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Earth's Core Made In Miniature
ananyo writes "A 3-meter-tall metal sphere full of molten sodium is about to start work modeling the Earth's core. The gigantic dynamo, which has taken researchers ten years to build, 'will generate a self-sustaining electromagnetic field that can be poked, prodded and coaxed for clues about Earth's dynamo, which is generated by the movement of liquid iron in the outer core.'"
what?
Next step is to drop the content of the sphere into a lake surrounded by high speed 4k cameras with hardened storage units.
Suddenly I'm having a craving for a Cadbury Cream Egg.
Do you know what happens with practice and theory? In theory, they are both the same. In practice, they are not.
Well, you could check. Melting point of sodium is 97.72 C.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
This model is inaccurate as it does not provide for the Reptilian space.
"The world is a construct of forceful imagination. Those who don't know walk around in the reailties of those who do"
...on our doomsday device to stop the earth's core from spinning.
Small scale tests first before we build the full-size model.
How can this produce accurate results that will possibly match that of reality? This device (unless they are planning to put it on the space station) will be overwhelmingly influenced by the (real) earth's gravity. Convection will obviously be way off.
So, unless they are trying to model how the earth's core would act if it were enclosed in a giant metal sphere and placed on a gigantic table subject to one-gee, won't this simulation be way off?
Even if they put it in space, I'm not sure the simulation would be correct, the forces provided from the self-gravitation would probably be off.
in relationship to yesterdays article on physical models in the age of computers (http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/06/1736231/physical-models-in-an-age-of-computers). This is a great example of when a physical model is invaluable to scientific research even though a computer model could have been used. What happens in theory doesn't always hold true in practice.
Be cause none of the theories, Magneto Hydro Dynamics (MHD), the Vlasov Equation, etc... are correct. The equations are two complex to solve so they have to make approximations. You need experiment to understand what terms are important and what terms are wrong. Plus a lot of times theorists use rediculus scaling parameters such that these phenomena can never happen in nature.
In science nobody believes the theory except the theorist and everybody believes the experiment except the experimentalist.
Yawn! Wake me when they have a dual-core earth.
The single-core model is bound to revolve to slowly!
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
And this distinction is noteworthy because you can measuring what happens in practice, find where it doesn't meet the theory, and revise your theory. This is how science gets done.
Plus a lot of times theorists use rediculus...
Wow, and here I am thinking calculus was hard.
Calculations showed powered flight to be possible - why did Orville & Wilbur build the Flyer?
Why was the first atomic pile built? Why the first moon shot?
Because we can. Because theory is all well and good, but to actually have the thing in reality confirms (or disproves, usually dramatically) the theory.
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
Imagine if it was three complex!
Hmmm, knowing that I've seen this before, I decided to go lookabout http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/4277476 Ummm so what did they do? Apparently they emptied the thing of the sodium it had in 2009, either that or the 2009 article is in error.
Not sure if this is all that interesting, appears to just be a pr piece to help ensure people don't forget about them. Not sure why there is a time discrepancy. The show I saw before has some sort of sodium filled ball for measuring magnetic fields, and I assume that it's probably the same one. Since I watch most of my documentaries on Netflix now, I have to assume this thing is several years old.
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
what?
Well powered flight has immediate and obvious useful applications, this thing less so, at least as far as I can see. Powered flight means I can get there faster, or cross rough terrain impossible in other vehicles, etc etc. Giant sphere of super heated liquid salt, not really sure how I can use that. Which is not say that is a reason not build the thing.
A better analogy would be Orville and Wilbur carving a wooden wing and running around the bike shop with it to feel that it does indeed produce lift when pushed through a fluid like air. Its a required precursor to powered flight, and would more represent this sort of basic research. At some point you have to try things.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Sodium != salt, which is probably what you are thinking of (seems to be the trend in the comments around yours). Sodium is a metal, not a salt (NaCl is common table salt, which melts closer to 1000C or something).
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
No highspeed cameras, but here you go - disposal of a couple of 1000 pounds of sodium metal by dumping it into a lake. Old newsreel footage from a time when men were men and chemists were the most manly of them....
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.