CaptainPanic

Scifi is short for "Science fiction". It is important that although "Science" gives it a rather official sound, "fiction" is the real clue as to what you're dealing with. This is certainly meant to be on topic.

A classic: I've found them to be untrustworthy, mostly because they make up everything. (any rep should go to the original authors)

I think that a pressurized tube is a good idea, actually. But only if you mean something like a very large cannon. Acceleration of the projectile (satellite, cargo) can be done with conventional explosives, but electricity (mag lev or railgun technology) is probably more practical at the really high velocity. Also, you definitely want to make the tube a vacuum in front of your projectile, and (slightly) pressurized behind it. I wouldn't be surprised if there is not already some research being done on this. I know the US navy want to build a rail gun for their boats. That would never launch anything into space, but with some scaling up, might just work. As for transmitting electricity (or any energy) from near the sun back to earth, I agree that light is probably a practical solution. In fact, you might just want to use a lens and aim it carefully (or, alternatively, don't aim it so well, and occasionally say a loud "Muhahahaha" when you toast a large city). All I am saying is that you don't need to convert light into anything else. Just focus the light itself.

I cannot say that here. Confidential information for platinum members only.

Mike Is this trolling.? or Are you just confused what the topic is about? We are all going to die. Eventually. But that is really another topic, methinks. Now, let's talk about meteors, asteroids and explosions again.

Hai. Welcome back. Don't listen to hypervalent_iodine's nonsense. She's had too many cheese nips already.

! Moderator Note I have put this thread in the Speculations forum, since it is clearly a "speculation" about a new theory. Also, we have a couple of rules. We do not want you to just link to a blog, or just advertise a blog. Since your post, as it stands now, is essentially just a big advertisement for the link to your blog (which actually linked t the front page, instead of the actual article, I have removed it in accordance with our forum rules, specifically section 2.7. This will only temporarily halt the discussion, until you explain what you want to discuss here. We do not want the discussion to move to the comments section of your blog. On our speculations forum, we have some additional rules too. Please read those.

What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. Where are my snacks?

True. And the reason is simple. There is not enough energy per kilogram of material to make it hot enough to make it glow. A pressure cooker, at 250 C contains an approximated T*Cp = 250*4180 = 1 MJ/kg of thermal energy. If we include some energy from the steam pressure, we can increase that. And for the sake of the argument, let's just say that a pressure cooker can contain twice as much energy (it's actually can't, but my point will still stand). So, 2 MJ/kg is your energy per mass in a pressure cooker, and that won't flash as bright as the sun. True. According to the telegraph, who cite NASA, the rock was going 44000 miles/hr, or 70811 km/hr, or 19.7 km/s. The kinetic energy contained in a kilogram of rock is then 0.5*m*v^2 = 0.5*1*19700^2 = 194 MJ/kg, about 100 times more than your pressure cooker.

How do we know we don't supply something you did not already find in Google? The most logical source of information to start with would be the wikipedia page on the Endocrine system.

The staff was seriously considering your application, and then you said this. On the bright side, they seem to need a new admin in the Vatican.

I am no expert, but I will still give my 2 cents on why such a rock may cause a sudden explosion. The following sequence of events seems likely to me: 1. Rock enters atmosphere. 2. Air gets compressed in front of rock. Heats up a lot. 3. Rock also heats up, but only on outside. 4. Large temperature difference cracks the rock (like a thermal shock). It breaks. 5. All the rock fragments now have a MUCH larger frontal surface area, compressing much more air, turning much more kinetic energy into heat in a much shorter time. It is so sudden, that this is observed as an explosion. Once again: I am not an expert on meteorites, but I know a thing or two about heat transfer... and that tells me that a few seconds is a very short time to boil any water inside a rock. Even if the temperature reaches thousands of degrees, you have to deal with heat transfer. I would be surprised if the temperature a few centimeters inside the rock would change at all so quickly. If this is a big rock, then I don't think that expanding steam would be the cause of the rock to break up.

To apply for a position of moderator, you should supply your summarized TNPRA, a FSJ, and an average CCN, your MCTZ, and (only if applicable) your favorite CAM. Then you should not forget to inform us regarding your plans on ITSAOB (as mentioned before), as well as the snack shortages. Word of advice, snacks are really important. Start with that.

