Somes J

When ammonia dissolves in water some of it reacts to form ammonium and hydroxide ions:

NH3 + H2O = NH4+ + OH-

http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/pdf/ammonia.p...

What happens if you then heat or boil the solution, driving off the ammonia? Does all the NH4+ turn back into NH3?

Just something I was wondering about, I can't seem to find the answer on Google.

Thanks.

Hi. I'm planning to use an all-ocean planet as a setting in a science fiction story, and I was wondering, what would the effect of an absence of continents be on the planet's weather?

The planet is something like 98% water-covered, its only land is a number of islands, mostly small, the largest are comparable to the major Japanese or Carribean islands. It's otherwise relatively Earth-like, although somewhat warmer (ice-free poles).

One thing I'm curious about, I've read speculation that an all-water planet might develop very powerful semi-permanent hurricanes, like you see on gas giants, since there's no land for them to break against. Don't hurricanes follow general large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns which eventually take them to higher lattitudes, where they dissipate because the water is cooler?

Hypothetical planet:

Binary star system:

1.5 solar mass primary star

.6 solar mass companion

8.9 AU perigee, 21 AU apogee

Planet orbits primary star at 2.7 AU (near-circular orbit)

If the planet is unstable in a prograde orbit, what about a retrograde orbit?

Thanks for your help.

In pictures of Native Americans from the nineteenth century they almost always appear clean-shaven. This always puzzled me a bit. I mean, what did they use to shave with? I guess they could have traded razors from the whites, but I'm pretty sure the Aztecs and Incas were usually clean-shaven too when the Spaniards met them, what did they use? I know the Aztecs at least didn't really have many metal tools, so I doubt they made razors. Did they use sharp rocks or something?

I've heard some people say that some Native American groups just don't grow facial hair. That seems sort of hard to believe, and I know at least some of them can (I've seen pictures of Native Americans with moustaches, beards etc.) is there any truth to that idea at all or is it strictly myth?

My history professor said they would use tweezer-like implements to pull out their hair. I have a hard time imagining somebody actually pulling out all their beard hairs like that though.

Can somebody shed some light on this? I'm just curious.

I've heard this from a couple of people, that the men in some Native American tribes just didn't grow facial hair. Is it true?

I notice that in pictures and illustrations of Native Americans from the nineteenth century and earlier they usually appear clean shaven, and that always struck me as weird, though I guess they could have shaved with ... I don't know, sharp stone tools or something. My history professor said they would pluck out their whiskers, but I have a hard time imagining anybody plucking out all the hairs in the beard like that.

I also know that at least some of the ones alive today do have mustaches, and in old illustrations and pictures you can occasionally see one with a moustache. So I'm guessing at least some of them had some face hair.

I've tried looking on the internet but I see a lot of contradictory comments/information.

Could somebody answer this? I'm just curious.

Could you help me out. Thanks.

Is this the correct way to say "New Wise Man" in Latin? I'm using it in the context of a biological taxonomic classification (i.e. like Homo Sapiens Sapiens = Wise Wise Man).

Latin speakers please tell me.

How large are the L4/L5 Moon-Earth lagrange points in terms of volume, or length and width?

If you were to build space stations there, would there be room for many of them, or just one?

I've heard that overcharging a laptop reduces the battery life. I usually plug my laptop in while I'm using it even if it's fully charged. Will this reduce the battery life, or does it only reduce the battery life if you leave it plugged in while it's turned off?

I have a Toshiba Satellite A205-S4597.

Does anyone know who much power the ionization laser and magnetic scoop on a Bussard ramjet-type spacecraft would need?

The ionization laser ionizes the hydrogen in front of the spacecraft so it can be pulled into the spacecraft by a magnetic field and used as propellant. To accelerate a 1000 ton spacecraft at 1 G you the scoop would have to operate over an area of around 100,000 km^2.

Can anyone calculate how much energy this would take?

I've been trying to find ages and metallicities for some nearby stars for a project I'm working on, and so far I haven't been able to find any on the internet. Could anybody give me

Ages of the following:

HR 5256

Gliese 909

Gliese 902

Gliese 567

Gliese 452

Gliese 309

Gliese 95

Gliese 349

44 Bootis

Gliese 675

HD 40307

HD 172051

Gliese 716

Gliese 556

Gliese 615

Gliese 785

Beta Comae Berenices

Gliese 796

Delta Trianguli

Metallicities of the following:

HR 5256

Gliese 909

Gliese 309

Gliese 349

44 Bootis

HD 40307

Gliese 716

Gliese 556

Gliese 615

Thank you very much.

