[I'm putting this on a shirt.]

I have a t-shirt that says "May the F=ma be with you" and it annoys me that read out loud it is "may the force equals mass times acceleration be with you." Where if it was just "ma" then the reader would have to figure out that "ma" means "mass times acceleration" which equals force. It's more clever that way.

Of course, then it would just say "May the ma be with you" and people would wonder if it was some kind of "yo mama" joke. So maybe the entire concept of the shirt doesn't work.

Also? Most people think it says "May the FEMA be with you" and it's a joke about Hurricane Katrina. This poor shirt just can't catch a break.

dp/dt works.

[Temperature difference at aphelion/perihelion]

As said, the effect of the distance to the Sun is praticaally negligible. The fact that the northern hemisphere has more land area and the southern is mostly sea should be a much more significative influence.

[What If Jupiter Or Saturn Suddenly Gained Enough Mass To Become A Star?]

Okay, I just tried the first scenario in Universe Sandbox (Not Universe Sandbox 2).

http://i.imgur.com/MwxDClR.png

This is the result after a little over 100 years.

Earth's orbit now has a perisol of Venus's orbit and an aposol of Mar's orbit. This doesn't end well for Humans, as on the perisol the average global temperature is 40.1C/104F. Oh, and Mercury ejected itself from the Solar System.

Aphelion and perihelion, please, don't mix Latin and Greek.

And judging by the polygon-like shape of Venus's orbit, it seems that's a VERY rough simulation. I don't think it would be reliable for 100 years at all.

[Bad news from NASA, should KSP follow suit?]

So your telling me, the french own the moon now?

So, you're the 164535th person on this thread to make that unrunny joke? Must be really proud of yourself.

[What is antimatter?]

Yeah, no one should blow up Vatican before they return what they stole from all over the world. I've been to Vatican and they have more egyptian artifacts than in the national museum of Egypt in Cairo. Actually they have so much things there that they can't even display most of them and they rot in warehouses , I saw it all.

Are you sure you're not talking about the British Museum?

[How long would it take for an object to fall from very large distances (~300,000km)]

The problem is, you have a parabolic orbit, because if

a = 150000 km

Ap = 300000 km

Pe = 0 km

Then the value of e = 1.

Ap = a*(1+e) = 150000*(1+1) = 300000 km

Pe = a*(1-e) = 150000*(1-1) = 0 km

It depends on how you interpret orbital eccentricity. A eccentricity of one could be a parabola. Or it could be a straight line segment, which is the case here.

Think of a circle with eccentricity zero and increasing to one. If you keep b constant and increase a you get a parabola. If you keep a constant and decrease b you have a line.

["Transporter Psychosis" (fear of teleportation) and why I think it makes sense]

Similarly, take something unique and valuable, the Mona Lisa for example. Make an exact atomic copy of it, intentionally destroy all information that can be used to determine which was the original and which is the copy. Does the painting lose value now? There are two, either one COULD be the original, and the other one is just a fake. But for all of history henceforth, nobody will be able to determine which is which. Ignore the likely increase in value that would occur only because this stupid magical weird thing happened to the painting.

A painting has no emotions or self-awareness. A painting is not alive. Do you value your life so little that you would be willing to cease to exist simply to let someone who looks like you get somewhere quickly?

[(Cracked.com) 11 Deep Space Photos You Wont Believe Arent Photoshopped]

I think the phrasing is bad, they obviously mean pictures that aren't faked.

Also from cracked.com: 12 Pictures of Space You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

Some of which have been photoshopped, of course.

I think another problem with the title is that some of the images are really famous, so it's not that hard to believe they're real.

[Most Kerbal Looking Real Life Rockets]

What is that? ICBM?

[Rockets- Hot Staging vs. Drifting.]

i'm just gonna go really off topic here, but i've been dying to know for years: why do people replace the second "that" with "what" here? i have never seen this written anywhere except in colloquial internet writing.

I think it's like an answer for "What's that causes..."

"What's that causes the injuries?"

"That's what causes the injuries."

