[巨型彗星：撞击之后].Science.Channel.Super.Comet.After.The.Impact.WS.DSR.XviD-K4RM4.avi (eMule P2P filesharing ED2K link to download the entire discovery / Science channel show - TV-Rip)

I got an estimate from the Earth Impact Effects Program for this show. The show said that the comet’s velocity was 135,000+mph and it was 8 miles in size and its impact produced a 60 mile transient crater, 100 mile final crater, and at the end, the pool of lava was 125 miles and had an instant-incineration radius of 1000 miles (this computation had incineration out to about 1100 miles). I think the trumpet judgments in revelation chapter 8 (Christian Holy Bible) may be a similar impact of a smaller comet fragmented in two large chunks (2nd and 3rd trumpet) and the 3rd chunk shattered in tiny pieces (first trumpet). I’m not firm on that belief though. Just the best fit for a fairly ‘natural’ divine judgment phase of the tribulation.

Impact Effects

Match the Science Channel Super Comet Show

Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins

Please note: the results below are estimates based on current (limited) understanding of the impact process and come with large uncertainties; they should be used with caution, particularly in the case of peculiar input parameters. All values are given to three significant figures but this does not reflect the precision of the estimate. For more information about the uncertainty associated with our calculations and a full discussion of this program, please refer to this article

Your Inputs:

Distance from Impact: 1625.00 km = 1009.12 miles

Projectile Diameter: 12875.00 m = 42230.00 ft = 8.00 miles

Projectile Density: 1000 kg/m³

Impact Velocity: 60.50 km/s = 37.57 miles/s

Impact Angle: 60 degrees

Target Density: 1000 kg/m³

Target Type: Liquid Water of depth 300.00 meters, over typical rock.

Energy:

Energy before atmospheric entry: 2.05 x 10²⁴ Joules = 4.89 x 10⁸ MegaTons TNT

The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth during the last 4 billion years is 5.4 x 10⁸years

Major Global Changes:

The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass.

The impact does not make a noticeable change in the Earth’s rotation period or the tilt of its axis.

The impact does not shift the Earth’s orbit noticeably.

Crater Dimensions:

What does this mean?

The crater opened in the water has a diameter of 160 km = 99.7 miles

For the crater formed in the seafloor:

Transient Crater Diameter: 96.6 km = 60 miles

Transient Crater Depth: 34.2 km = 21.2 miles

Final Crater Diameter: 176 km = 109 miles

Final Crater Depth: 1.4 km = 0.871 miles

Impact Effects

Mini 2km comet-fragment

with energy equalling 125% of that of 200,000 5-megaton nukes at recommended velocity (50 km/s instead of 60.5) and slightly shallower 45 angle into deeper ocean - 2nd trumpet)

Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins

Please note: the results below are estimates based on current (limited) understanding of the impact process and come with large uncertainties; they should be used with caution, particularly in the case of peculiar input parameters. All values are given to three significant figures but this does not reflect the precision of the estimate. For more information about the uncertainty associated with our calculations and a full discussion of this program, please refer to this article

Your Inputs:

Distance from Impact: 400.00 km = 248.40 miles

Projectile Diameter: 2000.00 m = 6560.00 ft = 1.24 miles

Projectile Density: 1000 kg/m³

Impact Velocity: 50.00 km/s = 31.05 miles/s

Impact Angle: 45 degrees

Target Density: 1000 kg/m³

Target Type: Liquid Water of depth 1000.00 meters, over typical rock.

Energy:

Energy before atmospheric entry: 5.24 x 10²¹ Joules = 1.25 x 10⁶ MegaTons TNT

The average interval between impacts of this size somewhere on Earth during the last 4 billion years is 5.4 x 10⁶years

Major Global Changes:

The Earth is not strongly disturbed by the impact and loses negligible mass.

The impact does not make a noticeable change in the Earth’s rotation period or the tilt of its axis.

The impact does not shift the Earth’s orbit noticeably.

Crater Dimensions:

What does this mean?

The crater opened in the water has a diameter of 32.2 km = 20 miles

For the crater formed in the seafloor:

Transient Crater Diameter: 13.1 km = 8.11 miles

Transient Crater Depth: 4.62 km = 2.87 miles

Final Crater Diameter: 18.3 km = 11.4 miles

Final Crater Depth: 0.71 km = 0.441 miles

My church’s pastor thinks all the nuclear weapons of the world can and will completely obliterate planet earth (requires launch of entire USA and Russia arsenal - everybody else simply don’t have enough). I think at most all the nukes will scorch 99% of everything ‘on’ the earth. The nukes have a lot more destructive efficiency. plus military people no longer want warheads over 1.5 megatons and prefer 15-150 kilotons. Mega-Nukes (>5mt - Castle Bravo, Tsar Bomba) have too much of their energy go off into space and military people actually want all that destruction to stay in the lower atmosphere (troposphere / <40,000 ft), and hence the max desire of 150kt.

