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Toxic Moondust Bounces Like A Cannonball
Jotii writes "A new NASA article says that moondust fetched to Earth by Apollo 17 is now being studied. From the article: 'Zen-like, he studies the a single mote of dust suspended inside a basketball-sized vacuum chamber for as long as 10 to 12 days.' Moondust is apparently very static, and bounces like cannonballs. Another article from NASA emphasizes the dust's toxicity: 'In some ways, lunar dust resembles the silica dust on Earth that causes silicosis, a serious disease.'"
I for one welcome our statically bouncing moondust neighbours.
whee, it's flubber! i bet those scientists had lots of fun. that is a long time for somehing to bounce, but i would imagine in a vacuum with no air resistance any bouncy ball would go on for a long time
If this dust bounces like canonballs, then the NBA will be ALL OVER toxic moondust basketballs.
I think that if this study proves that moondust can be dangerous, any astronauts stationed to a moonbase should probably just stay inside. Or at least, cover their mouths while they're roaming around outside. No sense in risking your health by walking around outside on the moon without any kind of protection for your lungs.
Who the hell wants a big bouncing ball of toxic dust for X-mas?
I'd be torn. Cool space dust... or the Xbox 360 that I asked for. Descisions, descisions!
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Yeah.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicolunarconiosis.
Why not just use static to get the dust off too?
You could simply use static emitters in the lunar module to trap dust, just like a 5 billion duster.
Cheaper alternative, stick a sign on the door that says: "Please remove your shoes before entering lunar lander."
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
Yeah I'm totally sure the Apollo astronauts opened up their visors and took a deep breath of Luna's magnificent, polution free atmosphere, only to find they later have suffered from Silicosis and Lung Cancer worse than asbestos could have ever caused...
or maybe they died from the extreme cold, lack of oxygen and mass radiation exposure.. I can't remember the details.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
That reminds me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes:
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
Don't cannonballs bounce similarly to how lead balloons fly...?
Everything I need to know about copyrights I learned from Slashdot.
Go with the moon dust. After the PS3 and Revolution come out, the moon dust will still be cool. ;-)
Last time I tried to bounce a cannonball I was thrown off the team.
ogglelog
Are all our moondust belong to them?
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
Wow... the sound of that is something quite atrocious.
"A new NASA article says that moondust fetched to Earth by Apollo 17 is now being studied. [...]"
Well, all I can say is, it's about time!
close your eyes and imagine a speck of dust bouncing like a cannonball...
i understand the instinct that drives scientists to say things like it "bounces like cannonballs" for the sake of us average joes who don't talk in kilocuries and attonewtons and femtofarads
however i would respectfully request that scientists attempting to talk in layman terms update their terminology to something after the civil war, as i don't think many of us average joes have seen any cannonballs bouncing around anywhere lately
i mean what is "bounces like cannonballs" supposed to mean? the best mental image i can come up with is a bouncing bowling ball... which doesn't really bounce- is that the point? then why not just say "it doesn't bounce"
does it make sense to say "the car drove off the highway at 80 mph and bounced off the tree like a cannonball" unless you're trying to write colorful fiction?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I think the poster has grasped the less than clear point that 'bouncing like cannonballs' means not bouncing at all. Perhaps 'bounces like watermelons' would have been better, but then again 'melons' and 'bouncing' in the same sentence may have distracted some of our younger readers...
Moondust bounces high
Suspended in emptiness
A scientist coughs
I don't know what this story is about, but I know the next song I write is bound to have the line "Toxic Moondust Bounces Like A Cannonball." Thanks, and pass the bong, taco.
Now I don't feel so bad about how long it takes me to get around to finishing projects.