A cheap joke for a rather interesting story. Wired.com has a piece about the rings of Saturn (see what I did there...), in that the 30-foot thick bands of rock and ice that girdle the planet are not entirely uniform.
In a nutshell, every fifteen years or so Saturn reaches its equinox, which results in some very different light angles, reflections and suchlike, and the latest one has allowed folks in Colorado to study the rings in some detail. In so doing, they've found some areas to be thicker than others, caused by the gravitational pull exerted by Saturn's moons. Pretty cool stuff.
From one ring to another: Ever wondered what makes gold and copper so different to the other shiny metals? Why one is yellow, another orange? As it turns out it's all to do with electrons; yes, that old chestnut again. See for yourself: these folks explain it all far better than I ever could.
Of course, ever since people began rummaging in the dirt we've always had a fascination for a bit of bling. I suppose with gold being so unusual a metal it became more than an object of fascination, it became currency. Copper, too, would once upon a time have been a prized material: copper ingots were used for trading a heck of a lot, as was lead of course. And yet, my Grandmother remembers when Aluminium was considered rare and precious: we now know it's probably the most abundant metal in the earth's crust. I reckon that's a result of all the takeaways we eat.
In a nutshell, every fifteen years or so Saturn reaches its equinox, which results in some very different light angles, reflections and suchlike, and the latest one has allowed folks in Colorado to study the rings in some detail. In so doing, they've found some areas to be thicker than others, caused by the gravitational pull exerted by Saturn's moons. Pretty cool stuff.
From one ring to another: Ever wondered what makes gold and copper so different to the other shiny metals? Why one is yellow, another orange? As it turns out it's all to do with electrons; yes, that old chestnut again. See for yourself: these folks explain it all far better than I ever could.
Of course, ever since people began rummaging in the dirt we've always had a fascination for a bit of bling. I suppose with gold being so unusual a metal it became more than an object of fascination, it became currency. Copper, too, would once upon a time have been a prized material: copper ingots were used for trading a heck of a lot, as was lead of course. And yet, my Grandmother remembers when Aluminium was considered rare and precious: we now know it's probably the most abundant metal in the earth's crust. I reckon that's a result of all the takeaways we eat.
I thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here all week.
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