L. Marcus Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 What if the spectrum is all black? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Then your spectrometer isn't set up properly. This happens with about 2/3 of students on the first attempt. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Is it that difficult? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Spectra, is my guess. Or they might look like a rainbow, or at least a set of parallel lines of different colors. You two may be overly optimistic, methinks. But I've been (pleasantly) surprised before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Is it that difficult? Taking the little prism spectrometers out of their storage boxes, then getting everything aligned and focussed, takes me ten to fifteen minutes each, and I cheat (I do things I would not allow a raw student to try) and have much practice. These spectrometers are, I think, of 1930s or '40s vintage, so once fully tweaked up they can do astonishingly accurate work. But there are lots and lots of things to adjust, none of them labeled, and all but a few require tools. Manuals? Perished decades ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Sounds a little nightmare-ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 The first time, you have no hope. After a few weeks, you've learned how to get them set up, assuming you've been trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Do, or do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Oh, one can do. It merely takes a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Given enough time, the likelihood for anything impossible approacheth 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Unless it's on a hyperbolic trajectory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Hypergolic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Why not both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 If the velocity of the thing in hyperbolic orbit is upwards of 30 km/s or so, it is both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 The notion of on-call asteroid strikes is appealing, but the uncertainties are much too large to be a viable weapons system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 As long as the CEP is smaller than the destructive radius, you're good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 I dunno about "good". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Admittedly, you do also need for the blast radius to be shorter than the range of the weapon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Sounds eminently practical. Still not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Asteroid-bomb them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 So much un-goodness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 To borrow a phrase from the recently-completed Arena Games, "weapons with theological implications". Cancer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Zeus' thunderbolt up the jacksie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 As long as the CEP is smaller than the destructive radius, you're good.Well, that's an issue. Right now the CEP is a few Earth radii. And the destructive radius ... well ... that's an issue too, since the asteroids are nowhere near as well characterized as most munitions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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