Another space thing, sorry not sorry
As I’ve said before (including in yesterdays’ blog, haha), I really like things that give us an idea of scale, especially when it’s a scale that’s really hard for humans to comprehend.
So here’s a model of the Solar System, where the coolest thing is the very clever inclusion of the closest star (apart from, of course, the sun):
Scale
I think it’s really hard for humans to, in general, understand scale at either an extremely small level or an extremely large level. That’s why I’m always interested in things that attempt to help us understand such extremeness.
Such as this one! Here’s an attempt to give us an idea of the ridiculous size of the Solar System and the distances between the objects within it by traveling in “real time” at the speed of light from the sun outwards.
Also, slightly related, but I’m so glad that the little Solar System drawings are still on the Moscow side of the Chipman Trail. I’ve always loved those and their attempt at scale.
TWSB: Hydrogen: Putting the ‘H’ in “Holy Crap, the Universe is So Empty”
Crap!
So I found this page the other day and bookmarked it for a TWSB post…the page was a demonstration of how ‘empty’ we all are at the atomic level. On the current replacement page, the author states, “The page had a picture of a proton that was one thousand pixels wide, and a little electron that was only one pixel wide, and they were separated by fifty million pixels of empty space – I worked it out that that was eleven miles if your monitor displayed 72 pixels per inch, not uncommon at the time. You could try to scroll between them and it would take a long time. It was kind of neat.”
It was neat. But because of browser issues and issues surrounding the model of the atom the author used (he used the model Bohr developed), he took down the page.
In its place, though, he offers a similar study of scale and emptiness: the solar system.
To me, his atomic demonstration is more powerful since its fascinating how “solid” beings such as ourselves are composed of so much space, but the solar system demo is pretty snazzy, too.
Related: I’m assuming some of you Moscow people who stumble across this have taken the Moscow-Pullman trail…have you seen the little solar system distance exercise set up by a bunch of elementary school kids? It’s pretty cool. Pay attention at the head of the Moscow end of the trail to see the pics.
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