[meteorite-list] Mammoth Stew, just right

From: mexicodoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:30:58 -0600
Message-ID: <003101c8432e$166f2b00$4001a8c0_at_MICASA>

"It's even hard to predict the exact results..."

Hola Listees,

Yes, this is what Larry and I had already stated, Sterling. While on the
subject of James Clerk Maxwell, I wanted to add two interesting footnotes,

(1) Decated to Sterling, a guitar fellow with Maxwell (and not to forget
E.P.'s question, here's a "simplest" answer and it's singable), Maxwell's
guitar song parody of Robert Burns:

"Gin a body meet a body
Flyin' through the air.
Gin a body hit a body,
Will it fly? And where?...

...Gin a body meet a body
Altogether free,
How they travel afterwards
We do not always see."

stanzas from: "Rigid Body Sings"
(Gin= "if")
http://www.edinburghacademy.org.uk/curriculum/chemistry/sciencecentre.htm

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-memory-of-edward-wilson-who-repented-of-what/

(2) Maxwell, giving credit to a little help from Laplace, had discussed
correctly the accretion theory of meteoroids and asteroids, moonlets while
on the subject of Saturn in the 1850's, proved that from a nebula they could
not form, that first there would have to be something provoking
condensation. But he moved on, after being influenced by his foray into
theoretical meteoritics(dynamics) (this, actually the problem of Saturns
rings and the question of formation of moonlets (a.k.a., meteoroids), in a
huge collection is what led him to problems like the "spokes" in Saturns
rings, and wave treatment of so many particles. Lucky for us, he then
worked out what these sorts of waves looked like and behaved requiring the
concept of time and for the speed of light to be a constant and thus took
humanity a step forward by bringing an understanding and unification of the
electric and magnetic theories.
Einstein admitted:
"The special theory of relativity owes its origins to Maxwell's equations of
the electromagnetic field."
So, even though we lost one aspiring and very young meteoriticist destined
for greatness, the view of the world was never the same after Maxwell...all
probably inspired by the question of how gases could accrete into bodies and
the theoretical rubble he proposed as the composition of Saturn's rings and
their stability -

Best wishes, quantifiably yours
Doug

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "E.P. Grondine" <epgrondine at yahoo.com>;
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Mammoth Stew, just right

> Hi, EP, List,
>
> EP wrote:
>
>> ...the gravitational effects of the Earth+Moon system
>> should draw items in, gradually changing their orbits
>> from those passing near to ones which intersect.
>
> The problem with the near miss, the close
> approach, the graze is that, while they will modify
> the orbit of the object passing by, it can (and will)
> change that orbit but it will do so in any (and every)
> direction. A close pass by a little asteroid may mean
> you'll never seen it again or it may come back aimed
> right at you. It's even hard to predict the exact results
> of a close pass when you know the approach elements.
> It's really too touchy.
Received on Thu 20 Dec 2007 12:30:58 PM PST