http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040120a.html
“Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the presence of three different iron-bearing minerals in the soil at the rover’s landing site. One of these minerals has been identified as olivine, a shiny green rock commonly found in lava on Earth. The other two have yet to be pinned down. Scientists were puzzled by the discovery of olivine because it implies the soil consists at least partially of ground up rocks that have not been weathered or chemically altered.”
“In agreement with past missions to Mars, iron and silicon make up the majority of the martian soil. Sulfur and chlorine were also observed as expected. Trace elements detected for the first time include zinc and nickel. Using nearly all the science instruments located on the rover’s instrument deployment device or “arm,” scientists yielded some puzzling results including the detection of a mineral called olivine and the appearance that the soil is stronger and more cohesive than they expected.”
The name olivine is from the Latin oliva in reference to the mineral’s color. Peridot is from a thirteenth century English word peridote.
I thought it was Heisenberg who was uncertain about location, and Schrodinger who fantasized about cats in jeopardy.
Heisenburgs uncertanity principls means you cannot know the location and speed of a particle at the same moment. Its either one or another.
And yes, Schrodinger didnt like felines. However, when you open the box, you have a 50/50 chance its alive But whats curious, is before you open the box and collapse the wave, its actully both alive and dead.
And Mr. Feynman could’ve drawn you a pretty diagram that would’ve shown just that. All of which has little or nothing to do with Olivine…but perhaps a bit will quantum tunnel its way to my house. Why not?
Now this is way to cool… a particle / quantum physics thread on a whistle board!!! Strings or Baby Universes anyone?
Not to mention - sort of on the original topic.. how about setting up camp on the Moon eh? So they’re gonna put stuff where we can see it now? sorry… had to put some conspiracy theory in the mix.
But we all know the very act of observing affects the outcome of the observation. So the Heisenberg → Schrodinger “mistake” must be chalked up to observational error.
Cool! Let’s sit in a circle and throw physics lingo at each other and pretend we’re smart!
I’ll start: In the 9th or 10th dimension my 24" Overton low D might only be 1/24 of a Planck length, thereby reducing the finger stretch sufficiently that I wouldn’t have to pinky the last hole. (I know I screwed that up…someone care to fix my math?)
My personal string theory? Nylon hurts less than stainless steel.
The Mars Rover, “Spirit” has been unresponsive to NASA signals for the last 24 hrs. It hasn’t drilled the rock yet. Geeze, I hope they can restore contact somehow…this was such a promising mission. They’re thinking it might be a computer hardware problem on the rover.
Could you guys whistle a little louder please…or maybe that’s what’s causing the breakdown…all these mixed signals coming from C&F.
The other Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, is on course to land halfway around Mars from Spirit, in a region called Meridiani Planum, on Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; Jan. 24 at 9:05 p.m. PST).
But whats curious, is before you open the box and collapse the wave, its actully both alive and dead.
sorry… had to put some conspiracy theory in the mix.