Cumberland-Times Sky Columns
July 2006

July 2: WHY DO SOME STARS EXPLODE?
July 9: PRE-SEASON BRAIN TRAINING
July 16: LET'S LIVE FOR TODAY
July 23: GETTING THE MOST FOR OUR SPACE $
July 30: BELIEF OR SKEPTICISM

July 2 - WHY DO SOME STARS EXPLODE?

The stars we see at night are distant suns, shining over distances that takes light many years to traverse. What makes these suns so generous in their light are the high surface temperatures of their atmospheres, ranging from about 5,000 to 50,000 F. At such high temperatures, the atoms of the atmospheric gases give off photons, the units of radiation. The high surface temperatures are due to a gushing of energy from the stars' core.

Here Hydrogen, the most common element in the universe is being converted to Helium. As the Helium has slightly less mass than the particles that went into the process, this missing mass is converted to energy by equation Energy = mass * (speed of light squared) or E = m x c squared.

Heavier stars are stellar spendthrifts, consuming their hydrogen inheritance in a matter of 10 million years. Stars with the mass of our sun shine more modestly, leading to a lifetime of 10 billion years. Our sun is now about half way through its life as a star. The vast majority of all stars are humble red dwarf stars that shine so weakly that their hydrogen can last for a hundred billion years, far longer than our sun. These dim red stars will shine long after the brilliant stars that light up our night sky die.

As our sun reaches the end of its core hydrogen, it will start to consume hydrogen on the edge of its helium core at a more rapid rate. This increase in fusion will cause our sun to swell into a red giant star, dozens of times larger than our sun. Our oceans will boil and all Earth life will come to an end. Then the sun will shudder as its helium core begins to form carbon in a runaway internal explosion called the helium flash. Our giant sun will contract as its surface increases in temperature. Then the sun will undergo a final expansion where its outer layers will be puffed off, leaving behind a tiny shrunken core called a white dwarf. The remaining giant planets will continue to orbit this Earth-sized star cinder.

Stars a bit heavier than our sun will lose a considerable amount of mass in the giant stage through strong stellar winds, the outflow of gas and dust from the outer layers of these stars.

The rare and heavy stars with more than 10 times the mass of the sun will develop the structure of an onion with each shell featuring the formation of a different element. When iron begins to form at the core of a heavy star, there is a loss of energy instead of a gain. When the iron heart of the star exceeds a mass of 1.4 solar masses, there is a sudden collapse and then a rebound. Huge numbers of neutrinos are generated, tearing the star apart. In a few months, a supernova explosion emits more energy than our sun will in ten billion years.

A supernova explosion has the energy of a million million million million hydrogen bombs.

If enough of the core of a supernova survives, it can form either into a planet sized white dwarf, a neutron star the size of a city or a black hole. These supernova stars are one star in ten thousand. In our galaxy, we have not seen a supernova explosion in four hundred years. But every night, automated telescopes on supernova patrol find a supernova, typically in a distant galaxy billion of light years away.

July 9 - PRE-SEASON BRAIN TRAINING

I admire the many high school athletes that work out through the heat of the summer (we are now in the Dog Days) so that they will be well acclimated for the first team practices a few weeks before the fall seasons begin. There are occasional reports of teen athletes suffering from heat exhaustion and at the college and professional levels, athletes dying due to lack of conditioning.

Similarly, students need to keep their minds and thinking skills engaged during the off season between the end of the school year and the start of the new school year. If a student spends most of his/her summer playing violent video games, watching entertaining DVD's, reading magazines about celebrities, hanging out with friends at the Mall, playing different kinds of ball games at local fields, watching reality TV shows and working part time (yard work, fast food, babysitting, etc.), their thinking skills get rusty. Then students dread the beginning of classes for they lack focus, following ideas that are unfamiliar or difficult, etc. Teens are so used to a multitude of choices; when the only choice is focusing on a class topic, they feel restricted with no way out.

My first idea is regularly reading this newspaper to keep track of local events, national news, sports, advice columns, letters to the editors, even the astrology forecast! If you get your news through another paper or the internet, encourage your student to read these media so you can discuss sports, politics, movies, etc. Have a dictionary around in case some words are unfamiliar. Gentle discussion of these items frequently will help bonding as well as keep your student's verbal skills for classroom participation sharp. (Many students don't talk in class because they feel they belong to a different culture than adults and communication isn't worth the effort.)

Your public library is a wonderful resource for summer learning. If your student is facing a subject that they dread due to math anxiety, difficult in reading at their grade level, etc., check the shelves for a lower level book in the subject that they can read and enjoy. If you are going on a vacation, check the libary non-fiction audiotapes and CD's that you can pop in your car tape deck or CD player to provide some interesting information. There are audio materials on business, organization, literature classics, history, science, and sports that require one to focus on listening while the miles go by. You may also check the library VHS tapes and DVD's for historical topics, science, classics made into movies and nursing. Play these at home for learning, or take a portable DVD player in the backseat of the car as you drive.

