Stupid Science Questions

[Saggy]

Well, I know we all have stupid scientific questions sometimes. You know like, "Is a sonic boom possible under water," or, "What would happen if I farted in space?"

 

Why not start with those two? Because, seriously, I want to know.

 

I'm wondering if a sonic boom underwater would cause visible ripples in the liquid. And as for farting in space, well, will it disembowel you quicker than a swimming pool drain or what?

[Mike Tequeli]

I'm under the impression that the vast pressure difference between your lungs and space is so great it would just suck out. So I can only imagine it would be the same the other way around. You can't really actually off the physical act of breathing in space so again I think that is how it works the other way around.

[fox09]

Well, in order to get a sonic boom under water, you need something to be moving faster than the speed of sound... under water. So you're already gunna have visible ripples anway. Once you do pass the speed of sound though, it'll probably just be like a sonic boom in air. Remember at the end of the movie The Hunt for Red October, when the sub gets blown up? It'd probably just look like that.

 

 

Also, I agree with Mike, all of your gases would probably be sucked out anyway.

 

 

 

All of that just comes from my grade 11 Physics class, so I probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

[doesntcheatGTA]

I actually know this from physics class. Look, I imagine a large bomb or depth charge under water. That would basically be the sonic boom under water. See, sound travels MUCH faster under water. So the boom would actually be amplified, as well.

[The Unvirginiser]

 

I actually know this from physics class. Look, I imagine a large bomb or depth charge under water. That would basically be the sonic boom under water. See, sound travels MUCH faster under water. So the boom would actually be amplified, as well.

 

 

SONIC BOOM!!!

[doesntcheatGTA]

Yeah, like that.

[mark-2007]

I actually know this from physics class. Look, I imagine a large bomb or depth charge under water. That would basically be the sonic boom under water. See, sound travels MUCH faster under water. So the boom would actually be amplified, as well.

 

 

SONIC BOOM!!!

Wew, what was that? And why did they all panic do get inside as the mist approached them?

 

Also - a question of my own...

 

If you went to the North Pole (or south) and walked anti-clockwise around the world once, would you essentially be getting younger...?

 

 

This does actually confuse me though.

[doesntcheatGTA]

If you went to the North Pole (or south) and walked anti-clockwise around the world once, would you essentially be getting younger...?

 

 

No. You still age the same. And either way, age is measured in years, not days. So it wouldn't be the rotation of the Earth causing you to age, it would be the Earth's revolutions around the sun. You don't get younger...

 

...now if you were to break the speed of light (or even approach it), you would (theoretically) get younger. But that's a whole different story.

[mark-2007]

If you went to the North Pole (or south) and walked anti-clockwise around the world once, would you essentially be getting younger...?

 

 

No. You still age the same. And either way, age is measured in years, not days. So it wouldn't be the rotation of the Earth causing you to age, it would be the Earth's revolutions around the sun. You don't get younger...

 

...now if you were to break the speed of light (or even approach it), you would (theoretically) get younger. But that's a whole different story.

Yeah, like Superman does when he flies out into space and circles the world really fast. I know where you're coming from.

 

Also, I remember reading that if we managed to power rokcets with anti-matter then we'd be able to get to Jupiter and back (or some far away planet) in 8 minutes. Yet, when we returned, 16 Earth years would have passed. That means you're going forward in time (I think).

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

 

Well, I know we all have stupid scientific questions sometimes.  You know like, "Is a sonic boom possible under water," or, "What would happen if I farted in space?"

 

Why not start with those two?  Because, seriously, I want to know.

 

I'm wondering if a sonic boom underwater would cause visible ripples in the liquid.  And as for farting in space, well, will it disembowel you quicker than a swimming pool drain or what?

That depends on the other things involved with the object exceeding the speed of sound.

 

If the object is One of These then the dispersal will make it nearly unnoticeable until it is too late because the sonic boom will be so far behind the object that it will no longer matter before you are hitting your target. The torpedoes that disrupt the water with sonics is also another interesting thing that I have ran across recently yet have no source to refer at this time.....how that works is intesting since it allows for the same result of going MachII underwater meaning that something that uses the speed of sound to disrupt water can move beyond the speed of sound in water......The bubble methods are all very interesting regardless of the techniques being used as well.

 

This is a good topic IMO, Sag.

 

However, the sonic boom only happens when you break the sound barrier itself and only then does it happen if the substance can be compressed. Air compresses enough for this effect called a sonic boom, so do many liquids yet water has some very special qualities that allow it to be nearly immune to compression and thus immune to things like sonic booms. The question of whether or not there are gases present in the situation you are referring to may alter the result of the proposed questions answer.

