[omegaman]

Scientist Wil McCarthy shows how Star Trek's planets

http://scifiwire.com/2009/05/columni...ccarthy-st.php

[Stef*]

I think that is very interesting stuff.

There are cinematic requirements, that for sure - to get the angst, action and shock of the situation. So they are bending the sciences somewhat. Ooooookaaaaaayyyyy - it's fiction. They do such things ...

But in my opinion it could have only added to the dramatic ...

- to see debris (from destroyed space stations etc. ) floating around a Vulcan, that is no more
- debris that perhaps is forming a ring (faster as it would scientifically)
- the orbiting things, wrecks wont get into the gravitational pull at once, could stay outside possibly for days
- so see at least some spaceships fleeing the surface before all crumbles inside
- to see at least some Vulcans being beamed up to Enterprise just before Spock goes down, but already had issued the evacuation orders (nowhere is said, that this Kirk/Sulu etc. Transporter Room is the only one - it's just the one right behind the bridge)
- ...

When Vulcan crumbled there was only the Enterprise left visible, fleeing "from what"? - That question arised at once in me, since this miniatur black hole would have the same gravitational pull at least at this distance as the planet had before - when you're in orbit.

There is no reason to actually "flee" but every reason to not get 1 milimeter to close.

[DammitJim]

Originally Posted by Stef*

I think that is very interesting stuff.

There are cinematic requirements, that for sure - to get the angst, action and shock of the situation. So they are bending the sciences somewhat. Ooooookaaaaaayyyyy - it's fiction. They do such things ...

But in my opinion it could have only added to the dramatic ...

- to see debris (from destroyed space stations etc. ) floating around a Vulcan, that is no more
- debris that perhaps is forming a ring (faster as it would scientifically)
- the orbiting things, wrecks wont get into the gravitational pull at once, could stay outside possibly for days
- so see at least some spaceships fleeing the surface before all crumbles inside
- to see at least some Vulcans being beamed up to Enterprise just before Spock goes down, but already had issued the evacuation orders (nowhere is said, that this Kirk/Sulu etc. Transporter Room is the only one - it's just the one right behind the bridge)
- ...

When Vulcan crumbled there was only the Enterprise left visible, fleeing "from what"? - That question arised at once in me, since this miniatur black hole would have the same gravitational pull at least at this distance as the planet had before - when you're in orbit.

There is no reason to actually "flee" but every reason to not get 1 milimeter to close.

the black hole sucked all the debris, etc. in.
it would have sucked the Enterprise in also. it was necessary for the movie that the ship "flee" AND no-one really truly knows what would happen in that situation in "real life" so, because it was a nice shot, they did it.

[TJJones]

DJ, if you read the article, the scientist gives us a pretty good idea of what would happen "in real life." The Enterprise would experience the same gravitic pull from its orbit as it did before Vulcan collapsed. That's the thing about black holes -- the mass remains the same, so gravity remains the same.

So, the Enterprise was not in danger of being pulled in by the black hole.

[WarpFactorX]

I remember watching a show on Nat Geo called "How to kill a planet" which showcased various ways to obliterate Earth effectively. One such way was using an antimatter bomb, being that antimatter annihilation is the most efficient and destructive reaction in the known universe. To show how powerful matter/antimatter annihilation is, they demonstrated that a tiny fraction of a gram of antimatter(the total amount humanity had been able to create in particle accelerators) was equivalent to detonating a pound of TNT. To destroy Earth, it would take a gigantic glob of antimatter the size of Mt Everest buried into the Earth's core. The resulting explosion would convert most of Earth's mass to energy and the rest would go flying off into space without collapsing back under gravity.

I can't bend my mind over how much energy that would equate to.

[DammitJim]

Originally Posted by TJJones

[font=Palatino Linotype][color=Wheat]DJ, if you read the article, the scientist gives us a pretty good idea of what would happen "in real life."

no, it doesn't because no-one has been in this situation "in real life", so therefore one can only theorize.

[TJJones]

1 gram of antimatter could create an explosion equivalent to about 43 kilotons of TNT, or three-times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

Of course, the amount of antimatter produced in the history of CERN amounts to the power to light a single light bulb for a "few minutes." (from the CERN website)

[FanWriter45]

As hokey as it sounds, this was one thing I thought the old, campy, Star Wars-ripoff movie, "Battle Beyond the Stars" got right: the villian in that film had a "stellar converter" a particle beam that would trigger the planet's atmosphere to become a sun-like fusion reaction. (Not so crazy, when you realize that some of the scientists working on the Manhattan project were worried about doing the same thing when they set off "Fat Man" the first time.)

If you want to read about some very plausible ways of killing a planet, pick up Dr. Phil Plait's book "Death From the Skies!" There's also an earlier book, although I'm not too sure of the author at the moment, calle "Cosmic Catastrophies" which is enough to keep you wide awake, and staring at your bedroom ceiling at night.

[WarpFactorX]

Originally Posted by FanWriter45

As hokey as it sounds, this was one thing I thought the old, campy, Star Wars-ripoff movie, "Battle Beyond the Stars" got right: the villian in that film had a "stellar converter" a particle beam that would trigger the planet's atmosphere to become a sun-like fusion reaction. (Not so crazy, when you realize that some of the scientists working on the Manhattan project were worried about doing the same thing when they set off "Fat Man" the first time.)

If you want to read about some very plausible ways of killing a planet, pick up Dr. Phil Plait's book "Death From the Skies!" There's also an earlier book, although I'm not too sure of the author at the moment, calle "Cosmic Catastrophies" which is enough to keep you wide awake, and staring at your bedroom ceiling at night.

Ha ha I consider Phil Plait to be one of my "astronomical idols" and I blame him for my ever growing interest in astronomy and cosmology. I just dished out about 1300 for a new telescope in January. Next project: building a starship in your backyard.

[FanWriter45]

What scope did you buy? I just recently bought a Meede AX70 refractor, and all the candy to go with it. (I got it from a guy at a yard sale for $25, with the digital eyepeice camera AND the software. (I just dabble is stargazing... I figure leave the REAL insturments to the folks who are doing REAL science.)