However, a comet of 2km (2km is more like a fragment of a broken-up comet) or more has 50% more kinetic energy than 200,000 5-megaton nuclear bombs (go to the Earth Impact Effects Program site and punch in 500 km distance from impact, 2000 meters impactor diameter, 1200 kg/m^3 impactor density, 50km/s impact velocity, 45 degrees impact angle). Not all the nukes in the world are 5MT. Most of america’s currently working nukes are tactical warheads to be dropped from planes or loaded on tactical cruise missles or several 50-150kt MIRVs mounted onto a single missile. And even at 50-150kt, the detonation from 100,000 tactical nukes (10 gigatons distributed across 100,000 points vs 1.5+ teratons from a single point) would still cause more destruction on the surface of the earth than a single-point blunt impact. But it doesn’t match a literal interpretation of the bible in my opinon.

A broken-up comet (with at least 2 fragments inact and the rest broken-up into small pieces; asteroids don’t break up as easily) is a very plausible possibility for the early trumpet-stage of the tribulation: 1st Trumpet - broken up pieces (not comet tail - that is dust); 2nd trumpet - first intact fragment into sea; 3rd trumpet - 2nd intact fragment onto land (possibly the amazon basin); 4th trumpet - impact-ejecta volcanic-winter with possible assistance from the Yellowstone caldera or other serious volcanism (impacts often stimulate volcanic activity). One or more limited nuclear exchanges could occur in the tribulation period though, particularly in the middle east (Israel, Pakistan, Iran in particular) and especially at the end-trib battle of armageddon. Bunch 100,000+ troops into a small place, and a air burst from a single Trident-2 MIRV warhead (50-150kt) can wipe them out (A full missile load could carpet-melt several million packed-in troops). Hopefully the rapture is really pre-trib. Nasty stuff.

Here’s two wikipedia articles, 1 livescience article (science-favored, religion-neutral), and 2 other links on ‘doomsday’ whether it is the tribulation or the last judgement.

The Greg Martin picture suggests a much shorter than calculated lifespan for the sun. It was not meant to be christian at all. But it is a possiblity for a (inner) solar-system-scale final judgment (Revelation 21:1, 2 Peter 3:10; the sun is a huge nuclear furnace). God could choose any method though. I think it will be universe-scale though. A Quantum singularity settling into earth’s core (planetary scale) and ‘total existance failure’ (Universe-scale; Highly improbable normally, but God can control all that probability stuff) are also ‘last-judgment’ possibilities.

Update 2007-06-21: Fixed Greg Martin Inevitable Link (Broke it when updating the pbase gallary)

I like this blurb:

“God does not play dice with the Universe. Then again, Einstein never lived to see D&D”

Mix this with the randomness involved in Quantum Mechanics (which Einstein refused to accept), this statement is very true. Mix in the god games (SimCity, Civilization, Master of Orion; much randomness in their systems) with the D&D (Dungeons & Dragons; involves a lot of exotically shaped dice), and it is quite plausible for God to have a created universe that operates at it’s lowest level with systems of randomness that is still structured and balanced.

Hey there could be intelligent designs. Don’t neccesairly support it being taught schools unless it is with a purely ‘theoretical possibility’ scientfic context in an elective class. Maybe the world and universe was designed in test mini-universes by God, and then once he’s finally happy with the design, he just ‘plops’ it into the ‘production universe’. That would make both ‘7 days’, which wouldn’t be the actual design and content-creation, but just the universe ‘powering up’, and probably not at the initial big-bang.

I’m pretty sure God designed the universe so that he could press play and it would just run itself and intervention is completely optional and any of that optional intervention can be done with numerous N-AI (non-sapient AI) automation systems and L-AI (Low-sapient AI) avatar bots (Angels) with a few S-AI arch-angels. With this model, Satan would probably be a rougue emergant-SAI (EI-SAI; a Non or Low Sapient AI that ‘woke up’ to full sapience or a bound SAI that broke free), that turned out to be Evil, who then virally upgraded/awoke a large number of angels (EI-LAI; these fallen angels are labeled demons), possibly with the whole situation intentionally rigged by God. Most of the ‘AI’ terminology comes from GURPs Transhuman Space, and my theory of God’s creation process is largely spliced between corporate software development and ‘God Games’ such as Civilization or God’s Land maps from StarCraft or SimCity. I claim no special revelation from God. I don’t even trust that communications channel (emotion interference, possibility of hallucination).

