The Friedman Equation calculator estimates the number of advanced galactic nomad civilizations comprised of both life as we know it and life as we do not know it in the observable universe.
Michael L. Friedman, M.D. (born 21 July, 1977) is an American physician and scientist. He is a cardiologist and interventional cardiologist for the Mount Sinai Health System Icahn School of Medicine in New York.
INSTRUCTIONS: Enter the following:
Number of Advanced Galactic Nomad Civilizations (N) : The calculator returns the number of civilizations comprised of both life as we know it and life as we do not know it in the observable universe.
The Drake equation was devised to estimate the number of communicating alien civilizations in our galaxy. Subsequent equations have been created to calculate the number of alien civilizations detectable from earth (Seager Equation), and to calculate how frequently life originates outside of earth (Scharf-Cronin Equation). The Friedman Equation instead focuses on approximating the amount of advanced alien life both as we know it and as we do not know it in the observable universe, and includes additional parameters (including end-stage products of stars, and widened habitable planetary zones) to that of it’s precursor equations. Both average sized stars and massive sized stars can have planets which may harbor life. After billions of years, average sized stars in their last stages of evolution become: red giant stars, planetary nebula, and white dwarfs. Similarly, massive sized stars in their end stages become: red super giant stars, supernova, neutron stars, and black holes. Stars in their last stages of evolution have had a longer amount of time for intelligent life to develop in their respective solar systems’ potential habitable planetary zones. Additionally, a later stage star’s gradual outward expansion allows for larger regions of potential habitable planetary zones to develop. Similarly, life as we do not know it may evolve on planets considered to be in uninhabitable zones. This in turn may widen the total habitable zone of any planetary system. Therefore, products of end stage star evolution are more likely to represent regions of prior emergence of intelligent civilizations indigenous to those respective solar systems, who at some point may have evolved to type 3, and abandoned its native planet. These galactic nomad civilizations may have fled their native planet secondary to exhausted natural resources, or pending catastrophic doom of some sort. After fleeing its native solar system, nomad civilizations may roam galaxies and take residence in a manner which may be undetectable and unrecognizable to us.
The Friedman Equation formula is:
N = ( FRG x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) + ( FPN x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) +
( FWD x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) + ( FRSG x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) +
( FSN x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) + ( FNS x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO ) +
( FBH x FPS x FHZ x FWHZ x FI x FIO )
where:
(N) = number of advanced galactic nomad civilizations comprised of both life as we know it and life as we do not know it in the observable universe.
(FRG) = fraction of red giants stars
(FPS) = fraction of end stage star planetary systems which may have previously existed
(FHZ) = fraction of the end stage star planetary system’s habitable zone planets suitable for life as we know it
(FWHZ) = fraction of the end stage star planetary system’s widened habitable zone planets suitable for life as we do not know it
(FI) = fraction of end stage star planetary systems in which intelligent civilizations emerged
(FIO) = fraction of intelligent civilizations outlasting great filters and outliving its star
(FPN) = fraction of planetary nebulae
(FWD) = fraction of white dwarfs
(FRSG) = fraction of red super giant stars
(FSN) = fraction of supernova
(FNS) = fraction of neutron stars
(FBH) = fraction of black holes identified
Because of the enormity of space and the size of the objects studied, the field of astronomy employs units not commonly used in everyday life. Nonetheless, these units do translate into common units at a grand scale, and vCalc provides automatic conversions between units for calculator inputs and answers via the pull-down menus. The following is a brief description on the distance, mass and time units employed in the field of astronomy
Astronomical Unit (au): Within our solar system, a common measure of distance is au, which stands for astronomical units. A single astronomical unit is the mean distance from the Sun's center to the center of the Earth.
Astronomical Unit (au) | Distance from Sun (au) |
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Light Travel in Time: Light is a primary observable when studying celestial bodies. For this reason, the distance to these objects are measured in the amount of time it would take light to travel from there to the Earth. We can say that an object is one light-year away, and that means that the object is at a distance where it took an entire year for light from the object to travel to Earth. Since the speed of light is 299,792,458.0 meters per second, one can compute the distance equal to a light year as follows:
1 light year = 299,792,458.0 (meters / second) x 31,536,000 (seconds / year) = 9,460,528,405,000,000 meters
The same exercise can be used for light traveling shorter periods of times, light seconds, light minutes, light hours and light days. Since even these units are not enough when computing distances across the universe, there is also a light relative distance of kilo-light years (1000 light years), or the distance light travels in a thousand years!
Light Second | Light Minute | Light Hour | Light Day | Light Year | Kilo-Light Year |
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299,786 km 186,278 miles 0.002 au |
17,987,163 km 11,176,705 miles 0.12023 au |
1,079,229,797 km 670,602,305 miles 7.214 au |
25,901,515,140 km 16,094,455,343 miles 173.14 au |
9,460,528,405,000 km 5,878,499,814,210 miles 63,240 au 0.306 parsecs |
9,460,528,405,000,000 km 5,878,499,814,210,000 miles 63,240,000 au 306 parsecs |
Angle Shift Seen from Earth: Because the Earth goes around the Sun, our observation of distant objects such as stars results in an angular shift when observed at opposite sides of the elliptical orbit. This shift is used as the basis of a unit knows as a parsec. A parsec was traditionally defined as the distance where one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arcsecond. A parsec was redefined in 2015 to 648000/π astronomical units. Proxima Centauri, is the nearest star to the Sun and is approximately 1.3 parsecs (4.2 light-years) from the Sun. A mega-parsec is a million parsecs.
Parsec | Mega-parsec |
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Astronomical units also apply to the mass of enormous objects such as moons, planets and stars. For this reason, astronomy also employs mass units that compare other objects to ones familiar to us. For example, stars are often measured in mass units of solar masses. This is a comparison of their mass to the mass of our sun (one solar_mass). For planets, astronomers use Earth masses and Jupiter masses for understanding the relative size of rocky planets and gas giants.
Earth Masses | Jupiter Masses | Solar Masses |
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Astronomers use the same time units as everyone else, from the very small nanoseconds, to seconds, minutes, hours, days and years. This is true with two exceptions known as sidereal days and sidereal years. These refer to time relative to the celestial objects (the fixed stars). The Earth rotates every 24 hours relative to the Sun. But we are moving in a circle around the Sun. In comparison, the Earth rotates every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.0905 seconds (23.9344696 hours) compared to the stars in the celestial sphere. This is known as a sidereal day.
In the same vein, a sidereal year is the time it takes the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun relative to the celestial sphere. Where a year is 365 days, a sidereal year is 365.256363004 days, or 1,224.5 seconds more than a calendar year.
Sidereal Day | Sidereal Year |
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