actually folded around on itself and distorted, so the easiest way to picture it is to take a trip to Flatland!

      Flatland is entirely two-dimensional – imagine it as a sheet of paper The people of Flatland can only move around on the surface of the paper. This sheet of paper however is folded over on itself, though the Flatlanders can’t see it because they can’t see the third dimension. A wormhole would be a passage from one side of the folded paper, straight through to the other side, passing through this third dimension, but offers a much shorter path from one end to the other, rather than going all the way around the paper, over the fold and to the other side.

      For us, a wormhole is a bit like that – it would be a passage through the 4th or 5th dimension to another point in space that offers us a shorter pathway and could allow us to cross huge distances in regular 3-d space by passing through another dimension.
      Hope that makes some sort of sense – but as I say, that is my understanding

      Do they exist? I don’t know – you’d have to ask someone else!

    • Photo: Beth Dyson

      Beth Dyson answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I’m really interested in this, I’d only ever heard about them on the tv. Has anyone ever shown that they do/don’t exist?

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