Evolution exists in the real world because it is how the genetic system that God created works! Whether Dinosaurs really existed in the live proudction past of the live production universe and the live production real earth, maybe or maybe not. If not, then dinosaurs and other predecssors were designed as separate components in smaller development systems (pocket universes probably) and then the dinosaurs and all are assembled at the inital creation time of the grand ‘live production’ universe and earth of the the real world today. Religion and Science should not exclude each other. If God exists and created the world, and signs of Evolution exists, then God created evolution….

I would agree with the article if the effect of genetic engineering was not underestimated. If it gets widespread and cheap enough, the human race will probably split into hundreds if not thousands of para-species. Also humans will become interstellar in 1000-2000 years if they don’t render the planet uninhabitable in the next 200-300 years, or destroy themselves in apocalyptic war which could evolve beyond nuclear in the next 100-200 years.

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I think this article’s scope is limited to the UK. Hot weather means more fruit harvest. Social engineering for healthier diets is creating more demand for fruit. But people like sweets so they are not bending to the whole-grains that much. I wonder where the fructose in fruit smoothies (some natural some artificial) and sport drinks (artificial) come from? Looks like the MooMoo cows may go a little hungary. I wonder what american factory farms feed their cows? Is british cattle mostly factory-farmed or grazed? FauxFlesh should greatly reduce the need for raising cattle (or sheep or pigs) altogether. Fauxflesh is genetic engineering so that only the muscle flesh grows, with technological life support in vats. No brains. No unsanitary waste, No need for antibiotics in the feed, but still keep up with the ever increasing demand for fresh meat.

Hey if a analog neuron-network of a living organism (rat) can do it better than a moder digital computer, lets make a machine out of it! Seems cool. Don’t let it become sapient if it is to be treated as machine slave property though. Digital will surpass analog though. Analog is just the quick way to things. Like the first Radio and TV, and even VGA graphics. All of it ultimiatly went digital (conventional VGA monitor connectors are analog, Hercules/CGA/EGA were digital, DVI is replacing conventional VGA connectors). Organic brains are on the verge of obsolescence. It Doesn’t mean that we can’t exploit and reverse engineer algorithms out of current analog technology that God has created though for humanity’s digital creations. He maybe earth2/heaven2 (bible / revelation) will be a digital universe rather than an analog one (Superstrings in quantum physics seem very analog to me).

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Hasn’t shown that brain cells reproduce - mitosis - replication of the core neuron and it’s nucleus after the first early years of life. It only shows existing neurons growing more and larger interconnections.

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This looks more useful in creating machines with analog bio-brain computers with a controlled level of sapiance than in actually making human slave drones.

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I have a hard time spontaneously lying. It often creates an overload (High-functing Autism). I can be a very good pre-rehearsed lyer though, if there is very relevant previous experience to utilize and manipulate. These lies may not come up on an fMRI seeking certain increased brain activity.

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This volcano may chill the climate and kill tens of millions (milions from ash, tens of millions from rioting/looting, gases, polluted water, cold etc..), but it sure does seem to be responsible for making america’s grain belts as fertile as they are though. I’m pretty sure that little astroid that NASA says will pass within 20,000-40,000 km of the earth in 2030 somewhere could set of this thing off if it hit instead, and hit in the right place. A ground burst nuclear detonation(s) could too.

Wash she actually web surfing from the space station? Way cool if she was? How fast is it? Can I use Emule from the Space Station? Or was it just a proxy-blog through the Russian space agency? Most of Russia’s space secrets are already busted, most non-hardware through Orbiter, so there isn’t much to keep. So she probably was unmoderated wheter she blogged direct or proprietary computer, radio, and/or ground controller proxy.

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My RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Roller Coaster (Vertical Drop Roller Coaster), The Abyss has a peak 0-G of a little over 10 seconds and a minimum 0-G of 5 seconds, with 16 ‘parabolas’. The initial drop is 173 meaters, 70 of the meters is underground. Only half as good as the vomit-comet or other parabolic flights, but $2 sure the hell beats $3000!!! Not recommended for medical or any other scientific experiments though, but for a basic thrill and $2, its a killer deal! Ride can shovel 144 guests on the track at time. Its the Wal-Mart 0-G coaster that also tunnels deep below the lake (hence the name Abyss). I’m working on the overall theme park right now. Probably will be released in 1-3 weeks.

Updated 9/1/2006 — Added 2 more links, added some more algebra, reformated links to download Emule

Links to some of the Pluto Articles

Original Rules

• (a) is in orbit around the sun
• (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
• (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

• (a) is in orbit around the sun
• (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
• (c) has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
• (d) is not a satellite

My opinion

I agree with booting out pluto, stripping its ‘full planet’ label, but not why. Put mercury in pluto’s position, and it isn’t going to clear out it’s orbit of comet-crap either. Mercury got that for free from the stronger solar wind because of it’s close orbit. I think it should be the ability to retain a carbon dioxide atmosphere at a specific black-body temperature, whether earth’s, a nice round number, the snow-line (as defined by GURPS Space - distance from the star at which water ice could exist during planetary formation), or at the ‘outer limit’ of 40AU (as defined by GURPS Space - Pluto-Centric). This min-RMM / MMWR criteria is also assuming that the atmosphere never freezes way out there in the outer reaches of the solar system.