The most common book in most homes is the Bible, the Torah or the Koran. If you are a believer, the above books are the most direct accounts of your faith; often the passages are demanding and require reflection and thought rather than the instant and non-thinking entertainment of sit-coms and comedies on television.

In reading any unfamiliar material, your student should be in the habit of making notes that they can refer to quickly for review. This practice of note taking will make their note taking in classes more natural and less of a burden.

July 16 - LET'S LIVE FOR TODAY

What is the biggest problem confronting our society? Some would point to Global Warming, others to the future decline of Petroleum production, yet others to political issues spotlighted by Progressives or 'Conservatives'. A decade ago, 'Conservatives' pushed for a balanced budget, argued against nation building and expansion of the federal government. Now in power, the 'Conservatives' have presided over an increase in the the National Debt per person of $10,000, a dramatic increase in consumer debt and a negative saving rate.

My feeling is that the first two problems (global warming and the waning of petroleum) are merely symptoms of a central problem. In the 1960's, a rock group named the Grassroots had a hit, "Let's Live for Today", sort of a hippie anthem. Now our leaders have adopted this feeling; keep the SUV's rolling, maintain our consumption to keep the economy going, let large financial interests heavily influence national policies and focus on other people's behavior (while our own high energy consumption is to continue unchanged).

What thoughtful conservatives should be saying is "Let's live in such a way that our future generations will have an opportunity to keep this country as the great land that it deserves to be". This is conservatism that most people of both parties could agree to.

Dealing in a realistic way with our domestic energy situation will curb, but NOT reduce global warming. Currently, our country with 4.6% of the world's population, leads the world in carbon emission both in amount per person (20 tons per year) and in total amount, even surpassing China (4.5 X U.S. population and the European Union (nearly 2 X U.S. population). Many Americans buy oversized vehicles whose large capacity is utilized for only a few % of the time that the vehicle is driven. Would you buy a house with 6 bedrooms on the chance that all your relatives within convenient driving distance would be visiting you all at the same time? If we could keep our large personal vehicles off the roads and use them only when they are really needed, we could cut back back significantly on gasoline consumption. Get a small used car that sips gas rather than gulps it for your everyday driving. You'll save enough gas money to pay for the added insurance as well as reducing our dependence (now at 2/3rds of our supply) on foreign petroleum. If I was governor, I would issue license plates whose rightmost two digits are the vehicle's miles per gallon. So as you wait at a red light, you could see if the vehicle ahead was a gas guzzler or a gas sipper.

I have no problem with people who drive trucks for their livelihood. But give subsidies to companies and individuals who convert their vehicles so they can run on ethanol or soybean oil (when modified can substitute for diesel fuel).

As far as coal, we will need to mine coal for at least another generation, until the old coal power plants have to be shut down. Clean burning coal can be used to make synfuels that can also be used for transportation.

I am ashamed that Maryland lacks any wind turbines, a wonderful way to generate electricity through the wind. Soon there will be a plant in Ebensburg (north of Johnstown) that will be making blades for wind turbines. Manufacturing in the U.S. could be revived with large scale production of wind towers. For those who worry about bats and birds, just install ultrasonic loudspeakers on the towers to drive these airborne critters away. (After all, we tolerate young drivers with powerful subwoofers in their vehicles blasting their 'music' all over the road.) As for the noises made by the towers that are carried ocassionally by the wind, consider crickets that produce a roar that lasts for months during the evening hours.

July 23 - GETTING THE MOST FOR OUR SPACE $

About ten years ago, there was a critical vote in the U.S. Congress to build (with other countries) a large manned space station. The Space Shuttle was to be used as the main vehicle to carry the construction supplies into orbit to assemble the station. The estimated cost for the station was in the tens of billions of dollars. Many conservatives voted against the Space Station, but with the support of President Clinton, it passed by a few votes. Now finishing the Space Station is the main reason for continuing the Space Shuttle flights.The Space Station is about half completed and so far has cost $30 billion dollars.

NASA insists that the Shuttle fleet will be retired in 2010. With 15 additional flights needed to finish the Space Station, it means there will have to be an average of 4 Shuttle flights a year. (There were no Shuttle flights in 2004 and only one in 2005 and only one so far in 2006. Each Shuttle flight alone costs $500 million dollars.

While the Space Station has limped along, NASA's spaceprobes to the other planets have continued their success with the Rovers on Mars, the Mars Global Surveyor, the Cassini Spaceprobe orbiting Saturn and probes enroute to Mercury and Pluto. The Hubble Space Telescope continues to operate although its gyros and batteries are wearing out. The European Space Agency has begun to launch their own interplanetary probes.

My feeling is that we should recognize Russian rocket success as we have for Japanese automobiles; it makes sense to begin U.S. manufacturing of the very reliable Russian rocket engines and boosters as transition space vehicles. There may be 3-4 years between the discontinuance of the Shuttle and the operational status of NASA's Crew Excursion Vehicle. It is a shame that NASA relied so long on the Shuttle, leading to our two Shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003. A number of alternative space craft were proposed after Challenger (1986), but each time NASA rejected these alternatives, keeping their cozy relationship with Boeing and Martin-Marietta.

