Party Of Science: Democrat Congressional Candidate Brianna Wu Doesn't Know How Gravity Works

The Federalist ^ | February 28, 2017 | Bre Payton

[Heartlander]

Party Of Science: Democrat Congressional Candidate Brianna Wu Doesn’t Know How Gravity Works

February 28, 2017 By Bre Payton

U.S. House candidate Brianna Wu, a Massachusetts Democrat, is worried that people will drop rocks from the moon that will hit the earth and kill people.

Wu, who gained notoriety after getting involved in the GamerGate controversy of 2014 and is now challenging sitting Rep. Stephen Lynch, tweeted that she isn’t happy about SpaceX’s plan to ferry private citizens to the moon by 2018, for reasons that will make your head explode.

it's almost like someone deleted the second tweet as it was incredibly stupid pic.twitter.com/CvhUOhCJ4c

— uberfeminist (@uberfeminist) February 28, 2017

She also made it abundantly clear that she has no idea how gravity works.

here is the second tweet, copied here for my own recordkeeping pic.twitter.com/o3MVu8ofKe

— uberfeminist (@uberfeminist) February 28, 2017

Wu has since doubled down on her earlier assertions that the moon is dangerous because you can fire a large rock from it and hit the earth.

2/ Like, you all can make fun of that statement, but it will still be true. This is why the militarization of space is so dangerous.

— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) February 28, 2017

For the sake of fairness, let’s play along with Wu’s theory for a hot second. Let’s say that the moon, which is an estimated 238,900 miles away from earth, could potentially become a tactical base from which asteroids or missiles could be launched towards our planet.

Oooh, scary.

But if someone did intend to destroy our home planet from space, they wouldn’t need to send people to the moon to mine large rocks and build a really big slingshot aimed towards earth. It would be significantly cheaper and easier for someone to launch an orbital weapon into space that could rain missiles down on our planet at a closer range. Lucky for us earthlings, this kind of space weaponry has been banned for decades, thanks to a series of treaties dating back to the Cold War. Long story short, Wu’s concerns are very far-fetched and practically improbable, if not entirely impossible.

Wu isn’t the only Democrat who’s made an eyebrow-raising statement about physical reality. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) once said he was afraid the island of Guam would tip over and fall into the ocean if too many people were on it at once.

“My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,” Johnson said.

That clip will never get old.

Hey Democrats, ya’ll should probably rethink the whole “we love science more than you” schtick until you can figure out what gravity is and how islands are formed.

[Fantasywriter]

I read the article on kinetic bombardment. Evidently was is required are telephone-pole, 9 ton+ tungsten rods with fins and a guidance system. The shape minimizes air resistance, and tungsten is hard to burn. Downside: the guidance system would likely burn up after entering the atmosphere. (The other downside being to get these 9+ ton tungsten rods in orbit to begin with.)

[Fantasywriter]

telephone-pole-shaped

[houeto]

They’re very sharp in math also. Remember how many Americans were losing their jobs each month? According to Pelosi it was 300 million!

[aft_lizard]

She actually isnt that wrong. The rock would need to be huge, and it would need to launched not dropped, but overall as a military resource it would be quite beneficial in the long term. As far as private enterprise she is totally wrong.

[Zeppo]

Brianna Wu ‘knows’ this is true, because she can see the Moon from her house.

[Little Pig]

The project was colloquially referred to as “Rods from God”.

[tophat9000]

Well the State Dept has been full of a bunch of Limpopos the last 8 years

[Fantasywriter]

That was in the article, but it seemed mildly irreverent. God’s bombardment left Sodom and Gamorrah an uninhabitable waste to this day. He wouldn’t fool around with tungsten telephone poles; He is far more resourceful than that.

[rlmorel]

Now, that post made me laugh!

[rlmorel]

I think I read something years ago about a concept for mining on the moon, where mined moon ore would be shot into lunar orbit for collection and return to earth...

Heck. I probably read that back in 1963...

[LonePalm]

The math really isn't that hard once you understand a few basics. It is simple enough to be done with pen and paper although a computer would be faster and more accurate.

It was used to send the Apollo astronauts to the moon and is used all the time to send satellites into orbit and replenish the International Space Station. GPS only works because we can put satellites into VERY VERY precise orbits.

A much harder problem would be to hit the Earth with something from the asteroid belt or the Oort cloud. There a few meters per second of velocity is the difference between a hit and a clean miss.

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[DAC21]

I just looked her up, beyond scary. Let’s just say she won’t wu you with her looks or brain.

[Ozark Tom]

Less trouble to redirect some of the near-miss asteroids for an intercept trajectory. If one managed to put in place a course correction for an object approaching Earth from the Sun’s direction, poor viewing conditions with the current equipment would allow near closure without detection, limiting attempts to remedy only days from impact.

[rackatoot]

Beyond scary. Crazy people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GAk7jTxJdE

https://www.google.com/search?q=Brianna+Wu+transgender&sa=X&biw=1680&bih=920&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwjYnY_BjbbSAhWJKWMKHdp3CEgQsAQIMQ#imgrc=KyO9TYOpjqyaaM:

I don’t have time to engage in this. I wish that I hadn’t looked.

[Fantasywriter]

‘Less trouble to redirect some of the near-miss asteroids for an intercept trajectory.’

A fascinating idea. I wouldn’t have known it was possible.

[tet68]

Well, when it comes down to it, we don’t know how gravity
works. We know it’s effects and it’s the law but that’s
about it.

I’ll send ya’ll a text from the moon when I get it
figured out.

[marktwain]

I get 3,096 fps (v2=2Gm/r).

---

You are correct. I looked it up the first time, and the source said 2.38 kilometers per second.

NASA says 1.022 kilometers per second.

Good job.

Lots of small arms fire projectiles at above 1 K/S, including the AR-15. Of course, those small objects would not make it through the atmosphere intact.

But bigger objects could have heat shields and guidance systems.

We already have 155mm smart artillery shells that travel close to that.

[Telepathic Intruder]

No, I actually did the calculation wrong the first time. It comes to 2.375 kps when I tried it again.

Anyway, there is more than just escape velocity from the moon needed. The orbital velocity of the moon would also have to be cancelled for a projectile to reach earth, which requires even more velocity. But I think we’ve given this subject way more attention than it deserves, considering the motivation and intellectual prowess of the one who brought it up.

[CMAC51]

I must chastise myself and apologize to Heartlander for getting the attribution wrong. Heartlander did not demonstrate idiocy, only provided an example of idiocy for us to view. Bre Payton is in fact the idiot.

Again I apologize for my mistake. I should have been more careful.