tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post1865073086298825102..comments2024-03-22T05:17:53.112-04:00Comments on Big Bad Bald Bastard: Secret Science Club Lecture Recap: Astrophysics Endterm ExamBig Bad Bald Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-6068518016912632752016-12-23T22:19:32.155-05:002016-12-23T22:19:32.155-05:00Great stuff. All of my favorite in one place, and ...<i>Great stuff. All of my favorite in one place, and it's a bar</i><br /><br />Oh, yeah, there's a lot of beer involved. I imagine there's something similar in the Bay Area.<br /><br /><i>How certain? I want a percentage.</i><br /><br />Of course, he said nothing about the odds of <i>Homo sapiens</i> being obliterated, but the planet itself is pretty durable until the sun expands and things get all melty.Big Bad Bald Bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-70504914003587867262016-12-23T19:00:23.527-05:002016-12-23T19:00:23.527-05:00no matter whether one adheres to string theory or ...<i>no matter whether one adheres to string theory or a holographic model of the universe, our understanding of gravity is not disproven</i><br />Haha! These words means something, apparently.<br /><br /><i>Dr Liu noted that we had to worry about the short-term problems caused by climate change, but warned against grandiose geoengineering projects which could have long-ranging consequences. He noted that our main focus should be on carbon sequestration and helping poor people to survive natural disasters due to climate change. He said that we should solve the problem using the things we know rather than going off into unknown territory with geoengineering.</i><br />These words make sense, and I agree with them.<br /><br /><i>is there something on the other side of a black hole, such as a white geyser or a budding new universe? </i><br />Or some other, different kind of universe in which known facts are considered objectively meaningful?<br /><br /><i>Dr Liu noted that the average distance between asteroids is one million miles- sorry, Han Solo, no hotshot piloting is needed</i><br />But what if your spaceship is one million and five miles wide? What then, Dr. Liu?<br /><br /><i>He then told us that, no matter how bad a day he's had, he's certain that the Earth won't be destroyed in the next five billion years.</i><br />How certain? I want a percentage.<br /><br /><i>Looking out is looking back in time- it takes eight minutes for the light of the sun to reach the Earth, so we see the sun as it was eight minutes ago.</i><br />This never ceases to instill in me a sense of wonder.<br /><br />Seriously, though: This sounds amazing. I love all your Secret Science recaps and always read them.<br />First time comment!<br />Emmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11771959740072605857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-19451776181147946252016-12-23T12:07:49.747-05:002016-12-23T12:07:49.747-05:00Great stuff. All of my favorite in one place, and ...Great stuff. All of my favorite in one place, and it's a bar.<br /><br />Need to address the 'Cosmic Horizon' bit. It's not age x C - values aren't compatible - it's 13.8 billion years times the amount of cosmic expansion that has taken place over those years - about 46 billion light years radius.<br /><br />I'm also fascinated by the question of gravity as a fundamental force, mediated by a guage or scalar boson. It would almost have to be an example of a broken symmetry (like electroweak) because it's so much weaker than the other fundamental forces. <br /><br />The problem is that we've known where all the particles in the standard model go for years before we observed them all - the top quark and the higgs boson, for example - and we don't really know where to put the graviton. mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701313718589322noreply@blogger.com