L. Marcus Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Ah, ballooning. Known here colloquially as ballongsprängning ("balloon bursting or exploding"). Met a patient once, who was to go under the procedure. He'd spoke about it to his family, and his granddaughter was inconsolable because they "were going to blow up Grandpa." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Here we need Old Man's gif of Slim Pickens riding the bomb again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Not sure if this is the exact same one but: Cancer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Yiii-haw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 Indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 10, 2015 Report Share Posted February 10, 2015 I'm glad they decided to nix the Pie Fight scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 You can't fight in here! This is the War Room! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 It would be undignified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I have a stupid question. How many axons are in one of the cardiac nerves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 ... A good stupid question. I don't think I've ever seen a number. But the bundles are very thin, so not overly many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Dozens? Thousands? Heck, I'd settle for axon diameters and nerve bundle diameters numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Without consulting the literature, I'd say dozens, with thick myelinization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I understand what the myelin does. The rest of this is scratching out back of the envelope numbers for electromagnetism in the context of nervous system function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Any particular reason? An evil plot? Need any help? I checked my Neuroscience - no numbers in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 You can measure the magnetic field due to the cardiac nerve at a point right outside the chest. In the crude assumption that the nerve acts like a straight wire, you can compute from that the current in the nerve. If you know the number of axons in the nerve, then you can estimate the current in one axon. I already know the potential difference with which axon firings operate is about 90 mV. The power consumed in a circuit with potential difference V and current I is P = IV. Now, you have an estimate of the number of axons in the brain (10^11) and can get estimates of what fraction of brain neurons are firing at any one time (~1% is the number I grabbed). This lets you estimate the power consumption of the brain. And that I want to compare to the power supplied by food (2400 kCal/day) and see if this works at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yes -- the problem is, though, that the neuron consumes energy even when it's not firing. Keeping the Potassium-Sodium gradients where they should be, requires active pumping all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yup, I know that. Which is why this is strictly a back-of-the-envelope sort of thing. What I want to make sure of is that this doesn't grossly overestimate the power consumption already, because if it does, then something else important is going on that I haven't thought of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I'd hazard a guess that it does ... The brain is a marvel of energy efficiency! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Not in my second period class, apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Stupid people use even less energy! Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 I have appropriated from somewhere on the Web the convention that zero point energy is the energy field concentrated around teaching labs that causes students to get zero points on their lab exercises. The amount of zero point energy present is highly variable in both space and time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 Hence the difficulties of your exams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 11, 2015 Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 A viable but untested hypothesis, certainly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 So, with an unusually difficult exam you might "inadvertently" collapse the local false vacuum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Interesting idea. Wouldn't be that bad an event, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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