Q&BA from January 29, 2012 (complete)

[Shockszzbyyous]

let me get this right fission is splitting the atom apart with a source, and radioactive decay are atoms that do it on thier own?

[Shockszzbyyous]

Ebook kind of thing would be awesome :)

i meen i like to listen to the vid two, but i also like to listen to this kind of stuff when just relaxing :) like on my mp3 ...

[nuggetsww]

Again Phil, thank you! This is why I go to your site!

[piperpilot26]

Hey Phil, I just wanted to say that I think it's really great that you take the time to hold these hangouts. You are truly a great educator and I hope to catch you at one of the hangouts in the future!

[CriticuleMe]

@CriticuleMe btw...this is the greatest and most informative video I've seen on youtube to date. You don't just cover the general knowledge applied to an idea, you go in depth and explain everything; you even shed light on the extra info that relates to the facts that correlate to the original idea...honestly, the greatest and most influential to date. Thank you very much for sharing, i look forward to more and I'm subscribing!

[themadlolscientist]

Can has on iTunes like your old Q&BA series? kthxbai. =^..^=

[supremeon1]

I AM ALWAYS WATCHING YOU ON YOUTUBE....

[dhtroy]

Phil, think it's great you're doing these, I have to come up with some questions for you.

[phoenixdown]

As I was listening to your first answer about "Why spend money up there when we have problems down here?", It warranted inspirational music playing and a flag dropping down in the background. I wanted to get out of my chair at work and put my hand over my heart!

You sir, are awesome!

[RPKGameVids]

Facsinating stuff, I love these shows.

[lejink]

so in the movie apollo 13 when the astronauts were all freezing cold, is that a hollywood mistake? 3 men's warm bodies in a small area, shouldn't they have been able to stay at a comfortable temperature for quite a long time?

[sitbc]

again... so awesome!

[vaju79]

their something called Political science :P

[MrStardust85]

best way to start a week!

[INMATE2468]

I'm on mobile btw

[INMATE2468]

Hey Phil I have a question but don't have computer so I can't chat on g+ I wonder if you could answer this: When a star goes hypernova and its cores ends up a black hole just before it completely collapses/ during the collapse does the core decelerate as it collapses smaller? ? Or does it excelerate as it collapses smaller because its denser??

Its a question I've have for a long time.

[Ed1H3r0]

watch?v=DldLiGJPtLk

[Matuliq1]

good job keep them coming.

[StoriesInFMinor]

Phil isn't so hot on economics. He says spending on NASA is good because it employs US citizens and businesses. Imagine if the government employed 10 million people to dig ditches and fill them in again, over and over. Waste of money? Not according to Plait Economics; after all, 10 million jobs were created, the diggers pay taxes, buy shovels from local businesses, use their wages to buy big TVs and eat in restaurants etc. There are good reasons to spend on NASA, but this isn't a good argument.

[kylepolansky]

Lol, I'm really bored and just sitting here and watching this. 2:06

[redshift40]

I still have a difficult time with the shape and speed the universe is expanding in all directions if flat. I've always pictured the universe shaped like the Hourglass Nebula (MyCn 18), or a figure 8. If the universe is expanding faster today than it was in the past, when the universe was just forming. How can we know this when we can only see what is happening in the past?

[kolearian]

I prefer Fahrenheit, fuck Celsius.

[blackacidlizzard]

Premise 1: When money is spent "here" it stays in the local economy, therefore it is no loss.

Premise 2: most tobacco bought in the US is produced in the US, therefore there is no loss when spending on tobacco.

Conclusion: spending billions on tobacco entails no loss to anything else.

Of course, we know the conclusion is wrong. The reason is that the first premise is incorrect. Try to think more about economic function before putting forward claims about economic policy and its effects.

[T0B0KKE]

46:30 LOOOL The moon ejected itself from your system :P

[IstasPumaNevada]

Caution: pedantry... And apologies if you just misspoke in the hustle of the live broadcast.

An RTG relies on heat from radioactive decay, not from fission. RTGs are much smaller, lighter, and simpler than fission reactors, hence their usefulness in space probes.

[TheBadAstronomer]

@IstasPumaNevada True; I skipped a step. The fission is what makes the heat. I was stuck trying to decide if I wanted to look up the exact meaning or skip it, and that made my brain freeze up. :)

[IstasPumaNevada]

@TheBadAstronomer That's what I figured. And I was slightly confused on the term 'fission' even though I wasn't under pressure. My apologies.

[Evulmeh]

Phil, you are awesome!

[TheBadAstronomer]

@Evulmeh Why, thanks!

[smorly]

Canis Major? Reminds me of Doc Brown's dogs names... :)

[SCAREDBANANA]

How can I see theese in live? Where do I need to sing in? It´s nice to see more action on this channel again. Thanks mr Plait.

[TheBadAstronomer]

@SCAREDBANANA I will probably do these on Sundays on Google+. Look for me there.

[Nojaru]

I just missed it. What time are these supposed to start?

[T0B0KKE]

Phil the answer for the question: why are we wasting money on nasa should have been straight forward this:

"Why are we spending money on wars? We've done incredible things in the past, when we actually invested big and smart money on nasa, but now we prefer do build bombs, tanks and battleships."

Dude wake up and stop being a pro-"big government".

[mvszao]

Carl Sagan had wonderful answers for the first question.

[HalDanGhor]

Thanks for the vid Phil! :)

[DelphicExpanse]

i am watching this in the future! id love to catch one of these live