Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Physics Lecture - The Basic Rules of Physics - Tail and Dog Part 2

To continue, in the Earth, with regard to available heat energy, the oceans are the dog, and the atmosphere is the fluff on the end of the tail.  In the atmosphere, water vapour is the dog, and carbon is maybe one hair on the tail. (In terms of heat reflection).

It not enough to merely state the energy ratios, one must also make a statement on stability and sensitivity.  If Roxie stood super still, and on high alert, then it is possible that blowing on the tail fluff might her jump.  How likely is that?  In chaotic, super-sensitive system, the flap of a butterfly wing may initiate a Class 5 typhoon, but really?  In physics, we have to determine the stability of a system, the noise and the signal.  Unfortunately, in Canada, the term 'stability' has been redefined to exclude sensitivity, and random forcing functions.  For nuclear waste, they would say that a stone teahouse in Nepal is 'stable' because nothing has happened to it for hundreds of years.

But we can't do that in Physics World.  We have to take the whole enchilada.  For my dog we have to look at the random forcing functions, the magnitude and frequency (how often).




Okay, that means that any little input from the tail would be swamped by all the other things.  When the noise to signal ratio exceeds a factor of 10, we say the signal is drowned by the noise, and dead men tell no tales.  You say, what about Oklahoma?  That's because the rock is super-sensitive, at high stress, and nothing has happened for thousands of years.  You change the saturation of the fluid, and suddenly there are earthquakes.  Keep going and the mechanism builds up.  It's like if you played with a tiger's tail long enough, sooner or later he'll rip your head off.  That is what is happening in Oklahoma.

-to be continued.

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