Posted on 04/07/2009 10:17:42 AM PDT by BGHater
‘mass extinction event 440 million years ago, and that a similar celestial catastrophe could happen again’
catastrophism/Incredible Hulk/Don’t worry about your credit card bill ping.
Well that tears it.
We will need to enclose the solar system in a large sphere made of lead.
We can’t just do the planet, we need to do the whole solar system.
Lets get started now. We need to implement a lead credit program.
It was Dinosaur farts! I read it in a newspaper article.
How do you explain this?
“Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
—The late great Bill Bixby.
Hmmm....guess I won’t worry about making the bed or doing the dishes.
(we’re doomed!)
It wasn't the gamma rays themselves - it was what they created....
“A brilliant burst of gamma rays may have caused a mass extinction event on Earth 440 million years ago—and a similar celestial catastrophe could happen again, according to a new study.”.....
Right now, I’m more worried about the earthly catastrophe of socialism in America causing a mass extinction!......
I’ve never heard such a line of bullsh** in my whole life.
These people just thrive on “what-if” doomsday sensationalism.
GRB haPPens.
Good.
Somebody phone Al Gore let him know mankind isn’t is as powerful as he thinks.
I see a possible engineering problem.
Assuming you wanted to enclose the solar system out to 40 astronomical units, just beyond the semi-major axis of the former planet Pluto, that that would be a sphere with a radius of about 6,000,000,000 kilometers.
The area of the necessary lead sphere would be 4.52 x 10^18 square killometers.
A two meter thick lead shell of this radius would weigh about 2.13 x 10^24 tons.
While substantially less than the sun’s mass of 2 x 10^27 tons it is about equal to the combined mass of Jupiter and Saturn. The problem is, they’re not made out of lead and it could take some time to develop the technology to transmute their current elements into lead. The energy cost for this could also be prohibitive.
There is also the problem in that lead doesn’t have the strength to support a hollow spiracle shape of that radius at that thickness.
You might want to consider something like neutronium. In fact, I’d like to propose an alternative solution. Why not build a ring of neutronium, or some similar material, with walls high enough to contain an atmosphere and rotate it with the sun at the center? At least that way part of the population would always be shielded in the event of a GRB at any given time and you could avoid mass extinctions. Has anyone thought of this?
:o)
“mud-scurrying bottom dwellers”...Obama et al
“If we can put a man on the moon, we can encase the solar system in lead!”
“Yes we can!” “Yes we can!”
Actually, the sensationalism is about what was rather than wht might be. The dooms day actually happened.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.