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 Discussion between Phiteros and uhoh

Imported from a comment discussion on space.stackexchange.com/...
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 08:08
So I'm sorry if it seemed like I was telling you it shouldn't be here. That's not what I was thinking.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 08:07
You don't need to defend yourself to me. I was just offering a suggestion in good faith.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 08:00
I'm not saying that you're wrong for posting it here or anything. I'm just trying to help you get an answer.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 07:59
You don't need to attack me. You could've just said "Thanks, but I think it fits better here; I've asked other questions in Earth Sciences, and I think this will do better on Space Exploration."
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 07:58
I didn't suggest that you posted it in the wrong site. I just said that you might get a faster or better answer elsewhere.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 07:58
I did read your whole question. But what you're asking about is if there is a hard boundary between two geologic features. Someone more proficient in geology might be able to help you out more/faster, and you'll probably find more of those people on Earth Sciences.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 07:58
I was just offering a suggestion and you don't need to accuse me of not reading the question. The reason I pointed out the title of your other question was because it was worded very poorly.
Phiteros
Mar 7, 2021 07:58
It may be worth asking this question on the Earth Sciences Stack Exchange, since it's more or less about geology. You might get a faster or better answer there.
 

 Discussion between Phiteros and porton

Imported from a comment discussion on astronomy.stackexchange....
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:54
Another way to revise your question would be to ask something more general, like "what size objects would be created if two asteroids collided?"
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:44
From there, you yourself can do simple math to calculate how much roadway that would cover.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:44
I think that you should first learn more about asteroids and their compositions, then revise your question by asking something like "how much gold is there in a typical asteroid" or "What is the most gold found in an asteroid".
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:31
It's not because you are bringing in religion. It's because your question is not very specific and the idea of a single asteroid having a high enough gold composition is very unlikely.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:26
Not in the slightest. But while I am religious, I am also a scientist.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:22
So you want enough gold to cover all the streets in the world.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:21
It's your job to be specific with your question.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:20
Also, if you are saying that you can't answer how much gold you need to call something "golden", then how is anyone else supposed to?
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:19
Most metallic asteroids are 80% iron and 20% other elements, most of which is nickel.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:19
How much gold is that? You need to be specific. Anything over 10% of the asteroid is going to be unlikely in the extreme.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:19
A: An asteroid that has lots of gold is not the same thing as an asteroid composed of gold. B: That Wordpress post is completely fake. There is no solid gold asteroid.
Phiteros
Nov 27, 2017 02:19
Where would you get a golden asteroid? The only way you could get one is if it was artificially created.
 

 The Pod Bay

General discussion for space.stackexchange.com. Check our sche...
3
Phiteros
Sep 27, 2017 03:47
Earth, as seen by OSIRIS-REx during its September 22nd flyby.
Phiteros
Sep 27, 2017 03:47
asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=osiris-rex-views-earth-flyby
 

 Discussion between Phiteros and Justi…

Imported from a comment discussion on worldbuilding.stackexcha...
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:33
Look, I think that we're coming from backgrounds that are different enough so as to make further conversation meaningless. You have some weird ideas about life being able to reduce entropy which I do not agree with.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:17
You're saying you do? As a scientist?
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:15
You're saying that you are a professional physicist who has studied physics for 40 years?
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:13
And the one of us that needs more knowledge is not the one who has studied physics for the better part of a decade.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:12
Like I said, I can point you to resources so that you can learn about this yourself.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:12
Look, you need more of an understanding of basic physics. Otherwise this conversation will go nowhere.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 03:00
What you're thinking of is a simple differential equation which only has one dependent variable. But when physicists refer to differential equations, they generally mean much more complex equations.

For example, the Friedmann Equation which describes the curvature of the universe: The universe's curvature depends on the distribution of mass inside it. But the distribution of mass is dependent upon the curvature of the universe.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:56
Look, through no fault of your own, you lack the necessary understanding of physics to understand some of this. I've studied physics for 6 years. If you want to learn more about this subject, I'd be happy to point you to some resources, but I don't think that we're going to get anywhere discussing things like this.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:54
That isn't what entropy is.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:49
And then we run tests to see what works and what doesn't.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:49
@JustinThyme The study of physics is the pursuit of why the universe is the way it is and how it works. We don't just "math away discrepancies." We look at something and say "this is a mathematical structure that governs how this property behaves. Why is the mathematical structure like this and not something else?"
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:48
No, you need differential equations because of how things interact with each other. Here's a simple example: Let's say that you have a red ball. And let's say that the size of the ball depends on how red it is. But how red it is also depends on its size. That system is governed by a differential equation.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:43
There is no real relation between complexity and entropy. They're two different properties.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:43
Watch the video.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:43
Where Does Complexity Come From? (Big Picture Ep. 3/5)
►
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:41
And physicists don't like simply sticking a term in an equation in order to make it work. We'd much rather figure out why we need that term - what it physically represents. The Higgs Field is a theory which explains why particles have mass. It wasn't something that was just cooked up in order to make the math work. Higgs looked at quantum field theory and thought "If there's a field like this, things will work out." So we looked for one, and we found it.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:39
Now, as for the idea that physicists change their definitions, that's not really accurate. As we gain more data and learn more about the universe around us, we are forced to revisit our older theories and change them so they better reflect what's really going on.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:38
A good example of this is gravity. Everybody learns Newton's laws of gravity, but that's just a small-scale simplification of Einstein's relativity. But you can't teach relativity to a high school student because that would require differential equations.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:37
When you study physics in high school, what you learn isn't wrong. It's just a simplified form of what's really going on. And these simplifications work very well on certain scales, but break down on other ones.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:35
The fact that life creates complexity doesn't mean it's lowering entropy.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:34
Heat, energy, and light (electromagnetic radiation) are all deeply tied together. So sometimes when we talk about "heat being radiated", we're talking about infrared radiation. Other times when we talk about energy, we could mean thermal energy, electromagnetic energy, potential energy, or any number of things.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:32
And it's not helped by the fact that physics admittedly uses some terms interchangeably.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:32
The problem is that you have fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of energy.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:31
Black-hole thermodynamics
In physics, black-hole thermodynamics is the area of study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black-hole event horizons. As the study of the statistical mechanics of black-body radiation led to the advent of the theory of quantum mechanics, the effort to understand the statistical mechanics of black holes has had a deep impact upon the understanding of quantum gravity, leading to the formulation of the holographic principle. == Overview == The second law of thermodynamics requires that black holes have entropy. If black holes carried no entropy, it would be...
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:31
Secondly, black holes do have entropy, so you wouldn't be decreasing the entropy of the universe by shoving everything into a black hole.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:31
If you really want to understand the physics of entropy at a fundamental level, you need to take a course on thermodynamics.
Phiteros
Sep 25, 2017 02:19
Entropy started at zero. It wasn't ever reduced to zero.
Phiteros
Sep 24, 2017 22:22
In most cases, this answer can be "yes". I am really just objecting to the idea that you can perfectly convert your heat into other forms of energy.