Revised Rules

• (a) is in orbit around the sun
• (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape (I would like to see some numerical boundaries for this, probably a function of radius and density)
• (c) Has a MMWR (Minimum Molecular Weight Retained) of 44 or less (Retains Carbon Dioxide molecules over geological time) at a black-body temperature of 275 degrees Kelvin.

• (a) is in orbit around the sun
• (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape (I would like to see some numerical boundaries for this, probably a function of radius and density)
• (c) Has a MMWR (Minimum Molecular Weight Retained) of over 44 (Does not retain Carbon Dioxide molecules over geological time) at a black-body temperature of 275 degrees Kelvin.
• (d) is not a satellite

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Planet Test at 44K (GURPS Space 4th Ed Outer-Limit, Approx Pluto mean orbital radius), 126.25K (GURPS Space 4th Ed snow-line), 275K (near freezing and Near Earth’s BlackBody Temperature), 300K (nice round number, summer heat)

Algebra for converting the GURPs Space 4th Ed MMWR formula:
W=MMWR, B=BlackBody Temperature, D=Diameter or Radius in ratio of earth, K=Density in ratio of earth

W = B/(60 x D^2 x K)
W/B=1/(60 X D^2 x K)
B/W=60 X D^2 x K
B / W / 60 = D^2 x K

Carbon Dioxide has a RMM (real molar-mass) / molecular weight of 44 - Carbon-12 + 2 x Oxygen-16 and Sulfur Dioxide has a RMM of 64 - Sulfur-32 + 2 x Oxygen-16.

 Retain RMM 64 (Sulfur Dioxide) @ Black-Body Temperature of 44K :     Radius^2 * Density > 0.0114583333
Retain RMM 64 (Sulfur Dioxide) @ Black-Body Temperature of 126.25K : Radius^2 * Density > 0.0328776042
Retain RMM 64 (Sulfur Dioxide) @ Black-Body Temperature of 275K :    Radius^2 * Density > 0.0716145833
Retain RMM 64 (Sulfur Dioxide) @ Black-Body Temperature of 300K :    Radius^2 * Density > 0.078125 (1/12.8)

Retain RMM 44 (Carbon Dioxide)  @ Black-Body Temperature of 44K :     Radius^2 * Density > 0.0166666667
Retain RMM 44 (Carbon Dioxide)  @ Black-Body Temperature of 126.25K : Radius^2 * Density > 0.0478219697
Retain RMM 44 (Carbon Dioxide)  @ Black-Body Temperature of 275K :    Radius^2 * Density > 0.1041666667 (1/9.6)
Retain RMM 44 (Carbon Dioxide)  @ Black-Body Temperature of 300K :    Radius^2 * Density > 0.1136363636 (1/8.8)

Radius  (D) is in ratio of Earth’s Radius (Target Radius / Earth Radius) - I’m using radius instead of diameter.
Density (K) is in Ratio of Earth’s Radius (Target Density / Earth Density)

Mercury           D^2 x K — (2439.7/6378.137)^2 * (5.427/5.5153) = 0.1439712736
Pluto             D^2 x K — (1153/6378.137)^2   * (2.03/5.5153)  = 0.012028122
Ceres             D^2 x K — (975/6378.137)^2    * (2.08/5.5153)  = 0.0088128370262
2003_UB313 (Xena) D^2 x K — (1200/6378.137)^2   * (2.03/5.5153)  = 0.0130287186 (Using Pluto’s Density)
2003_UB313 (Xena) D^2 x K — (1200/6378.137)^2   * (0.5)          = 0.0176988403 (Using midpoint of 0.5 of density range for icy-core planets in GURPS Space 4th Ed Pg 85)

Planetary Stats are from the Wikipedia - Earth, Mercury, Pluto, 2003_UB313 (Xena), Ceres

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Expansion of GURPS Space 4th Ed planet-size criteria (optional advanced rule) to accomodate the “Dwarf Planet” class

 Size-       Min- Max- Gas with atomic-
Category    MMWR MMWR weight at max-MMWR
Huge        0    2    Hydrogen (H2)
Large       2    4    Helium (He2)
Medium      4    18   Water Vapor (H2O)
Small       18   28   Nitrogen (N2)
Tiny        28   44   Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Planetoid / 44   0    None
Dwarf Planet

for a planet to be considered a Gas Giant, it must be ‘Huge’ size (retains hydrogen) and more than 5% of the planet’s mass must be gas/atmosphere (StarGen rule, not GURPs Space).

