#science lesson

[sepdet]

Fun fact: the moon is 2.19 meters farther away than it was when Apollo 8 flew the first behind-the-Moon mission in December 1968.

Apollo 11, 14 and 15 left mirrors/reflectors on the Moon, as have Soviet and Indian space agencies:

Chandrayaan-3 lander photographed by Chandrayaan-2 orbiter

By bouncing lasers off these mirrors, scientists have discovered the Moon spiraling away from Earth at 3.78 cm/year.

And you know what happens as a rotating system expands in diameter, like a spinning skater extending her arms? Yep. The spin slows.

Another fun fact: since the Moon orbits the Earth a bit slower than the Earth spins, the tidal bulge raised by the Moon's gravity is also dragged back. This is part of the Moon's braking motion.

(super duper finger painted scientific diagram)

I forget why there's a tidal bulge on the other side as well. Dammit, Jim, I'm a classics major, not an astronomer. (That was my grandma, from whom I get my space geekery.)

The fossil record jibes with physics. Various fossils from corals to lake sediments record traces of both daily and annual variations. The older the fossils are, the more days of the year there are. This science museum demo shows close-ups of an ancient coral whose ridges record a 400 day Earth's year:

The Days are Getting Longer: It’s Recorded in the Fossils

Dr. Rowland back for our first #FossilFriday of 2021! Does it seem like the years are flying by, with each year going faster than the one be

Earth's orbit around the Sun is not measurably slowing, whereas its spin is.

When the Moon first formed, it was terrifyingly close in Earth's airless sky, pulling up massive magma tides in quick succession during primordial Earth's day + night of only 6 hours.

After Earth cooled enough for oceans, the Moon swept the coasts witv colossal tides, sweeping far inland and seeding the early ocean with minerals that would help feed the first life.

Thanks, Moon!

Oh yeah. And if you rewind the tape back to the beginning, you get BOOM:

[missangels-heaven]

Why did they Randomly give us a science Lesson

[bewarethings]

surprisingly brilliant cosmic science lesson

[literallymechanical]

Welcome to today’s lesson in fusion reactors, where there are startlingly few explanations in layman’s terms! Today’s topic: divertors.

A divertor is basically an exhaust system for a fusion reactor, venting both waste heat (which can melt the machine) and waste helium (transmuted from hydrogen, which dampens the reaction). All tokamaks these days are diverted, but there’s still so much left to learn!

It’s very hard to find good diagrams that aren’t too technical, so here’s that promo picture of SPARC again. I’ve circled the divertors in red:

SPARC will have two divertors, one on top and one on the bottom. That’s called a “double-null” configuration. Many tokamaks just have a lower divertor, which is called “single-null.” Each divertor has two legs, one inner and one outer. You can see that SPARC’s divertors have super long outer legs and little stubby inner legs — I’ll talk about why in a later post!

Promo pics are all well and good, but let’s look at some real photographs! I’ve been focusing too much on American tokamaks on this tumblr, so let’s move a bit farther afield. Here are some examples from overseas:

This is ASDEX-Upgrade, a tokamak in Germany. ASDEX-U has been one of the most important experiments for divertor science! It just has a lower divertor, so it always burns single-null plasma. On the right, you can see a photograph where the plasma glows brightly as it strikes the tips of the divertor legs.

This is EAST, a tokamak in China. EAST has both upper and lower divertors, so it can run in either single- or double-null mode. It currently holds the record for longest-burning plasma, where it runs for minutes at a time! On the right you can see a timelapse of a double-null plasma, where the divertors on both the top and bottom glow.

One of the biggest challenges with divertors is heat. There are always two spots where the plasma directly strikes, and these points get hot. Very hot. Like, spacecraft reentry hot, or hotter. Building a divertor that doesn’t melt is hard. Off the top of my head, I think DIII-D in San Diego uses a graphite divertor, WEST in France is an all-tungsten machine, and JET in the UK has used tungsten and beryllium.

There’s a lot more to talk about: the “detached” and “swept” divertors at Alcator C-Mod at MIT, pros and cons of single-null and double-null, the whole deal with the long-legged SPARC divertors, and so on. I’ll cover some of that later! But for now, I leave you with one of the most baffling questions in divertor research:

Who decided to spell it “divertor” instead of “diverter?” That’s just cruel to science journalists, and doubly cruel to their editors.

[im-dios-bottom-bitch]

@melones-my-bottom-bitch I hope this clears things up about Multiverse theory.

Page 1- Today's Lesson: Multiverse Theory

Theory: The multiverse idea states that there are an arbitrarily large number of universes out there that are similar to our own. Some with minor differences and some with major differences.

For today's example, we will be using Trunks Briefs(cir. DBZ)

"Future" Trunks will be from Universe B.

Baby Trunks will be from Universe A.

Dead Trunks will be from Universe C.

Universe A: Trunks(Age 0)

Universe B: Trunks(Age 17)

Universe C: Trunks(Deceased)

Page 2:

In Universe A, Trunks is not yet conceived(thank you autocorrect). By the time the Trunks Saga happens, "Future Trunks"(Universe B), is 17. If all universes ran the same course, Trunks would not have been conceived. This feeds into the fact that multiverse theory contains differences.

Trunks(B) explains that he is from the future. Later on, this does not make sense.

By the time the Android Saga rolls around, Trunks(A) is a few months old since Trunks(B) is presumably 18. This meant a year elapsed in Universe A.

Later in the Android Saga, we learn about Cell. There is a Cell in Universe A. There is presumably(later confirmed) Cell in Universe B, and there is a Cell in Universe C.

Page 3:

Universe A Cell is not completely developed. Being a Bio-Android, he/it needs to grow.

Universe B Cell is fully developed but is in his imperfect form(he hasn't advanced on the androids/the androids were destroyed)

Universe C Cell killed Trunks(C) and stole his time machine to go to Universe A and achieve his perfect form.

This is explained in Perfect Cell's(Universe C) flashback as to how he got there in the first place. *there- Universe A

Later on, after Perfect Cell/Super Perfect Cell and Goku are dead, Trunks(B) states that he's going back to his time(yes technically the future but its also not), to defeat the Androids(B) and Cell(B)

Page 4:

Trunks(B) returned to his post-apocalyptic world(Universe B/Future) and defeats the Androids.

He also sets a trap for Cell(Universe B) and lures him under the guise that he will be an easy target and he(Cell) can steal the time machine. This obviously doesn't work for Cell and Cell(B) dies.

If Trunks(B) actually came from the future, he should have never met with the main cast as it would have created a paradox(if Goku or Piccolo revealed information) and Trunks(A) would have ceased to exist. And even if he followed those parameters, his post-apocalyptic would have looked like it did in Universe A's DBS(Dragon Ball Super). Or GT in a worst case scenario.(I like GT I'm just picking on it) If he was from Universe A's future, things would have changed dramatically, but he wasn't so nothing in his universe changed.

We should also look into DBS as a reference as well. In the Tournament of Power, we see the 3 saiyans from Universe 6. Cabba, Caulifla and Kale. They are Universe 6's Vegeta, Kakarot(Goku) and Broly, in that order. They look physically weaker due to different circumstances of each universe. In all but those two universes, I believe Saiyans are extinct.

Page 5:

We also need to consider the fact that even Funimation and Toei said that none of the original Dragon Ball Z movies(circa. 1990's) are canon. They take place in a completely different universe. That's why you see Goku fighting Android 13 when he should have been at home resting since he was suffering from the heart virus. Also Androids 16, 17 and 18 should have been able to find him since 16 can sense energy.

This is why we have 2 Broly Models. DBZ(my favorite) and DBS. Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, takes place directly after Super Android 13. Thus, it takes place during the Cell Saga(most likely during the week before the cell games if we want to go based on the canonical timeline). During the Cell Saga, everyone is worried and training. They only have a week to prepare and I guarantee fighting a 10" ft tall(canonically; in LSS form) saiyan filled with about 32 years of repressed rage, wasn't on their to do list.

And that is multiverse theory.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Make Your Own Thermometer

What’s the first thing you do before going to bed or upon waking up in the morning? For many people, it’s checking the weather. This simple activity sets the tone for the rest of your day. It will determine the outfit you wear, whether you walk or ride the bus and so much more. It can be as easy as checking an app or watching the morning news, but where’s the fun and excitement in that? With a little effort, you can make your very own thermometer that will provide an up-to-the-minute indoor or outdoor temperature, depending on where you leave it.

What You’ll Need

·        A 20 ounce plastic soda bottle

·        A small funnel

·        Water

·        Rubbing alcohol

·        Food coloring

·        Straw

·        Modeling clay

·        Permanent marker

·        Bowl of hot (but not boiling!) water

·        Bowl of ice

Directions

Fill your bottle halfway with 5 ounces (a little more than half a cup or about 150 ml) of water and an equal amount of rubbing alcohol.

Add a few drops of food coloring to the mixture. About 1-3 drops should do the trick!

Now drop your straw into the bottle, but don’t let it rest on the bottom. Doing so will block the mixture from entering the straw. Leave a little bit of room so that the straw can fill. Wrap the modeling clay around the opening at the top of the bottle to create a seal. Do not cover the top opening of the straw. Try and keep the straw centered inside the bottle.

It’s time to calibrate your temperatures. You can use the store-bought thermometer for this. Start at room temperature and look for the highest point of the liquid in your straw. Mark that spot’s temperature on the bottle. Then set the bottle in a bowl of hot (but not boiling!) water and mark that temperature. Lastly, set the bottle in a bowl of ice and wait two minutes. Mark that temperature on your bottle.

Now you have cold, moderate and warm temperatures on the bottle. When you wake up tomorrow morning, use your new thermometer to see what the temperature is like!

So how does this work? 

Well, the warmer temperatures cause the liquids to expand. This forces the liquid up the straw, the same way that mercury moves in a thermometer you would buy at the store. In colder temperatures, the opposite happens and the liquid contracts and slides back down the straw.

Fun Fact

The first medical thermometer was invented by Sir Thomas Allbutt in 1867. It could take a person’s temperature in about five minutes. Do you think you could wait that long?

Learn more with Nature Lab. 

[thingsilearnedteaching]

Teaching a Science Lesson

At the Roach Motel school

Me:Alright guys, where does the energy of our food come from?

Never Engaged Student who happens to like food:The ground!

Never Engaged Student's buddy: Yeah! The ground! Potatoes come from the ground, carrots come from the ground, bread comes from the ground! And then deer and cows eat grass and we eat them so it all comes from the ground!

Me: Wait, hold on now-

Completely shocked and bewildered student: Wait! We eat ground potatoes? Like... Potatoes from the ground?!

Food loving never engaged student: Yeah! Duh! Everything comes from the ground!

Me:Well that's where nutrients-

Bewildered Student who's just had a whole world open up for her: Like in the dirt? Ground Potatoes and Ground Carrots? Ugh! I'm never having them again.

Usually quiet student: So you won't have chips or fries ever again.

Bewildered Student who's totally changing her diet: Not if they're made from ground potatoes. That's nasty.

Probably one of the best discussions that class had all year... Unfortunately.

[kaleidoscopekiller]

yes I am following on the book