Concepts or ideas you just can't get your head around?
Discussion
BoRED S2upid said:
The Pyramids of Egypt. Absolutely blow my mind. We couldn’t recreate those with 100 massive cranes and thousands of workers. Yet they did it way back then with ropes and animal power!
What makes you think we couldn't recreate them now? That's one of those things a lot of people think is fact, but has no basis in reality. We (modern humans) are currently building a 1km high tower building.
A pyramid wouldn't be a challenge now.
Doofus said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Doofus said:
Knitting
The actual process or you mean why anyone would find it interesting to sit and do in the first place? 
I understand the overall idea (if not the maths) with most space stuff, neutron stars, quasars, event horizons etc.
I don't understand what a singularity actually is however... a microscopic point that contains all the actual mass... really? It's all in there?
And a totally random one: I can't get my head around how such a small amount of foundations prevents a huge skyscraper from falling over in high winds. E.g. the Burj Khalifa is over 2700 feet tall but the foundations are only 164ft into the ground. I mean it obviously really really works
but it looks wrong!
I don't understand what a singularity actually is however... a microscopic point that contains all the actual mass... really? It's all in there?
And a totally random one: I can't get my head around how such a small amount of foundations prevents a huge skyscraper from falling over in high winds. E.g. the Burj Khalifa is over 2700 feet tall but the foundations are only 164ft into the ground. I mean it obviously really really works
but it looks wrong!Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 21st May 15:44
Lotobear said:
I'll raise you - differentials, kugelmotors
Differentials are a lot easier to understand once you have watched this video (from 1937!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI
Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 21st May 15:47
av185 said:
Using the pyramid shaft tunnels and pulley systems to move huge stones together with the recent discovery of the former Nile floodplain close to the pyramids allowing stone transportation were just two incredible facts on the excellent C5 programme last night.
That programme got me thinking about them again. BoRED S2upid said:
Ezra said:
I agree, I think space, as in galaxies etc, is difficult to get your head around but I also think space, as in molecular level, is equally so. At the atomic level, nothing is solid and most of what we see/touch/feel is also just space...just electrons and stuff whizzing around in 'space', all in some sort of organised chaos.
Agree. Thinking too hard about that would send you insane. That’s why they invented Universities. To think that aliens on other planets millions of light years away would be looking at pictures of the earth when the dinosaurs were still living on it because today’s pictures haven’t got there yet. Argh. Discendo Discimus said:
BoRED S2upid said:
The Pyramids of Egypt. Absolutely blow my mind. We couldn’t recreate those with 100 massive cranes and thousands of workers. Yet they did it way back then with ropes and animal power!
What makes you think we couldn't recreate them now? That's one of those things a lot of people think is fact, but has no basis in reality. We (modern humans) are currently building a 1km high tower building.
A pyramid wouldn't be a challenge now.
Richtea1970 said:
Good timing this. I’ve never really thought about space but I watched a documentary the other night about the creation and launch of the James Webb telescope, and the distances they started talking about (and the amount of time images take to travel) were absolutely mind blowing. Ie. It took 30 days to get to the position it’s in, a distance of a million miles from earth. Then it takes an image of something which is so far away it would take a 13.6 billion years for the image to travel from the item back to the telescope. So even if we see a distant ‘planet’ we are only seeing what it looked like 13 billion years ago, as I said, mind blowing.
The light that's been travelling 13.6 billion years is the limit of the 'observable universe'. Anything further away hasn't reached us yet. But there is possibly infinitely more beyond that distance.And because the universe is expanding it means the things we are seeing from 13.6 billion years away are now much much further away than they were.
BoRED S2upid said:
Discendo Discimus said:
BoRED S2upid said:
The Pyramids of Egypt. Absolutely blow my mind. We couldn’t recreate those with 100 massive cranes and thousands of workers. Yet they did it way back then with ropes and animal power!
What makes you think we couldn't recreate them now? That's one of those things a lot of people think is fact, but has no basis in reality. We (modern humans) are currently building a 1km high tower building.
A pyramid wouldn't be a challenge now.
Richtea1970 said:
BoRED S2upid said:
Ezra said:
I agree, I think space, as in galaxies etc, is difficult to get your head around but I also think space, as in molecular level, is equally so. At the atomic level, nothing is solid and most of what we see/touch/feel is also just space...just electrons and stuff whizzing around in 'space', all in some sort of organised chaos.
Agree. Thinking too hard about that would send you insane. That’s why they invented Universities. To think that aliens on other planets millions of light years away would be looking at pictures of the earth when the dinosaurs were still living on it because today’s pictures haven’t got there yet. Argh. At the time of the Roman Empire, world population was estimated to be about 300 million.
By 1650 world population was only around 500 million.
150 years later in 1800 it hit 1 billion.
150 years later in 1950 it hit 2.5 billion.
70 years later its 8 billion.
I can't get my head round how empty everywhere must have felt, but I guess it didn't to those at the time.
By 1650 world population was only around 500 million.
150 years later in 1800 it hit 1 billion.
150 years later in 1950 it hit 2.5 billion.
70 years later its 8 billion.
I can't get my head round how empty everywhere must have felt, but I guess it didn't to those at the time.
Edited by CheesecakeRunner on Tuesday 21st May 16:23
Roofless Toothless said:
I find this hard to comprehend, but still easier to understand than why the wife wants to move house.
Ah, with women "Frolic in the surf of emotions rather than the arid desert of logic"CheesecakeRunner said:
At the time of the Roman Empire, world population was estimated to be about 300 million.
By 1650 world population was only around 500 million.
350 years later in 1800 it hit 1 billion.
150 years later in 1950 it hit 2.5 billion.
70 years later its 8 billion.
I can't get my head round how empty everywhere must have felt, but I guess it didn't to those at the time.
In a similar vein, I bumped into a couple in our road today who lived here in 1980 and were having a little trip down memory lane. They bought the house in 1974 for £11K and sold it in 1980 for £30K. This house is worth £600K today.By 1650 world population was only around 500 million.
350 years later in 1800 it hit 1 billion.
150 years later in 1950 it hit 2.5 billion.
70 years later its 8 billion.
I can't get my head round how empty everywhere must have felt, but I guess it didn't to those at the time.
They then bought a house for £52K 2 roads away which 44 years later is now worth £1.6 million.
That extra £22K they spent moving house is the equivalent of £1 million 44 years later.
I would have to effectively work my whole life to pay for something that cost them £22K back in 1980.
Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Tuesday 21st May 16:21
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