This does not factor in a fixed black-body temperature that I would want used in the criteria of Planet vs Dwarf-Planet in real life. It just expands the rules of the GURPS Space RPG for the new astronomical happenings. Some of the excerpts below (both the standard and advanced rules section) show that GURPs Space physical size barriers vary by both blackbody temperature and density.

2003_UB313 (Xena) has a semi-major axis of about 67.67 AU, so at 67.67 AU from the sun, it has a black-body temperature of 33.79K, which at that temperature, a D^2 x K of 0.0127992424 or more is needed to retain Carbon Dioxide. Pluto (D^2*K=0.012028122) fail to reach this number, it is still a dwarf planet / planetoid even on a non-fixed black-body temperature based MMWR/44 requirement. 2003_UB313 (Xena) (Pluto’s Density Assumed; D^2*K=0.0130287186), however does pass, so at 2003_UB313 (Xena) with Pluto’s Density assumed qualifies as a Tiny planet under this expanded GURPs Space size categorization system, because it will retain Carbon Dioxide over geological time at the mean orbital radius (I just used the semi-major axis from the Wikipedia as the mean orbital radius). That’s why I would prefer testing at a fixed black-body temperature.

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Algebra to convert to derive the Inner Limit, Snow-Line, and Outer Limit Black-Body Temperatures from GURPS Space 4th Ed’s BlackBody temperature and Inner Limit / Snow-Line / Outer Limit formulas:

(Correcting 77300 to 77284 — 278^2=77284)

Radius of a specified blackbody temperature: R=(77284/B^2) x L^0.5
Radius of the inner-limit: R=0.01 * L^0.5
77284/B^2=0.01
1/B^2=0.01/77284
B^2=77284/0.01
B=(77284/0.01)^0.5
Blackbody temperature of the inner-limit: 2780 K
Blackbody temperature of the inner-limit (rounded): 2780K

Radius of a specified blackbody temperature: R=(77284/B^2) x L^0.5
Radius of the snow-line: R=4.85 * L^0.5
77284/B^2=4.85
1/B^2=4.85/77284
B^2=77284/4.85
B=(77284/4.85)^0.5
Blackbody temperature of the snow-line: 126.2332973538 K
Blackbody temperature of the snow-line (rounded to nearest 0.25): 126.25 K

Radius of a specified blackbody temperature: R=(77284/B^2) x L^0.5
Radius of the outer-limit: R=40 * M (Alter to 40 * L^0.5)
77284/B^2=40
1/B^2=40/77284
B^2=77284/40
B=(77284/40)^0.5
Blackbody temperature of the outer-limit: 43.9556594763 K
Blackbody temperature of the outer-limit (rounded): 44 K

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As you can see, GURPS Space rocks. It is very realistic, has hard physics formulas, and it still keeps that sci-fi feel, and it so does well in simplifying the math to a Junior-High 7th-9th grade level, mostly by converting all the units of measurement to ratios vs Earth or the Sun.

Get GURPS Space

Other cool web links

ED2K links

If you don’t have Emule yet, you can get it through these links (I use MorphXT):

• Emule - Official / Vanilla
• Emule - MoprhXT Mod
• Emule - StulleMule Mod
• Emule - Extreme Mod

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 108 — Placing a Pre-Designed World

If a world has already been designed for the star system using the basic world-building sequence in Chapter 4, then that world should also be placed at a specific distance from one of the stars in the system.

The exact orbital radius for the predesigned world depends on the luminosity of its primary star (as generated in Step 18) and the world???s blackbody temperature (as generated in Step 5). Use the following formula:

R = (77,300/B^2) x square root of L

Here, R is the orbital radius in AU, B is the world???s blackbody temperature, and L is the star???s luminosity in solar units. Compute this orbital radius for each of the stars, and choose one of them to be the predesigned world???s primary.

Note that the proper distance may fall inside the inner limit radius, outside the outer limit radius, or within a forbidden zone for a given star. In this case, the world cannot be placed in orbit around that star.

It???s also possible for the predesigned world to end up being too close to the star???s first gas giant, if any. Determine the ratio between the two worlds??? orbital radii, by dividing the larger radius by the smaller. If the ratio is less than 1.4, then the two worlds are too close together ??C the gas giant???s gravitational influence will tend to make the pre-designed world???s orbit unstable. The pre-designed world cannot be placed in orbit around that star.

Given these two restrictions, it???s possible for a pre-designed world to have no place to go. If this happens, consider returning to Step 15 to generate a new star or set of stars to fit, or choosing a different arrangement of gas giants for one or more of the stars.

