Recent content by Wes Tausend

Interesting article, thanks. Considering Pop Science, it makes one, again ponder a quote attributed to Einstein. “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.” ― Albert Einstein --wes

I whole-heartedly agree. It's even possible, in some cases, that the train operator did not brake the head end to have the result depicted. Insufficient power may have even been added. It depends on the track profile. One of the things associated with the importance of correct train-car load...

Astronuc, I think the article might have meant more than 4000 trailing tons behind one or more empty cars. Avoiding excess weight behind empty cars seems to have appeared while I was working, or at least the implementation of such caution on my road. I don't feel it was always followed. The...

Sorry for the delay but had a little health snafu. Everything is ok now. I would like to add one more thing on mitigating damage caused by Hazmat derailments in populated areas. On RR bridges, it is common to install Guard Rails. The Guard Rails do what one might expect by guiding the inside...

Safety First perhaps: I should take this opportunity to mention to any PF readers that there is normally an 800 number printed on the mechanical box for the crossing gates. Had the truck driver found time to call that number with a cell, it might only take a minute or less for the train...

Astronuc, Some more on the train you just mentioned: Kentucky train derailment forces 21 railcars off tracks, no threat to public Nothing on the length. It looks like it might have been automobiles and was possibly a unit train with nothing else. Motor vehicle assembly plants in Kentucky...

... Of some other interest in this thread are some significant changes that appeared in my Division the years that I worked RR. One, more in the interest of safety, was an experiment BNSF did with "electrically controlled pneumatic brakes". I think I saw the subject mentioned in the news over...

Thanks for responding. It is true that not all brakes may release after they are pumped back up after setting awhile. When crews pick up cars, they may also forget to take all the hand brakes off although it is a dumb thing to do. It's more likely when two or more crew do the task and each...

Other causes of derailments include stuck brakes. Not infrequently, the air brakes hang up after a brake application and after several miles on a loaded train, the wheels get a dull red hot, usually all the wheels on the truck. Usually, a brakeman or nowadays a conductor that rides with the...

In my 1960's physics class, our book stated something to the effect that, in our universe, "The total energy equaled the the total mass times the speed of light squared and that energy and the mass were constant & interchangeable throughout the universe." I tend to believe this, following along...

"Where does the energy of gravity come from?" If Einstein is at all correct, and I believe he is, the energy of gravity simply comes from e=mC², as do all other energies, including all accelerations, the Big Bang, Dark Energy etc. --wes

Strictly speaking, I would say No. Time is merely a fundamental quality only assigned to the interaction of two or more masses in motion, or simply an event. Without involving mass nothing would happen, no event could occur and no space between particles would be present to form space-time. It...

Time. Many things have blown my mind. The first was probably a wind-up alarm clock my father gave me when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It began a fascination with time. I knew that wind-up toys go fast at first, then slow. So how could a wind-up clock possibly keep good time? My father gave it...

Very good, vanhees! Rereading the original post, this is exactly the sort of BASIC info I expect the original poster was looking for. I almost think that it would be better to retain the B status of an interesting amateur question and start a new Intermediate thread on the same intriguing...

No. I was thinking of the photo's of the eclipsed sun taken by Eddington to help Einstein prove GR. Background star light passing near the sun appeared to move (displace) out since the light path was curved by curved spacetime. Since this pass-by effect is largely localized nearer the gravity...