Welcome, traveller.
I have decided that the reason I haven't been posting on my blog for so long is that I have not known what to write about. I am not able to write in such a amusing and witty manner as DriverChris, nor do I particularly enjoy writing about my day at work or what I watched on TV (though I scarcely watch it these days).
I like the focus of DriverChris's blog. All things automotive and those related to the world of the internal combustion engine; it's a good idea.
So, I have decided to focus my blog on an area of my life that interests me greatly, that of the physical sciences. Cosmology, particle physics, astronomy, geology and biology.
Big up an' ting to DriverChris for his hard work on the new look for my blog.
I hope some of you still stop by.
TTFN
WBB
posted by WhiteBoyBob at 8:21 PM
9 Make yourself known
You know what I'd like to know?
Why no one talks about the hole in the ozone layer.
Everything is "global warming this, and global warming that." Not that I don't care about that, but...
I don't like the way problems "fall out of fashion," yet aren't solved. Isn't the ozone layer what keeps us from becoming another Mars?
2/3/08 5:18 AM
Interesting, and valid comment. I think with most things, fashion (for want of a better word) does play a part. I've ranted before about my dislike of most journalists and their inability to get the facts right. One of the other things they do is have fashionable news stories. Someone comes up with something that generates lots of copy, then everyone else jumps on the bandwagon, then it's flogged to death until joe public is sick of hearing about it, then eventually it's forgotten about.
The Ozone layer issue is still, well, an issue. Except not as much as it once was. The banning of CFC (chlorofluorocarbons) production and the replacement of halon and freon (bromochlorodifluoromethane) fire suppression systems in most major industrialised countries has had a big impact. In 2003 the depletion of the ozone layer appeared to be starting to slow down because of the ban.
There are natural annual fluctuations in the levels of ozone in the upper atmosphere, but additional breakdown of ozone will continue because CFCs are still used by some nations which have not banned them, and due to gases which are already in the atmosphere. CFCs take a long time to breakdown themselves (50 to 100 years), so the final recovery of the ozone layer is expected to require several lifetimes.
Ozone helps block out ultraviolet light from the sun. Ultraviolet light (or radiation - same thing), which I'm sure you are aware, increases the chance of you getting skin cancer. I've not heard any suggestion that UV radiation may have been the reason why there's not much/no water on Mars though. If you know of something along those lines I'd be interested in reading it.
2/3/08 7:00 AM
I'm not the scientist you are.
I was watching the History Channel and they said (perhaps it was a hypothesis?) that Mars had once been very Earth-like, covered in water, but various horrible things happened to the poor little guy and he lost his protective atmosphere.
When he lost his atmosphere (was he embarrassed? "I'm NAKED!") the water went away.
But I forgot: his magnetational pull also became diminished, (another story) which exacerbated his problems.
2/3/08 1:25 PM
I meant gravitational pull.
I wrote that before coffee.
2/3/08 2:08 PM
Firstly thank you, you're too kind.
Secondly, there are a lot of hypotheses about the early conditions on Mars. Because Mars has a much lower mass, and therefore gravity, than the earth that's why its atmosphere is so thin. The atmosphere is 96% CO2 with a pressure of about 7 millibars, whereas our atmosphere has an mean pressure of something like 1012 millibars. Because of the low pressure, liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars. Recently, NASA scientists have suggested that a lot of the apparent signs of water have been caused by either lava flows or earth slides, like avalanches.
I am skeptical that there was much water on Mars in the first place.
2/3/08 4:42 PM
You should give them a piece of your mind.
2/3/08 5:38 PM
Nice one Dude. I too have an interest in the subjects you have listed, which has really only come about since I left school. I really enjoyed my science lessons until one year I had the misfortune to be taught by a teacher who deemed it a chore, to open and fill the minds of his students. Killed my interest completely until I left school and started to make my own discoveries of understanding. I may not know what you mean, (Chemistry CSE Grade 5) but I will enjoy finding out for myself!
Count me in.
3/3/08 12:16 PM
Cool, glad you're interested.
It's sad that some teachers have become so jaded over the years that it has become a chore to them. Most of my interests have become stronger as I have got older.
3/3/08 3:28 PM
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
9/1/10 10:36 PM
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