Recent content by billslugg

Yes, ISS is in a vacuum, which is very good for preservation, however it is also subject to cosmic radiation that we don't have on Earth's surface due to our atmosphere overhead. The cosmic radiation degrades everything, metals, insulation, semiconductors, plastics. Failures will occur without...

No EM wave exists without a moving charge somewhere. EM cannot exist in a static framework. If light was stationary and we were moving, our bodies would be torn apart by the very fast movement.

The atmosphere of Titan is very thick, about 900 km. If the atmosphere were to be set into motion by an external force such that it began rotating on an axis tilted to the moon's rotational axis, then it might take a very long time for the moon's rotation to couple sufficient angular momentum to...

If such a huge impact were to occur, we would undoubtedly have a large array of seismometers on the Moon's surface. This would allow a "one time" detailed view of much of the interior.

I've been off by 10^117 before, but never 10^120. Why that is a THOUSAND times worse!!!

The B-52 was not designed to last 100 years. Since we have no alternative, we take them completely apart here on Earth in a hangar and re-certify each part for another 30 years.

We did not have today's superalloys, supercomputers, 3D printing, GPS, etc etc. We could barely get something into orbit. I remember when that happened the first time, in 1958. We barely made it to the Moon in 1969. Plus, we didn't need to reuse anything. We had infinite money, 4% of US GDP...

There is a vacuum energy according to Heisenberg but I don't see how it could be infinite. Can't have infinite energy or that would have infinite mass which would put us in an infinitely strong gravitational field and we could not move.

The author states the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as "you can never know both the energy of a particle and the duration of its existence with a perfect degree of precision." The principle says we cannot measure both the momentum and location of a particle to perfect precision. I don't know...

Correct, but if Hubble fails, a bunch of people don't die.

Normally, when I look at vigorous convection it looks like cauliflower tops. These granules are different, more flattened on top. This is most likely due to the stiffness of the plasma in the intense magnetic field. Charges simply cannot move side ways, must follow the lines of force. Very stiff...

ISS was not designed to be permanent. It had a 30 year lifetime and is past its due date. The wiring is degrading, the hulls are cracking. No one wants the responsibility of causing a mega disaster because they tried to save some money.

All magnetic fields are generated by moving charges. Find the charges that were moving and the mystery is solved. My guess is relativistic jets with different mobilites of protons vs electrons resulting in huge charge imbalances creating large magnetic fields. At few points in the universe are...

On heavily traveled, 4 lane highways, little pedestrian traffic, there are about 500 tire hazards per mile, each way. One every ten feet. I count nails at least an inch long, glass shards, skinny bolts. Almost all of them are outside the travel lane, in the emergency lane. One percent of them...

Iron rain falls not only on Wasp-121b-2410, but on this planet too. I have found frozen iron raindrops in Georgia, USA. Since I retired from industry in 1998 I have walked the highways, getting my exercise, picking nails, helping to reduce flat tires. On three occasions I have found where...