Post your science questions here!

[Ducati888]

Originally Posted by red_hotxr6

Is there a 4th dimension??

Yes. It's called time.

[Ducati888]

Originally Posted by ford man xf

If I built a time machine, would it be possible to go back in time before I was born and kill my parents?

No. I believe it is impossible to travel back or forward in time. If it were possible to travel back in time, there would be evidence of it now, and we have not seen any. It may not be invented for a million years, but when it is, people would travel back further and further and hence we would be seeing it now. There would be evidence of it at significant events in history such as the birth of Christ and all the fictional stuff in the bible.

There is no reason to believe that, should a time machine ever be invented, it would be used for altruistic means. in fact, what other purpose could travelling back in time have, other than tourism, trying to change things, or to win at the horse races?

If they could travel back in time, they would be here now from the future, and we'd know about it.

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

If they could travel back in time, they would be here now from the future, and we'd know about it.

What if they were trying very hard to avoid the grandfather paradox? Why would they tell us their here when there was so much danger involved?

Come on man...haven't you seen Back to the Future?

[red_hotxr6]

Maybe not physically travel back or forward......maybe just view the past and the future??..without tampering....

[Ducati888]

Originally Posted by Barnaby

What if they were trying very hard to avoid the grandfather paradox? Why would they tell us their here when there was so much danger involved?

Come on man...haven't you seen Back to the Future?

We'd know about it because not everyone who would use them would be completely altruistic and follow any 'rules' re the grandfather paradox.

Also, new technology would be brought forward with every visit back in time, and it would be taken earlier and earlier by the time travellers so that their countries or their families could be first with the patents.

This all means that in the early 21st century, being on the cusp of travel to Mars, Nuclear Fusion and peak oil, and with limitied ability to generate base load renewable energy, we would get advanced technology from them brought back to use now. Tech is not really moving that fast any more. Not as fast as from 1950 to 2000 anyway. The only real advances in the last ten years are smart phones and iPods.

There is no reason to believe that government funded research would discover time travel. It is far more likely to come from privately funded research, and therefore it would not be controlled as such like government research would be.

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Tech is not really moving that fast any more. Not as fast as from 1950 to 2000 anyway. The only real advances in the last ten years are smart phones and iPods.

Your kidding right? What about mapping the Human Genome? Stem cell research? Nano Tech? We are only a few years from Quantum computing - you can already do Uni courses in it, the knowledge gained from the Large Hadron Collider (Higgs Boson), the probes and rovers in out solar system. Look at what SpaceX is doing in space research?

If you worked in the tech industry you would know that pre-2000 is viewed as prehistoric now.

Human advancement was pushed along by a select few of super intelligent individuals (Einstein, Planck, Pasteur, Dirac ) that had insight and brilliance. We don't need that anymore...we have more graduates alive NOW than combined in previous history and they are all connected via the net. The net is acting like a global intelligence.

If you just want to talk about consumer technology, think about the crap you were using in 2000.

The next 50 years are going to be awesome.

[Ducati888]

Fair enough Barnaby, but is some of that stuff you refer to technology or is it informaton only? Not every piece of new information is or can be used to develop new technology. The tech of the 20th C may be viewed as prehistoric, but it was ground breaking in its time, and it changed the world for everyone. Is the new stuff just an advancement on that, or is it also completely ground breaking and new? (evolution or revolution?). We already have computers. Is it an ability to compute faster and store more, which is an evolution of what we already have?

Mapping of the human genome and stem cell research are hardly new. They have been doing those things since the '80's. Many ground breaking bio medicines are in the market already as a result of that research.

What is Space X achieving that the Russians, Americans, Chinese, French and Brits haven't already learned about orbital travel? The Russians and Americans have had things in space since the 50's, and have yet to be beaten. Space X is not as advanced as the dated and redundant Space Shuttle. Scramjets were designed in the 60's and are now working.

Yes I am referring to consumer technology, not specialised industry stuff or university based research. Every industry has its specific tech that makes it develop better, but not much of it is used by the consumer, at least not for a while. The 50's & 60's were a golden age for that type of thing, compared to what was around previously.

I don't work in the tech industry, I work in health care. You say we are only a few years from quantum computing. As a reference point, in the last twenty years in health care we have always been five years away from a cure for cancer and diabetes.

Physicists have been five years away from cold fusion for the last 25 years as well.

In reality, real technological human advancement came from WW2 and beyond, with competition between superpowers. Money got spent, problems got solved. It wasn't until much later that private industry got interested and now leads because the big governments stopped spending so much money.

