Recent content by Dngrsone

  1. D

    Why Might the Segway Rickshaw Concept Defy Physics?

    You need to accerate the mass forward to prevent the machine from falling. This acceleration requires energy which won't be provided by the falling mass. Research "perpetual motion" and you'll see why this won't work.
  2. D

    Which Movie Has the Worst Depiction of Physics?

    He had a drag chute under the F/A-18's speed brake... the speed brake works, but there's no parachute under it, not even room for one. I recall some AIr Force fighters had drag chutes as late as twenty-five years ago. The absolute worst for me was "Broken Arrow" where the base some miles...
  3. D

    History Examples of Evil in History: Napoleon, da Vinci, Alexander, Ghengis & Bush

    Hrm... saying Michaelangelo is evil because he designed weapons is akin to saying EInstein is evil because his calculations (and intervention) led to the Manhattan Project. For that matter, Newton is evil because he invented Calculus which is critical for ballistics work. As for...
  4. D

    Lightning strikes and computers

    Jeez, you're fast, Pengwuino! :rolleyes:
  5. D

    Lightning strikes and computers

    There are a lot of factors involved. Best policy is to assume the whole computer is toast (especially for insurance reasons), and test each component out individually. Virtually guaranteed is the Power Supply being damaged. It may have protected the rest of the system, but that is a fairly...
  6. D

    HP desktop that shuts off without warning

    Bah... I guess that means I will have proofread more thoroughly in these forums in the future...
  7. D

    HP desktop that shuts off without warning

    In this case an upgrade would mean nearly a whole computer and the original cause of failure would be gone... Why can't I edit and fix my post up there? No edit button for me? :confused:
  8. D

    Java Help Balance Chemical Equations with Java

    Okay... I see the equation now. So what the original poster wants is a way to figure out the amounts needed of each ingredint to produce the desired output? Here I was thinking he wanted to know what happens when you combine two ingredients... getting all the valences, ionizations and all...
  9. D

    Java Help Balance Chemical Equations with Java

    Okay, I can see the sense in that, but now your first example looks wrong-- I see one copper atom and an O2 molecule becoming a Copper Oxide molecule
  10. D

    Java Help Balance Chemical Equations with Java

    If that's so, then what happened to the other two copper atoms in the last equation?
  11. D

    Java Help Balance Chemical Equations with Java

    Dngrsone ----> head explodey
  12. D

    Why Do Cartoon Characters Defy Physics?

    Otherwise known as Hammerspace. It is possible that only females are able to access this extra dimension.
  13. D

    Males vs. Females: What Do Each Do Better?

    Women can read minds a lot better than men. How many times has your mom busted you for stuff and she wasn't even in the room? Dad could have sitting right next to you, absolutely oblivious... There's always the white-haired ancient crone of a schoolteacher who knew when notes were being...
  14. D

    Do popular science books help at ALL?

    I am in the awkward position where the pop books don't have enough, but the in-depth texts are above my current level-- I don't know calculus, and therefore can't read the equations to understand what the write is trying to convey. I see a lot of oversimplification, dumbing down of...
  15. D

    HP desktop that shuts off without warning

    If it let you restart immediately, then chances are it's a PSU reset... check the fan on your power supply and make sure it is working. There is a chance that the reset is being caused by an overcurrent... this could be heat-related as well since temperature will affect the current sensors to...