"bpnjensen" wrote in message
oups.com...


- that magic 100%
may never be reached.


Oopsies... hit the wrong button on that last one.

Question for you:

Is there ANYTHING that can be proved to the standards and expectations of
100% of any given group of people? It has been 'proven' that the Earth is a
sphere, and that it revolves around the Sun.... but there are still at least
thousands of people that believe otherwise.

Last year, I read somewhere on the internet there is a giant rust cloud,
larger than our solar system, and when it hits, it's all over for all
life on Earth.
cuhulin

On Jun 27, 3:23 pm, "Brenda Ann" wrote:
"bpnjensen" wrote in message

oups.com...

- that magic 100%

may never be reached.

Oopsies... hit the wrong button on that last one.

Question for you:

Is there ANYTHING that can be proved to the standards and expectations of
100% of any given group of people? It has been 'proven' that the Earth is a
sphere, and that it revolves around the Sun.... but there are still at least
thousands of people that believe otherwise.

On the first point - yes, the magic 100% probably will not be reached
on black holes - but 75% and climbing may be good enough for most of
us forever :-)

Your example of the earth being round may not quite be the best
analogy, for two reasons -

One - the earth *is* factually approximately spherical, and this can
be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt several different ways. Even the
ancient Greeks knew it. There are some phenomenae and evidence for
which there can be no other scientific explanation (the most stunning
of which are direct photographs from space). People who choose to
ignore it - well, it's their choice to be ignorant. Black holes may
factually exist, but there are still other possible ways to explain
the evidence that shows up, and until those ways are all discarded
(and granted, they may be someday), black holes are still not quite
there.

Two - belief by 100% of the population, or any other fraction, is not
a prerequisite for something, either a statement or a theory, being
correct or factual. The earth is either round or it isn't, regardless
of what people may choose to believe. Black holes either exist as
postulated or they do not, irrespective of the opinions of us mere
Newtonian-reference-frame mortals. It matters not whether people are
around when the proverbial tree falls in the forest - it makes a
sound, or at least the mechanical waves that, if heard, would be a
sound.

Bruce

Earth is slightly pear shaped.Earth wobbles on it's axis.Earth is
gradually slowing down, that is why we sometimes add one second to the
lenght of the year.The solar system which Earth is in which is also in
the Milky Way Galaxie is moving through Space at about 60,000 miles per
hour.Earth is closer to the Sun in Winter and further away from the Sun
in Summer.
cuhulin

Earth is slightly pear shaped.

This has no significant effects other than the orbits of satellites. It
doesn't cause any daily or seasonal changes which affect life on earth.

Earth wobbles on it's axis.

One wobble takes 26-thousand years. This too has no effect on the
seasons or climate. It just changes the direction that the earth's axis
points towards in space.

Earth is gradually slowing down, that is why we sometimes add one second
to the lenght of the year.

This is caused by the tidal (gravitational) interaction of the earth and
moon. The earth's rotation is slowing down and the moon is moving
farther away from the earth in it's orbit.

The solar system which Earth is in which is also in the Milky Way Galaxie
is moving through Space at about 60,000 miles per hour.

It's all relative. The earth is moving (rotating) at 1000-miles per hour
at the equator. The earth revolves at about 66,000-mph in it's orbit
around the sun. The solar system is revolving around the center of the
galaxy at about 550,000-mph. Our Milky Way galaxy is moving through
space at millions of miles per hour relative to most other galaxies but
we are actually approaching the Andromeda galaxy, which is currently
about 2-million light years away. (11,600,000-trillion miles) It will
still take about 3-billion years before the big collison.

http://tinyurl.com/2zlp44

Earth is closer to the Sun in Winter and further away from the Sun
in Summer.

This is true only for the northern hemisphere and it's not what causes
the seasons.

HFguy wrote:

Earth is closer to the Sun in Winter and further away from the Sun
in Summer.

This is true only for the northern hemisphere and it's not what causes
the seasons.


The tilt of the axis causes seasons, but your distance theories are out
to lunch.

============================================
The difference between the distances on 4 January and 4 July is about 3
percent, which corresponds to about 5 million km or 3 million mi.

http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en...en/zon.html#11
=============================================




mike

"HFguy" wrote in message
news:uv1hi.10571$9b5.1632@trndny05...
Earth is closer to the Sun in Winter and further away from the Sun
in Summer.

This is true only for the northern hemisphere and it's not what causes the
seasons.


The Earth reaches perihelion - the point in its orbit closest to the Sun -
in early January, only about two weeks after the December solstice. Thus
winter begins in the northern hemisphere at about the time that the Earth is
nearest the Sun. Is this important? Is there a reason why the times of
solstice and perihelion are so close? It turns out that the proximity of the
two dates is a coincidence of the particular century we live in. The date of
perihelion does not remain fixed, but, over very long periods of time,
slowly regresses (moves later) within the year. There is some evidence that
this long-term change in the date of perihelion influences the Earth's
climate.

"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
news

"HFguy" wrote in message
news:uv1hi.10571$9b5.1632@trndny05...
Earth is closer to the Sun in Winter and further away from the Sun
in Summer.

This is true only for the northern hemisphere and it's not what causes
the seasons.


The Earth reaches perihelion - the point in its orbit closest to the Sun -
in early January, only about two weeks after the December solstice. Thus
winter begins in the northern hemisphere at about the time that the Earth
is nearest the Sun. Is this important? Is there a reason why the times of
solstice and perihelion are so close? It turns out that the proximity of
the two dates is a coincidence of the particular century we live in. The
date of perihelion does not remain fixed, but, over very long periods of
time, slowly regresses (moves later) within the year. There is some
evidence that this long-term change in the date of perihelion influences
the Earth's climate.



My bad, forgot the link/cite:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/seasons_orbit.html

Earth tilts on it's axis, that is why we have Winter, Summer, Spring and
Fall.Earth spins around at 24,000 miles per hour.Spinning and wobbling
and tilting and slowing down like a toy Top I used to wind a string
around and play with when I was a kid.Earth is a Top and we are all
little actors on the Stage of Earth.Space Ship Earth.
cuhulin

bpnjensen wrote:

On the first point - yes, the magic 100% probably will not be reached
on black holes - but 75% and climbing may be good enough for most of
us forever :-)

The first unfortunate traveler to fall into a black hole will have the
magic 100% but it's unlikely we'll be hearing from him.