14 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
"Dark Matter" and "Dark Energy" are Terms That Hide Ignor...
We can measure the influence of this thing we call dark energy, which is forcing an acceleration of the expanding universe. We don't know what that is, we don't know anything about it, other than what it's doing to the universe.
Then 85 percent of the gravity of the universe has a point of origin about which we know nothing. We account for all the matter and energy that we're familiar with, measure up how much gravity it should have — it's about one-sixth of the gravity that's actually ope...
1 31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Flatland Science: Dimensions
What and where is Flatland? A Square gives
us several interesting answers, many of th
contradictory. We know that it’s flat, big (but
how big?), and very thin, the most important question
of all is “how thin?” A lot depends on the answer…
A Square himself eliminates the version that’s easiest
for three-dimensional readers to understand; a world
that’s thin – maybe only a few atoms thick - but
nevertheless has some physical height. It would have
some sort of solid or semi-solid ...Folksonomies: science fiction otherness
Folksonomies: science fiction otherness
1 
notes
notes16 OCT 2014 by ideonexus
Making Smart Matter Should be the Priority
Mars is just dumb mass at the bottom of a gravity well; there isn't even a biosphere there. They should be working on uploading and solving the nanoassembly conformational problem instead. Then we could turn all the available dumb matter into computronium and use it for processing our thoughts. Long-term, it's the only way to go. The solar system is a dead loss right now – dumb all over! Just measure the MIPS per milligram. If it isn't thinking, it isn't working. We need to start with the l... 1 notes
notes19 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
If a Scientist Wrote the Book of Genesis
In the beginning was the singularity, and the singularity was infinitely dense and infinitely hot, And the singularity expanded and the singularity cooled and there was chaos, And of the primeval atom was born the Universe. And the Universe was matter and antimatter, and baryogenesis was violated and matter annihilated antimatter until only matter remained, And matter resolved into hydrogen, and after hydrogen came helium and deuterium and all elements, And with elements came mass and with ma...Opening chapter of genesis written in science.
16 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
O'Neill Cylinders
The O’Neill cylinder is named after an American
physicist and space scientist who sought to engage
his students by getting them to think about big
problems—space settlement, in particular. He also led
symposiums where the concepts behind large, permanent
space habitats—including the cylinder that bears
his name—were hashed out.
The basic principle is fairly simple. Construct a
cylinder at least half a kilometer in diameter so that it
can be rotated at low speed and provide 1 g of art... 1 notes
notesConcept for a space station with gravity.
23 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Paradox of the Universe
I am afraid all we can do is to accept the paradox and try to accommodate ourselves to it, as we have done to so many paradoxes lately in modern physical theories. We shall have to get accustomed to the idea that the change of the quantity R, commonly called the 'radius of the universe', and the evolutionary changes of stars and stellar systems are two different processes, going on side by side without any apparent connection between them. After all the 'universe' is an hypothesis, like the a...It's radius VS the behavior of stars and stellar systems. Makes one think of the paradox of an expanding universe and one in which galaxies are drawn together through gravity.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Stability of the Earth
Thus the system of the world only oscillates around a mean state from which it never departs except by a very small quantity. By virtue of its constitution and the law of gravity, it enjoys a stability that can be destroyed only by foreign causes, and we are certain that their action is undetectable from the time of the most ancient observations until our own day. This stability in the system of the world, which assures its duration, is one of the most notable among all phenomena, in that it ... 1 notes
notesIts sphere is regular, its orbit stable, it is a perfect place for sheltering nature in the Universe.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Fear of Comets
When the movement of the comets is considered and we reflect on the laws of gravity, it will be readily perceived that their approach to Earth might there cause the most woeful events, bring back the deluge, or make it perish in a deluge of fire, shatter it into small dust, or at least turn it from its orbit, drive away its Moon, or, still worse, the Earth itself outside the orbit of Saturn, and inflict upon us a winter several centuries long, which neither men nor animals would be able to be... 1 notes
notesLambert considers the gravity of the comet and how it might throw the Earth out past Saturn.
27 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Unexplainable
Given the universe, even a universe devoide of matter as such but provided with the actual laws of nature, everything that exists could, and I firmly believe did, develop from and in this without outside, divine, supernatural interference. But that universe, with its laws! For one thing there is nothing inevitable about the laws. It is a fact that masses attract each other, that gravity exists, but a universe in which masses repelled each other is also conceivable, and in it nothing could pos...The Universe is ultimately unexplainable, and to call it "god" does nothing to counter this fact.
17 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Benjamin Franklin's Forsight
I always rejoice to hear of your being still employed in experimental researches into nature, and of the success you meet with. The rapid progress true science now makes, occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon: it is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter; we may perhaps learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish it...He sees the future of science and the possibilities, but laments that it will not change the morals of man.
