Posted on 09/05/2003 9:24:29 PM PDT by russianteen
I know that this is a commonly debated topic, and we all know what the truth is *wink wink*, but I feel like ranting about it anyway. We have all heard about the big bang, but i'd like to explain it all anyway. According to that theory, all matter was condensed into one point, and that was the universe. There was nothing outside it. The one point in the universe was everything, and one day it exploded. That, along with the rest of the theory, seems seriously flawed.
For an explosion to happen, one or more forces have to act upon another group of forces. According to the big bang theory, there were no outside forces, or anything else outside the universe. There was no outside. Yet there was a big boom that eventually led to the creation of planets, stars, and of course us. hmm...nothing wrong with the theory yet?
One thing that I have thought about is if there was a big bang from one central point, if all matter wasn't incinerated from the start, it would all fly in a different direction from a single starting point. All chunks created by the explosion, however big or small, would go outward in its own way a nothing would come into contact with anything else. This would make galaxies or any clusters of spacial objects impossible to prove.
I'm going into my freshman year in high school in a few days and i don't think my opinion will be popular with most of my peers and teachers. sigh...damn liberals...
See my link in post 3. :-)
I posted a link that I think does a pretty good job back in post #3.
The cruel and unusual punishment for being liberal on FR. There was the best ZOT thread yesterday, but the whimp couldn't handel it and had it pulled. If you are ever ZOTTED, DO NOT do this, take it like a man.
This one was unusually good- Are you a BushBot?
HTML BOOTCAMPmight be useful too.
I like Handel but prefer Bach.
And what's a "whimp"?
Spelling Zot!
The link in post number #3 should answer many of your questions. :-)
As long as the cities aren't over a few hundred miles apart, or are directly north/south or east west of each other.
I've driven clear across the U.S. before without ever considering the curvature of the earth. I don't even have a road map that shows it.
Except the map makers took the curvature into consideration or the miles would not be accurate.
You've never worked on a survey crew. The map makers probably used the direct distance measuremnts done by the surveyors, actual measurement of distance from place to place, something that has been doen since long before the spherical concept of the earth was developed (Roman maps and roads from 2000+ years ago are quite good). Basically, you just set yourself on a heading and go in a straight line in that direction and you arrive at your destination (grravity compensates for the earth's curvature so that you don't end up out in the vacuum somewhere on a long journey. You don't even have to think about it, it's all automatic. Same way you don't have to remember to breathe, it just happens).
You are corect, I have not worked on a survey crew.
Not if you measure the heading from a map. In fact a great circle route, which is the shortest distance between two points on a shere, does not maintain a constant heading, relative to true north. Except in the special case of going due north or south.
Get a large shere, a basketball or a large beach ball, and experiment, remembering that north is the direction towards the north pole. Maps show north "up" at both San Diego and Portland Maine, but in 3 dimensions on the surface of the earth, norht is not the same direction at both locations. In fact if you are at the equator and want to go to anther point on the equator on the opposite side of a sphere, you'll find that any of the cardinal directions, (NEWS) will get you there, and at the same distance. This is not true for the earth, because it's not a perfect sphere. GPS uses a system which assumes its an ellipsoid of revolution, like a slighty squashed shere, and that's pretty close, but not exact either, as the earth is actually a bit pear shaped.
I would thing that travelling with you would be an interesting experience (even if a bit slow) : )
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