• 08-24-2006, 10:02 AM
    poker
    Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...o-planets.html

    http://news.com.com/Pluto+demoted/21...3-6109092.html

    It's now a DWARF PLANET. Is that a politically correct statement???

    In other news, still no solution to war, disease, hunger, and Kevin Federline.
  • 08-24-2006, 10:18 AM
    mwfanelli
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by manacsa
    http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...o-planets.html

    http://news.com.com/Pluto+demoted/21...3-6109092.html

    It's now a DWARF PLANET. Is that a politically correct statement???

    In other news, still no solution to war, disease, hunger, and Kevin Federline.

    As there is no definitive definition of a planet, it can pretty much go either way. Pluto has never fit the pattern of other planets. Its orbit is not in the same plane as the other planets (nebular theory of solar system creation) and its orbit moves inside Neptunes once in a while. It has always appeared to be an escaped moon. Is everything that orbits the sun a "planet'? The answer is now "No!"
  • 08-24-2006, 02:08 PM
    drg
    New IAU definition of a planet
    This is the link to the Final Resolution of "What is a planet" prior to voting by the International Astronomical Union today, August 24, 2006.

    We now even have "Small Solar System Bodies" to further complicate matters:D .


    http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.ia...602/index.html
  • 08-24-2006, 05:53 PM
    Asylum Steve
    Personally...
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by manacsa
    It's now a DWARF PLANET...

    ...I thought they should have at least put Pluto on double-secret probation for a bit before actually taking away it's planet status... :D
  • 08-24-2006, 08:20 PM
    opus
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    but ... but ... I need NINE planets in my solar system or ... or the world just isn't right anymore. This just shows that everything I've ever been taught could one day be taken away from me. My world is shaken to the core.
  • 08-25-2006, 06:42 AM
    adina
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    So I guess now it's just "my very eager mother just served us nine" Or "my very eager mother just served us nachos"
  • 08-25-2006, 06:55 AM
    Asylum Steve
    Happy Hour start early for you today, Adina?
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by adina
    So I guess now it's just "my very eager mother just served us nine" Or "my very eager mother just served us nachos"

    Ok, I'm a Northeast and Southeast kind of guy, so I'm guessing this might be a Mid-west expression.

    Humor me. What the &#*%$! do you mean? :crazy:
  • 08-25-2006, 06:57 AM
    Asylum Steve
    Ok, got it...
    My second cup of coffee must have just kicked in. It's a (marginally) clever way to remember the order of the planets, right?... :idea:

    Guess I led a derpived childhhood. Never heard the expression. OTOH, I do know that the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog, and without a doubt, every good boy deserves favor... :D
  • 08-25-2006, 11:42 AM
    Tom_Proctor
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    The Sun is a fire.
  • 08-25-2006, 11:46 AM
    drg
    Re: Ok, got it...
    There's always"

    Bad Booze Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well

    which is mnemonic device to remember the Color Code for electrical resistor markings
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Gold White

    There's another version with Orangutan as part of it, but there are sensitive readers.
  • 08-25-2006, 11:48 AM
    drg
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    The Sun is a star which more properly is a fusion process. Yes, it is burning!
  • 08-25-2006, 11:50 AM
    drg
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tom_Proctor
    The Sun is a fire.

    The Sun is a star which is more properly a fusion process. Yes, it is burning!
  • 08-25-2006, 12:24 PM
    mwfanelli
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drg
    The Sun is a star which is more properly a fusion process. Yes, it is burning!

    No, it's not burning! Burning is fast oxidation. The sun is fusing hydrogen, not oxidizing.
  • 08-25-2006, 12:45 PM
    drg
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Nathan Sugarman my Physical Chemistry Prof, would have disagreed in the simplistic sense that there is consumption occuring. Burning is a rather inexact phrase, but heat is being generated, you'd get seriously toasted if you were to close, and really fast oxidation is also known as an explosion!

    It's a different kind of 'burning', instead of say Carbon Dioxide and Water as an end product, you get some Helium and some stray neutrons among other things. Oh, lets not leave out the MEGA(at least) joules of energy that are floating around too!

    Please don't make me remember all of the decay cycles for the Trans Uranic Elements. Though I think I can still draw all the electron shells.

    IT IS FRIDAY!
  • 08-25-2006, 01:01 PM
    walterick
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    I always liked to think of the sun as an explosion with so much fuel it keeps exploding for millions of years and never goes out. At least, not until it expands to a size so large it swallows the earth!

    By then, we'll all be living on the planet formerly known as Pluto anyways.


    Oh, and we have cures for war, disease and hunger. I'm still working on that Kevin Federline one though :)
  • 08-25-2006, 04:59 PM
    Tom_Proctor
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Yeah, but the sun is really just a big fire.
  • 08-25-2006, 05:04 PM
    poker
    Pluto Sues!!! Lololololololol
    Funny!

    http://blog.washingtonpost.com/bench...on_sues_i.html

    Pluto Loses Designation, Sues IAU
    In a move that surprised many legal observers, one of Pluto's leading public-interest groups yesterday sued the International Astronomical Union after the IAU declassified Pluto as one of the nine "classical" planets that circles the Sun. It is not yet known where venue for the case ultimately will be placed or precisely which judge eventually will hear the case.

