Ramblings of a mad Scientist

WHAT?!?! NO WAY!!!

2010-05-04T02:37:00.003-05:00

So..guess what? Remember that story I started back in 08 about Scott and his creepy dreams? Yea. Well..I got kinda bored tonight (well, this morning...its 2:40 am..) and wrote one and a half more chapters. Yep. So start at chapter 4 (Though you will pro want to restart from the beginning!) and HOPEFULLY this time I can keep it going for a while longer! I have changed a few tiny things, and the overall direction of the story has changed in my mind, but I believe its for the better! (much, MUCH better lol..I'm trying to remember what exactly I was thinking when I started this >.>) Anyway, go read it and tell me what you think! Oh, and yes, I still have that movie review on the way. I have just been suuuper busy the last few days and I wanna make sure I do it right! Ok, well I think its time for bed after a good hour and a half of blogging! Night everyone!

Andrew

Quick Question

2010-04-30T12:00:00.002-05:00

Hey just to get a feel for where people are at..how many would be interested to hear my thoughts on a movie I recently watched? I already have the post half written (lol) but its gonna be reeaaally long so if your interested let me know! Otherwise I'll just stick to the normal stuff. Later!

Andrew

A New Beginning

2010-04-26T12:13:00.005-05:00

So after over a year of neglecting this blog, I have decided its time to re-start it! I really miss hearing from all of you on a regular basis! I'm not quite sure how to approach it though. I'm stuck between writing about scientific topics and just every day life. I suppose I could just do a combination of both eh? Maybe thats what I'll do with this post!

First off, a science tidbit. Did you know that a 9v battery has more than enough power to stop your heart?! I certainly didn't until the other day in physics! So the story behind this is that this super tough ex-marine decided he wanted to test the internal resistance of his body using an ohmmeter, which is a device used to measure resistance in a circuit by running 9v through the circuit using two pointed metal probes. Well this guy, being tough, decided to jam the probes INTO his thumbs, creating a current across his heart large enough to kill him!!

So, how does this happen?? First off its important to note that its CURRENT that kills, not VOLTAGE. Given a circuit with low enough resistance, a 9v battery can generate a massive current. Current is calculated using the Equation V = IR, which is Ohm's law. So say you have a 9v battery and a 1 Ohm resistor, V/R = I = 9/1 = 9 Amperes of current! Thats more than your alarm clock draws from the wall by at least a factor of 9. Anyway back to the stry. So some important numbers are: External resistance of the body ~1,000,000 ohms, Internal resistance of the Body ~200ohms, Current Threshold of feeling for the human Body .001 Amperes, Threshold of heart failure .05 Amperes. So! Using those numbers you can calculate the current across the guy"s heart for both external and internal resistance. for external we have 9/1,000,000 =0.000009 amps. Thats pretty low. In fact so low you cant even feel it! However, once you penetrate the skin you have electrolyte enriched blood, which conducts electricity waaay better than skin! So using the same equation, 9/200 = .045 amps! This is extremely close to our Threshold of heart failure! In fact, close enough that since the threshold of every body varies, as does internal resistance, that this is definitly enough to kill. Scary huh?! So think about that next time you stick a battery to your tongue! No just for fun lets say your stranded out in a rain storm underneath a transmission line (xD) and the line breaks and lands on you. Transmission lines run 240,000v, and the resistance of a wet body is about 1,000 ohms. So 240,000/1000 = 1000 Amps! Wow!! Can you say "Fried" ?? lol

So to change the subject completely, life has been very interesting on my end lately. I just recently switched majors from computer engineering to dual degree Phyiscs/Electrical Engineering. I decided after the last two semesters that programming just isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, so I decided to go with my original calling; Physics! I love everything about physics, and this semester's class has reinforced that in me. The bummer about that is that the dual degree takes 5 years, and since last year I was only taking CS classes, none of that counted towards my new degree. Sooo I have 4 years left after this one. *SIGH* Oh well, ya do what you have to i guess!

Soo on an entirely unrelated (or maybe not so unrelated? You decide i guess..) note, lately I have been completely OBSESSED with Evanescence!! It seems like no matter how many times I listen to their songs, I never get tired of them! At this very moment I'm listening Hello from the album Fallen. Great song! Since yesterday afternoon I have listened to thier album The Open Door twice and am over halfway through Fallen right now. At the end of this week I'll give you a tally of how many times I listened to each of their albums! :D Evanescence forever!! hahaha

Finally, At the end of every post from now on I want to ask a comment question pertaining to the post! It may be funny or thought provoking, but either way I'll try to make it something interesting to answer! So today's question is:

What was the biggest electric shock you have ever gotten, and how did it happen?

Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any questions/comments/suggestions just hit me up in the comment section!

~Andrew

Wow....

2009-02-09T15:30:00.010-06:00

People..I must say I am sorry for neglecting this blog for so long! I guess I just get so crazy that Iforget this even exists. But anyway I figured I would make an update now that my second semester at UWEC is in full swing, and my first order of buisness is to say that the previous post is now obsolete. I actually had to stay up all night last week thursday in order to finish my homework!! I wasn't even procrastinating! But i suppose thats what I get for taking 17 credits this semester. :P

Other then that, my life has been generally uneventful. I basically spend most of my waking time doing homework and eating, which as you can probably imagine gets very boring. I'm sure you all know about my broken elbow, but I guess its worth mentioning since it happened between now and my last post! Its finally starting to get back to normal, since it only hurts now when I completely extend and stretch it! yay!

So at this very moment I am trying to decide how to make this post more interesting....maybe ill post a picture of me taken on friday...for no particular reason other then to brighten up the post!

So how is that for interesting? Or maybe random? I dont know, but at least it made the post more interesting I hope! Oh and it made me think of another thing to write about too! The other day I managed to fry the power supply to my $200 guitar pedal...aaand its not a replaceable part! sooo im trying a hotwiring trick hoping i can resurect it from its current state of "Glorified paperweight."

While on the subject of music, I must endorse a new band I have found. Well, actually I have known about it looong before now but ill pretend they are new to me because they are new to everyone else! So without further ado, i present Bell n' Bailey - When I'm Alone!

They also have two other covers under their youtube channel -- check them out!! They post a new song every two weeks, so stay tuned!

I guess that about wraps up everything I have to say right now...hopefully I will decide to update again sooner then later! haha peace out all!

Sigh Sooo neglectful

2008-10-04T17:31:00.002-05:00

Hello again everyone!! I apologize for being so neglectful of this whole blogging thing...in case you couldnbt guess, my life has become incredibly crazy in the last month. I mean INCREDIBLY crazy! Like, this week was homecoming, so all day every day there is stuff going on besides classes, so it gets pretty intense sometimes lol. But yea, we won the homecoming game today against oshkosh! WOOO!!!! 34-0! And it was really funny cuz after the game 6 of us went to Old Country Buffet for supper, and ran into the Oshkosh team....awkward!!! I have to say it was the most depressed looking group of guys i have ever seen lol cuz we OWNED them!! hahaha. anyway...OH!!! i forgot the Brewers game is on!!! *gets up and turns on the tv...literally :P*-----*returns 6 hours later after the brewers/phillies and Cubs/Dodgers games * YES!!!!! GO BREWERS!!!!! wooo!! lol sorry i have all of the sudden gotten very much into baseball. Sorry Raihala's, im not a twins fan. :P ANYWAY where the heck was i?? Well....i guess ill talk about classes. I seriously miss classical education. i mean SERIOUSLY. these classes seem so...cheap? i mean, im learning, but not NEARLY to the depth that i did at dokime or home. I really miss all of you a lot. :( Its hard having friends that run on a fraction of the thought depth that you do, if you know what i mean. :p So yea, we need to have a dokime reunion ok??? Oh and i discovered another truth. Your teacher can have a HUGE impact on how much you like a class AND how well you do in it :P. Yea, so sophmore year, i had chemistry and LOVED it! Like, it was my favorite subject in all of hs. NOW i havee almost the exact same class here, buuuuut...wow. I absolutly HATE it. It is the worst class i have. It doesnt matter how hard or how long i study, I just cant figure out my prof's quizzes. Hes a great guy, but he doesnt know how to teach. savvy? So even thought i understand everyhitng he is talking about, somehting is OBVIOUSLY not clicking when u look at my grades in his class. Yea, it sucks....but thankfully its the only one im having trouble with. everyhitng else is going great class wise. Wow...i just read over everyhting i have written so far, and i have used a LOT of all capital words!! ummm......i just did it again. im so dumb. maybe its cuz im really tired?? i stayed up till 330 last night and right now its 11:30 pm...so im kinda tired right now. What the heck kinda blog post is this anyway??? im basically writing what im thinking as i think it, which is really weird for me cuz i alwas think everyhting out b4 i say it. So yea..idk if i have anyhting else to say tonight so i hope u all are having a great time at school (as if :P) and i hope i can talk to u all soon!!!

hang loose!!!

