(urth) "been teaching literature for over 35 years"
Gerry Quinn
gerry at bindweed.com
Mon Sep 9 06:50:09 PDT 2013
From: David Stockhoff
On 9/9/2013 8:42 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
> > It doesn't matter (in engineering terms) whether stuff that reaches the
> > event horizon goes somewhere else or not (that's kind of the definition
> > of an event horizon). But an accretion disk outside the Schwarzschild
> > radius is just standard dynamics for any super-condensed object. At a
> > distance of several Schwarzschild radii, Newtonian physics will be
> > reasonably accurate (albeit not in detail).
> Which is why I don't like the idea that the object has non-Newtonian
> effects outside/beyond the Sun.
Well, it could emit penetrating particles that have a heating effect when
absorbed by matter.
Say it emitted a large pulse of particles similar to neutrinos, with a
sufficiently small capture cross section that they could go through the
Earth without much attenuation, but still much more absorbable by matter
than neutrinos. If you give them a penetration depth of several Earth
diameters, then for every 10^12 tons or so mass-equivalent emitted in this
form from the sun, you would heat the Earth by one degree. A few hundred
times that amount emitted over a period of might be enough to restart
tectonic activity. However, you then have the problem that it needs to be
emitted over a rather long period, or the seas would boil, and the land
would also become uncomfortably hot. I think however if this radiation was
absorbed chiefly by iron and similar heavy metals, life-threatening
consequences would be mitigated, especially if the pulse lasted a few hours.
(This should also prevent dramatic consequences for Jupiter and Saturn.
Skuld might have problems, though, if it is still inhabited.)
- Gerry Quinn
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