Illuminatus

I wasn't sure where to ask this, but I thought that the quick questions thread looked like a suitable place. I recieved marks for a chemistry test recently and only got half marks for all of the questions that I answered with a chemical formula. My teacher has explained that this is because all of the numbers in my formulas are above the letters. (Attached image: "h20 - top.bmp") My teacher says the numbers should go bellow the letters. (Attached image:"h20 - bottom.bmp") But I am not sure that there actually is a correct way to do this and I lost a slab of marks because of this. If I can prove to my teacher that both ways of doing this are correct then I might be able to reclaim lost marks. So, does anyone know if there actually is a rule suggesting that numbers go bellow letters in chemical formulas? I would be very grateful if someone helps me out here. Thanks all.

Interesting. So how does one replace the OH group with a Cl in sucrose?

I have been studying various high-intensity artificial sweeteners and have found that a sweetener called Saccharin is the only high-intensity artificial sweetener that does not cause any proven harm to human consumers. What I don't know and have been trying to figure out is how Saccharin is manufactured. All I know is that it involves the oxidation of O-Toluenesulfonamide and I don't know what that is or where it comes from. So, if anyone could explain how saccharin is produced and whether it can be done with household chemicals, I would be very appreciative. Thanks.

Immortality is possible: I believe that physical immortality is possible through a variety of medical techniques, probably utilizing nanotechnology. But it would need constant maintenance, so the 'floating bored in space' scenario is impossible. However, I am more concerned with the affects that immortality would have on the world. Immortality’s affects on the world: As long as civil society has existed their have been rich people and poor people. Some having many million times the wealth and power of others. But with modern democracy, the rich have less power over the poor than they used to. But if immortality was put into the picture, only the extremely powerful could afford it.(Because obviously there aren't enough resources to sustain immortality in large populations) This would change the way the world worked. All of the immortal rich would lead the world and the poor mortals would become little more than slaves. Imagine a tyrannical dictator, such as Stalin or Saddam, who thought nothing of his people and oppressed all beneath him. Now imagine a tyrannical dictator who is immortal and cannot be overthrown because he has been setting up methods of defense for centuries. The general population would become slaves, who would be forced to obey whatever laws were set, even if no one thought them just. Is that the kind of life you wish for our descendants? Immortal tyrants inevitable: If immortality becomes possible, do you think that there is way that the above scenario will not occur? Perhaps we will have good immortal world-leaders in the beginning. But they will eventually be overthrown in time. Unless, of course, they oppress the population. But by doing that they would become tyrants anyway. Leaders would come and go until one eventually clings to his power so hard that he stays in place and oppresses the population. Just like a pipe flowing until a large enough piece of grime clogs it. As long as people have some power they can remove their leader, but not if the leader takes away all of their power, oppressing them. My reaction: If I had the technology and the wealth to gain immortality not only would I not use it, I would use all of that technology and wealth and try with every fiber in my body to destroy it. Mortality is the only way human civilization can retain its stability. Thank you for reading my thoughts on this. If you can think of any way physical immortality can co-exist with stable human society I would be interested in hearing your rebuttal. - Illuminatus

*Throws science book at Sayonara* Shut up, you! 5614, I did not say anywhere that time travel was impossible. I said it was impossible to manipulate it. Of course we are all travelling one second per second - My point is that it is impossible to change that. What fourth dimension? You push something and it moves. You push it harder and it moves faster. If I say "I'll meet you in thirty hours", what I mean is "I'll meet you when the earth has revolved 1.25 times. So if the universe moves 'faster', meaning more energy is applied to all momentum, then thirty hours will still be thirty hours because the earth is revolving faster. Definition of time as stated in Australian Oxford Dictionary: Time - the successive states of the universe regarded as a whole in which every state is either before or after every other. Time is therefore not a physical thing like the other dimensions. It is just a way of counting the revolution of the earth. I also count the amount of burgers that I eat, but if I based time on that you wouldn't call it the 'fourth dimesnion'. You might say that basing time on how fast I eat burgers is stupid because it is variable. Well, so is our current method of basing time: The revolution of the earth is not persistant, it goes slower each time. So while our hour slows down gradually the entire universe does not slow down with it. Infact, there is absolutley nothing that is always moving at the same speed in this universe that we can base time upon. Our perception of time can never be perfect. Please tell me which of my reasons for time travel being impossible you disagree with, 5614. Each time a debate reply is posted we become one step closer to a conclusion. Thanks for replying to my original post, 5614.

I have often had thoughts regarding the subject of time travel manipulation. But the more I think about it the more impossible it seems. Instantaneous time travel: What is time? Time is human fabrication. Merely a human concept that allows us to keep our memories in chronological definition and organise future events. Time does not truly exist. There is past - only neural impulses in our brains that recall past events. There is no future - only predictions of what may occur. There is only the present. So it is therefore impossible to mystically transfer matter into either the past or present. Time acceleration manipulation: There is perhaps another form of time travel however - slowing or speeding the passage of time. But how would such a feat be achieved? Well, the only thing stopping everything from happening instantaneously is a lack of momentum or kinetic energy. So to make time go faster or slower we would need to add or remove the energy in every cosmic machination to slow time. To do this we would need energy, to distribute energy equally to all cosmic machination we would need energy, to keep a complete balance in this energy distribution we would need energy. In the end we would need many billion times the energy in the universe to do all this. Not going to happen. Besides, if we did manage to find another source of energy we would need to create a machine capable of applying energy to all things in the universe. Creating a machine of that proportion is entirely impossible. In short: To speed or slow time we would need to put the entire universe in a time machine. Not just the magical-time-traveller-guy. I hope someone read all of that because it took me about twenty minutes. If anyone believes that there is a to manipulate time in any other way that I might not have considered please send your theory to Cameronmillsteed@hotmail.com. I am strongly interested in this subject(obviously ) and would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading.