The Skunk Works - 2015-01-27

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9:12 AM

@Stacey I see that this has now been fixed, and we can choose whether the email goes out with our screen name, or our given real name.

9:24 AM

@GlenH7 regarding the faraday question, you are most welcome to tweak it for here - if possible, physics based answer (only if possible) would also be welcomed

3 hours later…

thomas michael wallace

12:38 PM

Last week I set myself the target of thinking up three good questions a day to ask!

As with all good targets- seems I'm totally missing it...

Mahendra Gunawardena

1:15 PM

@thomasmichaelwallace, I set myself to ask one good question a day, but it is hard. I have chosen to try one good question a week.

thomas michael wallace

Glad I'm not the only one- seems every time I sit down to ask a question; my mind goes blank :)

Mahendra Gunawardena

1:51 PM

@thomasmichaelwallace, Following is an example of a real question that I tried to create for SE. It think it all went wrong. engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/171/…

2:16 PM

I agree that that one went wrong - but your next one will be better! I haven't been able to come up with a good seed question all week. :(

@SabreTooth are you registered at Engineering.SE ? I can't find your profile to dig out your Faraday question

user41796

2:44 PM

@dcorking Was but isn't any more. His Faraday cage question is on Physics.SE

Anyone have thoughts on this one:

14

Q: How to know whether the flow is supersonic in a nozzle?

There are two parts to this question A) Supersonic nozzle flow: For a project I had built a convergent divergent nozzle designed for Mach number = 3. In that project, I could know the flow has gone supersonic by seeing the manometer fixed between the throat and the divergent section (drop in pr...

fluid-mechanics gas pipelines measurements

? This early in the site, I think it's important to have well-defined questions.

Rick Teachey has a valid point arguing for not splitting into two questions, but I think it should be split in two. The two questions are different enough in my opinion, and our beta is going to set precedent for the future.

I'm not familiar with fluid mechanics, but it seems like it could be okay as one question . . .

. . . but it could still work as two questions.

user41796

@HDE226868 It's really two separate questions with related background.

user41796

The problem is that someone could answer part A really well but not address part B. And then someone answers part B, but not A. Who has the "best" answer at that point?

2:59 PM

@GlenH7 Then I see no problem with splitting it up.

Partial answers aren't always good.

user41796

It's better to get the OP to agree with splitting the question though. If we edit and create a second question, the precious, precious repz of the second question go to whoever created it.

user41796

back in a moment.

I did see your answer to my friction/traction question, by the way; I'm reading the HowStuffWorks article.

Oh, I remember reading this for the other question on calculating slipping!

user41796

you might be able to use a balloon to create the same effect as the dragster rear wheel.

@GlenH7 I just left a comment there asking the OP about it and pointing to the discussion here for anyone to share opinions.

3:05 PM

@GlenH7 Oh, snap, I forgot that! Two or three other groups opted for that, though they just covered the wheels with it. Width wasn't improved, though there was a mild - only mild - improvement in performance.

user41796

@HDE226868 I'm digging up equations for you, btw...

@GlenH7 Thanks.

user41796

3:21 PM

Short answer - I'm wrong, the interwebs are right. surface area has nothing to do with it. Pick a wheel that best suits your needs. :-)

user41796

Updating my answer now.

Ah, don't delete the answer while editing!

user41796

@HDE226868 It's a good trick - delete; edit; undelete

user41796

especially when you know you're wrong.

. . . true.

user41796

3:24 PM

busy eating humble pie.

By the way, does anyone think we'll ever get any aerospace questions? If we could attract folks from SEx.SE and Aviation, we could have a decent flow.

I've been trying to think of some, but I've got nothing.

user41796

Hard to say

Pardon me; a question on Worldbuilding has just been reopened, and I think I have to do some research on Venus to answer it. See you later.

3:55 PM

Right; I'm back after having chucked a few thousand pufferfish-liked creatures out into the Venusian atmosphere at 50,000 meters above the surface. Fun answer.

4:20 PM

The supersonic flow question has been split up.

4:31 PM

Hi guys, this is Subodh

user41796

@Subodh Hola

@Subodh Hi.

Great site here

user41796

@Subodh We all hope so, yes. :-)

Quite the first week.

4:34 PM

I will think of some aerospace questions...

But won't they be shifted to Aviation.SE?

user41796

Wouldn't hurt to try and cover the major fields

user41796

@Subodh Not necessarily

@Subodh Bring them on!

I was just saying earlier that I'd like some.

user41796

Jump to the tail end of my answer here for a general explanation as to why or why not they would be migrated.

user41796

5

A: Engineering.SE manifesto

Above all, we need to remember to Be Nice.1 Corollaries: Lay off the pedantry. Lay off the snark. Yes, they can be (extraordinarily) funny when applied well. But they’re exceptionally off-putting to the person on the receiving end. Your short term moment of humor is the exit cue for someo...

4:39 PM

+1 !

1 hour later…

5:57 PM

I've asked our first aerospace question:

0

Q: What will happen to the other parts of the 747s scavenged to make the Stratolaunch carrier aircraft?

I'm not sure quite how many people are familiar with the Stratolaunch project, so I'll give a quick summary. Paul Allen and Burt Rutan (of Scale Composites) teamed up a few years ago to create a rocket that would be air-launched from an airplane - in fact, the aircraft with the largest wingspan ...

aerospace-engineering

Oh, and it's #100!

user41796

6:30 PM

@HDE226868 Nothing ever goes to waste:

user41796

Aircraft boneyard

Aircraft boneyard (or in the United States, Aircraft graveyard) is a storage area for aircraft that are retired from service. Most aircraft at boneyards are either kept for storage or turned into scrap metal. Deserts, such as those in the Southwestern United States, are good locations for boneyards since the dry conditions reduce corrosion and the hard ground does not need to be paved. The largest facility of its kind, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, is colloquially known as "The Boneyard". == Notable aircraft boneyards == == See also == Spacecraft cemetery == ...

user41796

The one at Davis-Monthan AFB is quite amazing.

@GlenH7 I knew those existed - there's actually a book series that uses one of those as a short storyline. Do you have any definite information?

user41796

For those particular parts? No. But I know the boneyard at DMAFB has planes that are decades old and are used for parts as necessary. They actually have 4 stages of operation for the planes, based upon readiness to return to service. Stuff that's just parts goes to zone 4 and they pick away at it until there's nothing useful left besides the scrap metal.

user41796

If you keep getting flack on the context of the question, you can always shift the question to ask if projects typically budget for recovering costs by reselling the remaining parts. That pushes the question more into the realm of engineering project management, but it wouldn't preclude someone from answering what's going to happen to those parts.

6:40 PM

@GlenH7 Maybe. I haven't heard of many other projects doing something like this, though, so I'll search for some examples and think it over.

user41796

@HDE226868 It's similar to what can happen with cars. The sum of the parts is far greater than the cost of the car itself, so modders will buy a complete car just to use half the parts since it ends up being cheaper. Then they sell the rest off once their done.

user41796

To them, it's just two planes. Or more aptly, it's just two sets of parts that already come assembled.

user41796

I just realized I've been in the field that's the basis of the Wikipedia photo for the boneyard. :-)

user41796

That's the area where they chop up the B-52s

Mahendra Gunawardena

All, I have submitted 8 question and 3 answers. I believe that fulfills the commitment per the guidelines. I am not finding too many questions that I can answer using my professional skills. I also am part of the avid user group too. What else can I do to promote this site

I am not too effective creating questions. To the most part I am planning on checking out for awhile

user41796

7:38 PM

@MahendraGunawardena There's always the option of creating self-answered questions. IIRC, you're in the lighting / manufacturing field. I could see creating a "how (or why) do I move from using a resistor to using an LED driver?" type question & answer

user41796

Doesn't reveal anything proprietary from your employer, but also addresses a conceptual question many hobbyists & engineers not directly involved in LED design might have

user41796

Or, "How do I balance out my selection of LEDs to provide most lumens for the money | energy | ..."

user41796

8:01 PM

I'm a bit disappointed no one called out my circular reference within the manifesto meta question....

