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Posted by Yorick on 08-21-2002 06:38 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by maddog
Let's use a speed of light we can quantify, it takes ~8 minutes for the sun's rays to reach Earth. If the sun were to be snuffed out, we would have eight minutes of light before darkness fell upon us.

We'd also have 8 minutes before we knew it was snuffed out. Though I bet the planet would have frozen over by then, since light is the visible portion of the sun's radiation and has a shorter wavelength than some of the other stuff. (or is that longer wavelength. damn, I should've brought an umbrella to the beach.)

quote:
Originally posted by maddog
Isn't that first particle behind the last ray of light travelling at the same speed as the light rays? And if that particle is not "darkness", what is it?

Hydrogen.

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Posted by ToolkiT on 08-21-2002 06:45 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Yorick

Hydrogen.

nope, no particles in space.... just an empty void...

It is very hard for humans to understand the concept of an empty void... we feel the need to have 'something'

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Posted by MarkEagle on 08-21-2002 11:46 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by ToolkiT
It is very hard for humans to understand the concept of an empty void... we feel the need to have 'something'

Everyone with a Springboard slot knows what that's like...

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Posted by Doggy on 08-21-2002 02:38 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Yorick
We'd also have 8 minutes before we knew it was snuffed out. Though I bet the planet would have frozen over by then, since light is the visible portion of the sun's radiation and has a shorter wavelength than some of the other stuff. (or is that longer wavelength.

Is this true? Would the planet freeze in less than 8 minutes if the sun was snuffed out? You mean all these years I wondered how long the oxygen on the planet would last or how long we could survive on batteries if the sun closed up shop and now I am told that these concerns are irrelevant?

My life's pondering has come to an end!

BTW, kudos to Mark, good thing I didn't have a drink in my mouth or it would have been coming out my nose! And that really hurts when it is carbonated.

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Posted by Toby on 08-21-2002 04:52 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by maddog
Is this true? Would the planet freeze in less than 8 minutes if the sun was snuffed out? [...]

Sounds pretty accurate. The catch being, of course, that any event big enough to snuff out the sun would probably wipe us out at the same time. The sun's snuffing itself out would, of course, be preceded by its expansion (which would swallow us or suck us in), so in such an event, freezing would be the least of our concerns.

Posted by Yorick on 08-21-2002 05:25 PM:

Originally posted by Toby
Sounds pretty accurate. The catch being, of course, that any event big enough to snuff out the sun would probably wipe us out at the same time.
I was trying to avoid that idea, but yeah.
If for some reason the sun just suddenly ceased to put out radiation, however ... (insert more pseudo-science mumbojumbo here)

The sun's snuffing itself out would, of course, be preceded by its expansion (which would swallow us or suck us in), so in such an event, freezing would be the least of our concerns.
that's actually scheduled to happen in about 15,000 years or so. so, better pack your bags now!

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Posted by Toby on 08-21-2002 05:44 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Yorick
[...] that's actually scheduled to happen in about 15,000 years or so. so, better pack your bags now!

Where's the 15,000 coming from. I know it'll happen eventually, but that's the earliest number I've heard so far.

Posted by sowens on 08-21-2002 05:54 PM:

Wow, this post is still active.

First to BobbyMike: no apology necessary. For some reason I usually come across as combative when I'm just being inquisitive. Should have used a smiley, and I apologize for not doing so.

Yorick: Yes there are different wavelengths of light coming from the Sun, but they should all travel through a void at the same speed. Of course, modern science believes that the Universe really isn't a void, but I think it's a safe to assume a void over the distances we're talking about.

I also thought the Sun had about 5 billion more years to go before going nova, and that the Earth would be swallowed somewhere around the 4 billion mark. Ah, who cares. I won't be worrying about getting a tan by that time anyway.

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Posted by BobbyMike on 08-22-2002 01:58 AM:

So are you all saying that I can wait until next year to use my vacation time at my friends villa in Jamaica?

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Posted by Yorick on 08-22-2002 02:00 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Toby
Where's the 15,000 coming from. I know it'll happen eventually, but that's the earliest number I've heard so far.

I pulled it out of my ... hat.

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Posted by Madkins007 on 08-22-2002 03:56 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Yorick

We'd also have 8 minutes before we knew it was snuffed out. Though I bet the planet would have frozen over by then, since light is the visible portion of the sun's radiation and has a shorter wavelength than some of the other stuff. (or is that longer wavelength. damn, I should've brought an umbrella to the beach.)

Hydrogen.

I don't think the Earth would freeze in the 8 minute interval, assuming that whatever happened left our atmosphere intact- it serves as a decent insulating blanket, or else 1/2 of the Earth would freeze over every night.

Even if the atmosphere was blown away, I am not sure the planet would freeze over in the 8 minutes- the thermal sink of dirt and water would probably protect it for a bit. No one would be here to appreciate it though!

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Posted by septimus on 08-23-2002 02:06 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by ToolkiT
nope, no particles in space.... just an empty void...

Not so much with the empty void. There's particles in them thar .. voids. There are some voids, sure, but there are a lot of particles out there, more than you'd think (dark matter...)

Also, Nature so abhors a vacuum that it creates particles out of literally nothing to fill it. Matter and Anitmatter separate and pop into existence, swirl about, then collide and destroy themselves. This happens everywhere all the time, but is easier to see in space. This is how we are able to notice black holes actually emitting particles. Particle pairs that pop into existence at the event horizon. One gets sucked in, one escapes.

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Posted by septimus on 08-23-2002 02:07 PM:

Oh, and since the Speed of light is a constant in the universe, perhaps the only one, clearly the opposite of the Speed of Light is Human Female. (*Ducks*)

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Posted by jhappel on 08-24-2002 11:21 AM:

quote:
perhaps the only one, clearly the opposite of the Speed of Light is Human Female. (*Ducks*)

I think you better do more than just duck!!!!

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Posted by hesspaul on 09-03-2002 12:59 AM:

the opposite of the speed of light

... is the sound of silence ...

Posted by ToolkiT on 09-03-2002 01:01 AM:

Re: the opposite of the speed of light

quote:
Originally posted by hesspaul
... is the sound of silence ...

Excelent that's the best one so far

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Posted by MarkEagle on 09-03-2002 01:40 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by hesspaul
the sound of silence ...

Is silence a sound?

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Hmmm...

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Posted by hesspaul on 09-03-2002 01:45 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by MarkEagle
Is silence a sound?

Is light a speed?

Posted by MarkEagle on 09-03-2002 01:46 AM:

quote:
the opposite of the Speed of Light is Human Female.

...

the sound of silence ...

These are mutually exclusive, aren't they?

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Posted by Toby on 09-03-2002 02:30 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by MarkEagle
Is silence a sound?

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Hmmm...

If a tree falls on Forrest Sawyer and no one's around, does he make a sound?

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