 

My proposition would be that if there are gases present in the water then there is most definitely a strong probrablity of a sonic boom and therefore another physical indication yet that indication may be a variety of things depending on the other factors of the situation.

 

Are there other factors in you proposed situation SagaciousKJB?

Edited June 4, 2008 by HolyGrenadeFrenzy

[xtal256]

 

SONIC BOOM!!!

 

SONIC BOOM!!! lol, i used to love that game.

 

on topic: i got a good one. Is it possible to have a planet with a core made of water, or air! After seeing Star Wars Ep1 I always wondered if that was possible, even if it was it would be so dense that you couldn't travel through it meaning that poor old Obi Wan would have to take the long way 'round .

Edited June 4, 2008 by Haro

[doesntcheatGTA]

SONIC BOOM!!!

 

SONIC BOOM!!! lol, i used to love that game.

 

on topic: i got a good one. Is it possible to have a planet with a core made of water, or air! After seeing Star Wars Ep1 I always wondered if that was possible, even if it was it would be so dense that you couldn't travel through it meaning that poor old Obi Wan would have to take the long way 'round .

Absoultely not. No ands, ifs or buts about it. The center is mostly liquid metals like nickel, iron and zinc.

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

 

Is it possible to have a planet with a core made of water, or air/

Only if the other material the planet is made of is lighter than a density of one which is the density of water for water or more than the other gasses you are refering to.

 

Basically, the density decides how central it becomes and there is a little more to it but elements at intense pressures are usually a certain type of materials as well.....usually liquid metals but that still depends on what material the planet is made up of to begin with.

 

Why does Mass and Distance effect Gravity

 

http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s8.htm

 

http://marine.rutgers.edu/dmcs/ms200/ocean_structure.doc

 

http://cseligman.com/text/planets/integration.htm

 

Basically the shape of things and the way that gravity is related to mass and distance is what decides where things settle to and what the comparitive masses go within a celestial body.

 

There have been some "Super-Earths" discovered that have density far below ours yet there overall mass is many times the size of earth and the gravity is at odds yet from there size it is possible that life could be on one of them. The real trouble is the fact that when some of these Super Earth Planets have a great size and a density of 2 or so that the Super Storms and such make life pretty unlikely.....at least life as we know it.

 

Regards

Edited June 4, 2008 by HolyGrenadeFrenzy

[Statutory Ray]

A sonic boom isn't very likely underwater. For one, sound travels at about 4x the speed through water as it does through air, which equals about 3400 mph. The only vehicles we have that can reach this speed or faster using propulsion are made to go into space, where there is little to no air resistance. The resistance of the water itself and the fact that one of the most effective above-water propulsion systems would be rendered useless underwater, pretty much kills any hope of a submarine or some other underwater vehicle reaching such speeds.

 

Not to mention, where would you conduct such a test?

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

 

A sonic boom isn't very likely underwater.  For one, sound travels at about 4x the speed through water as it does through air, which equals about 3400 mph.  The only vehicles we have that can reach this speed or faster using propulsion are made to go into space, where there is little to no air resistance.  The resistance of the water itself and the fact that one of the most effective above-water propulsion systems would be rendered useless underwater, pretty much kills any hope of a submarine or some other underwater vehicle reaching such speeds.

 

Not to mention, where would you conduct such a test?

I was unaware that this was a vehicle inquirery.....

 

It has been done with torpedoes already you realize?

 

Contrary to online and a majority of opinions, depending where you look, I have been advised by someone who has confirmed that the US Military already has the same tech and use of Mach2+ Torpedoes.

 

This is not something that I can even doubt, they are beyond repute.

Edited June 4, 2008 by HolyGrenadeFrenzy

[Statutory Ray]

A sonic boom isn't very likely underwater.  For one, sound travels at about 4x the speed through water as it does through air, which equals about 3400 mph.  The only vehicles we have that can reach this speed or faster using propulsion are made to go into space, where there is little to no air resistance.  The resistance of the water itself and the fact that one of the most effective above-water propulsion systems would be rendered useless underwater, pretty much kills any hope of a submarine or some other underwater vehicle reaching such speeds.

 

Not to mention, where would you conduct such a test?

I was unaware that this was a vehicle inquirery.....

 

It has been done with torpedoes already you realize?

I just saw your post, it's very interesting. I wasn't aware anything had reached Mach I underwater, but I'm amazed at how seemingly simple the solution is. Propel a gas to equalize the pressure, there is no resistance, ta-da!

 

It'd still be more impressive to see a submarine going Mach I, though.

[HolyGrenadeFrenzy]

 

It'd still be more impressive to see a submarine going Mach I, though.

Yes, it would but that would also be frightening as far as I am concerned.

 

It may very well become a reality because I understand that there are other means other that the use of gas to disrupt the water and the use of sonics is definitely being used in a similar fashion. The risk of having a Sub just pop up and toss some nukes at you would become a rather new and quick way to planetary devestation.......it would speed things up in a manner of speaking as well.

 

The use of sonics for several things is on the cutting edge. From military and police crowd to individual control to using sonics to manipulate metals and other materials in new and precise ways.

[Picolini]

Under water is basically like in the air, but everything is magnified. Ambient pressure, high and low fronts (if you will), it all is similar but amplified due to a more dense "atmosphere."

As an object increases the speed of sound under water, over 3000mph, the pressure built of in front of it would be incredibly huge. With the higher density, the "aerodynamics" (or what ever it's called under water. Aquadynamics??) would need to be highly stable or the object would shred to pieces. The biggest problem with a early attempts at breaking the sound barrier in air was actually minimizing the vibration right before breaking it. The pressure waves, as the name it self describes, caused uneven air flow around the vehicle. I could barely imagine the forces under water. The speed would be amplified (since it needs to go more than 3000mph to break the barrier, so the waves are moving faster), and the pressure is naturally larger due to the nature of water itself, being heavier and denser than gaseous particles.

 

Aside from near perfect aerodynamics and strong enough materials, getting the thing that fast is a problem. I'm not sure of the fast under water craft but my guess is no more than a couple hundred miles an hour, if that.

 

Assuming you could get something that fast though, the effect would probably be similar to in the air just much more intense. With the higher speeds the friction against the water may heat it up to, or past, boiling point and you'd have a steam wall in front of you... that'd be nuts, the effects could be crazy there. It might make it easier to "slice" through the water that way. Once you got past the sound barrier under water you'd move like a knife through butter though. Just make sure not to run into a whale!

 

The chances of this happening in even a hundred years is small. High speed underwater travel really has no big use. The odds of hitting something and damaging the vehicle is too large, and the energy it takes makes ground, air, and water surface travel just more sensible.

[Icarus]

...now if you were to break the speed of light (or even approach it), you would (theoretically) get younger. But that's a whole different story.

I have to correct this part because it's wrong and a common pitfall in relativity.

 

If you're travelling at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, you will not get younger; however, time will slow down in your frame of reference. For example, say two brothers who are twins live on Earth; one decides to go on a rocket that travels at, say, 0.90c for about 20 years measured in Earth's frame. The twin on the Earth will have aged by 20 years, but the twin on the rocket, from his frame of reference, will have only aged a fraction of 20 years.

 

So yeah, you will not get younger; you still age, but not as fast as you would in the Earth's frame of reference.

 

Also, theoretically, you cannot surpass the speed of light, otherwise your gamma factor from relativity goes to infinity and time comes to a complete halt.

[asimov]

If you were to be exposed to a vacuum you would live for as long as you can go without breathing. The air would be sucked from your lungs (holding it in would make it ALOT worse) and the surface tension of your skin would stop you blood boiling away, same can't be said for the water on your eyeballs though. I'd say your eardrums would NOT pop since the pressure would get equilized and as for farting, I don't have any scientific grounding in this theory but I'd say as soon as your asshole opened the air would be sucked from your intestines.

 

I don't think it would pull them out your ass though, the force of the air being sucked out might kill you but.

[Saggy]

Well, the thing that got me thinking about a sonic boom underwater was not actually thinking about a vehicle, but a ballistic projectile fired into the water. If anyone has ever seen the episodes of MythBusters where they fire rifles with super-sonic muzzle velocities into water, then you would have seen them conclude that any super-sonic projectile will break up when it enters the water. Now, some would say that's irrelevant because they're talking about a projectile that's already going super-sonic speed in air entering the denser liquid water, but I've seen in one instances where they fired one underwater, and it still had the same effect.

 

So, I was wondering if the same things that lead to a sonic boom in the air lead to bullet fragmentation in the water. It seems to make sense that it would based on what I've seen here, but maybe not because the same velocity required to achieve these super-sonic speeds in water seems to be much higher than it would be in air.

 

In any case, I had never even thought about what surpassing the sound barrier underwater would entail as compared with air in the first place, but I'm not sure it has anything at all to do with the initial idea anymore. I suppose the obvious answer would be that a bullet projectile doesn't have the right structure to travel through water at that speed, but it's still not easy to imagine what surpasing that barrier underwater would be like compared with in air.

