#23 - Specific Reference, Strengthen

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[klaq15]

I think my issue with this question mostly had to do with just understanding the passage. I could eliminate the first and sixth paragraphs pretty easily (A & E), and then somehow gravitated toward the third paragraph (C, correct).

So, is what Carroll and Chen saying that: the universe went from cold > hot > cold. Since entropy creates chaos/disorder/"hot", then the planet must have started cold. Is my understanding correct? Is it that simple?

[Robert Carroll]

klaq,

The passage seems to indicate that a small, dense, hot universe is actually a case of low entropy - line 32. Understanding the science to that level of detail doesn't seem particularly important for this question, though. The small, dense, hot starting point is the most promising starting point for a universe in theory, but it seems that most areas aren't like that, for the entropic reasons mentioned. Carroll and Chen's claim in line 36 and following about the likelihood of initial conditions is a consequence of the previous paragraph's discussion of entropy.

Robert Carroll

[snowy]

Why is D wrong? I was certain of that answer. Isn’t explaining how that condition is even plausible given what occurred after an extremely strong support?

Meanwhile, the third paragraph seems more like background/context about entropy than support for that claim.

Thank you for you assistance in advance!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Snowy!

To figure out where the support for that statement lies, you need to ask yourself why you should believe it. What reasons has the author given to persuade you?

So why is an initial condition likely to resemble cold, empty space (lines 37-39)? And why is a low entropy universe (one that is small, hot and dense) very unlikely (lines 33-34)? Because, as paragraph 3 tells us, there are more ways for a system to be disordered (high entropy) than for it to be ordered (low entropy) (lines 20-21).

Paragraph 5 doesn't tell us why we are more likely to have a high entropy initial condition than a low entropy one. It simply tells us that it is possible to have a big bang-like occurrence in a high entropy condition. So paragraph 5 supports why, even in a high entropy initial condition, we could still have a big bang occurrence. But it does not tell us why we are likely to begin in a high entropy initial condition.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[Coleman]

Hi Kelsey,

I'm still not sure how I could possibly relate the information offered in paragraph four to paragraph five that the empty cold initial state is more plausible. Does C&C argue since our universe is a part of the multiverse, a "cold-initial state" is more likely than a "hot dense low entropy state?" because the disorder has been continuing within the multiverse long before the beginning of our universe?

[ArizonaRobin]

Hi Kelsey,

I'm still not sure how I could possibly relate the information offered in paragraph four to paragraph five that the empty cold initial state is more plausible. Does C&C argue since our universe is a part of the multiverse, a "cold-initial state" is more likely than a "hot dense low entropy state?" because the disorder has been continuing within the multiverse long before the beginning of our universe?

Yes, I think you nailed it perfectly here. The author had already described the multiverse within which our universe originated. So, having existed for a very long time, it would make sense for the multiverse to be in a high entropy state with little chance for low entropy conditions to produce a new universe.

I also initially selected D but I now see why the third paragraph (C) gives the "why" which supports the idea that the most likely condition is cold, empty space.

[salman]

I am still having a hard time understanding why D is incorrect and why C is correct. CAn you please dumb it down for me

[Adam Tyson]

You bet, salman!

Question: Why should the initial condition be cold and empty?

Answer: Because of entropy.

Entropy is discussed in the third paragraph.

Boom!

[quan-tang@hotmail.com]

I still believe D is the correct answer.

While C talks about entropy, according P3, the innitial state of universe must be low entropy since entropy tends to increase over time, so at the beginning of time it must bad been very low, so a hot, dense place, opposite to the claim.

Only in P5 it solved the paradox by given a possible explanation of how a low entropy area can emerge from a high entropy universe.