Re: Space Probe

Dave, a great analogy! I assumed that there wouldn't be a problem
with micro particles and your analogy and the lack of any meteorite or
dust detection by the space craft going through certainly confirms that.

Is the analogy something you picked for dramatic effect or does it
mirror reality? Is the relative volume of space between Mars and
Jupiter vs. all the asteroid matter actually in the same ratio as
California's surface area vs. a handful of sand?

It would be interesting to do the actual calc. We'd have to remove
several clumps of sand from the initial mass to represent the main
asteroids and then see what was left over. One crucial factor would be
to use the estimates of how many pieces (and their size), the left over
asteroid "dust" is supposed to be. Maybe the parallel is even less than
a handful of sand!

As to the textbook drawings... I'd rather have them put nothing between
Mars and Jupiter than continue to mis-represent the space as filled with
thousands of particles and little free space. Maybe the textbooks
should represent the asteroid belt by only putting in several of the
major asteroids and then adding a thin arrow pointing to the space
between Mars and Jupiter labeling it "asteroid belt" and explaining in a
short caption that there are many small objects and particles, but that
the space there is still virtually empty.

(1) Take a *** of paper as large as California.
(2) Have someone take a handful of sand and scatter it evenly across that
***.
(3) Now, go out there and look for those individual sandgrains.


Larry Stedman
Suburban Milky Way
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