atomic_fungus (atomic_fungus) wrote,
atomic_fungus
atomic_fungus

#560: Yet more headlines

In no particular order....

Earth might survive sun's explosion.

This is king of the misleading headlines. The article discusses what will happen to Earth in 5 billion years when our sun becomes a red giant. It will do this, it is thought, when it has fused the majority of its hydrogen into helium.

But it's not an explosion.

You get a "nova" when, for example, one star orbits so closely to another that some mass is transferred from one to another, the mass accumulates, and then "flashes over". This is an "explosion".

You get a "supernova" when a supermassive star has run through the periodic table as far as iron. Every element on the periodic table, up to iron, releases energy when its atoms are fused together. Not iron; iron fusion consumes energy rather than releases it. When a star enters iron fusion (if it is massive enough to get that far) the star collapses and explodes, making as much energy as an entire galaxy for a very short time.

These are stellar explosions. The sun entering helium fusion and becoming a red giant is not.

*

This article on global warming contains no surprises for me. In fact, a lot of what it says are things I have been saying here since I wrote my first Atomic Fungus entry on global warming. (I think that's the first one.)

*

Ann Coulter deals with Democrats and their constant negativity vis-a-vis the war in Iraq. I love Ann Coulter.
Subscribe

  • #8640: INCORRECT

    Seeing the title of Friday night's ST:TOS ep ("The Changeling") reminded me of one of my pet peeves. In DS9, Odo is the station security chief. He's…

  • #8639: Well, Star Trek...

    Last night I watched ST:TOS, ST:TNG, and ST:DS9 on H&I. I did it again tonight. DS9 in particular--they've gotten to the big war, to the time when…

  • #8638: Rental Girlfriend

    ...Mami must be destroyed. She's just plain evil. That's all there is to it. I don't think I have ever hated a character quite as much as I hate…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 0 comments