Other Sciences

Article in Science magazine has result of a clever way of measuring. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1129007v1 a satellite passing over Greenland is used to measure the gravity, and rate of mass loss. It is found that Greenland ice is melting at the rate of about 230 cubic kilometers per year. this turns out to be in remarkably close agreement with a measurement made by a different method. so if you ever wondered:-)

I would imagine that if you were going fast enough (and omitted things like friction from air and such as they would make you incinerate) you could accelerate yourself fast enough so that you could orbit the planet only inches above the earth's surface. How fast do you haft to go to get centripetal force lift from a sphere/disk? And if you hit escape velocity you would be weightless?

I have recently come across blue clay. It is a bluish gray. Does anyone know why and if it is any good to use as a binder for green sand casting binder.

This is probably a stupid question but where can you buy a light clock and is the light visible can you see it go up and down? Is a light clock something that you can buy or is it something that is used to explain time travel? http://www.btinternet.com/~j.doyle/SR/sr7/sr7.htm

I don't get what I'm suppose to do in the beginning of this: http://max8888.orcon.net.nz/pcbs.htm Some thing with soap water and a hot iron?

I've got a few assumptions such as noise or signal loss, but I don't know the real answer. Anyone know?

When do you believe the production of oil will peak and then start to decline? Since oil is a limited resource, I think it will definitely happen someday. I recommend that you visit http://www.dyingcivilization.org for some basic information about this problem. I think the most interesting part is how ethanol and the other alternative energy sources are not currently able to replace fossil fuels, which is the opposite of what many people think. After you understand the issue, you can visit http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net for a more detailed explanation of the problem. The web site has a lot of text to read, but I think it is all very interesting. I found a…

A study in the amazon rainforest, which started back in 2002, has been observing the effects of a simulated drought by restricting rainfall on a given area. After one year the effects were minimal, after two years the roots of the trees grew to absorb water found deeper in the ground, however after a successive third year of drought the forest could no longer cope. Many plants died and obviously released carbon leading to the production of CO2 in the atmosphere. Next year will be the second successive year of drought for the amazon, and if the trend of hot weather continues the effects could be devastating, it's quite apparent the amount of carbon held in such a vast…

For the sake of this debate, "Memetics is an approach to evolutionary models of information transfer based on the concept of the meme." and "The term "meme" (IPA: [miːm]), refers to any unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea or concept, which one mind transmits (verbally or by repeated action) to another mind"1 I am currently in niether camp, I do however see sociology and psychology as perfectly valid fields of study so it seems posible that memetics is a valid branch of those.I don't know enough about either to have an opinoin yet. 1. Quotes from respective Wikipedia articles.

Hi guys, Something's always bothered me, ever since I finished Physics major in highschool. According to my teacher - and the rest of the scientific community - Kilograms (and pounds) are units of MASS. To describe the units of weight in physics, we use Neuton. Therefore, a weight of something can be 10 neutons, while its mass can be 3 kilograms. Why is it then that the misconception of "Kilos means Weight" is so widespread in the world? SO widespread in fact, that no one even knows it is a mistake to call Kilograms and Pounds units "Weight"? Why is it when my mom goes to the grocery shop and buys a Kilo of tomatos, the salesman WEIGHS them. It makes no …

IS it possible for us to breed butterflies at home ??? How will it been done ??

For lack of a better suited forum (and not wishing to couch this discussion in religious terms only) I posted this here instead. I have just read this very interesting discussion about dating systems. http://studentsfriend.com/feed/topic11.html For myself, if we are to abandon the traditional designations of Before Christ and Anno Domini, then I would favour the use of the same letters (BC and AD) to mean Before Commong Dating and After Common Dating, perhaps going so far as to use BCD and ACD. Failing that, the use of + and - dates seems overall to be a simple and elegant solution, but perhaps only as a form of shorthand. What's your take?

Hello, im shortsighted. an when i wear my friends glasses it allows me to see the damn univeristy lecture screens. i have never worn glasses before until i wore his. an it makes it so clear. an i was just wondeirng if there are any health hazards involved with this? cause they were not prescribed to me. thanks.

This is thermite- http://www.yikers.com/video_thermite_destroys_all.html But is this termite?- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2991254740145858863&q=cameraplanet+9%2F11"]Video Is that thermite? Now notice the fire above it. It isn't bright hot like that. And if that was an electrical fire wouldn't the sparks fizzle out immediately?

