Quote:
Originally posted by Moobie
One last post about how astronomy aids mankind. Anybody remember late last year when the Sun was freaking out and hosing us with solar flares? Because there are a bunch of scientist up on the hill checking out the heavens we were able to know in advance that the Earth was about to get rocked by solar radiation. This gave people enough time to shut down satellites and save their electronics from the effects. This probably saved us millions of dollars and a huge headache. There are things out there that can affect us, and it's probably a good idea that we know about that stuff.
And besides like G.I. Joe says "Knowing is half the battle!"
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Nice. That's my second favourite quote. My first one is, 'imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world' - Albert Einstein.
In science you need to have a good imagination. If Einstein didn't have a good imagination, i bet he wouldn't have been able to come up with half the stuff he came up with. He had the intelligence to apply it with math, and come up with one of, if not the greatest known theory in the world. General and special theory of relativity gives us so much knowledge about so many different things. Take a look at E=mc^2 for example, the most well known formula in the world. If this didn't exist, we woudln't have half of the weapons we have on earth today. True, in this case, it was used for something bad, but the same thing can come out to result in something good.
Energy is a huge topic in astronomy. Figuring out how to do things differently, using less energy, or using a better way to come about that energy is challanged in all areas of science. These things are then applied to our every day lives. Knowing how we were created, and figuring it out, by looking at nebulae and things like that, gives us a better understanding of how things are formed, and thus, a better understanding about how to conserve these things. Again, a good thing that has come out of it is how to harness the energy in our every day lives.
There has been so much work done with different types of waves in astronomy as well. If astronomy didn't exist, I'm sure that half of these things wouldn't be known about different types of waves. We would know little about them, and little about how to keep ourselves shaded from the harmful waves that are entering our atmosphere on a daily basis.
Knowing if half the battle. Acting upon the knowledge is the other half. You can't know unless you use your imagination and figure the knowledge out. Astronomy helps us in so many aspects, including individual intelligence.
If it weren't for astronomy, there is no way I would have applied myself and there is no way I would be willing to use my brain at it's true potential. Astronomy is my love, and I know it will challange my brain on a daily basis, as it already does. It brings me intelligence, and lets me feel like I'm doing something good for myself. It makes me happy when i read about a theory and fully understand the meaning behind it. It makes me feel good to come on here and post about what I have learned, so I can give other people a bit of my knowledge. If one million people feel the same way, it's also helping society on a person to person basis. It might just keep some people from being a menace to society.
What I have learned is that we shouldn't knock any profession. Each profession has it's own little way of bringing back good to society or humanity. Even if it's owning one of the biggest companies in the world who doesn't like to finish their operating systems before they start a new one.
I used to think that Archaeology was a usless science. I have now learned that there are many good things that come out of Archaeology. I'm an 'Archaeologist' at the moment actually. I am working for an archaeology company, doing field work and things like that. It's quite interesting to find out what you can find out about the past. There are many things that you can apply to our lives today, to better the way we live, or to help with how we do things.
It's true that most sciences also focus on pure subject related knowledge and information, but all sciences will apply to how we live our lives in some way or another, moreso than you would expect most of the time.
On a last note for this 'argument', Astronomy and every area related all relate back to physics someway or another. Our lives depend on physics more than any other science out there. Some type of physics can be applied to basically anything you do in your daily routine. A lot of physics has been foud or proven through astronomy, and thus used in our daily lives, even though you might not be able to tell. Your whole house is controlled by physics. A lot of those devices in your house have been constructed trhough the finding of proofs and theories proven through physics, astronomy, or some other science. It's all about figuring something out, and applying it to somehing on earth. It just makes sense to do that, and scientists do that daily. They use their imagination to apply things to make things easier for us, or more efficient.
Anyway, that's why science is the best thing for us.
Now, back to topic.
That guy who's doing research and stuff on black holes. Would you be able to kind of sum up what a black hole is exactly for everyone to read? I am basing my explanation on readings from old text books, and I don't really know if anything new has been figured out.
Also, if you could, could you maybe explain the event horizon a little too? That's always an interesting black hole subject.