Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Quote of the day

[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA]

R: Mommy, how long is space?

Me: [Some flubbed answer in which I used the word infinite]

R: I wonder where it stops. I bet the astronauts know.

5 comments:

Cap'n Slappy said...

oh, you will soon be enjoying Stephen Hawking's universe(narrated by Stephen Hawking). I don't remember having all the complex questions in my head that my kids do, do you? So I guess it's not too detrimental if we answer them as best we can(call your Aunt Ericka, honey...)you know he's freaking brilliant, right? And at least 2 years older mentally than his physical age? And I'm not just deluded because he's my nephew.....

sandwhichisthere said...

WOW! What a question for a young mind to be pondering. How far can light travel in the billions and billions of years since the beginning? I didn't start wondering about that until I was in my twenties. Soon there will be even more thoughtful questions. How long is space, not in a linear manner but one of time? Then comes the overwhelming theory that space and time once were only the size of an atom. Infinitely dense, with all of the matter in the Universe contained in it. There was no time and, hardest of all to accept, there was no space! How long is space, how many miles? How long is space, how many years? Then, when you think that you have some concept of the question, some smartass graduate student in England discovers that Hubble made a mistake in his math and you have to start all over. You live in different times. All I had to worry about was "Daddy, why is the sky blue?". Then comes Einstein, whom I think even Stephen Hawking doesn't understand. His discoveries came to him in flashes. Sort of like a question popping into a head such as "How long is space?". It is good that you live so close to Cambridge, that way Rix will be able to commute to school instead of living in a dorm. Johanna is right, ask Ericka,
daddy

Suztash said...

Kristen, That's wonderful that R is questioning. Just remember to point him to the One who really knows. We can get impressed with the intelligence of our questions and our answers, but they have to be readjusted when new evidence emerges. Only God knows for He is Creator, the Beginning and the Ending. Love, Mom

heidi @ ggip said...

Hmm. I think it is growing all the time?

Greg C said...

It's as far as you want it to be. Don't you love children's questions. :)