CaptainPanic

I've seen that before where I live (Netherlands). If you cannot hear the thunder, this only means that the lightning is too far away to hear (and perhaps the wind direction also prevents you from hearing it). I'm guessing there also was no rain, or at least no heavy rain? Lack of rain really increases your visual range, and you can see lightning much further away. Sometimes it might be as far as 30-50 km away (note: this is a bit of a guess), and still be visible as a flash on the horizon.

I think you need to grasp the mechanism before you can apply a method. So, you need both. If you understand only the mechanism, then you are a scientist (sorry scientists, for painting this picture so black and white). If you apply only a method, you're an 'operator'. You're only an engineer if you can do both. Obviously, in the real world, it's all a bit more blurred.

Well, if you want to specifically form a study group of highschool students, then maybe you should have a chat with some teachers (specifically those teachers that teach the topics you're interested in). They may be able to help you with the contents, as well as with the 'marketing' (they may tell all the other students).

You're welcome. You're welcome.

Two comments: 1. You obviously copy-pasted the urls from somewhere else. This broke them. A lot of the links in your 1st post, possibly all, are broken. 2. Please write us a short abstract next time: in 2-3 sentences, what is this about, the main point, and the main conclusion. Your post is very long, and it does not look inviting to start reading it all. Sorry.

Well, if you will study mechanical engineering, there is a fair chance you will still sit behind a computer too, and you will for example write software (or rather, a model) that can predict whether some components in a car are strong enough or not. Or you will All I am saying is that computer science is certainly not the only field where you will sit behind a computer and be a geek. Most engineering fields tend to go that way nowadays.

I like apples, but my dad says oranges are better. We cannot seem to agree on it though. (Joking). You cannot say mechanical engineering or computer science is "better". Looking at the average income, there is not much difference. So, we have to discuss the contents. Maybe we should start with a question: What is it that you like so much about computer science?

Normally, I skip all posts that are in all CAPS. What is actually going to happen is that the middle magnet will turn around 180 degrees, and then (depending on how you hold this thing) slam into the bottom set of magnets, because it was not in perfect balance, and gravity pulled it off the center. But even in a weightless environment, it would not work. The problem with your thingy is that if the middle magnet is only a fraction away from the center, the forces of the magnets that are closest will pull just a little bit harder than those further away. Therefore, the magnet in the middle moves a bit more in the same direction, which strengthens this, and ultimately, it will attract the magnet in the middle. Also, in a perfect vacuum it is true that something that starts spinning should theoretically spin forever, but (1) we don't have a perfect vacuum. Even in space, vacuum is not perfect. There is always a little material: always a little friction. But more importantly, (2) what is the point? So what if something spins for a long time? I don't understand why you'd want to build that.

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If you heat too quickly, then the outside of your sample is at a certain temperature, but the inside is still colder. This means that a particular weight loss that you register from the inside will be registered at the wrong temperature. In practice, this will mean your transitions seem spread out over a larger temperature range, simply because the inside of your sample is lagging behind. But to be honest, most experiments I know of are designed such that this is hardly a problem. Samples tend to be very small, and heating rates slow.

I fear it is a chicken-or-the-egg problem. What came first: the big companies, or the culture of consumerism? I think they developed simultaneously. Culture is commercialized, that much is certain. Can an industry influence our culture? Certainly. Industries have commercialized the modern computers as well as the internet. Those have influenced culture a lot. That's just one example. A single marketing campaign may not have a very large influence, and a single company may not have a large influence. But together, companies have a huge influence on our lives. They are one of the main actors that determine our mobility, our communication, our diet and our entertainment (to name a few influential industries). However, please note that there is a second underlying question (the conspiracy-type question) which may ask whether companies can deliberately steer a culture in a certain direction? And again, marketing campaigns can influence what we think about something, so yes, to a certain extent people can be manipulated. But they always seem to have profit in mind. They don't seem to have a second agenda. The only ‘all encompassing’ factor that I could blame on industry and marketing is that they've turned our culture into a consumer-culture. But the desire to own many goods may have existed in our culture already for a long time before fossil fuels kicked off the industrial revolution. Can companies / industries influence culture? Yes. Can culture influence companies / industries? Yes. I am not sure that the question itself is a good one. Aren't the industries just a part of our culture, as much as the songs we like, the food we eat and the habits we have?