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 84 — Determining Blackbody Temperature

Another parameter related to a world???s climate is its blackbody temperature. This is the average surface temperature the world would have if it were an ideal blackbody, a perfect absorber and radiator of heat. Of course, real worlds are not ideal blackbodies, so the blackbody temperature is usually different from the world???s average surface temperature.

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 113 — Blackbody Temperature

First, the blackbody temperature (p. 84) must be computed for each world. Use the following formula:

B = 278 x (fourth root of L)/(square root of R)

Here, B is the blackbody temperature in kelvins, L is the primary star???s luminosity in solar units, and R is the average orbital radius of the world (or of the planet of which the world is a moon). Note that the blackbody temperature will be the same for a planet and for all of its moons. Record the blackbody temperature for each world, rounded to the nearest kelvin.

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 85-86 — Diameter and Surface Gravity

Diameter and Surface Gravity Once the world???s density has been fixed, it is possible to determine its diameter and surface gravity. These two parameters are closely related ??C if you select the world???s diameter, that determines its surface gravity, and vice versa. The following rules will permit the GM to select these two parameters in either order.

Selecting World Diameter First: Refer to the Size Constraints Table for the world???s size class. Multiply square root of (B/K) (where B is the world???s blackbody temperature in kelvins, and K is the world???s density in units of Earth???s density) by the appropriate Minimum value from the table. The result is the minimum possible diameter for the world, expressed in multiples of Earth???s diameter. Similarly, multiply square root of (B/K) by the appropriate Maximum value from the table to get the maximum possible diameter for the world.

Select any value within this range for the diameter. To select a diameter at random, roll 2d-2, multiply by onetenth of the difference between the maximum and minimum diameter values, and add the result to the minimum value. Feel free to vary the final result by up to 5% of the difference, so long as the final value is within the range. To express any diameter in miles, multiply the value in Earth diameters by 7,930.

Once the diameter is known, use the following formula to get the world???s surface gravity:

S = K x D

Here, S is the world???s surface gravity in Gs, K is the world???s density in units of Earth???s density, and D is the world???s diameter in Earth diameters.

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 86 — Worlds Big and Little

When designing a world, it???s important to know what volatiles will be available at the world???s surface, defining the environment visitors will experience. Every world begins with a wide variety of volatiles, but some of these will be lost very early in the world???s history. The most common reason for such loss is the fact that molecules of a given volatile that are close to the top of the world???s atmosphere might reach escape velocity and head for deep space!

Molecules in a gas move at random speeds, and the distribution of those speeds is determined by the molecular weight of the gas and by the ambient temperature. Higher temperatures mean that the molecules tend to move faster ??C but the more massive molecules of a gas with high molecular weight will move more slowly at the same temperature. In effect, every world has a minimum molecular weight retained (MMWR) that indicates what volatile substances can be held onto across billion-year time scales. Volatiles with molecular weight higher than the MMWR will stay in the world???s atmosphere and on its surface. Volatiles with lower molecular weight will be lost to space in a relatively short time after the world is formed.

Factors that increase a world???s escape velocity all tend to lower the minimum molecular weight that can be retained. A more massive world will have a higher escape velocity. So will a denser world, even of the same mass.

On the other hand, the temperature at the top of the atmosphere is also critical; higher temperatures mean that more molecules will reach escape velocity. Thus two worlds can have the same MMWR despite being of different sizes, so long as the smaller one is colder. Steps 2-6 of the world design sequence are set up so that the GURPS GM doesn???t need to concern himself with the details of computing a world???s MMWR. Advanced world-builders may choose to work in a more free-form manner, selecting a world???s physical parameters as needed and then checking to make sure the result makes sense. In that case, the following formula may be of use:

W = B/(60 x D^2 x K)

Here, W is the MMWR measured in units of molecular weight, B is the world???s blackbody temperature in kelvins, D is its diameter in Earth diameters, and K is its density in units of Earth???s density.

A world???s physical parameters will fit its selected World Type if its MMWR is legal for its size class. A Large world must have MMWR greater than 2, but less than or equal to 4. A Standard world must have MMWR greater than 4, but less than or equal to 18. A Small world must have MMWR greater than 18, but less than or equal to 28. A Tiny world must have MMWR greater than 28.

For comparison, some of the more important molecular weights are: hydrogen 2, helium 4, methane 16, ammonia 17, water vapor 18, neon 20, carbon monoxide 28, nitrogen 28, nitric oxide 30, oxygen 32, hydrogen sulfide 34, argon 40, and carbon dioxide 44.

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GURPS Space 4th Edition Page 106 — Step 20: Locate Orbital Zones

Inner Limit Radius

Planets will not form too close to a star. Even while a star is on the main sequence, a planet is very unlikely to form in a stable orbit within a certain distance. Once a star moves into the subgiant or giant phases of its evolution, existing planets that find themselves too close may be vaporized by the swollen star???s intense heat.