8:43 PM

@MahendraGunawardena Where did you see those guidelines? Are they still visible somewhere? (When I committed to the proposal, I just followed a link, and as far as I knew I was just offering to participate in the site to the best of my ability.)

I found this which I guess is the closest I'll get: discuss.area51.stackexchange.com/questions/4392/…

It looks like you met your commitment before the end of private beta: well done. Mine will take a lot longer (many weeks of public beta.)

user41796

9:01 PM

@dcorking If I read that correctly, you want to complete before the public portion starts. Otherwise you "lose" that commitment slot until the public beta is finished which can take years.

Mahendra Gunawardena

9:41 PM

This were I saw the above discuss.area51.stackexchange.com/questions/4235/…

user41796

Would make more sense if it could be done once the site was out of private beta.

Mahendra Gunawardena

19

Q: When is a commitment fulfilled on Area 51?

I commited to Programmers on Area 51, now the site is in public beta, and I have been active in the site by posting 4 questions and 18 answers. But my commitment is still not listed as fulfilled, as my commitment on GIS is. When is my commitment fulfulled?

support area51 beta-phase commitment commitment-fulfillment

user41796

Looking those over, that tells me I should go generate more quality content for the site... :-)

@GlenH7 A few posts short?

user41796

1, apparently. But I think the "quality indicator" is net 2 up votes per post.

user41796

9:46 PM

If that's the threshold, I need 4 more things o' quality.

In that case, I'm two short as well. I wonder how long we have. :-)

user41796

Reading over the other links, it appears the commitment can be met during public beta as well. Threshold is a bit higher is all.

How high?

Mahendra Gunawardena

Can you up vote some of mine, I will up vote yours that way we can be done :-)

user41796

apparently just a few posts.

user41796

9:50 PM

@MahendraGunawardena voting rings are frowned upon. :-)

user41796

14

Q: Did the requirements for fulfilling beta commitments change?

Today a user commented on an Area51 post of mine about the 10 posts (questions + answers) required to fulfill a commitment. He got the Beta badge on Poker and his Area 51 profile shows the commitment fulfilled, but he's only made 8 posts on that site. Have the requirements changed? If not, is...

support commitment-fulfillment

@MahendraGunawardena That tends to annoy people.

Mahendra Gunawardena

I know just kidding :-)

user41796

And SE runs algorithms to check for it

user41796

(not obsessing) our beta stats continue to improve

user41796

9:53 PM

additional avid users; consistent questions per day which is good given that we're still in private beta; answer ratio is climbing a bit. Overall increased participation is a good thing.

Oh, yes.

Coffee is now the new kid on the beta block.

user41796

avid drinker, not expert enough to provide Q or A

I'm probably going to keep improving my older answers rather than writing up new ones. That's a much easier way to get the beta badge, and it's a much better way to contribute, too.

We now have "crusher" and "shredder" tags, by the way.

By the way, what does "Eurocode" mean? I answered the bridge question but only found an unrelated semi-derivation, nothing official.

user41796

@HDE226868 European code?

user41796

or EU code?

9:57 PM

Never mind, Wikipedia finally loaded.

I suspect I'll find something in this madness:

law.resource.org/pub/eur/manifest.eur.html

Mahendra Gunawardena

10:19 PM

One more question into the pie, 9Q 3A

I hope this will satisfy commitment

Friends, I am done for now, hopefully this site will get launched soon. I will occasionally stop check the progress, answer a few questions etc. Best of luck

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