MigL

Everyone else is offering their congratulations, so I may as well. Good job, you've advanced to the scientific level of several hundred years ago. Now you need to do some studying and further experimentation to catch up on the real advances made since. In particular, don't limit yourself to thinking of light as comparable to particles you know, or to waves you are familiar with. All particles you know of, are composed of 'something' and have mass, while all waves you know of, need a medium. Light has neither of these properties. It is a quantum particle, which although definable mathematically, does not compare to any everyday object or effect you may be familiar with. Oh and the same goes for electrons.

I don't follow your reasoning, RobbityBob, why would the outer orbiting gases exceed orbital seed ? ( and if they did they wouldn't be part of any accretion disc ) And incidentally, the Sun converts over 4 million tons of mass into energy, due to the mass/energy difference between a Helium nucleus and four Hydrogen nucleii. And that's every second !!!

Solar radiation essentially imparts kinetic energy to dust and gas which is trapped by the gravitational well of the star. This kinetic energy causes lighter mass particles/molecules/ atoms to move farther up ( more distant ) the gravitational well. In the case where gravitational wells of rocky planets reside within the huge well of the star, this kinetic energy is sometimes, enough to exceed the escape velocity of the planet. That is why there is very little Hydrogen or Helium on Earth, and why Mercury is devoid of gaseous atmosphere. A massive distant planet planet like Jupiter or Saturn, on the other hand can retain all of its light elements in the atmosphere. The mean free speeds of the constituent molecules don't exceed escape velocity.

The electroweak phase transition would be the ( thermodynamic ) energy level where the SU(2)xU(1) symmetry of the standard model is broken. There should have been previous ( at much higher energy levels ) symmetry breaks to account for the separate colour ( strong or QCD ) force, and possibly even the gravitational force.

There were rumors that the 1960s era MiG-25 Foxbat radar, could kill or incapacitate small animals in front of its dish antenna, if activated on the ground. I have 'heard' this numerous times on military aircraft forums, but have never investigated it further. So why were the 'spooks' after you ? Or would you have to kill us after you told us ?

The small 'dimples' created by the dust and small particles don't matter. Its the BIG dimple created by the star that's preventing them from being blown away.

All planets have some degree of rotation ( I mean spin, not orbit ). I find it hard to believe that this rotation is a result of impacts. More likely, it is simply conservation of angular momentum; as planets coalesced and collapsed they speeded up their rotation. Which means their original constituent material was slowly spinning about an axis. In effect, an accretion disc

No apology needed or expected Phi. My wording was ambiguous as to its meaning, I suppose. The point I was originally trying to make was that when someone who shares your ideology is in power, the opposition keeps him 'from doing his job', but when the opposition is in power, then we are 'minimizing the damage'. Its all very 'point of view' dependant, is it not ?

The trailer for Superman v Batman ( dawn of justice ) was leaked yesterday. Always liked the DC Universe and its characters, much more so than Marvel, as I was growing up. After decades of Hollywood messing up these characters, we finally get some movies that capture them truthfully. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. What do you guys think ?

In post # 120, Phi, you posed the question 'is this democracy ?'. To which I replied 'yes it is', and if you don't think it is then you don't understand democracy. At no time did I suggest you said 'they shouldn't be allowed to vote'. Who's doing the stretching ?

I wonder if this new series of movies will revive the franchise or drive the nails in the coffin.

I think maybe, you're using a different definition of an EMP than the rest of us are , Frank. Could you please give us your definition, in terms of effects on electron mobility, so we are all on the same page ?

Not in Germany, it wasn't. Do you know how much they owed France In reparations ( in today's dollars ) ?

Unfortunately ( or fortunately ) all those people, with all their misguided beliefs and fears are entitled to a political opinion and a vote. That's what we call Democracy (to answer your question ). What is your alternative Phi ?

Sorry, can't sell you some. We make approx 10,000 lbs a day.

Sure, I never claimed otherwise. 'Weight' is the net force an object feels.

Darn, so I can't ask about setting up a meth lab ? I had really gotten into 'Breaking Bad'.

Its been repeated a few times on this forum, that the reason Obama has not acheived all he promised during his presidency is that Republican controlled Congress has put up hurdles at every step. Now you say that even if a Republican was to be elected President, the Democrats would probably retake Congress and 'limit the damage'. Isn't that also subverting Democracy ? Why is one a 'hurdle' and the other 'limiting damage' > Democracy doesn't mean getting the result you want Delta1212, just like free speech isn't just what you agree with, or are comfortable with. It is the will of the people, wether right or wrong in my mind, or yours.

I said nothing about how Hitler or Stalin were deposed or not. And I certainly wouldn't encourage thinking that what they did was anything but criminal. However the Weimar republic in Germany in the 20s had runaway inflation. I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the weelbarrows full of Marks needed to buy a loaf of bread. In ten years Hitler had rebuilt the economy ( through military spending among other things ) such that Germany could challenge the major powers of the world militarily again. Stalin had his 5 yr plans in the late 20s with the express purpose of modernizing the Russian economy. And they succeded. The fact that 8 million Ukranians died of starvation because their wheat was sold to finance the plans, is not part of the argument , and I certainly don't approve of it. The fact is that a despot, like all the ones you mentioned, can get things done because they don't give a damn who suffers, or about public opinion, or about being voted out of office.

Holy crap ! Do you guys have those books memorised or what ? ( bunch of geeks and nerds )

I call attention to your first line... ”In a gravitational filed, an atom emits light with a lower frequency and thus with larger wavelength.” No it doesn't. An observer in that frame will not see any time dilation what-so-ever. It is only when the observer is in a different frame, such as at a higher gravitational potential, that he/she will measure the emitted light to have a lower frequency/longer wavelength. Almost all confusion usually associated with relativity is caused by mixing frames. You're not the first to do so, and you won't be the last.

Given the fact that no-one will refuse a pay increase over their fellow worker, male or female, and if we don't want to create another layer of government oversight, isn't the solution simply an attitude adjustment of management and HR departments within companies or organizations which are the worst offenders ? This can be done at the individual level by a refusal to do business with the offending companies/organizations, or at the societal level, by identifying and 'shaming' those companies/organizations into reforming their pay structures. A simple 'watchdog' government department, with no disciplinary powers, could take care of this ( or would they open themselves up to lawsuits ). Both of these measures will affect their bottom line, and that is the only 'pressure' they understand and respect

The thing about despots, is that usually ( eventually ? ) they are overthrown by the armed forces. Then either a general becomes the new despot, or sometimes ( at least when viewed through the rosy glasses of history ) you end up with the Pashas who secularized and remade Turkey into a modern state. That is not to say that they wouldn't be viewed as despots today. Even Iraq advanced and ran more efficiently under S. Hussein. And the biggest advancements made by Germany, economically and technologically, were under Hitler. The same could be argued for Stalin and Mao.

I just wanna know one thing... Who are the Magretheans ?

I think Pavel now gets it. The planet is only squished because of its rotation. Unless it was a much smaller asteroid, it would tend to spherical. ( is the Moon or Mercury squished ? ) And while pressures are changing to some degree, they neither add or subtract from the thought experiment, i.e. inconsequential.