How Big Is Big?

[STSF Jami 0]

If our sun (a relatively small star) is the size of a basketball, the earth is the size of the head of a pin.

 

If our sun were the size of a grapefruit in New York City, the closest star would be a cherry in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California.

 

If we were to travel to the sun in a 747 at top speed, it would take us 17 years to reach the sun.

 

If our sun were to go nova, within 10 seconds everything in our solar system up to the planet Jupiter would be disintegrated.

 

10,000 Earths can fit into the red spot of Jupiter.

 

If we were to travel our solar system with our present technology, it would be like exploring the United States as an ant.

[LoAmi 0]

If our sun were to go nova, within 10 seconds everything in our solar system up to the planet Jupiter would be disintegrated.

eh hem... hate to nitpick, but, in what frame of reference?  Given that the distance from earth to sun is 1.5x10^11 m and the speed of light is 3x10^8 m/s, it would take ~8.3 min for information about the nova (let alone matter and radiation) to even reach earth - at which point, it would be cooked then swiftly obliterated.  Of course, this only makes sense assuming we're in the reference frame defined by earth.  I have no idea what the time difference would be if we defined it by the wavefront of the matter hurtling through the solar system!

 

It actually does bug me quite a bit when non-warp capable shuttlecraft are used to travel between systems, or astronomical distances are measured in orders of a few meters and kilometers, rather than millions or even billions of km.  (The Star Trek shows are to blame for the first; A *lot* of simmers get caught by the second).

[Vex Xiang 0]

Didnt anyone ever tell you that size doesnt matter?

[Erein Vor'Tic 0]

Well, if the sun were to go nova, we would die anyways. We would if we had a year, or 10 sec, the time doesnt matter. We couldnt out run it with a space shuttle.

[Nemesis 0]

well if we were to try to the sun in a 747 we would never leave the atmoshpere and if we did we could never actually fly it right to the sun and it would take a lot more then 17years as well we would all burn up and die bfore we reached the sun so in the true fact we would never reach the sun in a 747  :D

[Vex Xiang 0]

Not to mention the engines on a 747 require air to operate.

[Captain Huff 0]

eh hem... hate to nitpick, but, in what frame of reference?  Given that the distance from earth to sun is 1.5x10^11 m and the speed of light is 3x10^8 m/s, it would take ~8.3 min for information about the nova (let alone matter and radiation) to even reach earth - at which point, it would be cooked then swiftly obliterated.  Of course, this only makes sense assuming we're in the reference frame defined by earth.  I have no idea what the time difference would be if we defined it by the wavefront of the matter hurtling through the solar system!

 

LOL!  Stop showing off your physics and nitpicking the "Earth is a grapefruit" posts!!  lol...  I love that crap!  Well maybe it's just the food references...  As for the question, of course our reference would be that of Earth's, and there's no reason we'd need to include information travel speed nor redefine time from the wavefront in order to estimate the (current reference) time it would take us to vaporize, eh?  (See joke next post...:D

 

Good point about the non-warp shuttles.  

 

But the real question we need to ask ourselves is this...  What *would* you see in your rear view mirror???

[Nemesis 0]

But the real question we need to ask ourselves is this...  What *would* you see in your rear view mirror???

well you would most likely see nothing in your rear-view mirrors because you would be dead before you had the chance to see anything :D

[Atragon9 0]

But the real question we need to ask ourselves is this...  What *would* you see in your rear view mirror???

"Objects Are Closer Than They Appear"

[Nemesis 0]

But the real question we need to ask ourselves is this...  What *would* you see in your rear view mirror???

"Objects Are Closer Than They Appear"

I think if you saw that in you mirror it would matter how close it was :D

[Captain Huff 0]

Okay, here's the uber-nerd joke:

 

One day a farmer decides that he needs to upgrade his farming methods and must find a faster and more economical way to pluck his chickens.  

 

So he goes to his friend who is machinist and tells him what he has in mind.  His friend scratches his head, thinks about it, and says, "Sure, I can do that.  I'll whip something together and you bring me some of them there chickens tomorrow and we'll try her out."  He tinkers all night in his shop and the next day he and the farmer stick a few chickens in.  Well, the machine plucks about a quarter of the feathers and crushes the chickens.  No good.  The machinist recommends hiring the local engineer in town to design a fancier machine.  

 

So the farmer thanks his friend anyway, and in determination heads into town to talk to the engineer about designing a chicken-plucker.  The engineer replies, "Of course.  Do you have a sample of chickens with you?"  The farmer hands him a crate of chickens and the engineer goes to work measuring the chickens, weighing them, testing the tensile strength of the feathers, and so on.  A week later, he calls the farmer and says he has a test model of his design.  The farmer comes back with some fresh chickens and they test out the model.  Well, it surely plucks every last feather, but it crushes the chickens.  Still no good.  The engineer recommends talking to the local university's physicists.  