[Is the International Space Station really in outer space?]

And what makes you think I was stating that the 10,000km mark is half way to the moon? That is one number that has been given for the edge of the exosphere, the other, which is about half way between the earth and the moon is stated to be 190,000km. There seems to be a debate on which number is the actual edge of that layer of atmosphere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exosphere#Upper_boundary

The fact that you put that two sentences next to another, separated by a comma, usually means that one is an explanation or example of the other.

[Does antimatter look different?]

Since gravitational attraction is a property of mass, and anti-matter still has mass, why wouldn't there be a gravitational attraction.

Antimatter is essentially the same set of particles, with opposite charges, right (perhaps this is oversimplified), but I can't imagine why there would be gravitational repulsion, unless we were talking negative mass-mass.

Furthermore, can't such things be measured already?

Gravity is the weakest of all forces, you can't really measure it when there are forces 10^30 times stronger in place. Not on the scale where we have observed antimatter.

[Cosmo vs. Astro... naut. (inane discussion of semantics)]

Well, humans never went to a star, and we only explored an insignificant portion of the Cosmos. I think spacenaut would be the most technically correct.

[if the moon were a pixel....]

and also boring when travelling, but the author thanksfully put some funny text in the empty spaces. Thanks for the link TimH07.

At first it's funny, then it turns philosophical.

[MS Word diskette icon does is not look little obsolete?]

Well, there could be another symbols in the future...

Guess which one is the "save" button:

[Two neighboring stars develop intelligent life. (discussion)]

Even at 10% c, a round trip would end up taking 160 years, which might be workable if there's a species that's rather longer lived than hours

Yeah, I'm pretty sure space travel wouldn't be pratical for a species that only lives for a few hours

[Terraforming Venus]

would like to all watch this video. Just this part. Only 3 min. (best documentary ever.)

http://youtu.be/jqxENMKaeCU?t=33m2s

I would not watch a video with ratings disabled, except in very exceptional circunstances. This is probably not one of them.

[cool infographic: everything between Planck length and the Observable universe]

Perhaps its because this flash is circulating in the internet for years and most people here has seen it.

True. I've certainly seen it before. I've also seen the first one (as you could guess by the name, this is a sequel)

[Where is the energy coming from?]

The kinetic energy isn't increasing exponentially, it's increasing quadratically.

But what you're describing is the Oberth Effect, so mentioned in KSP. Basically, you gain more energy per unit of fuel because the exhaust that exits the engine gains less engine. When you're at rest, the exhaust exits the rocket at high speed. If the rocket is moving fast, close to the exhaust speed, the exhaust smoke would appear to exit the engine with no speed. (I don't know if that makes sense, maybe I'll need to rewrite it later to clarify.)

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

Hey, people, if you want to continue to discuss the relativity issues, you should probably open another thread, before a moderator closes this one.

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

You know, i see what is referred to a distinct lack of people who actually understand what they are talking about. I'm referring to how Einstein was wrong, and have given many reasons, utilizing logic, that have disproved him. Since not one here has brought proof as of yet, I assume you are all defeated.

You're the one making assertions here, and failed to provide any proof. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Denying centuries-old theories, specially one of the most tested and respected in history, is certainly a extraordinary claim.

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

I never said E=mc^2 was wrong, just that infinite energy was required to travel at light-speed. It's also something called "potential" energy.

Now, I never said they all travel at C, just that Beta does. Of course Gamma does.

So can you answer how much energy is needed to an electron reach light speed?

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

Proof of what is known as "the speed"

What is "the speed"? The speed of light or the speed of the electrons?

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

It's called "according to you, what would have this infinite energy to accelerate the electron? Nothing, because you can't."

That ALONE should be enough, but no......

He said you need infinite energy to accelerate a electron to light speed, not any speed.

[What can counter Laser weapons?]

What's 1+(-1)?

Zero

What's 2+-2?

Zero

What's 1+2+-2+-1?

Zero

Now that we went through that, what is all (real) numbers added together?

Undefined, infinity, or -1/12, depending on how you look at it.