Andrew

Back to Science: The Dynamically Reassignable Instruction Execution Register (DRIER)

2008-06-14T01:06:00.004-05:00

Ok, well i have strayed from scientific posts for quite a while now, so i decided to start back up with this!! Now the subject matter of this post may go waaaay over your heads, but i will try to make it understandable. Also understand that im beginning writing this at 1:10AM so...bear with me lol.

Ok, so a while back i had this idea about computer processor architecture. See, the way they are currently built, The internal execution registers are set at a fixed size...say 32 or 64 bit, meaning that they are designed to execue eiher 32 or 64 bit instructions.
Now the problem comes in the fact that as far as i understand, when you have a 64 bit instruction register, if you have a 32 bit instruction going into that 64 bit register, the register must wait for a second 32 bit instruction to come along and fill that register the rest of the way up. This can be thought of like a 16 oz cup. if you try to fill that cup using an 8oz measuring cup, it will take twice as long to fill up. This delay in filling the register causes it to be virtually usless for several clock cycles. (a clock cycle is the time measurement in a computer processor. a 3ghz processor runs at 3 billion cycles per second.) While this may not seem like a long time to us as humans..think of it in the long term. If that 64 bit register had to be filled with two 32 bit instructions, it would take a minimum of four clock cycles to execute. This is because it would require two to fill the register, and then two to execute both instructions. Now compare this to one 64 bit instruction, which only takes a minimum of two clock cycles; one for loading, and one for execution. Thus, using purely 64 bit instructions THEORETICALLY would result in %100 more yeild, meaning, say, that you could encode an mp3 in half the time using purley 64 bit instructions. Now i say theoretically, because this is a HIGHLT idealized situation used to illustrate my point. But i think you get what i am saying. Having a fixed register size causes problems in the fact that it wastes perfectly good clock cycles if (and when) your instruction set size is mixed. Now comes my idea. DRIER. WHAT if one could make a processor in which there were multiple paralell execution registers that were all linked together? Meaning that you could have 16 32 bit registers, arrayed in a way so that they formed two lines each 256 bits long. This would allow for multiple possibilities. a) each register could execute a single 256 bit instruction, b) each could execute 8 32 bit instructions simultaniously, or c) each could execute a mixed combonation of differant instruction lengths. The differance between DRIER and standard execution is the way the register is loaded. In a standard system, the execution register is loaded from the "bottom up" meaning that you have to take two clock cycles to fill a 64 bit register with 32 bit instructions. With DRIER, the pipelines are composed not of one massive 256 bit pipeline, but of 8 32 bit pipelines, each able to load itself in one clock cycle. These regieters can also stach though, meaning that two 32 bit registers can merge to execute one 64 bit instruction. Make sense? i know this is getting VERY technical, but im almost done...and if you have any questions, please ask in the comments!! Anyway, this would allow for massive increases in productivity if such a processing architecture was adopted, because there would be very little waste in processing time. All right, well its now 1:30 and i have successfully exhausted myself...so i hope you at least somewhat enjoyed this..and please ask questions if you understood enough to ask!! lol

DrEw

Im here again...

2008-05-08T21:03:00.002-05:00

So i removed that other post because it was really irritating me....lol it bugged me the most when id be listening to music and then that stupid thing would start...but anyway!!! Well what can i write about....well i COULD write about work and all the fun i had a hokies.....:D! So i guess i will! Lets see, work is..work? lol on saturday for the first time i did the 6AM-2:30 shift, and that was pretty fun, but waking up at 5 to go to work IS NOT fun! lol anyway, it went well...and this rant about work is getting reeaaaaallly boring! so on to the hokies!! after work i went to the hokie abode where john and i spent the afternoon online snowboard shopping and blacksmithing! and doing other random stuff.....but i cant remember what:P after that i saw nacho libre (finally!) and loved it!! lol then john and i went outside and *attempted* to play volleyball. :-D lol i can see that this post is VERY dry and boring, but im not in a terribly peppy mood tonight, and for no particular reason! im just boring tonight! lol ANYWAY i wont waste any more of ur precious time that u are so pointlesly spending reading this blog! :D later!!!

