Discussion 1
For this week please read "It all began in be very chaos" I would just like your thoughts and observations. For some of you this may be very accurate - for some this may be an entertaining story. Please just let me know (and your classmates) what YOU think and why.
Your response to the article:
Student 1 response:After reading this article its safe to say that our solar system is a unqiue system that works together in sync, and if any planet in the solar system is off set it cause great impact on the entire solar system. Personally after reading this im almost confused in a way. Like I have far more questions that havent been answered.
Our history of science is so complicated too that one scientist can predict something and it actually happen or the other way around where a scientists method gets dissaproven after many years they find that its not the case and find whats truly happening. Overall I really enjoyed this article because it leaves a mystery to be solved and we are far from knowing the real truth about space and the solar system.
Your response to the student response:
Student 2 response:I found this article interesting. Mostly at the end with the chance of things happening. "There is a one percent chance the inner solar system will go dramatically unstable during the next five billion years," says Laughlin. The problem is a weird long-distance connection between Jupiter and Mercury.
When Jupiter's closest approach to the sun lines up with Mercury's noticeably squashed orbit in just the right way, Jupiter exerts a slight but steady tug. Over billions of years this gives Mercury a 1-in-100 chance of crossing the orbit of Venus. There is a further 1-in-500 chance that if Mercury goes nuts.." I found this the most interesting to me. How they found out certain chances of things happening, even if it small they have that as a possibility.
Your responseto the student response:
Discussion 2
This week we have a quick video on the creation of the Earth and Moon - AND an interesting article on Dark Matter - some estimates have up to 90% of the material in the Universe being dark matter - something we cannot see or detect, yet still has a huge impact on how everything seems to work. One of the great mysteries.
Birth of the Earth
A First Glimpse of the Hidden Cosmos
Your response to the article:
Student 1 response:The video was helpful to see more of what we learned about last week.Nothing really was that interesting other than the collision, which was nice to actually see the simulation of that and was the most entertaining part for me from that whole video.
The article was the most interesting thing to me. I never really knew anything about dark matter, but this helped me understand a little of what it is. Its something thats not that common in space and is made up of exotic materials. As well as how weakly dark matter interacts not just with normal matter but also with itself. Over all it was a interesting to read.
Your response to the student response:
Student 2 response:After watching the video and reading the article it's pretty safe to say that this stuff blows my mind. It's like we think we know whats going on and later on we completely prove our recent theories wrong. I really think the video was beneficial to watch because the graphics and story are awesome to prove their theory.
Now one thing i struggled to understand was when they talked about in the article that dark matter travels through humans " Dark matter's aloofness makes it challenging for experimenters to catch-even if, as some scientists estimate, dark matter particles are so commonplace that billions of them pass through every human being every second" (Ferris) we this is where I lost my mind.
After reading this I was blown away that this whole time us humans have been interacting with dark matter and we didnt even know until recently. I think overall the video really helps explain everything a lot better. But if youre interested in some mind blowing stuff than read the article.
Your responseto the student response:
Discussion3
Within the past two years or scientists have discovered the existence of gravitation waves - proving one of Einsteins long held theories. The science in pretty intense but the long and short of it is that two black holes are colliding and the energy is enough to warp space-time. (remember worm holes from a couple of weeks ago????) I am going to link up a couple of articles for you to read - one is a live stream from the discovery, one is an update on that..
Now the question(s) for this week -
All of this exploration costs a lot of money - and while the science is very cool, at this SECOND there isn't a ton of real world here on Earth applications for it (though some day there may be - time travel anyone???) SO - is it worth while to spend the money on this (and other space exploration....) or should we be using our resources in other areas?
(As a side note, and remember I am from Wisconsin, I just saw a funny joke: "The new Vikings stadium cost more than our planned mission to Mars. We could have built the stadium there and saved money - especially since the Martians haven't won a Super Bowl either....")
Your response to the article:
Student 1 response:After watching the stream and reading the article man does it seem like we are just blowing money into nothing. But on the other handi truly believe that if we want to learn more about our earth and space than we should continue to invest large amounts of money into learning more.
I think that we have the potential and the resources to discover way more than what we already know. And plusits not going to complete waste because what we start now can help the future to use our information to prove more theories right like us proving Einsteins long held theory.
Time and time again we live and we die and its up to us to put fourth good information to be used to help/discover more interesting theories. So with that being said I think we all think its a waste of money but in the end its going to help the evolution of future humans on earth.
Your response to the student response:
Student 2 response:I have always believed that knowledge does not come in one piece. For example, I do believe that Einstein came up with theories that he might fail to prove at the time, but after a while, these fragments or mysteries become to appear to light after research and study.
I know that we like to invest easy money. People look into high profits, investing in sport has guaranteed people with huge profits and wealth that they cannot resist. When it comes to studies and research, the case is different.
Mostly those kinds of projects are funded by governmental organizations that do not look just for profit. Also, I am possessed about knowing more about black holes. I remember a scientist saying I would never get into a black hole after he saw the movie INTERSTELLAR. It is something beyond our expectation, but what if this can save the time and effort to solve our chronic problems
Your response to the student response: