On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:59:42 GMT, "Phil Morris"
wrote this crap:


6. What is your favorite colour?


Paisley.




Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!

"Scout" wrote in message ...
or a Monty Python Question
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
6. What is your favorite colour?
Is this a QM question?

Sorry 'bout the dissertation, ya jes happed to hit on some of my grad
school work. Ball lightning and even the propogation of lightning
like discharges are proof that you do not need billion dollar (or even
million dollar, or even 100,000$)facilities to do real science. My
grad school work had no funding cuz my prof retired so I wandered the
halls of the nucular bldg scrounging old vacuum chambers, pumps, and
ancient HV power supplies. Got wrote up by the safety folks so many
times for exposed wiring that I finally piled dead equipment in front
of my lab door to make it look abandoned, damn it was fun.
B'leve it or not, the propogation of sparks is not well understood in
many cases. For lightning, the E field is well below that required to
produce breakdowna head of the discharge. Theories include UV
(produced in the spark) causing ionization ahead of it, QM tunnelling
of electrons out of the streamer into the air ahead, etc. Making big
sparks was a lot of fun and discharges in various gasses was really
cool. I still have some Lichtenburg Figures in plexiglas (sort of
like a frozen spark in clear plexi)that are amazing fractal
structures, even when viewed under a microscope.
Lightning scares the crap outa me but it sure is cool.

Parallax wrote:

I still have some Lichtenburg Figures in plexiglas (sort of
like a frozen spark in clear plexi)that are amazing fractal
structures, even when viewed under a microscope.
Lightning scares the crap outa me but it sure is cool.

Must have been a crap lab...

:-P

Cheers

Don't be sorry, you've posted some good stuff!
The most potential I've worked with is about 40KV - didn't have many fancy
toys but I set a lot of pencils on fire with it. I can tell you it hurts
getting bit by it.
Had a decent vacuum pump we used to boil cold water and refrigerate apple
slices.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
"Scout" wrote in message
...
or a Monty Python Question
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
6. What is your favorite colour?
Is this a QM question?

Sorry 'bout the dissertation, ya jes happed to hit on some of my grad
school work. Ball lightning and even the propogation of lightning
like discharges are proof that you do not need billion dollar (or even
million dollar, or even 100,000$)facilities to do real science. My
grad school work had no funding cuz my prof retired so I wandered the
halls of the nucular bldg scrounging old vacuum chambers, pumps, and
ancient HV power supplies. Got wrote up by the safety folks so many
times for exposed wiring that I finally piled dead equipment in front
of my lab door to make it look abandoned, damn it was fun.
B'leve it or not, the propogation of sparks is not well understood in
many cases. For lightning, the E field is well below that required to
produce breakdowna head of the discharge. Theories include UV
(produced in the spark) causing ionization ahead of it, QM tunnelling
of electrons out of the streamer into the air ahead, etc. Making big
sparks was a lot of fun and discharges in various gasses was really
cool. I still have some Lichtenburg Figures in plexiglas (sort of
like a frozen spark in clear plexi)that are amazing fractal
structures, even when viewed under a microscope.
Lightning scares the crap outa me but it sure is cool.

Yeah, that's what I hear.
Did you hear the theory that claims Mars may have lost its liquid water when
it lost its magnetic field?
If I remember correctly, the theorists claimed the planet was left
unprotected against solar wind, which was free to 'scrub' the atmosphere,
which lowered atmos pressure, allowed the liquid water to boil off and also
be 'scrubbed' from the planet. Or something like that.
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
It's reversing as we speak, donchaknow......
"Scout" wrote in message
...
I thought he might have been referring to the Earth's magnetic field.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
1. Why doesn't lightning travel in a helical path since it does
traverse
a
magnetic field?

Hopefully, that won't happen to us...
"Scout" wrote in message
...
Yeah, that's what I hear.
Did you hear the theory that claims Mars may have lost its liquid water
when
it lost its magnetic field?
If I remember correctly, the theorists claimed the planet was left
unprotected against solar wind, which was free to 'scrub' the atmosphere,
which lowered atmos pressure, allowed the liquid water to boil off and
also
be 'scrubbed' from the planet. Or something like that.
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
It's reversing as we speak, donchaknow......
"Scout" wrote in message
...
I thought he might have been referring to the Earth's magnetic field.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
1. Why doesn't lightning travel in a helical path since it does
traverse
a
magnetic field?

Of what?

OoozeOne wrote in message
...

Ahhh from the mouths of babes..or is that a babe?

Haven't seen a recent pic ;-)

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:08:46 GMT, "katysails"
scribbled thusly:

I'm reasonably sure that he's just as crackerbox as the rest of us.

"Scout" wrote in message
...
that's true Oz, I've always thought you to be rational and reasonable,
in
spite of what everyone else says. ; )
Scout

OoozeOne wrote in message
...
On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:58:37 GMT, "katysails"
scribbled thusly:

reasonable people
with reasonable egos.


Hey, that's me you're talking about :-)


Oz1...of the 3 twins.

I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.






Oz1...of the 3 twins.

I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.

I've been written up by nuclear plant guards too. Seems they didn't like my
high pressure gas tanks tied off with ropes. I tried to explain the whole
sailing mentality but they weren't hearing any of it. "Must be chained" they
said, and then entered my name in the big book of sin. A shameful day
indeed.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
[snip]
I wandered the halls of the nucular bldg scrounging old vacuum chambers,
pumps, and
ancient HV power supplies. Got wrote up by the safety folks so many
times [snip]

well, I'm gonna buy a solar sail boat just in case.
btw - did you see the SciAm story on the solar wind sailing spaceship?
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
Hopefully, that won't happen to us...
"Scout" wrote in message
...
Yeah, that's what I hear.
Did you hear the theory that claims Mars may have lost its liquid water
when
it lost its magnetic field?
If I remember correctly, the theorists claimed the planet was left
unprotected against solar wind, which was free to 'scrub' the
atmosphere,
which lowered atmos pressure, allowed the liquid water to boil off and
also
be 'scrubbed' from the planet. Or something like that.
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
It's reversing as we speak, donchaknow......
"Scout" wrote in message
...
I thought he might have been referring to the Earth's magnetic
field.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
1. Why doesn't lightning travel in a helical path since it does
traverse
a
magnetic field?

No...someone else did a series on solar wind powered sail spaceships...read
them a long time ago but can't remember who...

"Scout" wrote in message
...
well, I'm gonna buy a solar sail boat just in case.
btw - did you see the SciAm story on the solar wind sailing spaceship?
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
Hopefully, that won't happen to us...
"Scout" wrote in message
...
Yeah, that's what I hear.
Did you hear the theory that claims Mars may have lost its liquid
water
when
it lost its magnetic field?
If I remember correctly, the theorists claimed the planet was left
unprotected against solar wind, which was free to 'scrub' the
atmosphere,
which lowered atmos pressure, allowed the liquid water to boil off and
also
be 'scrubbed' from the planet. Or something like that.
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
It's reversing as we speak, donchaknow......
"Scout" wrote in message
...
I thought he might have been referring to the Earth's magnetic
field.
Scout

"Parallax" wrote
1. Why doesn't lightning travel in a helical path since it
does
traverse
a
magnetic field?