MENS VOLLEYBALL!!!!

2008-03-21T13:53:00.002-05:00

K so this is totally insane...and what i hope to be doing next fall!!! :D

IM BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!

2008-03-20T12:00:00.002-05:00

lol, hey erry body!!! wow....its been a LONG time since my last post....like since January. O well, im posting NOW and thats what counts, right? lol well, iv been incredibly busy lately with school and work and all other sorts of extraneous activities...but yeah, HOPEFULLY i can find the time to start keeping this up again. I do really miss doing this, especially since its the only real means of regular communication i have with some of u! Sooooooo.....well, i went snowboarding 3 times in the last two weeks.....and it was AMAZING!!! im just really sad that the season is over now. :( Buuuuut i am UBER excited for volleyball this summer!! ya, i know, most people think its a girly sport, but im gonna find a vid of mens volleyball and put it on here. Its Awesome!! so i cant wait to start playing again this summer!!! i have hopes of being on one of the intramural teams at eau claire this fall.....i guess we'll see......but, i have to go eat my lunch, so until next time...HANG LOOSE!! lol :-D

NEW COMPUTER!!!

2007-12-31T11:58:00.000-06:00

K, im finally getting a new computer. YAY!! But until then, about two weeks, give or take a few days, i dont have a computer. which means the great neglect of posting till then....sigh. O well, when i get it, its gonna kick some serious butt, casue im spending a small fortune on it! :P but until then....later!

Temporary Posting halt

2007-12-28T22:51:00.000-06:00

Sorry, but my comp crashed, so im not going to be posting as much for a while. The time i usually write is around 11:00, and mom and dad wont want me on the downstairs comp... :-( I'll try to keep up with comments and such, but prolly no new posts on either blog for a while. Oh, and we sold our house.

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-24T22:51:00.000-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! I know, I know, the date on this post says i posted it on christmas eve, but so what? Its close enough; only an hour and 10 minuts away!! Wow, I'm thinking of trying to write a christmas letter type thing with this post, but im not sure....Ok, fine! ;-) Where to begin? Its been such an...eventful year, starting with the Dells trip in January. Yes, we went to the Dells as a family in january with a church group, and had a blast. We swam all day and played golf all night, but thats about all i can remember...lol. Next Big event was...hmmm, i dont know..maybe the fourth of July outing at McLeod's cabin? Yeah, we went as a church group again to One familily's Lake-side cabin. We spent three days tubing, tubing, and tubing. Yes, we did a LOT of tubing. Its my new favorite summer passtime too!I cant even remember doing much else other than watching Master and Commander one night....hmmm. Next event was the Church Campout in August. Yes, another church event. We have a lot of those, cause our church likes to do fun things as a group! That one was based on Volleyball mostly. Yeah, i know i said tubing is my fav summer thing to do, but its actually second to volleyball. Yup, we palyed volleyball and horseshoes during the day, and at night i played guitar as we sang soungs around the campfire. AWSOME MAN!! lol! next event....Family vacation!! That was cool, cause we went all the way to Kentuckey and back. Ill see about posting the pics i have...anyway, we went through the UP of Michigan, crossing over the Macinac Bridge, which is three miles long. KEWL, MAN!! Then we visited some friends in Mid-Michigan that we havent seen for a few years. Then we went on to Kentuckey and the Creation Museum. We camped at Big Bone Lick state park, a place i dont think ill ever forget, cause that is where we met the HANSONS!! We managed to park our camper inbetween two other Christian, Homeschooling families, one of which was the Hanson family. idk, u prolly know how it is meeting people camping. u spend the first day not talking at all, and then on the second, u actually start talking and get to know eachother. By the third day, one of u has to go, and u hate it. The same thing here, except i got an IM address from Cassidy, the oldest of three kids. SOOOO we talk almost daily trying to stay caught up. The best camping friends IV ever made!! lol! The creation museum was good too, btw. Then we started making our way back home. On the way we went to a place called Conners Prarie, which was one of those places where people are payed to got to this historic village and act like they live in another time period. That was, i think besides meeting hansons, my fav part of the vacation. It was so cool to see into that time period, (which was the early 1900s) cause I have always said that if i could live in another time period, it would be the early 1900s. Then we went home. lol During all of this, (meaning the events of the summer) Adam, John, Jake and I feebly tried to make a movie...which is still in halted progress...i hope i get it finished someday...oops. And that brings us up to christmas on the event horizion! ;-) Now for me, personally. This year in August i got my first real job as a Dietary Aide at Park View Nursing Home. Its really a great job, and i really enjoy it...and the pay is pretty good too! Some (ok, most) of my coworkers are a little(some a LOT) rough around the edges, but they are really fun to work with. The best part is that they respect what i believe, and try not to do things in front of me that they know would offend me. I dont think u can ask for better!! I also got accepted at UW-EC and I am goig there next fall, majoring in Computer Engineering. Its actually a very scary thought, me moving out next fall. whimper whimper. O well, God gives strength!!Other then that, my life has been pretty boring since school started...I really miss going to Dokime. Not that i dislike being homeschooled at all, I just miss being with all of u on a daily basis. The only peeps i hang out with now are my coworkers, and they are a rough bunch, so yeah. Other then that though, it has been a great year! I dont think i have neglected to mention anything important...Now, as with my other posts i have a request with this one too. Tell me what u got for christmas!! I will too...

