From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Wed Jan 22 2003 - 07:57:57 MST
-----Original Message-----
From: Amara Graps [mailto:amara@amara.com]
Dossy:
>On 2003.01.21, Damien Broderick <thespike@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > Excellent point. In fact, I recall that the mean time to
>the surface for a
> > photon from the core is not just thousands of years, but a
>*million* years.
> > [!!]
>
> That's a comforting thought. The Sun could have blinked out
>hundreds of
> thousands of years ago, and we have absolutely no idea? :-)
"Here's why...At the speed of light, it would take 2.3 seconds for a photon
from the center of the Sun to reach the surface."
--------------
Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't we know if the nuclear fusion process in
the sun stopped in about 2.3 seconds plus ~8 minutes (to earth) when see a
sudden drop in nuetrinos? Whoa, wait a minute, isnt the 'solar nutrino
problem' some big mystery in physics today, maybe it has already shut off
(or is in the process of shutting down)...
>From one of those sites...
Nuclear Fusion:
4 H --> He + 2 Positrons + g Photons + Neutrinos
Michael
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