Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: omid on 26/02/2010 11:29:41

Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: omid on 26/02/2010 11:29:41: why do we throw it in the sea or burn them why not just get rid of it by eliminating it from our world in order to make the world clean???????????? [:-\] [???] [:-\]
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: JP on 26/02/2010 11:38:20: We could, but it takes a lot of energy to get something into space, so it would be far more expensive than it's worth. Also, rockets have a tendency to blow up occasionally, and then you'd just end up with a lot of garbage all over the place. The latter point is more of a reason why we don't want to be sending dangerous chemical, biological or nuclear waste into space, since a rocket accident would be disastrous.
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: RD on 26/02/2010 11:40:53: The economic and enviromental costs are too high ...

Quote
$2000 per kilogram of payload and almost all of that goes into fossil fuels.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/273/
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: flr on 26/02/2010 13:20:28: We can't just "throw it in space". We do not want a lot of junk orbiting around Earth or near Earth proximity. The option would be to deposit this junk on Moon or Mars.
As mentioned above, it is just not economic to do so.
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: omid on 26/02/2010 21:18:39: how do we know that the junk'll orbit around our earth
it can disappear in the space can't it???????
How do we know how big is space?
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: norcalclimber on 26/02/2010 21:33:38: We already have a bunch of junk orbiting Earth, so even if it was cheap to get it up there it would just be adding to an existing problem. If it were cheap to get it far enough away so as to not orbit Earth, I suppose we could use the Sun as an incinerator.
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: omid on 28/02/2010 19:23:26: but space doesn't mean only the solar system
omid sure space is much bigger then that [:-X]
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: norcalclimber on 28/02/2010 20:06:42: Certainly, but that also brings us back to the point of expense. In the U.S. we have tons of land available for landfills, and when we use up an area for that purpose we turn it into a golf course. I love golfing, so my preference lies with this option [:)]
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: Good Elf on 01/03/2010 06:26:34: Hi All,

The escape velocity of garbage (or anything) is 7 miles per second.... anything less than that is guaranteed to eventually come on back down to earth. As noted by others that is a formidable velocity considering only a few percent of a rocket's weight is actual payload and it all has to be paid for by the garbage contractor. The alternative is to "park the garbage in a slowly decaying orbit".... same thing... just takes longer to come on down.

How would you like to cop a coke bottle in the head reentering a few years from now traveling at 30,000 MPH? [;D] Maybe you get lucky and it only takes out one of the engines of the jumbojet you are traveling on. [B)]

Sorry... a bit frivolous there!! [:)] "Always look on the bright side of life" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always_Look_on_the_Bright_Side_of_Life).

Cheers
Title: Why don't we throw all the waste products into the space?
Post by: yor_on on 03/03/2010 08:32:23: Think I saw a movie once, quite fun about the Kalahari desert?
And a coke bottle?
And a jeep?
And a..`?

Could that be the bottle you are referring to GE?
If so, it already have returned.

And you're right, as I remember it from the movie, it did hurt, a lot.