energy

[wolram]

if there are 1000 GRBs per day, where is all that energy
going, is our universe getting more energetic or is it
so big that it can adsorb this energy with no aparant change?

[zoobyshoe]

An enormous question. Is the expansion of the universe the result of an increasing amount of mass/energy being converted into energy form? E=m, so are the overall scales tipping in favor of the E form?
-----

I found this quote about the cause of the Gamma Radiation Bursts to be mind boggling:

"What we know is that something has to accelerate a huge mass - close to the mass of the sun - to close to the speed of light in a very short period of time. We just don't know why that's happening."

-Ed Fenimore
Los Alamos Astrophysicist

[selfAdjoint]

Originally posted by wolram
if there are 1000 GRBs per day, where is all that energy
going, is our universe getting more energetic or is it
so big that it can adsorb this energy with no aparant change?

Well we here on earth are a pretty average piece of the universe, and _we_ have no trouble absorbing the part of the GRB that comes our way.

[wolram]

i have searched on the net for an explanation as to what
is happening with no result, i have found quotes like,
one GRB is equal to the energy output of the milkyway.
so thats a "thousand times the total milkyway output",
"everyday", that is a bit hard to understand.

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by wolram
i have searched on the net for an explanation as to what
is happening with no result, i have found quotes like,
one GRB is equal to the energy output of the milkyway.
so thats a "thousand times the total milkyway output",
"everyday", that is a bit hard to understand. What's hard to understand? If 1 is the same as the output of the Milky Way, then 1000 is 1000 times the Milky Way.

[Phobos]

Originally posted by wolram
if there are 1000 GRBs per day, where is all that energy
going, is our universe getting more energetic or is it
so big that it can adsorb this energy with no aparant change?

This is not new energy being added to the universe. It's a build up and release of existing energy. Zero sum game.

[wolram]

so this one thousand times the energy of the milky way
released in a day has no effect, its just reabsorbed
into the universe?

[Phobos]

Oh, the burst certainly causes havoc with anything nearby. But the energy is eventually dissipated with distance from the event.