 

So the farmer gets back in his truck, takes a big breath, and heads over to the university.  He finds the physics department and explains his problem.  The physicist's eyebrows shoot up and he replies, "Of course!  Yes, yes, we can do that!"  He rushes to the blackboard, grabs a piece of chalk out of his lab coat, starts to draw and says, "Now let's assume a spherical chicken..."

[Atragon9 0]

The physicist's eyebrows shoot up and he replies, "Of course!  Yes, yes, we can do that!"  He rushes to the blackboard, grabs a piece of chalk out of his lab coat, starts to draw and says, "Now let's assume a spherical chicken..."

ROFLOL!!

but if you think about it - where do you think they get those round patties for the McChicken sandwiches?

[Nemesis 0]

That was a funny joke Huff

[Vex Xiang 0]

What kind of resources do you all use when you have to come up with something that sounds scientific? Or do you just make it up as you go?

[Captain Huff 0]

Well, I tend to look up "Trek" physics in some big old hardcover Trek gameplaying reference books, and any real physics comes from, well, real physics.  Most Trek topics are covered in books in depth enough certainly for our gaming, and they include as much genuine physics principles as possible, thanks to years of cult fandom.  So the work is done for you.

 

I don't recommend upper division physics classes for gaming, but if you really like the stuff, there's some excellent laymen books out, Hawking's being my favorite.

[LoAmi 0]

but if you think about it - where do you think they get those round patties for the McChicken sandwiches?

I saw an add for KFC recently that advertised "boneless wings" made of "100% breast meat."  Strangely, it never mentioned from what animal...

[Nemesis 0]

thats the best thing ever boneless wings that would make flying impossible :D

[Cptn Moose 0]

What kind of resources do you all use when you have to come up with something that sounds scientific? Or do you just make it up as you go?

I tend to make it up.  Much to the chagrin of our scientist friend Lo'Ami, who coined the phrase "moose  babble" to describe my ramblings.  :cool:

[Nemesis 0]

I do too moose well not make it up presay most of the stuff I say actually ends up being true in the long run I'm a natural theorist :D

[LoAmi 0]

I tend to make it up.  Much to the chagrin of our scientist friend Lo'Ami, who coined the phrase "moose  babble" to describe my ramblings.  :cool:

Ah, yes - because I was left to figure out what a "perpetual half-life replenishing generator" does.  After all the complaining, it worked out - not only did it spill out a stream of particles lethal to starships, but it also produced perfectly toasted bread.

 

Of course, the technobabble I use is 'made up.'  Usually, I try to work in ideas from Star Trek episodes and from what I know of real science - the more obscure, the better.  Frequently, I'll figure out a first draft of what the technobabble means before naming it.  Then, I'll come up with something that kind of resembles what it means or does and string together words that could be given that meaning.  (As an aside, that's why the particular moose babble above was hard to deal with - I knew what all the words meant and had to find a theory consistent with the name).

 

That said, there's always a decision of whether to use technobabble or not.  Of course, scientists, engineers, and to a lesser extent, doctors, wouldn't be in business without it.  But, the two downsides are that you want everyone to understand the plot; also, it's sometimes used as an easy way out of a situation that might have better been solved with good story telling.  IMHO (and I might have violated this myself from time to time), tech talk works best as a plot device, rather than to drive the plot.

[STSF_BluRox 0]

but it also produced perfectly toasted bread.

Go easy on the 'toast' there....My CSec, Lt. Commander Robinson may end up having to show up there to do an investigation. He is the sole benefactor of the Republic's ship award for the best use of toast in a sim, having won it twice over the last couple years.  

 

Be warned..hide your toast.

[LoAmi 0]

Be warned..hide your toast.

Not much I can do about it -- this was actually from the first complete plot I played with Arc... almost a year ago.  Before Republic was an STSF sim.

 

Although it is too bad that Arc doesn't have such an honor.  :D

[Anika818 0]

toast, chicken--Im getting hungry! :wink:

 

Anyway, I had once read a book about the physics of Star Trek.  The author was trying to compare reality to fiction, but what I thought was especially funny was that some of the theories that the physist (you all know I can't spell) stated as impossible have occured since then.  

 

I like watching star trek for the monkey-see, monkey-do factor :) .  For example, ST: TOS had itsy bitsy storage disks of information and communicators...we know have floppy diskettes, CD, and cell phones that flip too   :)

[LoAmi 0]

Trek.  The author was trying to compare reality to fiction, but what I thought was especially funny was that some of the theories that the physist (you all know I can't spell) stated as impossible have occured since then.  

Never read the book ... which theories would those be?

[Vex Xiang 0]

For example, ST: TOS had itsy bitsy storage disks of information and communicators...we know have floppy diskettes, CD, and cell phones that flip too

 

Floppy disks? CDs? Cell phones? Man...get out of the past!

 

Go buy a 100GB mem card, pop in a DVD, and make your calls on your PDA Satellite phone.