1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Let this be a lesson to all you rogue satellites

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by beefncheddar, Feb 20, 2008.

  1. jboy

    jboy Guest

    What the hell are you doing in sports, nerdlinger? Get a real job!
     
  2. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Not only that, there was talk of a fireball upon impact. How can anything burn in space when a) there is no oxygen, and b) it was a non-explosive warhead — essentially a bullet?

    (reaching for the Reynolds Wrap)
     
  3. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I think the satellite was actually in the upper atmosphere, on the brink of re-entry. Not a lot of oxygen, but some.
     
  4. Del_B_Vista

    Del_B_Vista Active Member

    There's no oxygen in space, but rocket fuel "burns" in space because it depends on a chemical reaction that releases energy. You can have monopropellant fuel, simply one substance that you start to "burn" by introducing some catalyst creating thrust, or two-component fuels where you jam two substances together. The space shuttle's main engines, for example, simply combine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen together, creating a potent chemical reaction that also yields water vapor as a byproduct.

    When two objects collide at 20,000 mph, that's plenty of kinetic energy to stir up whatever's cookin' in there.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page