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Re: Basic physics laws
« Reply #60 on: May 25, 2015, 05:40:05 PM »

No, the once liquid, rotating core of Mars cooled and solidified.

How did that happen? Why hasn't it happened to Earth?
Why did it happen to Mars?  I doubt that anyone knows for sure, but probably has something to do with the fact that Mars is relatively small and therefore had a smaller liquid core, and smaller things tend to cool faster than bigger things.

But Mercury still has a magnetic field and is smaller than Mars.
Mercury's magnetic field is about 1.1% as strong as the Earth's.  What's your point?

It's also strong enough to deflect solar winds, so 1.1% must count for something.

My point is that everyone here is talking as if there's a a definitive answer, and it's clear the best everyone can do is guess. The same thing FErs get criticized constantly for.
The difference being that there are scientists who speak much more substantially, in terms of both evidence and theory, than we lay people do. There is no equivalent that I have seen for FEers, yet FEers often claim to be on equal footing.

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Offline markjo

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Re: Basic physics laws
« Reply #61 on: May 25, 2015, 05:57:26 PM »

No, the once liquid, rotating core of Mars cooled and solidified.

How did that happen? Why hasn't it happened to Earth?
Why did it happen to Mars?  I doubt that anyone knows for sure, but probably has something to do with the fact that Mars is relatively small and therefore had a smaller liquid core, and smaller things tend to cool faster than bigger things.

But Mercury still has a magnetic field and is smaller than Mars.
Mercury's magnetic field is about 1.1% as strong as the Earth's.  What's your point?

It's also strong enough to deflect solar winds, so 1.1% must count for something.
No, not really.
Mercury has almost no atmosphere. The planet's small size means that its gravity is too weak to hold down a normal atmosphere. There is a very thin atmosphere around the planet. Mercury's thin atmosphere is constantly being "blown away" into space by the pressure of sunlight and by the solar wind. Gases are constantly being added to Mercury's atmosphere, too. That's why it still has any atmosphere at all - even though that atmosphere is really, really thin.

My point is that everyone here is talking as if there's a a definitive answer, and it's clear the best everyone can do is guess. The same thing FErs get criticized constantly for.
There's a difference between making an educated guess based on careful observations and just pulling stuff out of your ass.
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Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.

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Offline juner

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Re: Basic physics laws
« Reply #62 on: May 25, 2015, 08:10:26 PM »
There's a difference between making an educated guess based on careful observations and just pulling stuff out of your ass.

So the educated guess you are making currently is based on your careful observation? Or do you mean the observation performed by someone else? I am not sure what the last part of your comment is for since it doesn't pertain to anything that is currently being discussed.