Under the assumption that everything is possible, everything is possible. So, yes. It is possible. Under that assumption. Which, I have to admit, is ridiculous. But reading the rest of your post, I think you might also be asking "what is the 'easiest' way biologically change a human body to make it able to fly?". That would still keep it within the realm of realistic (but possibly far-future) biotechnology. I guess you need to make the shoulders a hell of a lot stronger. Your shoulders right now cannot support your weight the whole time. Heck, if you wear a backpack for an hour, it already becomes annoying. Also, you would require much stronger muscles to flap those wings. And your legs would need to become skinner, as that is just useless weight. And your bones need to lose weight (become hollow). Basically, you need to become more bird like. But at the moment, pretty much everything in a human body is made to walk on two legs, and to use arms for precision jobs. You'd want to completely reverse that. If you want wings on your back, and still have arms, then you need to completely redesign the human skeleton (including the bones we already have). It is like if you want to put a much stronger engine in a car, then you also need to rebuild the gear box, the drive shaft, and possibly the whole chassis. And there's your problem.

Maybe they already knew that the toluene pipeline under the house had broken, and they just wanted cathy out of the house to fix it, and also to cover up the fact that the pipeline was under a residential area?

SamBridge, You have a nice comment for our forum. However, it is my initial guess that we won't implement it for a number of reasons, of which I shall list a few: 1. Contrary to scientific units of measurement, your proposal is still subjective. It may be less subjective than our current system, but it is not the ultimate solution to the problem you describe. 2. The problem you describe is not considered a problem by most people. Or, rather, most people just don't care at all. 3. Although the changes may well have an overall positive effect to the forum, the effort required to build it is too much. It fails to pass my personal cost-benefit analysis. 4. The rep system would become a bureaucracy, with categories on helpfulness, scientific rigor, politeness, humor, trolling, etc. Since you are obviously one of the few people who have a problem with our rep system, the suggestion by ACG52 may be really useful. Just ignore it.

I assumed that it is common knowledge that air pressure decreases as you go up in our atmosphere. But the exact reason why is actually part of the question. Answering it straightaway is a little too easy. This is the homework section after all.

We already provide a date on all posts. I see no solutions, other than closing all aging threads (which, unless it is automated, is a nasty job for the admins and mods). Some people just Google around, and then join our forum to make a remark. Some even do that just to spam. There are not too many solutions, other than to close all aging threads. But that goes a bit too far, I think. Anyway, we can still brainstorm about all the things that can cause a toluene smell. It is just very unlikely that cathy will come back with the final verdict on the source.

! Moderator Note Just to clarify hypervalent_iodine's joke: the thread and initial question are almost 3 years old.

abvegto, you are misleading. The composition of the atmosphere at 4 km altitude is hardly any different from sea level. The composition of the atmosphere has nothing to do with the answer, actually. Back to the question... It seems to me you already got the answer to the first part of the question. So, we just focus on equal, more or less than 600 mbar. (You have to write mbar, not mb). Think about the air pushing down. At the bottom 2 km, there is air pushing down of a density of something between 800 and 1000 mbar. Between 2 and 4 km, the density of the air is lower. Above 4 km, it is lower still.

Before we continue, what does it mean to be "perfect". Isn't "perfect" very subjective? The question must assume that there is agreement on what is perfect. So, yeah, the disclaimer "philosophically speaking" is necessary here. But let's assume that we could all agree that something is indeed perfect. If the perfect being had the goal to create something imperfect, then the perfect being could still be perfect in the accomplishment of all its goals, namely creating something imperfect.

You realize this is actually on topic here, don't you?

! Moderator Note Thread Closed Members are advised (as already said by Crimson Sunbird) to go here. This thread is closed to keep the discussion in one place, as requested by Crimson Sunbird. Crimson Sunbird, there is no need to apologize. But it is better if you link to something interesting, and then open the discussion with a bold statement or a question, so that the discussion is steered into a particular direction.

Who knows. Until know, everybody who applied for the job has been banned before they got through the trial period.