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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Dr Cox meets Dr Who

« on: 15/11/2013 09:54:19 »

I watched a fantastic presentation on the BBC last night about the science of Dr Who, (a time travelling alien, worth a watch if you dont know it)

It explained a hell of a lot to me in nice laymans terms, but left me with a few questions

If a star collapses to a black hole and as time stops at the 'event horizon' (where the escape velocity becomes faster than the speed of light), we cannot observe the black hole due to it not releasing light, but due to time contraction as it approaches the event horizon, surely we could watch a star collapsing into one, in slow motion as such. Has this been observed?

If time stops at the event horizon due to gravitational forces 'bending' the light cone (or future possibilites) is there not a similar action around other gravitational masses? i.e. do we see comets 'slowing down' as they approach the sun.

Is time as we know it already affected by the sun, earth, moon and other planetary bodies? would this affect what we can learn about the speed of light? (i.e. are we subject to time dilation and record things slightly lower than a baseline?)

And finally, Dr Cox predicted the possibility of travelling to the past, using a black hole to 'turn' our future around so that our past becomes our future.. what limitations are there in the way of this being theoretically possible?

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Physiology & Medicine / What treatments are available to help give up smoking?

« on: 07/11/2013 11:45:56 »

Okay now no mumbo jumbo, sticking pins into me, standing in a cold puddle with one trouser leg rolled up, or any quack medicine.

I need to give up smoking.. I have the willpower of a monkey with the keys to the plantation.. So I suck big time at giving up. NRT just doesnt work, makes me feel sick and even if i run the course for twice as long as it recommends I still  cant give up (it does reduce the amount of smoking i do for 6 months afterwards though)

I did try one pill, though and it totally destroyed any craving, and made me feel sick when i did try to smoke.. I unfortunately only got 1 course (2 weeks) and this stopped me from smoking for about 4 months.. I could not get a repeat prescription as I moved away from that doctors and the new one wouldnt continue it without me attending multiple support groups.. (not possible as I work.. funny they dont think of that when they plan these groups for mid week)

SO... any available over the counter approximations to the pills? or any other ideas.. as I am all out of patience with me poisoning myself..

(I will allow discussion on hypnotherapy if personal experience is provided, not " a friend of a cousins brother in law" type jobby.. just leave acupuncture out of it..)

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Physiology & Medicine / What is ankylosing spondylitis?

« on: 04/11/2013 13:36:44 »

I am a sufferer of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) I was wondering if anyone here has any understanding of the condition and the treatments available and related diseases.

I have suffered significant and debilitating back pain (initially focussed around the base of my spine spreading recently to my spin just beneath my ribcage and around my ribs) since I was 16. At 21 I was formally diagnosed (with a HLA-B27 positive blood test) with AS. I was initially prescribed diclofenac sodium (voltarol) as a measure to control swelling and pain, until recently when the pain is no longer controlled by the meds and the pain is spreading.

I have had an MRI scan which has confirmed 'expected scarring' and I am being considered for Anti-TNF treatment. I have been given the safety talk about its risks and wonder if anyone has any further opinion or knowledge on the safety of this treatment or any alternative therapies I could use.

I would like to get a more full understanding of the condition if anyone could break it down for me.

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Could we be surrounded by dark matter?

« on: 01/11/2013 10:02:39 »

I was walking my dog lasat night thinking about the properties of much of what i see around me and the questions that we are making about a multitude of things..

A little thought came to me, all of the time we talk about light and electromagnetic waves in a 2 dimensional form (wave length and amplitude).. but we live in a 3 dimensional universe (or yada yada about the others) yet all our calculations retain these simple calculations.. Has there been any work in 3D universes to explain the motion of light and EM?

