"been teaching literature for over 35 years"

Gerry Quinn · 09 Sep 2013, 13:50 · from 2013-September.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 14:50:09 +0100
Subject: (urth) "been teaching literature for over 35 years"
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From: David Stockhoff
On 9/9/2013 8:42 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:

>
> > It doesn't matter (in engineering terms) whether stuff that reaches the 
> > event horizon goes somewhere else or not (that's kind of the definition 
> > of an event horizon).  But an accretion disk outside the Schwarzschild 
> > radius is just standard dynamics for any super-condensed object.  At a 
> > distance of several Schwarzschild radii, Newtonian physics will be 
> > reasonably accurate (albeit not in detail).

> Which is why I don't like the idea that the object has non-Newtonian 
> effects outside/beyond the Sun.

Well, it could emit penetrating particles that have a heating effect when 
absorbed by matter.

Say it emitted a large pulse of particles similar to neutrinos, with a 
sufficiently small capture cross section that they could go through the 
Earth without much attenuation, but still much more absorbable by matter 
than neutrinos.  If you give them a penetration depth of several Earth 
diameters, then for every 10^12 tons or so mass-equivalent emitted in this 
form from the sun, you would heat the Earth by one degree.  A few hundred 
times that amount emitted over a period of might be enough to restart 
tectonic activity.  However, you then have the problem that it needs to be 
emitted over a rather long period, or the seas would boil, and the land 
would also become uncomfortably hot.  I think however if this radiation was 
absorbed chiefly by iron and similar heavy metals, life-threatening 
consequences would be mitigated, especially if the pulse lasted a few hours. 
(This should also prevent dramatic consequences for Jupiter and Saturn. 
Skuld might have problems, though, if it is still inhabited.)

- Gerry Quinn

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