I am in the mood for scientific stuff -- interesting theories, ideas, mysteries, etc.

[psychedout]

After seeing eddie_johnsons post about the hubble telescope, I find myself in a sceince-like type of mood about the amazement of the universe -- and the pure wonder that it is.

Whos got some interesting theories, ideas, mysteries(personal or from scientists, doctors, etc) -- or perhaps even famous quotes from philosphers that really 'bake your noodle' so to speak.

 

[PIGEON-RAT]

go out and buy Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time or The Theory of Everything

 

[PIGEON-RAT]

and here's just a random fact that i think is pretty cool:
if the quantity of matter and antimatter in the universe were equal at the time of the big bang, it would have resulted in an explosion of light, as matter and antimatter obliterate each other when they come in to contact, releasing their stored energy.

so the universe would just be filled with light and nothing else.

 

[psychedout]

That is a pretty interesting fact. Is steven hawkings book easy to understand for an average guy? Or is the language hard to understand?

 

[_Yossarian_]

That is a pretty interesting fact. Is steven hawkings book easy to understand for an average guy? Or is the language hard to understand?

if you dont have some prior knowledge of physics it can get confusing. In this case, Hawkings The Universe In A Nutshell is an easier read with great pics and diagrams.

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

id read the mismeasure of man by stephen jay gould.

makes you wonder about science as a whole

 

[DcupSheepNipples]

Bubble Universe!

Hope that makes you hard freak!

 

[chesty]

The Universe in the beginning was populated with nothing but pure energy. The temperatures were beyond comprehension so every known and unknown force was decoupled from each other existing separately and independently.

As the Universe cooled off (within minutes) the forces started to combine. The most abundant particles was a see of electrons and anti-electrons. Now, if there were any equal amount of each that does not mean they were equally distributed. And as they annihalate they release energy not only in the form of light, but in the form of heat. Apparently either through a slight difference in the number of each or just in the statistics of the whole game, matter won out over antimatter.

I am working on magnetic nozzles for fusion drive engines. The fuel will be the plasma created in a fusion reactor at the temperatures of the inner sun. We will cool this down to about 300Mev from 50,000Mev by injecting H2 into the plasma.

This will give us Isp's in the range of 100,000s which will allow us to go to Jupiter in 6 months and Mars in 6 days. At some point we will be able to go to the nearest star within a couple years of travel time or less.

 

[Izzman]

All I have to say is CARL SAGAN! Each and everyone of his books are marvelous and will leave you in awe! Some great ones include "Cosmos", "Pale Blue Dot", and "Demon Haunted World".

 

[from zero]

go out and buy Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time

I read like half of that. I lost interest. I have no idea why though. Maybe I'll try to read it again one day.