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The 10 weirdest physics facts, from relativity to quantum physics
Telegraph ^ | 11/12/09 | Tom Chivers

Posted on 11/12/2009 7:51:26 AM PST by LibWhacker

People who think science is dull are wrong. Here are 10 reasons why.

Physics is weird. There is no denying that. Particles that don’t exist except as probabilities; time that changes according to how fast you’re moving; cats that are both alive and dead until you open a box.

We’ve put together a collection of 10 of the strangest facts we can find, with the kind help of cosmologist and writer Marcus Chown, author of We Need To Talk About Kelvin, and an assortment of Twitter users.

The humanities-graduate writer of this piece would like to stress that this is his work, so any glaring factual errors he has included are his own as well. If you spot any, feel free to point them out in the comment box below.

Equally, if you feel we’ve missed any of your favourite physics weirdnesses off the list, do tell us that as well.

If the Sun were made of bananas, it would be just as hot

[*Snip*]

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: electrogravitics; mechanics; physics; quantum; relativity; scientism; weirdest
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To: LibWhacker
So...if I read this right...the sun could be make out of marshmallows and hershey's chocolate.

Now THAT would be a heck of a "Sumore"!

21 posted on 11/12/2009 8:50:13 AM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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To: RaceBannon
Saturn is nowhere near as large, or massive, as the sun. Saturn is 95 times the mass of the Earth. The sun is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth.

Enormous pressure leads to enormous temperature. If, instead of hydrogen, you got a billion billion billion tons of bananas and hung it in space, it would create just as much pressure, and therefore just as high a temperature.

This statement is deceptive. If you packed all those bananas together in space, their mass would create a gravitational field that would compress them. This causes heat. You'd get the same heat that exists at the center of the Sun. The difference is that there is enough heat to cause the hydrogen in the sun to fuse into helium. The lack of free hydrogen in the bananas means that they would make a very large mess, but very little nuclear fusion. The banana fire would quickly burn itself out.

22 posted on 11/12/2009 8:50:47 AM PST by sig226 (Bring back Jimmy Carter!)
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To: RaceBannon

Nah. No humans to initiate global warming.


23 posted on 11/12/2009 8:53:46 AM PST by greatplains
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To: sig226

Calculate how much hydrogen is in the bananas, allow for loss of hydrogen during the ‘destruction of the banana as it reverts to basic unit construction, then look at how little hydrogen would be left to ‘light up like a star’. I seriously doubt that the mass of bananas named would yield sufficient unit hydrogen to light up star fusion.


24 posted on 11/12/2009 8:54:36 AM PST by MHGinTN (Obots, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: achilles2000

If there was an infinite number of universes, with an infinite number of possibilities for each universe, there would be at leat one universe in which the people destroyed all the other ones.

The infinite possibilites hypothesis is a weak answer to a complex question that we do not yet understand.


25 posted on 11/12/2009 8:54:42 AM PST by sig226 (Bring back Jimmy Carter!)
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To: sig226
The banana fire would quickly burn itself out.

And stink like the Dickens in the process.

26 posted on 11/12/2009 8:57:44 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (Ram "Health Care Reform" down our throats in '09, and we'll ram it up your @ss in '10.)
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To: RaceBannon

Correct. Core temperature of Saturn is around 12,000°C, while the Earth’s is around 6,000°C.


27 posted on 11/12/2009 8:58:17 AM PST by LibWhacker (America awake!)
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To: LibWhacker

28 posted on 11/12/2009 9:02:05 AM PST by Lady Jag (Double your income. Fire the government)
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To: LibWhacker

I have never read that Saturn is hotter than the Earth, where did you get that value?


29 posted on 11/12/2009 9:11:52 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: LibWhacker

It’s almost impossible to say what is the temperature of Saturn. The highest cloud tops, right at the edge of space, are colder than -150 °C. But as you travel down into the planet, pressures and temperatures rise. At the very core, temperatures can reach 11,700 °C.

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/saturn/temperature-of-saturn/


30 posted on 11/12/2009 9:14:52 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: LibWhacker
I don't think bananas support a fusion reaction but I might be wrong. In any case we wouldn't be able to tell if the sun were made of bananas because it would still be yellow.

Unless somebody peeled them.