But it also started me thinking about the rubber sheet universe as described (i think) by Einstein. what if the fabric of the universe were just lots and lots and lots of n-particles (clever word i thought up for a 'nothing' particle ) which has the smallest possible mass (smaller than photons) and abhor energy, i.e. any energy they get they pass on as quickly as they could (i.e. speed of light) Thinking deeper into this, this explanation could describe inertia (resistance to changes in motion), wave form motion ('pulses' as waves) and all the other good stuff that I am far too stupid to even think about (contraction and dilation). These n-particles could exists at every point of the universe and provide the 'leverage' for all energy interactions to occur. could these particles present an explanation for the dark matter that is missing from the universe?

I googled some thoughts, and found myself redirected to neutrino.. but I am far too unsure of myself to understand any of what was said about it (as it keeps talking about neutrino's with and without mass)

I wonder if there had been any thought into this?

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Just Chat! / Has the Global Warming Argument damaged scientific credibility?

« on: 03/10/2013 09:29:56 »

Okay here is a question that has weighed on my mind, ever since i broke up with a girlfriend a long time ago as I (an avid Global Warming detractor), made a statement that environmental sciences were ruining the world for everyone.. (yes I was young )

I remain a global warming detractor, I sit in a heady glow of "Told you so", knowing that I questioned the validity of the 'peer reviewed' modelling systems.. However many outside of the scientific community and engineering world seem to now dismiss much of what science is discovering and the value of the work we are all doing to improve how humans impact the world.

I cannot refute however Man Made Climate Change.. I have ALWAYS said we cannot keep using the environment as a dumping ground for waste products such as heat, chemicals, spoil etc. The unerring belief that the environment is too big for any impact to be realised is what we suffer with, and a constant issue for my own belief..

Yes if i look at 1 system the heat discharge into the environment is negligible.. but soon that 1 system becomes thousands.. millions and maybe billions.. at what point do the number of systems pumping heat into the atmosphere actually have an impact?

I digress..

Now the Global warming campaign (much like the millenium bug campaign) was completely and utterly called out by the release of their conspiracy to cover up the inconsistencies that threatened their much publicised theories.. and the impact they have had (for good or for bad) Has this changed the way people see scientists or the findings that are published?

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Technology / Energy losses, Thermodynamics and Efficiency

« on: 30/09/2013 15:12:02 »

My colleagues and I constantly discuss ways to do things that seem ever so simple in our heads and on paper, that when these silly things called "The Laws of Thermodynamics" tell us to stop being silly and shows us the error of our ways.. (this never stops us trying to break them)

However we discussed the hydrolysis of water, how the energy you have to give (fair enough it can be free) would be more than the energy you would get back (sources tell us 85%-95% in comparison).. and this gives us wonder on what happens to that energy.. realizing that our typical foes of the three commandments tell us this is not possible!

We considered the forms of energy, and how realistically heat is usually the sources of loss.. BUT if we captured that heat (not hard in a water system) and used that energy to split the next lot of water.. Our thoughts began making all manner of perpetual motion designs involving hydrolysis cells, gas turbines and steam turbines..

BUT this cannot be the only source of loss, our wandering thoughts stressed over the balance of energy's through the hydrolysis cell,  the gains the losses and how to capture any slight implication of energy gain and we kept coming up with hard questions such as..

"If energy cant be created, then how does buoyancy work?" Free kinetic & potential energy?

"If energy cant be destroyed, then why are things not 100% efficient?" Where is the rest of the energy going?

Our perpetual motion machine was as such..

Sunlight turns water to oxygen and hydrogen, these are then burned across a gas turbine to give HP steam, through turbines and condensed within the reservoir of water that is then fed to the hydrolysis cell. Power from turbines used to pressurise the gasses and a self contained heat engine to take heat from the water to the gasses.

Considered within a single 'box' with only a section exposed to sunlight.

Mechanical losses, we call.. BUT.. if its all self contained.. Where does that energy go? if through heat it would be contained within the system. and anything this puts out could be turned to energy in one way or another.. (such as any extraneous kinetics from the turbines)

Can anyone help end our tussling with the LoT.. and set us back into the legal thought process.