Yes. My daughter wrote her dissertation on space atmosphere, or space "weather". (Physics PhD). Now she's a research space physicist at the Navy Research Lab (NRL) in D.C. I can't read past the second page of her dissertation or any part of her published articles but I do understand that there's a lot of stuff out there. Sun flares (solar winds) are known to actually move satellites from their orbits, etc. When she explains it all to "Dad" it is interesting but two minutes later I'm befuddled again. Actually, I don't know what she does in her job, of course.
We once did a great project together called "Cool Globes" (see google). She determined that if less than 1/5 of 1% of the earth's surface were dedicated to solar panels (at 15% efficiency) all of the world's expected electrical power would be met until 2050. I then painted a 5 ft. globe various colors and put some dots on it to equal the area needed for solar panels. This globe was exhibited in various places, including by the U.S. Capitol, but none of the sponsors believed our thesis. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, August 17, 2012 1:38:37 PM Subject: Re: is list dead? William > And how is 'nothing' deployed? I was reading a scientific description of the atmosphere. I thought it extended about 120 miles up and then ended. I was surprised to learn about the exosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere that extends from 690 Km to 10,000 Km above the Earth. Wow. The molecules of gases are so far apart they can travel 100 km before colliding with one another, and since they so rarely collide with each other, the atmosphere doesn't behave like a fluid. There is no 'nothing' out there or anywhere. We think of outer space as (a) above the atmosphere and (b) empty. But if you widen your field of measurement or study, then the empty space is full of objects. It seems counterintuitive to comprehend galaxies colliding and tearing each other apart, what with all that "empty" space between objects in it. But that's exactly what happens at the molecular and atomic level, where the size of the particles in atoms is so tiny compared to the space between particles in the same atom or molecule. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady
