Activity for Justin Thyme‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	Can enough CO2 be captured, in order to reduce global warming, to reduce oxygen levels to suffocating levels? In a comment to a recent question, it was pointed out that Biosphere II failed in part because too much CO2 was absorbed by the concrete, leaving insufficient oxygen in available CO2 to be released by plants in photosynthesis. We know that one of the ways scientists and engineers are hypothesizing t... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	How do you non-catastrophically reduce the mass of the Sun by half? In my previous question, I asked how much mass the Sun would have to lose in order for Saturn's orbital velocity to be its escape velocity. The answer proved to be somewhat unexpected - when the Sun loses about half of its mass, every planet will escape from the Sun's remaining gravity at about the ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Can the Sun lose enough mass that Saturn's current velocity becomes escape velocity? Imagine that, through some cosmic phenomena not yet understood, the Sun 'burps' and ejects a vast amount of its mass into the cosmic void. A huge coronal discharge, perhaps. A pressure bubble inside that bursts. A mega internal explosion. The loss of mass is sudden and dramatic, but in a trajectory t... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How would two generational ships traveling at point eight cee communicate with each other? In my story, I have two huge generation ships racing each other to another star system. Assume they are on an exactly parallel path, neck-and-neck, about one astronomical unit apart. They are traveling at exactly the same speed - point eight cee. They know the other ship is there, somewhere. They lau... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	What would entropy look like in an infinite number of universes? There was a question recently about gatekeepers controlling the flow of goods between universes. The gatekeepers became a religious order. The premise got me thinking, and I have come to a conundrum over one of the lateral associations. String theory allows for, even proposes, an infinite number of ... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	How can the newly-discovered inter-galactic matter be harvested by inter-galactic mega-generational ships? Scientists have just released details on their discovery of inter-galactic baryon material - "Dark Matter" that turns out to be regular matter, except that it is 'dark' - dispersed throughout the inter-galactic spaces and therefore not hot enough to detect. Sort of like it is all black-body radiation... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	How do you detect a rock in interstellar space? You are on a generation ship in interstellar space, between star systems. We know that there are rocks whizzing around out there - escaped asteroids, bashed planets, we have even put a few artificial ones out there ourselves. Unless your ship was giving off electromagnetic radiation that could be de... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	How high does a tower have to be, so that centrifugal force launches a payload into space? We all, perhaps, know the theory behind space elevators. Similar to the principal of a bucket on a string, suspend a large anchor in space that orbits the planet in synchronous orbit around the equator. Stretch a cable from this platform down to the planet. The cable is thus in tension, not compressi... (more)	—	about 7 years ago