    "The IAU isn't the end-all, be-all for the solar system," said a public relations spokesperson for Pluto, appearing on CNN's Larry King Show. "You can't just un-designate a planet without giving folks on the planet an opportunity for due process, and the right to be heard, and to challenge the facts upon which the decision is based." The complaint alleges that the IAU violated key provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, federal constitutional law, and certain Plutonian legal principles that are too complicated to set forth here.

    "We reject the downgrade from classical planet to 'dwarf planet'," the Plutonian flak told King. "We have a right to self-identity, to call ourselves whatever we want to call ourselves and not allow some pointy-headed scientists on Earth to label us. We feel confident that a jury on Earth or on Pluto or on any other planet will see through the IAU's discrimination and in the end give us celestial justice." Apparently, Pluto has contacted Mark Geragos to see if he will take the case.
  • 08-25-2006, 08:32 PM
    Asylum Steve
    Guys! Guys! Guys!...
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drg
    Nathan Sugarman my Physical Chemistry Prof, would have disagreed in the simplistic sense that there is consumption occuring. Burning is a rather inexact phrase, but heat is being generated, you'd get seriously toasted if you were to close, and really fast oxidation is also known as an explosion!

    It's a different kind of 'burning', instead of say Carbon Dioxide and Water as an end product, you get some Helium and some stray neutrons among other things. Oh, lets not leave out the MEGA(at least) joules of energy that are floating around too!

    Please don't make me remember all of the decay cycles for the Trans Uranic Elements. Though I think I can still draw all the electron shells.

    IT IS FRIDAY!

    One question: where do Apollo and his chariot fit in all of this?!? :p
  • 08-26-2006, 08:37 AM
    walterick
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Always thought Pluto was a dog. When did he get promoted to a planet?
  • 08-26-2006, 10:31 AM
    poker
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by walterick
    Always thought Pluto was a dog. When did he get promoted to a planet?

    The more important question is why can Goofy talk but Pluto can't??
  • 08-26-2006, 11:19 AM
    mwfanelli
    Ack!
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drg
    Nathan Sugarman my Physical Chemistry Prof, would have disagreed in the simplistic sense that there is consumption occuring. Burning is a rather inexact phrase, but heat is being generated, you'd get seriously toasted if you were to close, and really fast oxidation is also known as an explosion!

    It's a different kind of 'burning', instead of say Carbon Dioxide and Water as an end product, you get some Helium and some stray neutrons among other things. Oh, lets not leave out the MEGA(at least) joules of energy that are floating around too!

    Please don't make me remember all of the decay cycles for the Trans Uranic Elements. Though I think I can still draw all the electron shells.

    IT IS FRIDAY!

    Sorry, but a chemistry professor would never call fusion "burning." Burning is not vague, it requires oxidation. Fast and slow are relative terms. Slow oxidation is rust, fast oxidation would be fire, very fast would be an explosion. In all cases, the speed is subjective, the process is not. Fusion has nothing at all to do with oxidation. All chemical reactions that generate heat are NOT burning, they are just exothermic (as opposed to endothermic). Some burn, some do not.

    Burning is also a chemical reaction, fusion is a nuclear reaction. Burning involves the electrons, in fact, only the valence electrons. Fusion involves the nuclei of atoms, the electrons have already been stripped away long before fusion starts. Yeah, neutrons are created but I think you are getting mixed up with nuclear fission and chain reactions. That is not burning either but it is different than fusion. Trans-uranium atoms have nothing to do with fusion.

    Also, energy doesn't "float around"! Energy is always something specific that is being transfered from one form to another. Energy as a substance was disproven hundreds of years ago.

    By the way, IT IS SATURDAY!

    Your friend,
    Dr. Science. :-)
  • 08-26-2006, 12:59 PM
    Dylan8i
    Re: Ack!
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mwfanelli
    Sorry, but a chemistry professor would never call fusion "burning." Burning is not vague, it requires oxidation. Fast and slow are relative terms. Slow oxidation is rust, fast oxidation would be fire, very fast would be an explosion. In all cases, the speed is subjective, the process is not. Fusion has nothing at all to do with oxidation. All chemical reactions that generate heat are NOT burning, they are just exothermic (as opposed to endothermic). Some burn, some do not.

    Burning is also a chemical reaction, fusion is a nuclear reaction. Burning involves the electrons, in fact, only the valence electrons. Fusion involves the nuclei of atoms, the electrons have already been stripped away long before fusion starts. Yeah, neutrons are created but I think you are getting mixed up with nuclear fission and chain reactions. That is not burning either but it is different than fusion. Trans-uranium atoms have nothing to do with fusion.

    Also, energy doesn't "float around"! Energy is always something specific that is being transfered from one form to another. Energy as a substance was disproven hundreds of years ago.

    By the way, IT IS SATURDAY!

    Your friend,
    Dr. Science. :-)

    i agree, the sun is not burning. another way to look at it is fire requires oxygen as one of its fuels, and well no oxygen in space.
  • 08-26-2006, 02:07 PM
    walterick
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by manacsa
    The more important question is why can Goofy talk but Pluto can't??

    Better yet: what is Goofy?
  • 08-26-2006, 02:38 PM
    poker
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by walterick
    Better yet: what is Goofy?

    I think Goofy is a dog but I know one thing for sure. Pluto is not a planet.
  • 08-26-2006, 07:24 PM
    walterick
    Re: Pluto is NO LONGER CONSIDERED A PLANET
    Idea :idea:: Should we start calling Pluto the Goofy Planet?