[Barnaby]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Fair enough Barnaby, but is some of that stuff you refer to technology or is it informaton only? Not every piece of new information is or can be used to develop new technology. The tech of the 20th C may be viewed as prehistoric, but it was ground breaking in its time, and it changed the world for everyone. Is the new stuff just an advancement on that, or is it also completely ground breaking and new? (evolution or revolution?). We already have computers. Is it an ability to compute faster and store more, which is an evolution of what we already have?

You never specified if the innovation was information only. You never specified that it had to be 'new' tech, not an evolution of an old idea. The thing is that people don't view price reductions as an innovation...that view is fundamentally flawed. We are getting smart enough to make products and services accessible to more and more people and organisations. This flow down effect impacts us all by enabling us with tools to improve our lives, it is the greatest innovation of all in my view.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Mapping of the human genome and stem cell research are hardly new. They have been doing those things since the '80's. Many ground breaking bio medicines are in the market already as a result of that research.

As my statement above, it's getting cheaper and cheaper to perform this research to the point that more and more institutions are doing it which can only mean we are learning more about it quicker. I do believe that individuals can now be DNA tested for hereditary disease? Where will this be in 20 years? It can only go in one direction I feel.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

What is Space X achieving that the Russians, Americans, Chinese, French and Brits haven't already learned about orbital travel?

They are doing it as a privately held company at a tenth of the cost of the government backed organisations - cost innovation again. I am betting that they will be the first ones to get humans to Mars (if they choose it to be a worthwhile thing), not the USA.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Yes I am referring to consumer technology, not specialised industry stuff or university based research. Every industry has its specific tech that makes it develop better, but not much of it is used by the consumer, at least not for a while. The 50's & 60's were a golden age for that type of thing, compared to what was around previously.

I think NOW is the golden age for tech for both industry and consumers. Take the electronics industry example, only 20 years ago you could easily spend $100K on test gear, now you can do it for $5 to $10K. So this means a small start-up with a few smart guys can do what a multi-national corp could only do 20 or 30 years ago. I'm sure the cost reductions have been the same for monitoring equipment in the health-care industry. And if not then I'd bet the capability of the equipment is at least 10 times better.

And as for the consumer...we all know how that has improved for any item you would care to mension - remember, price reduction is also an innovation.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

I don't work in the tech industry, I work in health care. You say we are only a few years from quantum computing. As a reference point, in the last twenty years in health care we have always been five years away from a cure for cancer and diabetes.

Are doctors being prepped on the treatments coming through for cancer and diabetes cures? Like I said, the theory is out there and people are being trained in that theory now for quantum computing. Its all entwined with nano-tech. I have been involved in the electronic engineering industry for 25 years, and yes, the stories and theories were around for a long time but there is a fervour about this now like there was about super conductivity and there is institutional prestige about who gets there first. Even Australia is invested heavily in this race. I'd say in the early 2020s we wil be there, if not earlier.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Physicists have been five years away from cold fusion for the last 25 years as well.

Plasma fusion is still 50 years or so off, but it too is coming. There is more research in this field now then there ever has been and is inevitable that we will master it because we need energy independence. Meanwhile there are fill-in technologies like Thorium reactors which are operational now in various countries...China in particular is going with this technology pretty heavily.

Originally Posted by Ducati888

In reality, real technological human advancement came from WW2 and beyond, with competition between superpowers. Money got spent, problems got solved. It wasn't until much later that private industry got interested and now leads because the big governments stopped spending so much money.

Yes, a lot of innovation and discoveries came from wartime (both real & cold) research, but a lot also comes from countries with a supportive culture for technology and research. This is why China, in my view, will be the dominant culture for the next few centuries. And when we stop educating their people and digging up minerals for them, we will be doomed!

Maybe it's the engineer in me, but when something is discovered is not as important as when an idea is perfected and put to use in society in a realistic fashion. The internet was conceived in the late 60s, but most would agree that it has only come into its own in the last 10 years when it has started to effect the lives of a rapidly growing proportion of the worlds population.

You stated Ipods & Iphones as the newest things to come in the last 10 years but even they are a evolution of an old technology. What they have done is they have perfected the use of multiple ideas and fields to be something ground breaking in usefulness, and accessible to the majority.

[Ducati888]

Thanks Barnaby for your well thought out and worded responses. Much appreciated. Price reductions as innovation as a flow through. Very nice.

I suppose in a way I was talking about big in your face types of innovation that change culture quickly, and we saw that in the second half of the 20th century. Change now is probably as quick, but far less in your face because there is so much innovation going on, and improvements to technology. I we expect it and we are used to it.

Thanks again for your perspective.

[opto]

If Vacuum pressure can be measured, and Space is a Vacuum, what is the value of the measured Vacuum pressure of Space ?

[gtfpv]

it is a FACT , THAT THE SUNS POLES ARE SPINNING FASTER THAN ITS EQUATOR !!! , because of this the surface speed of the equator is also slower than the surface speed a short distance out from the axis of its poles ,
scientifically how is this possible ?

[gtfpv]

watch this video from the early 1960's , and then explain how we used this technology and applied it to go to the moon and back ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_OTIPp0Iwxw

[gtfpv]

why is it that when a man saves money , the bank account balance goes up and when a woman saves money , the bank account balance goes down .

before you answer , remember that there are more females on earth and men and women are regarded as equals .

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Just a big ball of gas, simple as that. It's elegant in it's simplicity, and how the sun works is actually one of the simplest of science subjects (until you get right down to physics of course).
Hydrogen is compressed into helium in the center, undergoing nuclear fusion under the massive pressures and temperatures, and creates vast amounts of energy. The outward pressure of this energy matches the gravity of the mass of the sun trying to crush inwards s it looks like a big stable(ish) ball.
One day it's energy output will be less than the gravity forces, and it will start to expand, but that won't be for billions of years.

Simple.

so could we light a match in space , or a cigarette lighter , make fire using anything ?

[gtfpv]

if space is a vacuum ? than why do we have pressure holding planets and stars together ?

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

so could we light a match in space , or a cigarette lighter , make fire using anything ?

Nope. That's why rockets have to carry their own oxygen to enable the fuel to burn.

Originally Posted by gtfpv

if space is a vacuum ? than why do we have pressure holding planets and stars together ?

It's not "pressure" holding the planet together, it's the mass of the planet creating gravity. The planet is a large lump of rock, magma, and an iron core, not a bunch of free-floating rocks. Although some comets and asteroids are indeed clumps of floating rocks held together by their small gravitational attraction.

Technically, "time" isn't the fourth dimension either. Time is merely a relative phenomenon depending on your location. Fly across the ocean in an airliner, and because you have been travelling at a great speed further from the planets surface than everyone else, you will land ever so slightly younger than the people you left behind. It's almost immeasurable...almost, but it can be worked out.
It has been proven that Einstien was right...travel fast enough, and time distorts. Sattelites such as the ones your GPS runs off have to have the time dilation effect accounted for in their software.

No matter what the field of science, it's all infinitely more fascinating and intellectually stimulating than sitting back waving a bible and saying "god did it", and refusing to look for deeper reasons for why things happen...

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

if space is a vacuum ? than why do we have pressure holding planets and stars together ?

I don't understand what you mean as pressure, we have gravity interacting with planets and stars holding them in their orbits. Take the ISS for example, if it weren't in the hold of Earth's gravitational pull, it'd just drift off into space. Nothing to do with pressure or a vacuum.

Perhaps some people get confused by the fact that astronauts are weightless on the ISS? From that they believe that there's no gravity in space. Same principal applies with the aircraft NASA uses to allow people to experience weightlessness on Earth. It's achieved by putting the plane in a dive that mimics a free fall. The ISS is essentially in constant free fall but its velocity is balanced against Earth's pull that keeps it in orbit much like the way planets orbit stars.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by Rodp

I don't understand what you mean as pressure, we have gravity interacting with planets and stars holding them in their orbits. Take the ISS for example, if it weren't in the hold of Earth's gravitational pull, it'd just drift off into space. Nothing to do with pressure or a vacuum.

Perhaps some people get confused by the fact that astronauts are weightless on the ISS? From that they believe that there's no gravity in space. Same principal applies with the aircraft NASA uses to allow people to experience weightlessness on Earth. It's achieved by putting the plane in a dive that mimics a free fall. The ISS is essentially in constant free fall but its velocity is balanced against Earth's pull that keeps it in orbit much like the way planets orbit stars.

thats true . but the sun is not free falling is it .

[superyob]

There is nothing we have now in the 21st century, that did not have its origins in the 19th century. That is when technology made the greatest advances ever. Moving pictures, recorded sounds, telegraph, telephone, diesel and otto cycle engine, x-rays, powered flight was almost a reality...

[xtremerus]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

it is a FACT , THAT THE SUNS POLES ARE SPINNING FASTER THAN ITS EQUATOR !!! , because of this the surface speed of the equator is also slower than the surface speed a short distance out from the axis of its poles ,
scientifically how is this possible ?

Vortexes. It is not a solid mass like earth, it is gas.
Not a good analogy, but think of water going down a plug hole. The center is spinning faster than the outer bit.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

thats true . but the sun is not free falling is it .

It's orbiting around the center of our galaxy.

[Iggypoppin']

You CAN time travel, in theory...ask me how in about 8 hours(after I sleep).

[BHDOGS]

Anybody can travel into the future that's a fact just go really really fast no dramas going back in time is the problem