To be honest, I am not entirely sure. I would agree that in most cases, the terms two are the same. Perhaps if you have an ion and you also consider its ligands, this is considered a polyatomic ion, but it is not a single molecule, therefore not a molecular ion?? Perhaps some of our chemistry experts can shine a light on this. My chemical engineering background is not enough to answer your question. Until you get a better answer than mine, I would consider the two terms the same.

Changes are a part of life. And changes can be very desirable. However, don't be afraid to look back every once in a while, so see if the change has brought to you what it promised at the start. On a side note, I am not sure that you can "become" a philosophical thinker in a short span of time. This may be something that you learn over the years. If you are aiming for change, make sure that it is a good compromise between ambitious and realistic.

No. I can think, dream, reason and argue in two languages: English and Dutch. And I only started learning English at the age of about 10 -12.

Maybe bacteria actually flourish because of our assistance? Our guts are absolutely full of them. In a human body, bacteria outnumber your own cells 10 to 1. If the bacteria kill you, then they also lose their feeding grounds. If they keep you alive, they are fed too. (Please note: I am absolutely no expert, and this answer is speculation... it makes sense to me though.).

! Moderator Note robomont, Your post has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, which is the Big Bang. Please do not post your personal theories or opinions, as this is considered 'thread hijacking', and it is against our rules (specifically section 2.5). Everybody, responding to robomont's post is also thread hijacking. If you feel it is totally necessary to respond, then quote his post, copy it, and paste it into a new thread. Please do not respond to this mod note. If you feel the need to discuss its contents, please use the "report" button at the bottom of this post.

I totally agree with this presentation (and with ajb's reply). Many scientists do not know who is their audience (or the level of their audience), and they also have no thought about the message that they want to get across. Generally, they estimate that the audience knows as much about the topic as themselves (hint: wrong) and they want to communicate far too much information. I have to say though that in high school, my textbooks were of acceptable difficulty. I could read them, and understand it. At university however, the desire for compete scientific accuracy lead to texts as in the movie: a huge mix of difficult words that you have to read three times to understand. Not very inviting. I usually suffer from instantaneous sleepiness when I have to read such texts. I really start yawning, and I lose focus really fast.

Call or email the manufacturer, or whoever sold it to you. I really don't think anyone here is likely to have an answer.

I cannot argue against your belief. You believe this, and that is a fact. I can only say that I do not share your belief... and that's where any discussion about belief will end. Please notice that I did not shout "impossible". I merely asked a few questions. Just to clarify, do you argue that evidence-based science is entirely on the wrong path, or do you just think that people should sometimes look outside the box?

I think what ACG52 & swansont mean to say is that if you post your school papers here, which are essentially a collection of interesting facts on a topic, then we have little to discuss. However, if you add a nice strong opinion at the end, then we can discuss that (and perhaps even disagree with you, and explain why). Or, if you ask a follow-up question, then some people can give you answers. Or, if you like to just post something, and not discuss it much, then maybe a blog is better than the forum. With only your paper, we just don't know what to write. All we can say is: "Yes, that's all true, probably". Or: "Good paper". Of course, someone else can start the discussion now, but we rather see that the person who starts a thread gives the discussion a certain direction. So, in summary... there is nothing wrong with you posting here. We just don't know what to do with it.

! Moderator Note I'm temporarily closing this topic, because there are a few dirty words and the topic is not really clear. (Feel free to open a new thread in which you explain the discussion topic a bit better). I have reported the thread, so other mods will take a look at it.

i.e. puberty.

Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice... If you use the new words several times in a sentence, you will remember it easily.

It is not easy to make something turn into a flammable gas (luckily, or there would be a lot more houses on fire). If you want to burn something, you need a fuel - usually something that contains carbon.

This is a good point: you need someone who already speaks the language to practice with on a very regular (i.e. nearly every day) basis... It needs to become a habit to practice, and it needs to become a habit of someone else to correct you and help you. It's a pretty big thing to ask from anyone, so a girlfriend/boyfriend may be someone who is ready to invest such time. In certain cases, like when you move abroad, you will be forced to practice, because nobody speaks English... but even in certain countries (e.g. Netherlands) the locals will just switch to English so you really need to find a place/person to practice regularly. Preferably some place where it does not take any extra time, like at lunch, at your sports club, or during the daily commute in the train.