Pink

2007-12-23T20:08:00.001-06:00

lol, i've been asked why my letters are pink, so i thought id reply with an official post! I LIKE PINK!!!! lol

New Blog

2007-12-22T00:02:00.001-06:00

Ahem, I have an announcement to make! I have created a new blog; a place for my freestyle writing. The link is here . You may find it interesting, you may not. Whatever floats u boat. But i am writing a story right now that some may find interesting, so i will keep it up for the time being. And now, my friends, I AM TIRED!!!!! So I am going to bed. Goodnight all!! lol

Sorry...

2007-12-19T22:53:00.000-06:00

I know, iv been derelict in my posting as of late, so IM SORRY! lol, Well, where to begin? Ah, yes. The Dokime Christmas program. Even though i didnt hear most of it what i did hear sounded great! I really missed being up there. deep breath! there there, lol im weird. Anyway...the food was great, the socializing superb...the whole experience all around Dazzeling!! ;-) Hmm, what next? Am i moving too fast? as i re-read what i have posted, i feel like i just got picked up by a tornado and whisked 20 miles before being dropped 5 seconds later...wow. k, slooww down. Now, where was I? Ah yes! What is everyone doing for Christmas? We are just hanging around here, doin our own thing...but i know lotsa people go places and stuff like that, so whats up? Hmmm, anything else new to post about, i know its been a while....Oh yes! I want an opinion: Yes or No to more science stuff? I know i like it, but i have a feeling that it bores everyone else out of their skulls! ;-) So just let me know! Cause i have LOTS more!! lol There, was that slower for ya? haha

Turkey Day!!!!

2007-11-22T10:22:00.000-06:00

Its that time of year again! EAT EAT EAT!!!! We all love it, dont we...get fat or die trying...lol, sorry. Im kinda going random here, cause i dont really have a posting plan for today...im just writing whats on my mind. Scary, huh? So, what is everyone's favorite food on thanx Giving? Comment and let me know...fav drink, desert, whatever u want. Today we wont eat till three, cause the Packer game isnt over 'till then...lol. We starve for the Pack!! 9-1 BAYBEE! oh my, i really do go wild w/o a plan...my goodness, i better pull myself together. I found out that i have to work on Christmas day, which kinda bites....oh we, u do what u have to. OH! We got a new puppy! Her name is Bailey! Isn't she SOOOOOO cute?! Shes only 4 pounds, so yeah. Cutie!! K, well I better go and do somthing useful, since this really isnt helping anyone...haha. Tell me what u think.

Update:

2007-10-29T21:27:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! This post is not based on science, rather it is an update on my ever hectic life so u all know why i haven't been posting. Where to begin....well, i've pretty much decided that im going to go to UW-Eau Claire for Computer Engineering next fall. I decided that $6000 a year is better then $33000. lol. Anyway, it is also a lot closer then Georgia or Texas..so yeah. Ummmm....School, work and Bible quizzing take up almost all of my time lately, leaving me precious few inactive minutes, which will only decrease when i begin Violin lessons again. Wooow. Im reading this realizing just how busy i really am. haha. Im kinda outta ideas to write about...not too much extraordinary happining lately...i guess i could add a science tidbit here. refer back to the previous diagram of a gravity well. see how the surface of space curves with gravity? What if a person could get a gravity force strong enough to create a very deep dent. Then two points of space that were very far apart are drawn close together in a pinching-like action. What would happen if a person could jump across the gap between the two points of pace? Transportation Technology? Think about it....
Anyway, i think this is enough for now, so i dont bore u any more...lol..have a good day! :-)

