Comments on: Conversion rates in science writing

By: JS OBrien

JS OBrien — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:34:22 +0000

That too.

By: Euphrosyne

Euphrosyne — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:27:19 +0000

Oh – I thought it was to forget that you weren’t getting laid.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:21:10 +0000

Geeks never run down, E. We’re too amped up on energy drinks, coffee, mate, Mountain Dew, and our cola of choice to run down.

Why do you think geeks party so hard? It’s because of all the booze needed to cancel out all the caffeine.

By: Euphrosyne

Euphrosyne — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:41:41 +0000

Somebody wake me up when the geeks run down.

By: JS OBrien

JS OBrien — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:24:44 +0000

Now wait just a damn minute. The energy of 7 mosquitoes traveling at what speed (max., min., just crusing?) and on what vector relative to the object at hand? And do these mosquitoes crash into the ball at maximum velocity with their entire mass, thereby dashing their little brains out, or do they push gently against the ball and increase their push slowly. And if they do all crash into the ball, how do they manage to do that simultaneously so that the ball immediately accerlerates to terminal velocity?

And what sort of surface is the ball on? Is the rolling friction equal to that of the train?

I think you’d better rethink the calculations.

By: Djerrid

Djerrid — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:45:31 +0000

Thanks, Brian, for putting the exclamation on my point!

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:42:40 +0000

Djerrid – in that case, the writer still screwed up, just differently (my apologies for disparaging you, though – I thought you’d made the error, not the original source).

The volume that the 300 trillion protons would have to be contained within in order to produce average pressure at average temperature (average temperature of what? The sun? The Earth? Room temperature? And would that average room temp be 25C or 20C, since both are “standard” room temps?) would be about 1/100th the size of a grain of rice.

By: Djerrid

Djerrid — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:14:36 +0000

Oh, Great Google! What is the Answer?

one kilometer per hour = 4,800 furlongs/fortnight

By: Djerrid

Djerrid — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:08:51 +0000

“How many protons are there in each beam? About 300 trillion. But if you were to slow them down and allow them to form a gas at normal temperature and normal pressure, the gas would occupy a space about one hundredth the size of a grain of salt.”

Hey, don’t question the science man! It looks like normal temperature and normal pressure are the key words here. And that’s from the original canada.com link.

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:58:40 +0000

As I said, sometimes it’s not….

By: Dr. Slammy

Dr. Slammy — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:30:35 +0000

Can you convert that into my preferred unit of measurement, furlongs/fortnight?

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:29:57 +0000

Heh. Those 300 trillion protons as a gas would fit into whatever volume was available – that’s the defining characteristic of a gas, after all.

Drawing analogies is a pain, but sometimes it’s worth the effort. Sometimes it’s not.