 

I kind of imagined some kind of enormous pressure increase in the water since sound waves travel through it so much better. I mean, in my mind, the idea of a submarine breaking the sound barrier would like, fluctuate the pressure an atmosphere or more and damage the sub itself.

[Hayden]

I vote to change the topic title to "Curious George".

 

[xtal256]

Is it possible to have a planet with a core made of water, or air/

Only if the other material the planet is made of is lighter than a density of one which is the density of water for water or more than the other gasses you are refering to.

 

Basically, the density decides how central it becomes and there is a little more to it but elements at intense pressures are usually a certain type of materials as well.....usually liquid metals but that still depends on what material the planet is made up of to begin with.

...

Just fyi, i'm not really that stupid, i just thought it was a fun idea. And it may be possible to have a rock of some sort that is less dense than water (is there?) in which case the rock would float on top of the water if it wasn't already a solid blob before the planet got water (from asteroids and stuff).

[asimov]

what's up with all the intrest in the sonic boom. Clearly assholes turning inside out is funnier.

 

Or gayer I forget.

[!!GC!!]

If you went to the North Pole (or south) and walked anti-clockwise around the world once, would you essentially be getting younger...?

I think that you would have to make the entire world start to reverse direction and go around the sun that way, to make you be, theoretically younger

[Svip]

In space, no one can hear you fart.

 

I have wondered about the possibilities of building a huge bridge around the Earth, but since it would meet itself, the question is mostly whether it would be able to stand without pillars.

[!!GC!!]

In space, no one can hear you fart.

 

I have wondered about the possibilities of building a huge bridge around the Earth, but since it would meet itself, the question is mostly whether it would be able to stand without pillars.

Good question, because with equal gravity all over it, it should push against itself, and remain standing.

You'll just have to make the joints strong enough to withstand gravity.

[xtal256]

Yeah, good question Svip. In theory it would float, provided it could stand the immense forces, and be like Halo on Earth.

 

The idea of things circling the Earth reminded me of another cool idea. What if you could build a huge railway around the whole earth. The railway would be in a vacuum and the train supported by maglev, then it would accelerate as much as you want until you either approach the speed of light or the centrifugal force rips it off the tracks. I once saw a show on Discovery that proposed building such a railway from England to America but it would be decades if not centuries before we have the technology to do so.

[GTA3Rockstar]

 

...now if you were to break the speed of light (or even approach it), you would (theoretically) get younger. But that's a whole different story.

I have to correct this part because it's wrong and a common pitfall in relativity.

 

If you're travelling at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, you will not get younger; however, time will slow down in your frame of reference. For example, say two brothers who are twins live on Earth; one decides to go on a rocket that travels at, say, 0.90c for about 20 years measured in Earth's frame. The twin on the Earth will have aged by 20 years, but the twin on the rocket, from his frame of reference, will have only aged a fraction of 20 years.

 

So yeah, you will not get younger; you still age, but not as fast as you would in the Earth's frame of reference.

 

Also, theoretically, you cannot surpass the speed of light, otherwise your gamma factor from relativity goes to infinity and time comes to a complete halt.

 

I never understood how this could be. I always thought you would be the same age becaus.... Well take this example. Say you're driving from L.A. to Denver. It would be about 15 hours but if someone flew from L.A. to Denver they could get there in about 2.5 hours. Now, the people who flew there would be just as old as the people driving but they just arrived at their distination quicker. Put people in who are traveling fast as light. They would get there in a blink of an eye. It seems it would be the same affect as the flyers to the drivers but its now the light travelers with the flyers. How could they be aging slower? Or could we all be wrong and we age faster? Thinking about my example about arriving faster, sounds like something plausible.

 

 

@Svip's question - Can we even build a bridge that is floating? I dont think so but it could be possible. A whole bridge around the world? I think it would just break in, implode if you will.

 

 

 

@ The People who keep discussing the underwater sonicboom... HGF has posted something that already reached MACH 1 under water... http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004...itating-torpedo

 

 

 

 

 

If we could get a tunnel from one part of the world to another part(Land to Land, no water to land etc. and without the core tempature affects). What would happend if we jumped in it? Would we come out the other side but wouldn't we just fall back through the hole? So wouldn't we just be in the middle not going anywhere?

Edited June 4, 2008 by GTA3Rockstar

[Dimrain47]

What would happen if we do a big hole that goes all straight the earth and the core and we throw something in the big hole? would it get stuck in the middle of the earth or what??