For each star in the target star system, compute the inner limit radius using both of the following formulae. The inner limit radius that applies will be the larger of the two values. For almost all stars on the main sequence, the first of the two formulae will be the one to apply ??C the second formula becomes dominant for extremely luminous stars.

I = 0.1 x M
I = 0.01 x square root of L

Here, I is the inner limit radius in AUs, Mis the star???s mass in solar units, and L is the star???s luminosity in solar units.

Outer Limit Radius

Planets will also not form too far away from a star. At a large distance, orbital movements are leisurely. Protoplanets will have much less opportunity to sweep up matter before the star ignites and the process of planetary formation is halted.

For each star in the target star system, compute the outer limit radius

using the following formula.

O = 40 x M

Here, O is the outer limit radius in AUs and M is the star???s mass in solar units. Planets will be able to form anywhere between the inner and outer limit radii, so long as no other stars interfere with their gravitational influence.

Snow Line

Next, compute the snow line radius for each star. This is the distance from the star at which water ice could exist during planetary formation, marking the most likely region for the formation of the star???s largest gas giant planet. The snow line radius can be found using the following formula:

R = 4.85 x square root of L

Here, R is the snow line radius in AUs and L is the star???s initial luminosity on the main sequence (the L-Min value from the Stellar Evolution Table).

Here is some stuff I learned about car pollution and the greenhouse effect from HowStuffWorks (and an off-topic bit on electricity):

Gasoline

• aliphatic hydrocarbon (All Hydrogen/Carbon)
• 7-11 (Usually 9) Carbons in a string / line
• # Hydrogens = (# Carbons * 2 + 2)
• 132×106 Joules, 36,650 watt-hours, 125,000 BTU, 31,000 food calories (31,000,000 physics calories; 1 food calorie = 1000 physics colors or 1 physics kilocalorie)

Gasoline Combusion / Pollution

• 100% efficient gasoline combusion passes through the Nitrogen and generates CO2 and H2O from combining the Carbon with Oxygen and Hydrogen with Oxgyen.
• Gas combusion eats up 1 Oxygen Molecule (O2) for every Carbon atom and 1 for every 4 Hydrongen atoms.
• Burning 1 C9H20 molocule consumes 14 Oxygen molecules and produces 9 CO2 molecules and 10 Water Molocules.
• Stoichiometric ratio is about 14.7:1 - For each pound of gasoline, 14.7 pounds of air will be burned.
• Less than 100% efficient gasoline combusion produces CO (Carbon Monoxide; Poisnous), evaporated unburned hydrocarbon gas, and NO/NO2 (nitrogen oxides, NOX; NOS/Nitrous Oxide is N2O; Mucus irritant)
• Sunlight breaks down unburned hydrocarbon vapor, which react with nitrogen oxides to form ground-level ozone.

Farads:

• 1 Columb at 1 Volt.
• 1 Columb = 6.25 * 10^18 Electrons
• 1 Amp = 1 Columb of flow Per Second or 6.25 * 10^18 Electrons per second
• 1 Farad=1 Amp-Second at 1 Volt
• Capacitor is designed for rapid charge/discharge of staged current, not long-term storage.
• 1 Farad as big as a can of Tuna or Larger depending on Voltage capacity (Lower is Bigger b/c of more amp-second capacity?).

Water Vapor is a greenhouse gas also, but it’ll eventually come down as rain. Its the carbon-compound gasses like Carbon Dioxide and Methane that are the baddies. Excessive bacteria in sewage, factory farms, and hyper-fertilized soil, and too many people and their feed/domesticated/pet animals also produce lots of carbon dioxide also. A fuel-efficient car driven 1 hour per day generates the same amount of CO2 as about 240 people simply breathing for an hour. Since peopel drive for about an hour per day it takes about 10 people breathing all day to equal the CO2 from a day’s commute in a fuel efficient car. I’m assuming that people-metabolism and gasoline cumbustion generate about the same amount of CO2 per unit of engergy produced. Probably by the time we get rid of fossil fuels, there will be so many more people on the planet that all their breathing plus the breithing of their pet, feed, and service animals, and all the breathing in backteria in their sewage and fertilized soil, will make up for the difference in CO2 emissions!

How about making Solar powered CO2 processors and then recycle the carbon? Put the O2 back into the atmosphere. Plenty of carbon for plastics, carbon-fiber and other carbon-composites, rather than just letting it sit in the atmosphere. We probably got enough computer technology to develop artificial photosynthesis that may be even more efficient than the plants. With all the jungles being cut down, there will be plenty of Carbon Dioxide (and maybe other carbon compund gasses) for theyse hyper-efficient mass-scale, self powered machines to collect.

