Comments on: Oh Look! Mars Climate Change!

By: mcfly

mcfly — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 04:07:34 +0000

Cool, you’ve got it all figured out

By: johannes

johannes — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:42:56 +0000

You wrote: “The goal of higher education isn’t to create people who have answers, it’s to create people who can ask good questions and discover answers for themselves.”
OK: My question was: “Has it been proven that the Earth’s magnetic field originates within the Earth?”
Is that a good question?
The link that I posted indicates that it has NOT been proven.
Then in that site it continues that: “The rotation of the Earth plays a part in generating the currents which are presumed to be the source of the magnetic field.”
This presumption then simply assumes that the mass of the Earth creates a magnetic field simply by rotating. I find that hard to believe. In the next link that I posted, it indicates that magnetic field is caused by moving electrons.
What would cause electrons to move within the Earth? (Is that a good question?)
In the next link it indicates that there are very energetic electrons moving around the earth.
Conclusion: Moving Electrons going around the Earth create the Earth’s magnetic field.
As for orbital mechanics it seems simple. If an object is moving fast enough away from the Earth then it can escape the Earth’s gravitational field, if the objects has a certain speed, then it can stay in orbit around the Earth, if the object is moving slow then it can be pulled to the ground by the gravitational field.
Naturally you can explain it with mathematics, such as: \epsilon = \epsilon_k+\epsilon_p\!

\epsilon={v^2\over}}-{/mu\over{r}}= -{1\over{2}}{\mu^2\over{h^2}}\left(1-e^2\right)=-\frac{\mu}{2a}

By: mcfly

mcfly — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 00:26:05 +0000

University and college classes will, at their best, introduce you to new ideas and challenge you to find answers for yourself. And help guide you from basic to advanced topics. The goal of higher education isn’t to create people who have answers, it’s to create people who can ask good questions and discover answers for themselves.

Look, if you wanted to understand something like orbital mechanics, you don’t *start* with orbital mechanics (few meaningful journeys start at their destination), you start with algebra. Then you move to trig, and then to calculus. Add some classes in rudimentary physics. Only when you’re fluent with the prerequisites do you have a fighting chance to truly understand orbital mechanics.

If you want to understand how the planet’s magnetic field is generated, that sounds to me like an incredible journey. What’s the first step?

By: johannes

johannes — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 01:20:39 +0000

You seem to be saying that if I take a university course that will give me the meaning of the words, NOT KNOWN and PRESUMED, then I will have the answer to the question of how the Earth’s magnetic field is generated.
Or did you simply not read the information from the links that I posted.

By: mcfly

mcfly — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 23:50:55 +0000

Or in this case, many of us want the answers, but have no interest in the hard work that moves us in that direction.

It seems to me that anyone with a deep interest in physics would *want* to work through the material at links like the ones RL offered. To casually dismiss them makes you appear incurious…not typically a coveted characteristic in a scientist.

By: RL

RL — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 21:46:36 +0000

Or even the basic language of the science- how could you understand any meaningful discussion based on those principles and language…?

By: johannes

johannes — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 21:30:00 +0000

Very interesting and informative, but studying these subjects would not give clear answers to the three questions and the speculation that I listed in the previous post. The answers that the studies would give would still be speculation, as explained in the quotation: “Although the details of the dynamo effect are NOT KNOWN in detail, the rotation of the Earth plays a part in generating the currents which are PRESUMED to be the source of the magnetic field.”
If you know the answers then why are you evading the questions?

By: TB

TB — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 21:13:06 +0000

The only real significant climate information on Mars that could be translated to indicate astronomical influence for our current climate issues would be something that could be proven to match changes in the past few hundred years.

Something that showed correspondence to Medieval Warming, the Little Ice Age, or the current warming over the past century or so would be significant.

Most of the climate information from Mars is in million to billion year ranges. I suspect any recent information would involve close observation of areas subject to seasonal ice/frozen CO2 coverage on Mars, and I don’t know enough about Mars studies to know if anything has been done on this.

For one thing, CO2 ice doesn’t leave much of a footprint when it melts. Water ice is more likely to leave seasonal marks if it’s retreating.

By: RL

RL — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 21:10:01 +0000

The scientists DO consider the interaction of the solar wind with Earth in their models- the effects of CO2 dominate.

The particular claims you make are nonsense.

By: RL

RL — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 20:45:41 +0000

As if repetition makes it less wrong…

The energy delivered by the solar wind is minuscule compared to the energy from the suns electromagnetic radiation…
Delusional comparisons to a microwave oven are not making you any more believable.

Take a few months to study introductory physics, and then try again.