14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.- Page 2
14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#25re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:18amlildogs - I agree with your assessment, but I also think it's a shame that an opportunity was missed to teach them a little something about life.
#26re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:21ami know, but they got so much testosterone and estrogen flowing, it's hard to focus...it's hard for me to and i'm, uhem, not in high school...
#27re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:22am
Prof. Hawking has (to be exact) atypical ALS. Not may people live as long with this disease as Rath pointed out.
A great book and a wonderful read by Hawking is "A Brief History of Time" This man is such a genius, that he can explain Blackholes and the Quantum Physics so that a 5th grader (and sometimes younger) can have a basic understandig!
B
BTW if I was there and your teacher, those kids would have gotten detention!
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#28re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:23ammom - there was also an 'illustrated' version published, which goes even further to make things easier to understand.
#29re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:28ami've wanted to pick up this book for years... maybe this is my incentive to do so... there also was a time about 15 years ago, when i bought a whole bunch of books on quantum physics, because i wanted to know what it was all about, and yes, i read everyone of them... i remember being particularly fascinated with the idea of Schroedinger's Cat... i don't remember the specifics of it right now, though...
#30re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 10:30amAnna was actually able to read it, when she was in 4th grade, and found it so interesting that for the longest time she wanted to study Astrophysics, and work at the VLA in Arizona
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#31re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 12:40pm
Ah, Schroedinger's Cat. It's fun as long as you don't think about it too hard. :P
Basically, a cat is placed in a closed box along with a tiny piece of radioactive material. There's a geiger counter, and if it detects any radioactive decay, a hammer will hit a container of hydrochloric acid (ouch!) and kill the cat. Let's say we leave the cat in the box for an hour before opening it. The cat's life depends on whether or not an atom decays.
Like a lot of fun questions in physics, this one is about the role of the observer. Since we have such a small amount of radioactivity, the Geiger counter may or may not detect it. You don't know if the cat is alive or dead until you look. So before you open the box, is the cat alive or dead? Think about it.
Ah, quantum physics. If you want to confuse yourself, that's the field for you.
Schroedinger's Cat
Updated On: 9/17/04 at 12:40 PM
#32re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 12:46pm
in the book i had, it made the point that you could NOT look at it from the cat's POV... and that was a difficult thing for my mind... in fact, before you open the box, the cat is in some sort of limbo, not dead, not alive, but in two different universes, from the observer's POV... once the box is opened, those two universes collapse into one reality...
i think...
#33re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 12:48pmOMG!! Poor cat...
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#34re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 1:10pmRight, but it's not like the observer kills the cat by opening the box. I think.
#35re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 1:19pmno, the act of opening the box merely collapses the two tentative universes into one reality... whether the cat is dead or alive is determined by the radioactive decay...
insomniak
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/7/04
#36re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 2:45pmNo alternate dimensions? Really? That sucks. But it's an interestin discovery. Do they know how the holes change the matter? I guess the gravity squashes it and breaks it down into other things.
#37re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 4:23pmHow sad that people are so small minded and stupid to poke at someone with a debilitating disease. I hate people.
#38re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 5:28pmSome kids are just plain mean.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#39re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/17/04 at 6:12pm
At least kids have the excuse of immaturity and possible ignorance. Some adults, though, seem to do everything in their power to convince me they are wastes of oxygen.
(Can you tell I've had to deal with stupid people today?)
Teacher510
Understudy Joined: 5/9/04
#40re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/18/04 at 9:29pmAs a teacher who makes an effort to hear as much as possible, I also feel upset that these kids were not lectured for their inappropriate behavior. It is encouraging that there are still kids who are bothered by this kind of heartless ignorance. I think it has more to do with what is acceptable at home. (Stepping down off my soapbox.)
#41re: 14-year-old poking fun at Stephen Hawking.
Posted: 9/18/04 at 9:32pmThanks, guys. It's so awesome that there are people out there who have their own lives and problems, and then you can come here and deal with mine. Much love.
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