Black Holes and Wormholes Part 2: The Black Hole

2007-08-24T20:24:00.001-05:00

After that big discussion on gravity, you are now ready to hear about black holes. As I said before, mass causes a "dent" in the fabric of space-time. This can be illustrated by this picture:

Any mass in the universe has this effect on the fabric of space-time. The greater the mass, the steeper the slant of the "walls". A black hole, though, is differant. It creates an infinite "tunnel" through space. There is no "bottom" to the "pit". Look at this pic:
As you can see, there is no bottom. As you can probably imagine, this creates a problem in physics. The straightest path through space in a black hole goes into nowhere. With normal object, the path either leads to a collision of the two objects, or an orbiting path. In a black hole, though, most paths lead into nothing. There is the small chance you can orbit, but where does everything else go? Please ask questions, because I have much more info that I can't quite figure out how to integrate. I will be posting more on this; I'm not done yet! ;-) There will be at least a part three!

Black Holes and Wormholes Part 1: Gravity

2007-08-23T12:55:00.001-05:00

Finally, after many months of waiting and anticipation, I have completed my research and I am ready to give you the lowdown on all of this.

Black Holes are one of the most misunderstood things in our universe. Many people have no clue what to think when sombody says "black hole", and others picture a gigantic spacial tornado that sucks in everything in it's path. These, of course, are not true. That is why I am here! ;-) With my vast knowledge of astrophysics and Einstein's laws of special and general relativity, I can inform you of the way things really are. In order for me to explain Black Holes, though, you first need a correct understanding of gravity.

All of your life you have probably been told that gravity is a sucking force that causes things to be pulled toward the source of that gravity. This is not entirely true. Gravity, according to Einstein, is the result of mass warping space-time. Before I explain this, I have to make one key point: everything in the universe is trying to travel along the straightest line possible. Gravity, then is the effect of warping space-time. When space-time is bent, all straight lines are made to curve. This can be pictured by taking a sheet, streching it out, and putting a bowling ball in the middle. The bowling ball causes the sheet to sag in the middle, causing everything else that is on the sheet to roll towards the bowling ball. A planet has the same effect on space-time. The mass of the planet warps the space-time fabric, causing all of the Straight lines to become curves. That is what gravity comes from. I know this is very difficult to picture, and if you just can't figure it out, I may be able to find a picture somwhere to help. That's all for now, but the other parts are on the way...really...

Black Holes and Wormholes Research

2007-06-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

Right now im working on researching my theories to makesure they are sound, so be ready soon for the full length post...

I Still Exist!!!

2007-06-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

I am still alive, but I got thrown off after ACT. I'm back, and I'm getting ready for a new "discussion" on black holes and wormholes. I've been REALLY busy the last couple of days, and exepect to be for a while, so if I dont post for a while, That's why. L8ER!

Back to the plan

2007-06-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

After all of those tangents, i'm going to be getting back to the real reason for this blog. I'm not sure what i'll talk about, but hey! I'll think of somthing. Later.

video HTML

2007-06-07T10:42:00.000-05:00

Here is how to put that music video of "the fray- how to save a life" on ur blog. Go to youtube, find your video, and copy all of the text out of the small box that says "embed", go to customize, add page element on the bottom, then choose html/javascript. paste the code in the main box, and save changes. ur vid should be there on the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

WMV bar

2007-06-06T10:12:00.001-05:00

Check out my new vid bar beneath my profile. I'll change the vid to somthing more sciency soon.... oh and mos, the vid bar won't work on firefox, so you'll have to use internet explorer if you want them to work. Excuse my html here....

IT WORKS!!!!

Hyperspace Hypothesis

2007-06-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

Here it is! The topic that has been bugging my mind for months now, and I'm finally putting it in writing! I'll go over the hyperspace theories behind Babylon 5, Star Wars, and Star Trek in that order, and then go over my thoughts on it.