I think telepathy between best friends or close family would be cool. Other forms of telepathy outside of strict useful use of telerecieve and telesend would be like the medical insurance world of screw or be screwed (or likely both if everybody could indiscriminately mind-read). Most RPGs mostly just give modest skill bonuses for close relationships, although GURPs 4th edition adds a mindlink, which is a essentially a permanent or a guaranteed connection telepathic link with one or more people (point cost varies with number - from freakish best friends to a illuminati conspiracy organization like the MIB). Vulcan mind-melds are form of telepathy. Contact-only range, but extremely high bandwidth enough for a two-way full neural-interface level telepathic connection. Most RPGs do not have systems to measure bandwidth, although that would be limited to telepathy and ESP though. Just skill/accuracy and power/range (many have only 1 combined scale). In GURPs, power determines range for ESP, psycoportation, and Telepathy, but for Psychokinesis, its weight, or temperature change rate. Skill determines connectivity for telepathy and overall control for all power categories. There is no mention of bandwidth. I guess a house rule could be made that it would be a function of power and skill and how much of those capacities are being used.

I’ve seen limited uses of holy-spirit assisted telepathy, mostly in the form of prophecy or message verification/repetition, though this is easy to fraud (training/coordination/pre-organized act), and also tongues interpretation is completely unverifiable by nonbelievers, while plain-english or multilingual verification has limited verification capability. But I’m pretty sure the 2-key security system (when ICBMs were manually launched before the mid-80s) for launching nuclear weapons (at least in the USA) and verification / seconding of prophecy have at least slight correlation beyond coincidence, especially since God’s most used communication channels is direct through emotion infested analog human brains and also that drugs and other hallucination-enhancing situations would make one more sensitive to such messages, from any source including your own brain. So I think it probably would be good for God to do extreme messages (voices, images, and especially fully audiovisual and possibly interactive things like angels) between two close friends with holy-ghost assisted telepathy (or high-bandwidth mind-meld) and in situations free of hallucinatory enhancer (extreme heat, LSD, Marijuana, other drugs, extreme hunger/thirst, high blood loss, major depression, severe stress / trauma, etc…). If you think you see an angel or have a strange dream that suggests the end of the world, or tells you to do something radical, then if it ain’t like the telepathic dreams of Explorers (the mid-80s movie) or Vulcan mind-melds (3-way actually w/ god as the 3rd party) with somebody you really trust, I’d ignore it because you might be going looney or just really desperately want something. I think telepathic dreams would be really cool. I know only two movies that cover it, - Explorers and Nightmare on Elm Street 3-4 (Explorers shows it far better).

Another thing that would be cool, if and when the technology is developed, is machine-interface enabled telepathy or even mind meld! Go get your chick, partner, or best friend, or best-friend equivalent family member (likely identical twins), plug-in, and download minds to each other (which is why normal friends, acquaintances, and strangers probably wouldn’t want to do such a thing)! Just simply sharing thoughts directly without any keyboard or mouse would be pretty cool. Apserger people and some HFA, and even normal people would probably really tripp off of it, including me. And you can control the computer and plug in or unplug whenever you want, which is better than other methods (I only seen limited telepathy in holy-roller environments unfortunately), especially drug assisted ones. The only machine-assisted ‘telepathy’ you can get today, in the here and now, is to plug two or more people into conventional networked audio/visual VR systems to get voice-only virtual telepathy, but no direct image communication or voice+images. MMORPGs like World of Worldcraft or Star Wars Galaxies or Everquest is the closest to remote-telepathy that the average joe-smoe will get to in the next few years.

The big bang and the microwave enegy area is at a single point in the sky. I think the Big-Bang is a continual event. The universe expands well short of the speed of light. The light from such events would’ve passed us by already if it was a one time event. The black-holes (especially the galactic-center ones) are probably the death and rebirth of matter, like the cycle of life on earth.

When the matter finally reaches a very microscopic distance from the singularity it is ‘recycled’ and spewed back through the big-bang. They would even eventually mop up much of the electromagnetic engergy and possibly even neutrinos and other strange subatomic particles. It may explain how black holes slowly ‘evaporate’. It would allow a continual existance for the universe.

Galactic superclusters fade off, clump into a giant black hole and recycle back through the continual big-bang. The universe itself probably has a huge huge huge event horizon of perhaps trillions of light years so that even light and energy can’t run off to infinite distances for eventual mop-up and recycling by black holes, otherwise their would be energy/matter loss over great cosmological time.

If the big-bang was a one-time event, and assuming 25% lightspeed expansion and a 14 billion year universe age, anything happening less than 3.5 billion light years away would definitly have passed us by and be totally non-observable, but we can see further than that with Hubble supoosedly.

Only a wild thought. I’m not well versed in advanced calculus or the like.