Stardust
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I've always wondered about black holes. In the area of one, gravity prevents anything -even light- from escaping it. How does something like this exist? Well, when gigantic stars collapse at the end of their 'life' black holes can form. Because the object is so dense, it sort of bends space and it's gravity attracts things close to it. The closer to a black hole, the more space-time is deformed. Theoretically, if someone could survive going to a black hole, while they get closer and time seems normal to them, anybody that could observe this happening would see the person slowing down considerably, possibly even looking as if they aren't moving (if you could see them at all.) Black holes are able to grow larger by taking in many stars and maybe even other black holes. When this happens, they are called supermassive black holes. There are 4 sizes of black holes. From smallest to largest: micro black hole, stellar black hole, intermediate-mass black hole, and supermassive black hole. White holes, on the other hand, are only hypothetical. They are the opposite of black holes. They wouldn't be able to be entered from outside of it. However, light and matter could come out of it. This would essentially be like a worm hole if on the other side there was a black hole or entrance of some sort.
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I do wonder how plausible it would be to sell these to the public. I feel like the government would restrict the usage to only military.
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That sounds amazing! I wonder how long the travel time would be.
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In movies, books, and tv shows, wormholes are described as a way to travel to different places instantly in a sort of portal. Researching the subject, I found out there are different types of theoretical wormholes. One type is called schwarzschild wormhole. It was discovered by Einstein and Rosen. They connect two universes and can only be travelled in one direction. Later, a paper was published that showed this type would be unstable if connecting parts of the same universe. It wouldn't be able to stay open long enough to let anything through it. Another type of wormhole is called traversable wormholes. They can be traveled through in both directions if held open by some type of "exotic matter" (something with negative energy or mass.) It's thought by some that these may have been naturally formed in the early existence of our universe.
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What animal can see the most on the electromagnetic spectrum?
Stardust posted a blog entry in Stardust's Blog
We've all heard that dogs and cats are colorblind (This is partially untrue; they can see blues and yellows. Also, bulls can't see red so they aren't actually angry by it.), but there must be animals that can see more colors than humans. Being able to see color is caused by the cones in our eyes that help us distinguish them. Humans for example have red/green, blue/yellow, and black/white cones. Most humans that are colorblind have issues with their red/green cones. Animals that pollinate, such as butterflies and bees, have sight that lets them see ultraviolet which guides them into the flower. What else determines what we can see is the wave lengths that our eyes respond to. Human eyes generally respond to wavelengths between 390-750 nm (visible light). Birds typically see ultraviolet which is below 390 nm. In my searching I couldn't seem to find which animal sees the most of the EM spectrum but I did find what animal is believed to see the most colors: the mantis shrimp Here's an.. interesting comic about them from TheOatmeal: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp -
Huh. I've not thought about this before. I would've guessed it was similar to how a straw works.
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I've always found ghosts interesting but I never knew the physics behind detecting them.
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WHAT A LOVELY SOUND YOUR SWORD MAKES
Stardust commented on MaximillianFox's blog entry in Above & Beyond
I love the sound that swords make. I always thought it was just because it was metal. -
I always knew that music could affect people but I never knew how it worked. This is great!
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It's amazinig how much everything relates to physics! All the waves with the sound and lights are cool to think about.
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My infatuation with Quantum Physics: a true love story.
Stardust commented on PepperJack's blog entry in PepperJack's Blog
Modern physics is so hard to wrap my mind around! That may be why I enjoy it; I love all the theories. -
So I was thinking about Superman and how he turned back time by flying so fast around the Earth that it started moving backwards. Though I doubt it would change time, I do wonder what would occur if the Earth did change the direction of it's rotation. The only way this could really happen is if there was a huge collision which could cause many disasters on it's own, but what if it just 'magically' switched directions? Someone else has thought of this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/23degrees/2011/01/what_would_happen_if_the_earth.html To summarize, the Coriolis effect -which affects weather-, would reverse and drastically change weather patterns. Whole climates would change such as the example of the British Isles gaining harsher weather. Trade winds would change where rain is distributed. Rain forests could become dry and deserts wet. Earth as we know it would be completely different.
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As a kid, I always loved swinging, the higher the better. Eventually I got to wondering, after remembering watching that episode of Recess when I was younger, if I swing high enough, can I go over the bar? Is it even possible? (Episode in question:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddnQu2gMfNM Well, it turns out you can, but not on a normal swing (fast forward to around 2 minutes) : Since most people don't feel like making their own swing here's what happens on the normal kind: On a regular playground swing that has chains, as you reach the peak of the curve, the chains slacken and gravity will send you back down. There isn't enough momentum to keep the swing moving fast enough to complete the arc. Sorry kids, the dream is gone.
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Ice Cubes: the expansion of water.
Stardust commented on PepperJack's blog entry in PepperJack's Blog
It's strange to think that it's less dense in ice form. It's the opposite of what I would've thought. -
It's great to see people that are very into music.