Babylon 5:

In the Babylon 5 TV show, the universe is shown as a large sphere, with the outer edge being real space, or where we live. Hyperspace is the volume of the sphere, and can only be penetrated by using strong energy fields. When the Barrier is penetrated, an effect known as Quantum Tunneling occurs, and it is through this Quantum Tunnel that one would enter hyperspace. See the diagram below. The red line represents the distance one would have to travel in real space to get from the Milky way to Andromeda. The blue line represents hyperspace travel. The straight line into the center of the sphere is traveled instantly, so the only distance traveled is the small blue arc. This is considerably less distance than the red arc in real space, resulting in a dramatic decreases the travel distance between two objects. This idea of hyperspace does not involve going faster then the speed of light, but going a shorter distance.

In some ways, this idea of hyperspace is the most likely of any, because it does not involve the speed of light, which many scientists believe to be impossible to reach. On the other hand, there is no proof that the universe is like a sphere at all, so it may be all wrong in that way.

Star Wars:

In Star Wars, hyperspace is entirely differant. Hyperspace is achieved by going (way) faster then the speed of light. When a ship (say the Millenium Falcon) goes into hyperspace, it experiences a very rapid accelleration to the brink of lightspeed. The problem comes that lightspeed is unachievable by an object with mass. An object with mass may go above or below the speed of light, but may not go exactly the speed of light. Thus the weakest point of this theory. The ship somehow jumps from this subluminal (slower then light) speed to a superluminal (yup, you guessed it) speed, without ever hitting light speed. Obviously, we can't see a way that this would be possible, so it's kinda wierd. Anyway, once an object achieves superluminal speed, it is in hyperspace and is free to accellerate, most ships reaching several thousands of times the speed of light. This, unlike B5, does not involve shortening of any kind, but incredibly high speeds. Aside from the skipping of light speed, this idea would work, and if a way could be found to bypass light speed or go through it, this would be the easiest form of hyperspace travel.

Star Trek:

Star Trek has the simplest and least likely form of hyperspace travel. Actually, they don't use hyperspace all. The ships in Star Trek just accellerate to the speed of light, or a multiple of it, and travel at that speed. While this is simple, it is highly unlikely, as mass cannot travel at the speed of light.

Overall, I think that the B5 version of hyperspace is the most likely, as it follow more physical laws then the other two. I do believe that superluminal speeds are possible, if a device is invented to accellerate through light speed. So far, no man-made thing can accellerate to the speed of light. Scientists have gotten close, though, with particle accellerators. Anyway....I'm tired after all of that and i cant think any more, so if you can make any sense of it all, tell me what you think!

Hyperspace Hypothesis: Coming Soon

2007-06-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

Soon I will be presenting my ideas regarding the controversial topic of hyperspace and light speed. This discussion will cover the types of hyperspace travel in Star Trek, Star Wars, and Babylon 5. Hopefully, this will be interesting to read...

Railgun Project: Corrected Diagram

2007-06-03T15:43:00.001-05:00

Here is the corrected diagram. The current flows from the negative side of the power supply, through the projectile, and out through the positive wire. This creates a magnetic field that propels the projectile out of the barrel.

Railgun Project: Trial and Error

2007-06-02T21:16:00.000-05:00

So far I've come across three problems: bad rails, and a small power supply. The rails need to have low magnetic memory, meaning that they don't retain a magnetic field after exposure to one. My rails, though, retained a HUGE magnetic field, so they didn't work. The problem with the power supply is that it is too small. It doesn't provide enough Volts or Amps to shoot a projectile out if the barrel. Right now when it shoots, the projectile welds to the rails, which is NOT good for the power supply. I may have a solution on hand for the power supply, namely a large transformer, but I'm not sure what to do about the rails. I guess I'll have to see what comes up! Back to the lab!

Railgun Project: Plan Phase Correction

2007-06-02T09:10:00.000-05:00

I realized that my diagram for the railgun was fundamentally flawed, so please disregard it. I will try to post another (working) diagram later.

Railgun Project: Plan Phase

2007-06-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

I am going to be starting work on a railgun project throught the next couple of days (or weeks....or months...). In short, a railgun uses an electrical current to create a magnetic field to push a projectile out of the barrel. The current is generated by a DC power supply run through a capacitor bank. IF this amounts to anything, I will upload some pictures, and maybe even a video. Here is the plan below:

Here we Go!

2007-05-31T16:22:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Mars! The mad scientist is about to begin his ramblings on whatever he feels like! mwoohahaha! Anyway, stand by for more posts soon...