Temperatures near absolute zero have been achieved with the techniques of laser cooling and magnetic evaporative cooling. In laser cooling, fast-moving atoms are jostled with photons until they slow down to 1/10,000th of a degree Kelvin.
Cool!
There's more than one way to skin a cat. And I happen to know that's factually true.
Mayor ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'
Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 6:12:36 am PDT #27743 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Laura - Jul 07, 2009 6:12:51 am PDT #27744 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
You'd think as often as I've seen the word in closed captions I would remember. But not so much.
sarameg - Jul 07, 2009 6:14:10 am PDT #27745 of 30000
You know, if you have to change rooms for a meeting at the last minute, at least leave a note. I'm missing a meeting I should be at simply because I have no clue where it is.
Laura - Jul 07, 2009 6:14:31 am PDT #27746 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
Tommyrot is right. 2k [link]
StuntHusband - Jul 07, 2009 6:19:26 am PDT #27747 of 30000
Electromagnetic candy! - Stark
What happens at absolute zero is a mystery; I remember my cosmology/cosmogony classes in college (oy, things have changed in 25 years though) where there was some pretty serious conflict over what happens down there. Would electrons "fall" out of their orbits, lacking any energy to "orbit"? Would all that empty space in an atom go away, as the atom sluggishly contracts upon itself?
As Mr. Henslowe would say, "I don't know! It's a mystery!"
A delicious one.
I seem to recall (from my dabbler's perusal of scientific journals that write in words rather than formulae; I lack the patience to learn the necessary maths) that we've gotten closer than .1C to absolute zero in labs on the surface; chilling a spacecraft at L2 to that degree is a marvel of engineering. Just the control and observational technology to record anything from the instruments would threaten to raise the temperature, so it's being compensated for as well.
I love living in an age when this stuff happens.
Gudanov - Jul 07, 2009 6:22:33 am PDT #27748 of 30000
Coding and Sleeping
I have a question about the dangerous subject of punctuation.
If you have an exclaimed question, is it better form to use both punctuation marks. "What the frak is wrong with you?!" or use just the punctuation mark which you want to emphasize the most. "What the frak is wrong with you!" I'm leaning to the latter, but I'm unsure. Is it just a matter of personal opinion?
tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 6:24:07 am PDT #27749 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Use lots!
What the frak is wrong with you?!?!?!?!?
Kathy A - Jul 07, 2009 6:25:56 am PDT #27750 of 30000
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I would use both marks, but that might be just me.
All this astronomy talk reminds me--while watching Jeopardy yesterday, I found out I had completely forgotten that Mars has two moons! How did I forget that?! I felt like such a dunce for thinking that Earth was the only one of the inner planets with a moon.
tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 6:26:48 am PDT #27751 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
How did I forget that?!
Well, they are pretty small.
billytea - Jul 07, 2009 6:27:16 am PDT #27752 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Space them out a bit.
What! The? Frak! "Is" Wrong... With: You! ;-)