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Some kids are REALLY stubborn!
I’m happy to say that the years have softened my outlook quite a bit!

If cereal works, then that’s what needs to be done!

My daughter used to stomp through the house and slam doors. She learned (9 years old when she came to us) that slamming doors and stomping was counter-productive. She soon learned what “logical consequences” meant. From that day forward, she never slammed a door or stomped. :o])

Heavy Thinking (2)

(Continued ...) Venus.

I know what you’re thinking and saying to yourselves; Bob’s pulling our legs again. I know it sounds like that.

This may take some explanation.

I’ve probably mentioned this, but I don’t want to research when or where, and you’re not likely to, so I’ll just go over the basics again, with your permission.

You all know that Venus is inhospitable to life, with hellish temperatures and crushing pressures on its surface.

True.

You also know that Mount Kilimanjaro is snow-capped, even though it nestles in the heart of equatorial Africa. At more than nineteen thousand feet, its rarified air remains very cool.

Hmm.

This principle of decreasing temperature with increasing altitude applies to the planet Venus as well.

In fact, quite fortuitously, at a height of fifty kilometers, the atmosphere of Venus has not only the same pressure as Earth, but also a similar range of temperatures.

So if you found yourself in a balloon at that altitude, you would be relatively comfortable, except for not being able to breath the air, that minor issue of droplets of sulfuric acid, and by the way, just what is holding up the balloon?

Venus’ atmosphere is predominantly carbon dioxide, more than 96 percent. You couldn’t breathe it, but there is oxygen bound up in it, and plants know how to get it out.

In fact, in such a thick atmosphere, not only will a hot-air balloon keep you up, but even a balloon full of ordinary air would keep you up. Regular oxygen and nitrogen will support a balloon with half the lifting force of helium on Earth!

Now, admittedly, there may be a few technical problems to overcome; like what do we go into Venus’ atmosphere with; how do we slow down from interplanetary speed; and that sort of thing.

But don’t worry. I’m working on it.