Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Minami · 10-16-2002, 06:45 PM

I just have to share this, it does have to do with science however. Last Tuesday I had my Astronomy class and the prof. was lecturing on the light spectrum. Well sometime during it, he asked us if we knew why the sky was blue.

After a few moments of silence, a girl in my row suddenly spurts out, "Because the ocean reflects?". And several other ppl close by who were unsure agreed and repeated the answer. I turned and looked at her like she was crazy =^O^=.

He seemed to think it was a funny answer and had a little laugh over it.As he was telling us the answer I heard her mumble, "Because God made it that way." I just wanna say, "c'mon people...think!"

oh well, anyone else have moments like this?

-Zakuro-
<a href="http://koikokoro.net" target="_blank">http://koikokoro.net</a>

jkb · 10-17-2002, 05:19 AM

I have a friend who once told me not too long ago
that gravity was a theory and we had a 50% chance of floating off into space!!

Shadowy Man · 10-17-2002, 06:38 AM

All you have to do is jump high enough!!

One thing that bothers me, and maybe this is subtler than your stories, is when people think there is no gravity in space and that's why things are "weightless" on the Space Shuttle.

Actually at Space Shuttle orbits, the gravitational acceleration is somewhere around 90% of what it is here on the surface of Earth.

Psycho Economist · 10-17-2002, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jkb:
I have a friend who once told me not too long ago
that gravity was a theory and we had a 50% chance of floating off into space!!

Oh, you've seen it on T.V. Gravity only affects you if you believe in it... that's why Bugs and Wiley get half-way across the Grand Canyon before they start to fall.

I will say that I had a different interesting type moment: We were talking parsimony in a research methods class, and the Prof. is probably Jewish (been meaning to ask him, but i have class during his office hours) and he was talking about how the simpler Germ Theory of illness was ludicrous until the invention of the microscope... that only then did it explain the data better than any other hypothesis.

Then he turned the tables and started talking about Intelligent Design, how biological systems work "so perfectly" and generally waxed apologetic for a couple minutes, and everyone got wrapt up in it, nodding and taking down the best notes i'd seen anyone take. Then he stopped. And said it wasn't so; that the multiple lines of evidence (the point of the lecture) support naturalistic evolution, whether you believe in a deity or not. I thought some of the other students were going to wretch.

Fortunately, the consensus in my discussion section agreed with me (and another classmate said it first), they thought he'd flipped out until he delivered the "punchline".

Abacus · 10-17-2002, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Shadowy Man:
All you have to do is jump high enough!!

One thing that bothers me, and maybe this is subtler than your stories, is when people think there is no gravity in space and that's why things are "weightless" on the Space Shuttle.

Actually at Space Shuttle orbits, the gravitational acceleration is somewhere around 90% of what it is here on the surface of Earth.

A few years ago, while I was in college, I had the opportunity to ride on board NASA's zero gravity simulator, a KC-135 airplane known as the weightless wonder. One day, the week after I got back from doing that, I was eating lunch with a friend and telling him about my zero-gravity experience. He suddenly got a very puzzled look on his face and asked "How high did you go?". He thought that you had to fly as high as the space shuttle to get to zero-gravity. I tried to explain some physics to him, to show him that this not so, but I don't think he got it.

Shadowy Man · 10-17-2002, 08:29 AM

Isn't it also known as the "vomit comet"?

Glory · 10-17-2002, 08:48 AM

Is the topic stupid things people say or stupid things they believe?

To jump from physics to ever popular biology, I had an acquaintence who figured that humans could not have evolved from apes because apes still exist. <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

She was so wrong about so many things I didn't know where to start.

Glory

Abacus · 10-17-2002, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Shadowy Man:
Isn't it also known as the "vomit comet"?

That's its unofficial nickname. And it lived up to its name well.

Ab_Normal · 10-17-2002, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Abacus:
A few years ago, while I was in college, I had the opportunity to ride on board NASA's zero gravity simulator, a KC-135 airplane known as the weightless wonder...

How'd you manage that? My husband would love a ride for his birthday...

Shadowy Man · 10-17-2002, 10:58 AM

It's where they filmed all the space scenes for the movie Apollo 13. I even read that the film crew has logged more hours on it than most, if not all, astronauts!

My boss has been on it, while he was training to be a payload specialist for an experiment that went up on the Shuttle in 1990. He didn't end up going up, though.

10-16-2002, 06:45 PM	#1
Minami Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Texas/USA Posts: 6	Stupid things people say I just have to share this, it does have to do with science however. Last Tuesday I had my Astronomy class and the prof. was lecturing on the light spectrum. Well sometime during it, he asked us if we knew why the sky was blue. After a few moments of silence, a girl in my row suddenly spurts out, "Because the ocean reflects?". And several other ppl close by who were unsure agreed and repeated the answer. I turned and looked at her like she was crazy =^O^=. He seemed to think it was a funny answer and had a little laugh over it.As he was telling us the answer I heard her mumble, "Because God made it that way." I just wanna say, "c'mon people...think!" oh well, anyone else have moments like this? -Zakuro- <a href="http://koikokoro.net" target="_blank">http://koikokoro.net</a>

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

10-17-2002, 05:19 AM	#2
jkb Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 12	I have a friend who once told me not too long ago that gravity was a theory and we had a 50% chance of floating off into space!!

10-17-2002, 06:38 AM	#3
Shadowy Man Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: A Shadowy Planet Posts: 7,585	All you have to do is jump high enough!! One thing that bothers me, and maybe this is subtler than your stories, is when people think there is no gravity in space and that's why things are "weightless" on the Space Shuttle. Actually at Space Shuttle orbits, the gravitational acceleration is somewhere around 90% of what it is here on the surface of Earth.

10-17-2002, 08:29 AM	#6
Shadowy Man Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: A Shadowy Planet Posts: 7,585	Isn't it also known as the "vomit comet"?

10-17-2002, 08:48 AM	#7
Glory Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: b Posts: 673	Is the topic stupid things people say or stupid things they believe? To jump from physics to ever popular biology, I had an acquaintence who figured that humans could not have evolved from apes because apes still exist. <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" /> She was so wrong about so many things I didn't know where to start. Glory

10-17-2002, 10:58 AM	#10
Shadowy Man Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: A Shadowy Planet Posts: 7,585	It's where they filmed all the space scenes for the movie Apollo 13. I even read that the film crew has logged more hours on it than most, if not all, astronauts! My boss has been on it, while he was training to be a payload specialist for an experiment that went up on the Shuttle in 1990. He didn't end up going up, though.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.