I'm trying to figure out a good drive for military ships in a hard science fiction universe. I want something as realistic as possible. For civilian ships I use the same ICF drive as the Daedalus star probe, but for military ships I need something with better acceleration.

So, for the scientifically knowledgeable out there, what would be a good realistic drive for a military ship? I want it to be as realistic as possible.

I figure main priority for a military ship drive will be high performance, i.e. good delta V and acceleration. Payload will be relatively unimportant; armor and big guns probably won't be too useful in hard SF space combat, ships will mostly be boxes for nuclear missiles and KKVs. I'm looking, if possible, for something that could get payload at least the size of a loaded space shuttle orbiter up to a couple of hundred km/s and can sustain accelerations of 1 G or higher.

The ship being modeled is a freighter for hauling ore from the asteroid belt to Earth (it's for a SF universe). It can carry 2000 tons of cargo, and has another 200 tons of spaceframe, engine etc. It has a mass ratio of 4, giving it 6,600 tons of propellant (8,800 tons total "wet" mass). It uses a DT fusion drive, which has an exhaust velocity of 22,000 m/s.

The Tsiolovski equation for Delta V is Delta V = Exhaust Velocity ln (Initial Mass in kg/Final Mass in kg). So:

Dv = 22,000 ln (8,800,000 / 2,200,000)

Dv = 30.5 km/s

The energy production necessary to get a certain delta V is determined by the equation 1/2m(v^2) where m is the mass of propellant and v is the exhaust velocity.

So in this case that's 1/2(6,600,000)(22,000^2) = 1.6 X 10^15 joules.

If it accelerates at 1 m/s^2 that's 52.5 GW assuming perfect energy efficiency (unrealistic, obviously).

I've been trying to find a way to calculate engine power consumption for spacecraft in my setting and I was wondering if the following approach would work:

I did manage to find figures for mass, acceleration, and engine power for the space shuttle at takeoff. Its engines consume around 12 GW, its acceleration is 29 m/s^2, and it weighs around 2000 tons (metric).

I figure that 12 GW/2000 tons = 6 MW/ton, and then divided by 2.9 should give you around 2.1 MW/ton. So it should take 2.1 MW to accelerate 1 ton of material to 10 m/s^2, and calculating the energy consumption for a given spacecraft's engines would be a simple matter of multiplying its mass by 2.1 MW (assuming we're not talking about relativistic velocities which, I have heard, is more complicated and isn't really a concern for me at this point). This is, of course, not taking into account changes in mass as the ship expends reaction mass.

Can I use this (i.e. does it give a decently realistic result)?

I've been trying to calculate how much energy a spacecraft would consume in accelerating for my SF setting. I looked around the internet and I got this formula:

1/2m(v^2)

Presumably m=mass and v=(change in) velocity

Is this equation correct?

I've been doing some research on the oxygen production accounted for by phytoplankton vs. terrestrial plants. I've found a lot of different answers for the percentage on the internet, ranging from phytoplankton producing 50% of Earth's oxygen to 90% of Earth's oxygen. Which one is accurate?

When I was reading the Wikipedia page on Valerie Solanas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas), the author of the SCUM Manifesto (http://gos.sbc.edu/s/solanas.html) I noticed she had a son.

I found the thought of her raising a son quite disturbing. I mean, it'd be like a black kid being raised by a KKK member. I can't imagine her not horrifically abusing him, given her attitudes toward males.

Does anybody know how he ended up? Anything about what happened to him?

Is the rest of your hair hair (armpits, body hair, pubic hair etc.) the same color as the hair on your head, or is it darker/black?

I was just wondering that's all.

I need a good genus and species name.

Yes, I realize it can interbreed with humans, but let's ignore that for the moment, aside from having the same chromosome count it seems different enough from humans to merit a different genus to me.

Please include the English translation of the name you're giving it in your answer. And I realize this is an odd question but serious answers only plz.