Green Baron

Yep, that was the missing kill-o part ;-)

He might even believe that Edit: ... but it would be mean :-)

Cool, the exhaust cloud it raining ... :-)

He's perfectly aware. Lilienthal performed his flights in his lifetimes, model gliders existed much earlier. Explain to him a modern glider that can reach the stratosphere, dynamic soaring, thermal flight, foehn waves, squall lines, etc. My question if i were him: "Which materials are so light and strong for such an enterprise ?" To Galilei: He and Kepler were contemporaries. No need to tell him that he was right, and that's not exactly current knowledge. Current knowledge is n-body problems, gravitational slingshots (no, that's old), relativity in the presence of large masses, etc. That's what we should tell him, if we could ;-) First most of us don't know enough ourselves, second he may not want to listen because of fear of being sent to the pyre. And then get to KBOs and TNOs, planets around other stars, and quite up to date interstellar asteroids as old as who knows. Possible questions:: "how is age determined ?", "how do you get to speeds, masses and composition ?", "what are different kinds of orbits you mentioned ?"). But that is current knowledge. And i fear he'll have you cornered soon or he will just not understand. Hubble: no need to explain the Galaxy to him, he found many others outside ours. Explain him the Hubble constant and how we get to it, the expansion of the universe, dark matter, energy, standard candles to measure distances, etc. He knew the concepts, he founded them. He surely knows more than most of us, be prepared to stand there with the finger in the mouth on his second question. Newton was covered by @PB666 above. Einstein: he perfectly knew about black holes, Schwarzschild described the concept with the help of his GR. It is just that his formulas reached a division by zero, that's all. I think there are not many people living today who could conclusively describe to him the concepts of modern day physics, except slap his back and say "Well done !". Which would not be new to him either.

Huh ? I dont kill nobody ...

Yep. I couldn't play Mr. Tubercel .... Probably ... Exactly. You couldn't tell him about the principles of evolution, only details maybe if you're an expert. But the whole picture we have today needs a few years to understand and the ability to let go of former views and tear down barricades. G. was a universal genius. We'd have a hard time telling him something he would not know or at least have an idea of, at least not if it was visible. But he also was a child of his times a and a self taught man. It was already a giant leap for him to put the sun in the center, but the solar system in the backwaters of a galaxy so big you can't understand it ? I doubt it. I know there are people here today that do not believe it ! Hmm, explain a steam engine to me. Not the Rocket locomotive, a modern day oven in a 500MW block of a power plant that eats up several thousand tons of coal each day and run 600°C steam at 200 bar in man-sized tubes, because that was OPs point. Could you ? :-)

Let's try, i play the old guy and you explain to me. Give me a list of three that i can choose from (no medicine/politician/military please ...).

Abstract, please

That'll rather belongs in the Lounge, i think, or not ? What do think of it ? I doubt i could explain the concept of evolution or different hominids to someone from the 16th century or earlier. Even Galilei wouldn't understand that, too catholic. The insight that physics underlie nature instead of a guiding hand began with renaissance times in our cultural background. And has not yet reached everybody ;-) The guys that made the fundamentals of modern day science knew that they were in principle right. A. Wegener with plate tectonics, I. Newton with the evolution, G. Galilei with the sun in the center and other planets with moons. I could answer detail questions, but G.'s brain would surely snap when i talk about a star cluster, a nebula, a galaxy, a cluster of galaxies, ... Ice age and glacier flow to a neandertal shaman ? He/she rather explains to me the spirit in all things with a soft voice (speculation here, ok ?) Navigation to Hannu the Navigator ? What he needed to know for coastal navigation he probably knew. Wave systems, weather patterns, ... i know what he would say: "Stop talking, go sailing !". Explain a modern day combustion engine to N. A. Otto ? All theory, they lack everything to build such an engine, from ceramic seals to computer control. I fear someone else will receive the points :-)

I learned something :-)

I share your opinion, i just didn't want to step on forbidden ground ;-) Nope, you can't, for that exists the system of NOTAMs, that inform the pilots about these annoying mishaps. "Tower, this is xyz123, there's a burning runway light !" "I hope there are more than one runway lights burning ..." "Sorry, i mean, it smokes and is on flames."

@PakledHostage, i think the pilots do the calculations for everything concerning the aircraft and flight themselves, according to the flight manual, orders of their employer, and other regulations like safety advisories not yet incorporated in manuals and procedures, notams, etc.. Before all they have full responsibility for the flight and nobody else. Especially take off run calculations, weight and balance, fuel consumption, weather, choice of alternate airports, decide if the flight takes place or not in case of mishaps or errors, etc. is pilot's job and nobody else, the latter after having talked to the back office of course. When it comes to provisions, order a hotel in case of redirection or deviation, right for overflights etc. pp. then back office comes into play.

Well, 2 complete failures in 13x missions is bad. For a human rated vehicle it is abysmal. And it wasn't necessary to learn that way, both causes where known before they ended in catastrophes and simply ignored (which i use as another word for "not regarded an immediate danger"). Edit: personal opionion, of course ...

... 2 of 5 orbiters lost, 14 dead astronauts, over complicated to the edge of manageability, questionable design (tile system, seals between booster stages), needed fundamental checks after each mission, expensive beyond a question why. Didn't even remotely fulfill its initial missions or even reach a state of regular flights as was envisioned at the kickoff. But nice to watch. The best thing about it was the construction of the ISS. I'm sure i soon get what i have coming :-)

Cosmic ping-pong, most probably single player: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1802/ tl,dr: a star goes so fast here and there that it is most certainly orbiting a close black hole with ~4.4 solar masses. The alternative explanation that two very close neutron stars represent the central mass is considered improbable, but not impossible. That would be the first stellar black hole observed directly by its gravity in a globular cluster.

Coffea arabica. Expresso roasting. Heated in an HPV(high pressure vessel :-)) and mixed exactly 5 to 1 with oxydiser fresh milk. Gives quite a bit of thrust with a reasonable isp. :-)

died age 46. Younger than i am .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts Music from a time when independent became mainstream.

Which video are you referring to and what's your sauce for that ? Yes, there are residential areas nearby that had (have ?) to be evacuated for a launch. Idk if there is an official report openly available, here's a review from 17 years later: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2323/1 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2326/1 tl,dr: maybe 6, maybe more, probably not hundreds.

Outch. Deep frozen and vitriolised mouth and throat ... not a nice death. Looking forward to tomorrow, hesitantly admitting marginal fascination ...

Thanks. A pity that i have limited bandwidth ...

French and German. Silicon in German means Silicone, which caused my confusion. Thanks for clarifying :-)

@kerbiloid, it is a pity that you have nothing constructive to contribute. Edit: it is a plausible explanation for now, but it is not sure. It may be overridden by future findings. Because of that a wrote probably.

Isn't there a recommendation from college as to what kind of calculator to use ? Other question: The element Si, what is the correct English word: Silicon, Silicium, both ?

To filter out the nebula of jokes, interpretations and speculations: The stone is probably the fragment of a comet's core, shocked during atmospheric entry because it has high pressure/high temperature modifications of carbon. The glassy meteorites (high temperature modifications of Silicon) found in the same geographic area probably belong to the same thing but represent a different component. Addition mine: we have a lot of meteorites stemming from single objects, enough for a classification. Comets otoh are more diverse in structure and composition and there are only very few remains on the surface of such incidents (Tunguska as a probably other candidate). So there really isn't much to say about it yet.

Really nice idea and well done ! If i were your neighbour i'd buy one.