As for the manned Return to the Moon and the manned Mars Missions now being planned, these projects should be put on the back burner. A much more compelling project would be an asteriod detection and interception program. This program would serve to protect the entire Earth against rogue asteroids or comets that may come our way. A small asteriod (3 miles across) impacting the Earth could create huge Tsunami waves that would devaste coastal cities in many areas, send so much dust into the air to considerably lower our average global temperature and wipe out all living organisms within hundreds of miles of its impact point.

Now the really scary revelation - this actually happened 35 million years ago! In 1983, scientists taking cores out of Chesapeake Bay found layers of shocked quartz and debris indicating such an event. This evidence lies over a thousand feet below the bottom of the Bay. Debris from such an impact have been found in the sediments off the coast of New Jersey. Molten rock splashed as far West as Western Maryland. The buried crater is 56 miles in diameter; its center lies to the Southwest of the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. When this space rock hit the off shore waters, it created huge waves that devastated the Atlantic coastlines. (At the time of the impact, the ocean level was much higher with the Atlantic coastline about the location of the city of Richmond.) Many trees across our part of North America would have been hit by tremendout blasts of hot air, triggering huge fires.

One doesn't need to 'nuke' the oncoming asteroid or comet as in the popular sci-fi movies "Armageddon" or "Deep Impact". A kinder, gentler and more effective way is to nudge the asteroid or comet out of its impact orbit. But for this to be successful, we need a long lead time, preferably several years. Then remote controlled space probes could be sent to the comet or asteriod, land on it and set up a solar powered ion rocket that would periodically fire its engines to move the asteriod or comet off course. Then the rogue body would fly by the Earth at a comfortable distance, allowing everyone to view the body with binoculars. NASA has successfully landed a probe on an asteriod several years ago.

For any of you readers who still may be skeptical, the last big impact with the Earth was a flaky asteriod that shattered 5 miles above the Tunguska region of Siberia in June, 1908. The energy of the explosion was equivalent to 10 million tons of TNT. If this body had struck the Earth three hours later, it would have wiped out the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.

July 30 - BELIEF OR SKEPTICISM

Many Americans try to squeeze more and more into their waking hours. During the fall and spring terms, it seems that half of our FSU students walking across campus are on their cell phones. I have seen students emerging from their cars while talking on their cell phones. Some adult drivers are talking on their cell phones as they pull onto busy highways. Some adults are adept at watching two television programs at once (on two different televisions). I have heard that it is not unusual for high school students to be talking on the phone while they type up their homework. There are long lines for the take out windows at local fast food franchises for people who likely eat while they drive. Regular Sunday attendance is down at many churches, owing to people saying they are too busy (I hope God doesn't get too busy to care about us!).

A number of parents drive their children all around the town for opportunities (dance lessons, sports practices, school supplies, etc.), so after all the pick ups many parents collapse into chairs in front of the television to watch comforting programs. And then there are adults who have to act as caregivers for aged parents, taking them to doctors, driving to family reunions, shopping for groceries, cooking for them, bathing them, etc. Thus free time for many has become rarer. Keeping up with the news is harder.

With this squeeze on free time, many rely on just one television network or even one television or radio personality to hear their take on the news. Naturally, the television new sources that attracts the most listeners are those that put an emotional spin on the news, coloring one party or one group as 'bad' and their opponents as 'good'.

When you are somewhat frustrated with the pace of your life, it feels good to displace your pent up feelings onto others, particularly outsiders. Then you are drawn back to these programs day after day, to hear the host rant about this person or that group. Eventually, some of the spinners go over the line and doubt the patriotism of these individuals. Then this anger gets to occupy part of your pysche. So when you have a bad time, you can even blame it on this group or person. This emotional poison worked very well in Nazi Germany, leading to the deaths in persecution camps of millions of Jews.

Science teaches individuals to be skeptical, not to slide into fixed ways of thinking or beliefs. For any scientific theory or principle is subject to replacement if a better explanation comes along. So don't become a devotee of any single television network, television or radio personality. Listen to a variety of sources as to what is going on locally, nationally or internationally. The Internet allows you to read articles from overseas papers (likely not ruled by powerful corporations), any of the television networks or a number of organization across the political spectrum. If a particular source makes some amazing disclosure, wait a while to see if other sources pick up on it. I also note how much information a particular article or book has. If the article or book is full of name calling and personal attacks, the writer likely is using this as a smoke screen for their lack of insight and thought. Remember that it is far easier to slam an individual in the news, putting them on the defensive. Their rebuttal will get far less attention in the media.

Real leaders don't come off well in the current media. Interviewers want quick and easy characterizations of situations. So if one talks in simplistic terms and uses little endearing stories, the media hosts lap it up as it keeps their listeners satisfied and not changing the channel.

Beliefs are necessary to sustain one's religious faith; but no political leader or party is deserving of your complete trust. Be skeptical, our leaders are only humans; they perspire and make mistakes like me or you. Giving a leader or party your unquestioned support (along with many others) can lead to excesses that may take decades to undo.