31 posted on 11/12/2009 9:17:35 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: sig226

Buit if the links I found are accurate about Saturn’s core temperature, and since Saturn is assumed to be mostly gaseous, the core temperature , if around 7000°C would igniote the gaseous atmosphere and melt all liquid or ice into gas, ignote them...

Saturn should be on fire if this is true about the core temperature.

Same with jupiter. AND Uranus and Neptune


32 posted on 11/12/2009 9:17:52 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: sig226

Buit if the links I found are accurate about Saturn’s core temperature, and since Saturn is assumed to be mostly gaseous, the core temperature , if around 7000°C would ignite the gaseous atmosphere and melt all liquid or ice into gas, ignote them...

Saturn should be on fire if this is true about the core temperature.

Same with jupiter. AND Uranus and Neptune


33 posted on 11/12/2009 9:18:13 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: LibWhacker

Schrodinger’s cat is not dead. You only think so because you don’t see him. He is actually at a neighbor’s house where he has a different source of food, a different set of owners and a different identity.


34 posted on 11/12/2009 9:19:19 AM PST by Gritty-Kitty
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To: sig226
...there would be at leat one universe in which the people destroyed all the other ones.

Hey, chill! Give us time. :-)

An infinite number of universes doesn't necessarily imply all possible universes will be realized; e.g., if there are in fact an infinite number of them, then there are infinite subsets that aren't exhaustive of the whole thing. So just because you've got an infinite number of them in your basket doesn't mean you've captured every possibility.

There are so many errors in this article it's ridiculous. For example, he presents the infinite universes theory as though it were an established fact, which isn't true by any means. Still, fun article.

35 posted on 11/12/2009 9:20:30 AM PST by LibWhacker (America awake!)
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To: LibWhacker; sig226

Effects
All of this means that Saturn is a frozen planet. The tops of the gaseous clouds average minus 285 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperatures below this hydrogen and helium gas layer are considerably warmer than those at the top, with estimates as warm as minus 20 degrees near the surface. The helium gradually sinking through the hydrogen is thought to create the chemical reactions that make this possible.

http://www.ehow.com/about_4601019_what-average-temperature-saturn.html


36 posted on 11/12/2009 9:21:12 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: RaceBannon

Looks like you did the same Google search I did. :-)


37 posted on 11/12/2009 9:22:49 AM PST by LibWhacker (America awake!)
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To: Pessimist

These “facts” are mostly just laughable misunderstandings of oversimplifications of actual facts. That which does not account for the “mostly” part is true, very strange to the general populace, and entirely reasonable to those who do understand. No need to wait 100 years.


38 posted on 11/12/2009 9:30:02 AM PST by ctdonath2 (End the coup!)
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To: RaceBannon
Saturn should be on fire if this is true about the core temperature.

It radiates that heat away. One of the links I found said that Saturn radiates away more heat than it gets from the Sun. There must be huge convection processes going on in Saturn where hot material from the core rises, radiates away its heat, then sinks back down into the interior. The cloud tops aren't on fire because they do not retain their heat.

39 posted on 11/12/2009 9:30:07 AM PST by LibWhacker (America awake!)
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To: sig226
If there was an infinite number of universes, with an infinite number of possibilities for each universe, there would be at leat one universe in which the people destroyed all the other ones.

In order to really understand this, you'd have to also understand Psychology, theology, and even networking to some extent. Each branch has it's own jargon, but each branch has similar views (Even though none will ever admit it).
I've been into all of these things for at least the past 24 years. Actually, a more adequate word would be "obsessed."
This entire science is a lot deeper than most people understand. There are things that are made from things that are unseen. Just because we can't see things happening in our 3-D world doesn't mean they don't exist or happen.

Probabilities are the key to everything. Nothing is carved in stone. Absolutely nothing.

A small example , sort of, would be the Web Bots. Quantum physics holds the theory that conscienceness has an effect on everything. The Web Bots deal with cyberspace - which is mental, or world conscienceness.
The Bots have been able to predict the future (To some extent. The creators have to guess what they're finding based on the language. They're not "mind" readers). Their latest prediction was that something would happen on Nov. 5th that would make world news. A disaster of some sort. Well, that's when the Fort Hood terrorist attack hit. Coincidence? Maybe, but they were specific with their warning. They said specifically November 5th. (google it) They also predicted 9/11 in September.

So, if cyberspace can give hints about future events, what role does world conscienceness have in their creation?

40 posted on 11/12/2009 9:30:53 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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