The Sun: A Great Ball of Iron?

Science Daily

[dennisw]

AMATERASU the Japanese sun godess? That spilled something that made the Japanese islands?

http://www.hranajanto.com/GoddessGallery/amaterasu.html

[gcruse]

Great pic. Reminds me of the illustrations in children's books of the 30s. Thanks for posting.

[Poohbah]

I understand that the Sun puts out a SNU of neutrinos.

[maxwell]

I must haved missed the lecture about "strange" xenon and ordinary xenon. What's the straight poop on that?

We don't call 'em "strange", dude... We say they have "alternative lifestyles". Get it straight.

What is Isotopically Strange Xenon?

"Isotopically strange xenon (ISX) is strongly enriched in the p- and r-isotopes relative to solar and terrestrial xenon..."

So it's an isotope. I dunno what p- and r- refer to. Chemist-freak talk.

[Physicist]

I understand that the Sun puts out a SNU of neutrinos.

Er, no. A Solar Neutrino Unit is defined by the detector medium, being one measured solar neutrino interaction per 10³⁶ atoms in the "fiducial volume" (sensitive part) of the detector. For a chlorine-based experiment, you measure something like 2 SNU; for a gallium-based experiment, you measure more like 80 SNU. I'm not sure about SNO's SNUs.

[Poohbah]

So the answer to "What's SNU?" really IS "oh, not much here, what's SNU with you?"

[RightWhale]

Manuel has spent the better part of his 40-year scientific career trying to convince others of his hypothesis.

His hypothesis isn't so outrageous. However, a classic symptom of kookdom is a continuing attempt to convince others. Real science doesn't work that way. Scientists adopt theories, not because someone convinces them but because the theories are useful.

[grumpster-dumpster]

"But then you would have to explain how a big ball of iron could stay hot for 4.5 billion years."

I'm not a physicist, but I believe it can be explained away as a complement to the Rosey O'Donnell theory where a big ball of fat stayed popular for almost a decade.

[sheik yerbouty]

Very ironic!

[f.Christian]

Probably gold and silver---lots...platinum too!

[strela]

And he was amazed that the bush burned but was not consumed.

You've described nothing that a 3-week regimen of Diflucan wouldn't cure.

[Chemist_Geek]

I'm not sure about SNO's SNUs.

It would probably be close to that of H₂O, assuming that the crystalline detector form doesn't affect the interaction cross-section that much.

OBTW, it's spelled snow.

(evil grin...)

[Chemist_Geek]

So it's an isotope. I dunno what p- and r- refer to. Chemist-freak talk.

It has to do with isotope ratios. Xe has nine naturally occuring isotopes, with masses from 124, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 134, and 136 Daltons. The ratio of these isotopes' occurence depends on the nuclear reactions going on in the star to form the Xe.

The different types have to do with the different chains of nuclear reactions leading to certain distributions of isotopes...

So, alternative lifestyle Xenon learns it from its parent nuclei. Remember this when other elements try to legalize unusual reaction pathways...

[Willie Green]

Oh, for Pete's sake, not the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark mixing matrix again.

Yeah, that one's so yesterday.
Everybody knows that James T. Kirk was the only one to ever solve that problem.

[FreedomPoster]

Google is a wonderful thing ;-)

[medved]

Big Bang, Electric Sun, Plasma Physics and Cosmology Etc.

• Wal Thornhill home page
• Electric Universe
• Tony Peratt, Los Alamos; plasma cosmology etc.
• Don Scott's Version of Electric Sun Theory
• DragonScience: Arp, Demise of Big Bang etc.
• Goodman Site

[frodolives]

He did NOT_ Kirk cheated!

[Teacher317]

Bump to another good science geek humor thread.

[Hoosier Patriot]

The Sun: A Great Ball of Iron?

Darned if I know.

But if you stare at it long enough, a whole host of ideas will come to mind.

</Obscure reference to a (cough! cough!)classic post>

[TC Rider]

quark mixing matrix

Finally something I understand.

That's the bartenders guide on Deep Space Nine, right?