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Author Topic:   How did a new satellites get in the right position?
Taz
Member (Idle past 3291 days)
Posts: 5069
From: Zerus
Joined: 07-18-2006


Message 18 of 35 (427454)
10-11-2007 2:15 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by techristian
10-11-2007 10:25 AM


When I was younger, I was on a trip with my family through the rockies. On the way there, we saw some very beautiful mountain ranges. We looked up and saw really big rocks and boulders looking like they might fall flat on someone's head anytime now. My mom thought out loud "how come those rocks aren't smashing anyone?" My dad answered "god created the mountains such that they wouldn't hurt us."
My older brother then said, "you could think of it that way, or you could think of it this way. How long have that mountain and those rocks been there?"
I think it was my sister that immediately got it and said something like "whatever rocks that were going to fall had already fallen in the past. The ones that are left are there because they aren't likely to fall."
Same thing with our moon. If it wasn't in a stable orbit, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Trying to attribute this to a god is like attributing your existence to the tooth fairy. Out of the millions and millions of sperms, each carrying a different genetic combination, the right one just happenned to make it first to the egg that resulted in you. Would you be here asking this question if another sperm happenned to have made it there first?

Disclaimer:
Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.
He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by techristian, posted 10-11-2007 10:25 AM techristian has not replied

  
Taz
Member (Idle past 3291 days)
Posts: 5069
From: Zerus
Joined: 07-18-2006


Message 19 of 35 (427456)
10-11-2007 2:18 PM
Reply to: Message 14 by LinearAq
10-11-2007 2:03 PM


LinearAq writes:
He said new satellites and not new moons or planets so I assumed he was talking about man-made ones. Do you think he was asking the question because he is so blindingly ignorant of gravity that he thought he could trip someone up?
This was my first thought, too, until I read to the part where he mentioned the moon.
To be honest, my reply was going to be "those satellites are there because NASA got on their knees, prayed, and god came down and swooped them up into orbit."

Disclaimer:
Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.
He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 14 by LinearAq, posted 10-11-2007 2:03 PM LinearAq has not replied

  
Taz
Member (Idle past 3291 days)
Posts: 5069
From: Zerus
Joined: 07-18-2006


Message 22 of 35 (427567)
10-12-2007 1:09 AM
Reply to: Message 20 by techristian
10-12-2007 12:22 AM


Re: I'm trying to see this.
tech writes:
I'm trying to see this. OK we have a Big Bang. Particles flow out in a straight line from the central explosion. There are no large bodies with gravity YET and so nothing to slow the particles down from moving in a straight line.
What on earth are you talking about? Everything exerts gravitational force on everything else. The mass of the whole universe exert gravitational force on the individual particles.
You really ought to learn a thing or two about physics before making these rediculous claims.
And no, rocks can't orbit mountains.

Disclaimer:
Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.
He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 20 by techristian, posted 10-12-2007 12:22 AM techristian has not replied

  
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