shaiziel

When our powers combine, we form.... Uh guys, what do we form again? ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I know if I go in there and I find a thread that's interesting that I can actually contribute to... I'll spend a LOT of time making very long, elaborate, convoluted posts. So I haven't been in there in a while. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020208.html Comes down to this. Your body will tell you when it needs water and when it's satisfied. Drink accordingly. Drinking a little more than normal won't hurt, but don't feel guilty for not drinking any one day. If you're using only water to keep hydrated during strenuous activity, you could be causing at least temporary harm as sweating and other methods used by homeostasis take more then H2O to operate. As Cecil advises... sports drinks and healthy snacks are better alternatives for keeping hydrated during exertive activity. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Maybe he's not sad! If he's anything like me. Besides... he was laughing! ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I can hear it fine. But I'm only 21. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Prefer none. If she is wearing any, it shouldn't catch my attention unless it causes me to think "that look's nice." And it's a short distance from "nice" to "clown-like". ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

That's pretty damn cool. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I've had tofu in lasagna, but in that case I couldn't really taste it. I refuse to eat it plain or basically in a manner where it is the main course. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Troof. I HATE Matthew. Of course now that everyone knows that... ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I work at a dealership service department. Behind my office (the cashier's office) is the parts department. In front of the parts counter is a stand of fake batteries that essentially look real, if they aren't just the casings. We have a new girl who is responsible for calling customers back and filing. She stops in the service advisor area (on the other side of the wall of my office) to talk with one of them so I run out and grab one of the batteries. I walk over to the service advisor acting like it's heavy "Hey Jim what do you want me to do with this battery?" and I drop it right in front of her feet. She just about jumped out of her skin. That joke never gets old and gives everyone a good laugh. She called me a dork (not in a mean way) and of course was embarassed. I'm so destined to be single ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I second that! Tofu is gross. Period. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Legally for me it is Matthew but I go by Matt and unless it's super important paperwork I just say Matt. Perhaps they ask cause they just want the "TRUE" name. Of course I've been called all kinds of variations: Math Matthias Mattias Matteo ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I'd say let's roll for it. But I always roll 20's. If you check out an etymology website you'll find that "Matt" was consistently in the top 10 most common baby names for most of the 80's. Our parent's were just too unimaginative. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

So if you're going to be experiencing some heat, could it be mitigated with a small capsule like suit encased in thermal ceramic? You probably couldn't afford to have limbs sticking out as they may be ripped off. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Exactly. Of course the structure of the behavior and nature of the atmosphere is important here. I assume it rotates with the planet as "holes in the ozone" don't seem to move across the surface. So the atmosphere is moving through space at... roughly 1,000mph laterally. So you'd need to maintain orbital speed equivalent to the speed of the upper atmosphere in a best case scenario. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Well we're basing it on the theory of getting as close to zero orbital velocity, not zero ground speed. I guess a point to account for is the rotation speed of the atmosphere. Whatever the case is, your best bet is to match the lateral speed of the atmosphere. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Different situation. Again, they were having to slow down from orbital velocity. In my hypothesized situation, you would not be streaking across the sky at 10,000 mph. That is what makes shuttle re-entry so extreme. In this situation we are saying "suppose you had ZERO orbital velocity". Totally different. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

By the way I'm purposely disregrading the hazards of being in space like small pieces of debris ripping through you at 12-15,000 mph. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

See that's my point. It seems if you have almost ZERO orbital velocity, gravity is only going to pull you so fast, and it will be much slower than a satellites orbital velocity or the velocity of a space shuttle returning to earth. So the question is. Will gravity pull your body fast enough to burn up, assuming ZERO orbital velocity? ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

From what I speculate (from my uneducated standpoint) it seems most of the re-entry resistance is caused by orbital velocity primarily, THEN vertical velocity. Think of the space shuttle. When it's taking off, it is making some wicked vertical speed but it's orbital speed doesn't kick in until much later. Plus by the time it reaches the outer atmosphere, I'm pretty sure it's going faster than a human body would fall terminally. But you've never seen a shuttle burn up (due to what I'm calling "atmospheric re-entry resistance") on take off. They have to maintain a proper angle on re-entry because they are going VERY fast. I was pretty confident that they don't speed up during re-entry only slow down. This is all just theorycraft but do I have any real foundation in my thinking here? ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

You may be right! ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

I dont think falling 600ish MPH through the upper atmosphere is fast enough to cause the resistance experienced by a shuttle going several thousand miles an hour. If you can go slow enough, seems you just have to negate being baked by UV, NOT re-entry forces. I think his suit was mostly designed to survive the cold, low pressure, and keep from being baked by UV light. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

Or would it be better to not launch at a fixed point and just make a direct line for the planet? To me it seems it all depends on which way reduces atmospheric resistance. If you launch at a fixed point on the surface, you'll be going an exponentially faster "orbital" speed than the surface of the earth (spinning at 1,037.50mph) as you are further away from the surface. These are at least a couple of the details I've worked out. ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!

This isn't a new question. My friends and I have long speculated about it. I just thought to ask.

We're talking true space jump here. You jump from say... a space station starting with a brisk 50-150mph launch towards the earth's surface that was aimed so your trajectory matched up with the turn of the earth on it's axis. If you launch from an object orbiting the earth fast enough to stay over a fixed point on the surface this wouldn't be much of a problem) Would your burn up on re-entry or would gravity pull you slow enough through the outer atmosphere to avoid roasting your ass? ---------------------------------------- 6.8% - Almost there!