Science question of the day

[crofter]

Orange you going to tell us who named it & when?
-crofter

 

[shadowmoss]

https://gizmodo.com/how-the-colors-got-their-names-1510522700

Article on how the colors were named.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Oh, more at risk than hand pain. Check out this article.
-crofter

https://www.shieldyourbody.com/emf-blocking-phone-case/?billing_country=US

This is just marketing gibberish to sell widgets to suckers.
Your cathode ray TV or computer monitor from the days before flat screen spewed out much more EMF.
Any EMF blocker effective at stopping SMPS or DCDC converter EMF will also block your data signal as well.

 

[crofter]

Any supporting documentation for your opinion CG? (link to article, study, etc.) Since its a science thread, not really about your opinion.

Also I'm sure we would all be interested on other causes you can post about, related to hand pain & tumors from carrying a smartphone next to your body.

This relates to van dwelling in that most dwellers have given up their laptop in favor of a smartphone with cheap unlimited data plan. May even fall asleep with their smartphone in close proximity for 8 hours of exposure to EMF.

From what I have read, the best solution is to stop using your smartphone. No more gaming, reading online, endless scrolling unless it is from your laptop.
-crofter

 

[cdwhit]

 It depends on how bad it is.  I’m not sure about the solar panels themselves, but the wires in electrical motor could burn out in a SEVERE solar event, semiconductors (inverters, radios, electronic ignitions, radios, and long run electrical wires (like telegraph wires) could be taken out by a bad one.
Can a solar flare wipe out individual solar panel installations, or is only the grid affected? Communications can be temporarily effected by a quite mild one.  While solar event are are a 12 year cycle (more or less), they don’t effect us as often.  The event in July, 2012 missed the earths orbit by several days, but it is expected that if it had hit us, it would have been at least as bad as the Carrington event that took out the telegraph system.  A lot of astronomy and electrical engineer types have nightmares about this apparently.

Google “Carrington event” and “Coronal mass ejection”. It’s really interesting so long as you aren’t prone to nightmares.


I saw a video describing the solar flare in 1857, had little effect since the electric system (the grid) was not in place then, but still burned down the copper telegraph lines. Solar flares said to be on an 11 year cycle.
-crofter

Also called corona mass ejection in the article.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-activity/en/

On 11 year solar cycle, currently at the minimum.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-cycles/en/

 

[gsfish]

I recently saw a story on the PBS News Hour that was promoting a newly developed 'miracle' paint as a weapon against global warming.
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-whitest-paint-1634594293/

Apparently it is whiter than white and reflects more of the suns energy than any existing paint (98.1%).

They state that their paint is so reflective (but not 100%) that something painted with it is actually several degrees COOLER THAN AMBIENT AIR TEMPERATURE. I'm calling BS on this.

I'm no physicist but feel I know the basics of thermodynamics. By my understanding, if two identical objects have been painted, one with the 'miracle' paint and the other with the nearest competitor and they are both in a stable, temperature controlled environment, they and everything within that environment, given time, will reach a temperature equilibrium. We must assume that this in in a dark space since the statements concern the reaction to sunlight. By my understanding of the claims made, when sunlight is introduced the traditional painted object will become warmer than ambient air temperature and the 'miracle' painted object will react by getting COOLER even though the air temperature remains the same as before. The demonstration given is hardly a controlled experiment and could be easily manipulated.

So in a long drawn out way that is my science question of the day... In a stable environment is there any way for sunlight to cause a 'decrease in temperature below ambient air' of any object because of how it is painted?

Of course this is the same News Hour that was scammed by a "make power from water" hoax back in 2017.
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/pt.5.8201/full/

Guy

 

[Sofisintown]

Yeah, I saw that a few months ago. If there was any truth in it (Like, "here's how we defy laws of nature" ) we would have heard more by now..
I filed it with the "insulating paint" scam.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Any supporting documentation for your opinion CG? (link to article, study, etc.) Since its a science thread, not really about your opinion.

Also I'm sure we would all be interested on other causes you can post about, related to hand pain & tumors from carrying a smartphone next to your body.

This relates to van dwelling in that most dwellers have given up their laptop in favor of a smartphone with cheap unlimited data plan. May even fall asleep with their smartphone in close proximity for 8 hours of exposure to EMF.

From what I have read, the best solution is to stop using your smartphone. No more gaming, reading online, endless scrolling unless it is from your laptop.
-crofter

There was a similar post on Vandwellers where I went into detail about why EMF blockers are a scam.
There is a lot of EMF around us all the time. Technology generated EMF, sun generated EMF and of course the EMF generated by the planet itself. Without the Earth's EMF shielding us from dangerous radiation from space life could not exist on this planet.
Any device or sticker which claims to shield you from cellphone EMF will also be blocking or absorbing the signal of the phone itself.
For instance if you place your phone in a Faraday cage. (That is a metal cage which is grounded) That will block most of the EMF (depending on how large the gaps are in the cage). It will also capture and ground out most if not all of the data/voice signal.
EMF of pretty much all frequencies is happier going to ground than following a straight path. It will in fact bend it's path to travel to a ground point.

EMF is broadband. Wireless is at discrete frequencies. Whatever captures EMF which is all frequencies from very short to very long, will also capture wireless, which is in the middle of the spectrum.

