Recent content by Pyrovus

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    Clean Fusion Bombs: Possibility of "Clean" Explosions

    The only problem there is that the gamma rays produced are extremely high energy. As soon as they hit a nucleus, these rays would easily be able to knock several nucleons out, possibly even splitting the atom altogether. And these nucleons would likely have high kinetic energies, and thus be...
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    Is .999' Equal to 1? A Proof Using Reductio Ad Absurdum

    Hi everyone! Apologies to those annoyed by my starting one of those .999'=1 threads :) This is a little reductio ad absurdum proof that .999'=1 that I came up with, and I'm just wondering what everyone thinks with regards to the soundness of it. Assume .999' < 1 Now, for any 2 real...
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    Can pure molten hydrochloric acid conduct electricity?

    Liquid HCl will probably be a poor conductor of electricity owing to the fact that it is a covalent compound and doesn't have terribly many ions floating about. Pure water will conduct electricity as a result of ions created by the reaction 2H2O <-> H3O+ + OH-, and there is probably an analagous...
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    Can Hybrid Atoms with Matter and Antimatter Nuclei Truly Exist?

    Unfortunately, you would most likely get partial annihilation between the antiproton and the neutron. An antiproton is comprised of 3 antiquarks; 2 up antiquarks and 1 down. A neutron is comprised of one up quark and two down quarks. As a result, the up quark of the neutron would annihilate with...
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    News Has the search for WMDs officially ended?

    Nice of them to finally admit that they would have attacked Iraq even if they did know there were no WMD, blatantly contradicting the pre-war lie that the whole reason for invading was about WMD.
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    Is Gravity Our Ally or Our Enemy?

    I'm very much in favour of gravity, owing to the fact that without it we'd all suffocate, because the Earth would be unable to hold onto an atmosphere, and then be incinerated, because there would be nothing stopping the sun from exploding.
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    Why is it so hard to tap this power?

    Mainly because it is doubtful those things are even possible.
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    Reacting CO2 with CaO and Boric Oxide

    Boric oxide's acidic, so you aren't likely to get any reaction, and even if you did the product would be unstable and would easily decompose back to boric oxide and carbon dioxide.
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    News Is the Latest Osama Tape a Cheap Fraud?

    Actually, he does, because American invasions=widespread Muslim anger and resentment=more recruits for al-Qaeda=more power for Osama.
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    What Makes Mercury So Harmful to the Body?

    Mercury has a rather high affinity for sulphur, and tends to react with sulphur-containing organic compounds like this: Hg + 2RSH -> R-S-Hg-S-R +2H+ +2e-. As all enzymes contain SH groups, addition of mercury will hence join onto them and alter their shape, rendering them useless. As a result of...
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    News Nuclear facilities missing in Iraq.

    Wasn't the whole point of the invasion to stop this sort of stuff from falling into the hands of terrorists? Oops.
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    News Should Green Party Voters Consider Voting for Kerry Instead?

    In Australia the system is slightly hampered by the way that the parties produce "how to vote" cards, which basically tell people giving their first preference to that party how to distribute the rest of their preferences. Of course, you can just ignore the how to vote cards, but most people...
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    News Should Green Party Voters Consider Voting for Kerry Instead?

    We've used the preferential system in Australia since about 1926 or so, and I'm pretty sure New Zealand also uses it. I'm not too sure about elsewhere though.
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    News Should Green Party Voters Consider Voting for Kerry Instead?

    Basically, you number all the candidates in order of preference, and then they count all the first preference votes. Then the guy with the least votes gets eliminated, and everyone who voted for that person has their vote transferred to the candidate to who they gave their second preference and...
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    News Should Green Party Voters Consider Voting for Kerry Instead?

    You guys really need preferential voting.
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