Gravitational Tractor for Towing Asteroids

Please answer the question below:
1. Why are scientists concerned about collisions between Earth and Asteroids? [1 pt]
2. Why are scientists concerned about having to land on asteroids in order to “move them out of Earth’s way”? (List at least 3 reasons) [3 pts]
3. Describe how the proposed “Gravitational Tractor” will work. [2 pts]

Here is another cute one

Now, there is a way to get to school!

This is really neat!

Educating future scientists

I'm going to comment on everyone's comments at once.
It seems, for the most part, everyone thinks science is important. We are all on the same page that it can only benefit us to know what's going on all around. Weather or not people think it's important to them, everyone has said that it's still important for the purpose of understanding. Human nature is to want to understand. We always want to know what is going on...science or gossip. People learning science in high-school might not be saying "I'm just dying to find out what's up with those hydrogen and oxygen molecules," but someone wanted to know in the beginning, and that's why we know these facts today. Someone wanted to know something other then gossip. They wanted to understand the world around them. So it's important for someone to want to know in the first place, or else we might not know half of what we know today.

You guys are being so earnest that I just can’t help but attempt to play devil’s advocate.



It is important to learn science for those who are going to use science in their future professions. The rest of us can live a million years without science. For example, as long as my doctor is able to accurately diagnose and treat the diseases when I get sick, I’d trust her to do what is right for me and advise me accordingly.

Similarly, I don’t need to know how my car works in order to drive it. Nor do I need to know how to fix it – that is why I hire car mechanics. I don’t need to understand the chemical composition of the drugs I take as long as there are competent people working for the pharmasutical companies who design those drugs. And I certainly do not need to know how to calculate the forces describing motion – things will continue falling and moving the same way regardless of what I know.

Thus, instead of spending money on people like me, who obviously do not need to learn science, our science education dollars would be better spent teaching science to people who plan to make it their future professions.

So, here you go – discuss this.

An alternate view worth hearing

Upon closer examination, this is worth reposting as a separate strand. I am glad someone brough it up. So, here we go:

Ok this just pisses me off.Heres something to think about, the data which we base our "global warming THEORY" comes from what? It comes from temperature readings and readings of gas levels in our present day atmosphere. So how long have we had a reliable and accurate method of measuring temperature? I think Galileo had one of the first ones in 1593. Now when did we first start recording these temperatures? I dont know. But we notice the increase in temperature within the last 200 years or so. Now how do we know that the earth isnt doin it by itself? Well the earth has never increased this fast and to such a large degree (pun intended). How do we know that? Well those "guys" looks at ice and trees and rocks and it has never done this before. Ok but how far back are these "guys" lookin? Hundreds of Thousands of Years! To me that seems like a BIG scale, i wonder how accurate can it be? How can we be certain that this isnt just a blip, a little jump, how can we be sure that is hasnt already happened? 100,000 year vs 200 hmmm.The world is cyclical, life then death then more life. Rain then water then more rain. Ice age then warming then ice age. The facts are that we dont know, and throwing money at something that could not even be a problem is just stupid. Dont just tell me im doomed then make me give you money to solve it. Nothing pisses me off more than throwing money at a "problem." Global warming is just a tool used by politicians to fuel our fears, its the same as James Fox's 1995 prediction of a 15 percent increase in murder among teenagers. That was used to help Clinton's election and the rate dropped 50 percent within five years. You are all being tricked by power/money-hungry politicians like Al Gore, can someone tell me why he got the noble peace prize?ugh Glaz why do you post this? Im probably the only one who will present a counterpoint against this liberal garbage."Alarm rather than genuine scientific curiosity, it appears, is essential to maintaining funding. And only the most senior scientists today can stand up against this alarmist gale, and defy the iron triangle of climate scientists, advocates and policymakers." -Mr. Lindzen is Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220

For my part, I’ll only say one thing: no-one said there is no disagreement among scientists…

What would you do…

…for a Klondike bar? It might be a bit of a diversion from the theme, but it got polar bears and ice. So, we can pretend we are still on topic.

So, let’s assume we all agree that climate change (regardless of its causes) is an issue which needs to be addressed. From where I sit, it looks like politicians are not likely to get anything substantial accomplished for quite a while. So, it is all up to us – mere mortals. What can you do to address the issue?

Here is my 5-year plan (yes, I know – my communist underbelly is showing)
1. Do not vote republican
2. Drive a fuel efficient car
3. Better insulate my house
4. Put solar panels on the roof of my house
5. Investigate moving back to Russia – when all of you down here are swimming in the waters of melted glaciers, Siberia will be nice and ready for occupancy.

Scientific Laws, Theories & Hypothesis

Ok, all of you English speakers out there, educate me. If singular (i.e. one) is hypothesis, what do you call it if I have many of those…
But I digress…

Ok this just pisses me off. Heres something to think about, the data which we base our "global warming THEORY" comes from what?

Good thing to ponder: when a scientist says “scientific theory” (such as molecular theory of matter, theory of relativity, theory of evolution or, as in the above quote, global warming theory), what does she mean? She can’t possibly mean an educated guess or something similar to it since the word for that is hypothesis… It can’t mean scientists are uncertain of its predictions or its predictions are not fully tested since, again, that is what the word hypothesis mean.


Since we are about to start learning about theory of gravitation (or is it a law? I forget...):
So what is a scientific theory? How is it different from a law? Hint: read the first chapter of your textbook.



By the way, String Theory is actually not a theory, but a hypothesis (since it is completely and totally untested).

The People's Elbow video

Thanks! Great find!

Global Warming

It looks like we need a separate thread for the topic of global warming. So, here we go:

1. Who broke it? (i.e. what are the causes?)
2. Who should fix it?
3. Does everyone needs to know any science to understand that the issues of climate change need to be addressed (i.e. I don’t need to know how my car works in order to be able to drive it…)

Moon Landing Hoax

For the budding skeptics out there, here is a great site where you will find answers to one of life’s burning questions: Did we really land on the Moon?

For all of you Sci-Fi fans out there: why is the site called “Clavius Moon Base”?