Why it is snake oil.
Every single website, video or print ad I have ever seen selling EMF blocking products loves to conflate EMF with the term "radiation".
Now anyone familiar with physics will know, radiation is merely one of the forms of energy propagation. Along with conductance and convection.
However in the popular mind radiation means radioactive. Thanks to decades of TV, Movies and comic books of course.
They talk about EMF radiation and follow that with a few sentences about the 'harmful effects of radiation'.
It completely sidesteps the difference between ionizing (harmful) and non-ionizing (not harmful) radiation.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/index.cfm

If you want to reduce the "effects" of wireless device transmitter on your body there is a free way.
It's called the Inverse Square Law or Power Law.
For every doubling of distance, energy is attenuated by a factor of 10.
move it 2 feet away, then 4 feet then 8.
10, 100, 1000 times less intense.

I would worry more about preservatives and chemicals in your food and beverages than EMF.
We know that the human body cannot tolerate high levels of these. But the FDA doesn't test for cumulative effects.  They just test if you can eat one twinkie and not die. Also worry about the plastics in your environment, and the VOCs in all of the things you install in your van.

 

[gtinseth]

Plus a reminder that the way science works is that the group making the unexpected claim is the one on whom the burden of proof sits. You say, "This thing shields us from all this bad stuff." Science says, "Prove it." Turning around and saying that science has to prove your claims are false isn't the way things go. Proving a negative is almost impossible. Make surprising and unusual claims and expect to be asked to prove them. And doing "research" on Youtube or Facebook isn't usually a credible source for this. Thank you CalverasGrande for being a voice of reason. I am not a physicist, but a close relative (physical chemist) and I this is one of my little projects. Anyone remember the radio bit called "Ask Dr. Science - I am not a real doctor but I have a master's degree...in SCIENCE!" which was always worth a laugh.

 

[crofter]

Hello everyone!
Is anyone watching the asteroid pass today? Should be around (4:51pm EST) 2:51pm in AZ. Here is a link on viewing from Earthsky.
-crofter

https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-1994-pc1-closest-jan-18-2022/
Article says it is A stony asteroid, when will the vodka asteroid be coming?

 

[AmargosaWayne]

"(4:51pm EST) 8pm in AZ."
ET is two hours ahead of MT (AZ), 2:51pm MT.

 

[crofter]

"(4:51pm EST) 8pm in AZ."
ET is two hours ahead of MT (AZ), 2:51pm MT.

Thank you Wayne, and my east coast relative thanks you for the education on time zones, always said I was calling 4 hours late.

Since its daytime, might be impossible to see the tail.
-crofter

Hello everyone!
Is anyone watching the asteroid pass today? Should be around (4:51pm EST) 2:51pm in AZ. Here is a link on viewing from Earthsky.
-crofter

https://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-1994-pc1-closest-jan-18-2022/
Article says it is A stony asteroid, when will the vodka asteroid be coming?

Here is the January link to Earthsky, with viewing guides.
-crofter

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/

 

[crofter]

Whew, got passed by a speeding asteroid, clocked at over 43,000 mph. I'm told this happens all the time but I have been blissfully unaware. Link to video.
-crofter

https://weather.com/science/space/video/giant-asteroid-will-be-closest-to-earth-this-afternoon

 

[JDelete]

A 3000 foot rock going 43,000 mph — I guess we dodged a bullet with that one. I am guessing that would be an extinction level event if it hit.

 

[crofter]

A 3000 foot rock going 43,000 mph — I guess we dodged a bullet with that one. I am guessing that would be an extinction level event if it hit.

Well I don't know if it would be ELE for all life. According to the comments from the astronomers earth gets hit every 600,000 years give or take. And some lifeforms are really really old, though possibly not THAT old. For example both scorpions and birds have lived for many thousands of years, though looking different in their modern form.

I have been listening to the virtual telescope project site in Italy, link below, source of the video on the asteroid flyby. While that was in present time, apparently most of what they look at with the space telescopes is actually occurring in the past. Interesting to follow their link and see what the new telescope finds.
-crofter

https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/

 

[crofter]

Well I don't know if it would be ELE for all life. According to the comments from the astronomers earth gets hit every 600,000 years give or take. And some lifeforms are really really old, though possibly not THAT old. For example both scorpions and birds have lived for many thousands of years, though looking different in their modern form.

I have been listening to the virtual telescope project site in Italy, link below, source of the video on the asteroid flyby. While that was in present time, apparently most of what they look at with the space telescopes is actually occurring in the past. Interesting to follow their link and see what the new telescope finds.
-crofter

https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/

Here is a quick read on the top ten survivor species on planet earth, so the idea of total ELE turns out to be a myth. Link to article.
-crofter

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-top-10-greatest-survivors-of-evolution-118143319/
Scorpion species dates from 437 million years ago, another survivor. Link to article.
-c

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200116121903.htm

 

[crofter]

Besides checking out the sky with a virtual telescope, you can take a road trip to the past- 66 million years ago- at Badlands NP in South Dakota. Link to site.
-crofter

https://interactive.wttw.com/prehis.../how-did-anything-survive-the-mass-extinction

 

[scottrod31]

If you stand all the people in the world shoulder to shoulder front to back they would all fit in New York City.