The most fascinating things!

[Ricardodaforce]

A thread to highlight those really WOW type of things. You know, stuff that's jaw-dropping, that just amazes you.

For me, it is the exotic properties of neutron stars.

The fact that a teaspoon of its matter would have a mass of millions of tons.

That an object dropped from a height of a metre above its surface would be traveling at a speed of millions of kilometres per hour when it hit that surface.

That stuff is just awesome!

Any to add?

 

[TriggerHappy]

I think all things astronomy are, well, astronomical. The scales and the forces involved are just mind bending. I love losing myself in a good book or documentary discussion the universe.

 

[Tringa]

Agreed Ricardo. There are many things in astronomy, and also in the field of atomic structure, that are mind boggling.

Saw this on the Wiki site about neutron stars with powerful magnetic fields, called magnetars.

Magnetars are primarily characterized by their extremely powerful magnetic field, which can often reach the order of ten gigateslas. These magnetic fields are hundreds of millions of times stronger than any man-made magnet and quadrillions of times more powerful than the field surrounding Earth.

At a distance halfway to the moon, a magnetar could strip information from the magnetic stripes of all credit cards on Earth. As of 2010, they are the most magnetic objects ever detected in the universe

Dave

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Time dilation is another one!

As illustrated in this example:

There are two twin brothers. On their thirtieth birthday, one of the brothers goes on a space journey in a superfast rocket that travels at 99% of the speed of light. The space traveller stays on his journey for precisely one year, whereupon he returns to Earth on his 31st birthday. On Earth, however, seven years have elapsed, so his twin brother is 37 years old at the time of his arrival. This is due to the fact that time is stretched by factor 7 at approx. 99% of the speed of light, which means that in the space traveller’s reference frame, one year is equivalent to seven years on earth. Yet, time appears to have passed normally to both brothers, i.e. both still need five minutes to shave each morning in their respective reference frame.

 

[u8myufo]

Nikon owners producing sharp pictures. Just cant get my head around that one

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

Nikon owners producing sharp pictures. Just cant get my head around that one

You know what they say ...its the photographer not the camera ...well that obviously applies to Nikon photographers..... :shrug:

---

Trees made from CO2 always amazed me as a lad . :nuts:

 

[foggy4ever]

Nikon owners producing sharp pictures. Just cant get my head around that one

You know what they say ...its the photographer not the camera ...well that obviously applies to Nikon photographers..... :shrug:

I tried Canon once but my arms hurt after a while so I had to put the photocopier down.....

 

[Forbiddenbiker]

I tried Canon once but my arms hurt after a while so I had to put the photocopier down.....

Me too, its all that white finish I reckon, is it a camera? or where do I put the paper in?

 

[London Headshots]

I've always been fascinated by rational numbers. There's an infinite amount of irrational numbers between 1 and 2, and an infinite amount of irrationals between 3 and 4, all the way to an infinite number of irrationals between an infinite number of rationals. Then between all of those infinite values, there's an infinite amount of other values that you still haven't included yet.

Then Calculus comes along with limits and ruins everything!

 

[Vantage]

I've always been fascinated by rational numbers. There's an infinite amount of irrational numbers between 1 and 2, and an infinite amount of irrationals between 3 and 4, all the way to an infinite number of irrationals between an infinite number of rationals. Then between all of those infinite values, there's an infinite amount of other values that you still haven't included yet.

Then Calculus comes along with limits and ruins everything!

I think every single football supporter of England would agree with you here!

 

[POAH]

boobs are the most fascinating things to me lol

 

[andy_fozzy]

boobs are the most fascinating things to me lol

WOW

 

[BruceMo]

boobs are the most fascinating things to me lol

How long have you had this love of hairbands?

Back to OP, the vast size of the universe in general, but there's a video on youtube (think thats where I came across it) giving a tour of the planets and the relative scale
That made me go WOW

Any of you clever techy people got a link maybe?
But I've had a wee bevy watching the football, so maybe this isn't very well explained

 

[Lynton]

surely though with the whole space time malarky, when twin one slows down to reenter the atmosphere time reverts back to 1:1 and he finds out he really did leave a year after he left, not 7 yrs.

 

[Ricardodaforce]

Time dilation was a part of Albert Einstein's papers on Special Relativity. Rather than being a theory it is fact proven by tests such as taking two synchronized atomic clocks, and flying one in a plane. The clocks will show a measurable difference. This effect even has to be engineered into the GPS satellite system.

If as you say "he finds out he really did leave a year after he left, not 7 yrs", what happened to the other 6 years he has actually lived?

Details of some of the experiments over time that have confirmed the effect can be found here.

 

[Lynton]

Time dilation was a part of Albert Einstein's papers on Special Relativity. Rather than being a theory it is fact proven by tests such as taking two synchronized atomic clocks, and flying one in a plane. The clocks will show a measurable difference. This effect even has to be engineered into the GPS satellite system.

If as you say "he finds out he really did leave a year after he left, not 7 yrs", what happened to the other 6 years he has actually lived?

Details of some of the experiments over time that have confirmed the effect can be found here.

I have no idea... but he he's only been gone a year... (as far as us on earth care..) way too deep and intellectual for a friday night.

 

[Sonriendo]

way too deep and intellectual for a friday night.

Have more beer - I'm sure it will all become much clearer

 

[MisterE]

You've been reading Why does E=MC² by Brian Cox haven't you? Convincing. Nevertheless I still think we'll have warp drive one day.

 

[Lynton]

going to concentrate more on #11, #12 and #13...... apparently there are hairbands to find in the pics...

 

[Willid1]

Quite liked this

The Scale of the Universe

A bit America centric but good fun none the less

David

 

[Rob 80386]

We also have these...

beautifully simple and it allows one to step off at any floor they like, or you could stay on it forever

back to the O/P

space and physics is an amazing thing, just to think in the grand scale of things we are tiny.

do you believe in the possibilty of a multiverse? (alterative universes)

 

[Ricardodaforce]

do you believe in the possibilty of a multiverse? (alterative universes)

I don't know. But recall reading a short while back that studies of the cosmic background radiation showed circumstantial evidence of the existence of multiple universes.

 

[mxfun]

Looking at the stars on a frosty clear night always amazes me, there has to be other life of some sorts out there surely!

 

[POAH]

We also have these...

beautifully simple and it allows one to step off at any floor they like, or you could stay on it forever

back to the O/P

space and physics is an amazing thing, just to think in the grand scale of things we are tiny.

do you believe in the possibilty of a multiverse? (alterative universes)

Paternoster lifts, used to have them in the pontecorvo building (genetics) at glasgow uni