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astrophysics - dumb questions

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Starlight View Post
    Lead is the heaviest element that has a stable form (isotope). What this means is that everything heavier than lead is radioactive and over enough time will break down gradually into lighter elements by spitting out a small piece of itself and thus usually moving in steps of 1 or 2 across the periodic table, but the breakdown stops when it gets to lead (assuming it lands at the stable form of lead) or some nearby slightly lighter element (if it steps over lead or hits the unstable form of lead).

    A second reason is that the creation processes in the star itself will favor some elements over others, because different fusion combinations will require different levels of energy and the amounts of the different lighter elements present will vary. So if there's a lot of carbon around waiting to be fused, you're more likely to get elements weighing Carbon x2 and Carbon x3 etc produced as multiple carbons are fused than you are to get elements that weigh carbon x1.4 etc.

    A third reason is that some elements have more stable forms (isotopes) than others. So there becomes more chance the creation or radioactive decay processes that produce those elements will land on a stable form rather than an unstable one - having double the number of stable forms essentially doubles the target area that the creation/decay process can land on. As you can see from this table of isotopes, about half the stable elements have only 1 or 2 isotopes, and Tin is the winner with 10. Although it's notable that a lot of the elements with a high number of isotopes are quite heavy, so they don't get produced in large quantities because of how the stars work.
    Thanks, that makes sense.


    Random side note: This thread reminds me of a 100-year old YEC book I once read at my grandparent's place, one of their arguments for a young earth was that since the sun produced energy via gravitational contraction (they hadn't discovered nuclear fusion at the time of writing, so it was thought that the sun gradually contracted to generate energy) it had to be less than 10,000 years old else it would have used up all its fuel.
    You HAD to stick in a dig at Christians? really?

    I am not a YEC, by the way. I am pretty agnostic about the genesis time frame, but I believe the universe is 14.5 billion years old.

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    • #17
      Originally posted by Starlight View Post
      I, for one, demand a supernova.

      Supernova 2020!
      But it isn't big enough! And we wouldn't survive the explosion. Sad. We wouldn't survive the sun getting hot enough to boil away the oceans either, but that would take longer at least.
      If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
        But it isn't big enough! And we wouldn't survive the explosion. Sad. We wouldn't survive the sun getting hot enough to boil away the oceans either, but that would take longer at least.
        But would this be better or worse Trump's 2nd term?
        Jorge: Functional Complex Information is INFORMATION that is complex and functional.

        MM: First of all, the Bible is a fixed document.
        MM on covid-19: We're talking about an illness with a better than 99.9% rate of survival.

        seer: I believe that so called 'compassion' [for starving Palestinian kids] maybe a cover for anti Semitism, ...

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Roy View Post
          But would this be better or worse Trump's 2nd term?
          I'm not sure we talk about Trump enough here. Should all threads lead to Trump?
          Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

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          • #20
            Originally posted by Roy View Post
            But would this be better or worse Trump's 2nd term?
            come on guys, don't derail my thread.

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            • #21
              So, what is the strangest thing in the universe? Aside from black holes.
              If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
                So, what is the strangest thing in the universe? Aside from black holes.
                Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                  Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
                  Have they figured out what that stuff is? Does anyone know?
                  If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
                    Have they figured out what that stuff is? Does anyone know?
                    Flubber.

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Christianbookworm View Post
                      So, what is the strangest thing in the universe? Aside from black holes.
                      I'll take "diamond coated planets" for $500, Alex...

                      Gas giants have lots of methane. At the pressures/temperatures in the interior, the hydrogen gets squeezed out and the resulting diamond will drop to the core (which is probably a rocky/iron mix), coating it. If the gas giant is close enough to a star that enters a red giant phase, its atmosphere will be stripped off, leaving a bare core. Which gives you a diamond-coated planet.

                      Close second: a star that expanded, swallowed a neutron star, and had it migrate to its own core, which it replaces. We have observational evidence of that one, unlike the diamond planet.

                      The universe is an amazingly weird place, and big enough that the exceedingly rare becomes inevitable.
                      "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
                        I'll take "diamond coated planets" for $500, Alex...

                        Gas giants have lots of methane. At the pressures/temperatures in the interior, the hydrogen gets squeezed out and the resulting diamond will drop to the core (which is probably a rocky/iron mix), coating it. If the gas giant is close enough to a star that enters a red giant phase, its atmosphere will be stripped off, leaving a bare core. Which gives you a diamond-coated planet.

                        Close second: a star that expanded, swallowed a neutron star, and had it migrate to its own core, which it replaces. We have observational evidence of that one, unlike the diamond planet.

                        The universe is an amazingly weird place, and big enough that the exceedingly rare becomes inevitable.
                        Bacon planets?

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                          Bacon planets?
                          Heck we got one of those.

                          In fact, we have Bacon and Egg (sunny side up)

                          NASA14135-Jupiter-GreatRedSpot-Shrinks-20140515.jpg

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                          • #28
                            You don't want that "egg"...
                            If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                              I'm not sure we talk about Trump enough here. Should all threads lead to Trump?
                              No all threads should lead to bacon.

                              ETA: This one already has, I see.
                              Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

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                              • #30
                                Gas clouds aren't bacon! And now Sparko got squished by Jupiter's gravity when he went after the "bacon".
                                If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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