How large does an impact need to be to impact tectonic movement? Would the impact need to breech the earth's crust? This is interesting.... http://www.osu.edu/features/2006/bigbangcrater

I was watching BBC news this morning and a proposal back in 1990 for carbon rations has been brought back into the limelight again for the UK. If the plan goes ahead, residents of the UK will be issued a 'carbon card' where they have a limit on the amount of energy they use. If the amount of energy used is below the agreed limit, then credit can be obtained and exchanged for money...similarly if the amount exceeds the limit then obviously a charge is applied...presumably per unit of excess energy used. The problem with this plan is that for anybody who has no choice in their energy consumption e.g somebody who lives in the countryside and has to drive 30 miles to wor…

this is not news, I've seen the idea discussed for 10 years or so. It comes up from time to time. Now there is one more bit of evidence, from a sample of oceanic mud, that it is right. The report is in technical language in SCIENCE of 30 June 2006, and also in a popular account by staff writer, interpreting the jargon. here is a summary of the popular account http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/312/5782/1860a ===quote=== PALEOCLIMATOLOGY: Atlantic Mud Shows How Melting Ice Triggered an Ancient Chill Richard A. Kerr Paleoceanographers report on page 1929 of this issue of Science that they have found a single ocean sediment core that preserves the sou…

Evening everybody. Just lately I was wondering about clumsiness, the reason for this was because lately I have been clumsy, or atleast feeling hopeless with my hand eye / foot eye co-ordination. I kick a football (soccer ball) and It will go completely the other way, I'm an avid game player and at times I have pin point accuracy whereas when feeling clumsy I feel awkward unable to aim at all! I've heard that clumsiness can be the outcome of growing, the reason I say this is that when you grow, your brain has yet to recognise how much your body has increased in size thus making the errors of timing and judgment with sports, although I'm not sure if this affects playin…

I was wondering which methods people use to increase their reaction speed. Currently I'm getting around .0150 - 0.190 of a second and I can't really seem to under that. I'm an avid game player so I'm really do think reaction speed is an important factor. Please give me some feedback oh and heres the reaction tester I go on from time to time. Your insight is appreciated guys and gals.

A friend of mine brought up the objection to global warming that we simply have more accurate thermometers now. That got me thinking, how can we eliminate that possibility? How do we know the genereal temperature trends prior to the invention of thermometers?

Classical Physics is here to stay (even when it's wrong, it has its educational days. T'was ever such). Whenever word goes out that a formerly forsaken Classical concept has made a 'comeback', please recall that in the vast majority of cases, it - the Classical, archaic or passe - was not absent from wherever it had been temporarily abandoned or forgotten (in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd places?). "I'd put everything in the middle if I knew where it all begins and ends". - R.W. Emerson

I know they release nitrates, but do cars also release carbon dioxide? Or is it carbon monoxide? I really don't know much about vehicle emmisions, but I was watching a documentary about it, and now I'm curious!!!

I found this very interesting, apparently South America's indigenous Aymara people percieve the past as the future. I'm not sure how they'd react if entropy was explained to them, but as the rest of the world consider time as a property of space that shifts forward (so to speak) their perception is in reverse (obviously not physical events). Here's a quote and link to the physorg article... Until now, all the studied cultures and languages of the world – from European and Polynesian to Chinese, Japanese, Bantu and so on – have not only characterized time with properties of space, but also have all mapped the future as if it were in front of ego and the past in back. T…

I just took a case of beer out the car, the beer`s warmer than I`de like, but I know that the release of pressure makes things colder, but what would be the Most efficient way to do this? A slow release of the pressure or a fast one and just cracking the can open? and yes I realise that for a beer can the effect is insignificant, but the question still remains...

I raise this question after purchasing Morris Kline's book Mathematics and the Physical World, and having read just over 50 pages of it so far. On page 41 the author makes an assertion about the capacity for computers for thought, which he justifies, and I quote: "Since computing machines simulate the actions of nerves and memory, they may give us some clues to the functioning of human brain and of nerve actions. Though these machines are in speed, accuracy and endurance superior to the human brain, one should not infer, as many popular writers are now trying to suggest, that computers will ultimately replace brains. Machines do not think. They perform calculations. …