Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 03 February 2020, 12:15:03 PM
Safe to say a 10mm model of Betelgeuse  won't be gracing the Pendraken or Minibits terrain pages any time soon.
You can safely ignore such requests.

But I WANT ONE !!!

Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 03 February 2020, 12:15:03 PM
Brian Cox enjoys doing his "scale model solar system" schtick, with the sun being something like a big grinning spacehopper, and all the planets being other roughly round objects.
For extra effect, always put Pluto on the offshore Island where they build the lighthouse or quarantine facility.

Try the Somerset Space Walk. The first four planets are within 67 metres of the Sun, Pluto is 11 km away. The nearest star would be ~76000 km away . . .

Quote from: Raider4 on 03 February 2020, 01:20:23 PM
Try the Somerset Space Walk. The first four planets are within 67 metres of the Sun, Pluto is 11 km away. The nearest star would be ~76000 km away . . .

That's a perfect example of where the human brain starts saying "11km / 76000km, why that's a more than thee times as far".

Once you slap a few zeroes on, then our numeracy reverts to the caveman's "one two, some, many".

There are distances that we CAN 'see'......

But it's hard to comprehend that if some giant rock slapped into the moon we'd see it about one and a half seconds later......No....that's fine..I can cope with that time difference.

If the sun (sol) suddenly 'went out' (Yes...I know, it's not a light switch, and that's not something that's ever going to happen, like that.) .....But, from memory that's about 8 and a half minutes before we'd notice

(EEK !... that might have happened while I've been typing this garbage.....Damn....I'm getting cold. all of a sudden.)

Beyond that...My brain starts hurting, even more than usual.

...Proxima Centuri.....

Four light years(ish) ?......I can cope with that, as well......But THEN. .....Wibble, wibble, Flurp. 

Cheers - Phil 

Seriously, watch this, it's brilliant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR3Igc3Rhfg

Seconded, seen it before, was well worth rewatching

Going the other way...

If the nucleus of an atom was the size of an orange, the nearest electron would be a marble 2 km away.

The nuclear atom is just a metaphor anyway, and I understand it's considered a rather outdated one by those who make up these stories. The truth is we just don't have an experiential frame of mental reference to handle concepts and questions like "There is no before to predate the Big Bang", or "Is life without cats worth living?".

Never trust an atom...they make up everything.

 



Cheers - Phil

Quote from: pierre the shy on 04 February 2020, 03:05:42 AM
Never trust an atom...they make up everything.

Kindly submit your resignation letter or (preferably) suicide note by tea time.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 08:15:06 AM
Kindly submit your resignation letter or.....

C'mon Kitty that wasn't that bad.. ...seen it as a slogan on a t-shirt from a science museum actually....

Kats have a limited saense of humour, BUT it was THAT Bad !!!!!

Quote from: pierre the shy on 04 February 2020, 03:05:42 AM
Never trust an atom...they make up everything.

Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 08:15:06 AM
Kindly submit your resignation letter or (preferably) suicide note by tea time.

Quote from: ianrs54 on 04 February 2020, 08:57:23 AM
Kats have a limited saense of humour, BUT it was THAT Bad !!!!!

Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 02:09:19 AM
The nuclear atom is just a metaphor anyway, and I understand it's considered a rather outdated one by those who make up these stories. The truth is we just don't have an experiential frame of mental reference to handle concepts and questions like "There is no before to predate the Big Bang", or "Is life without cats worth living?".

One of many "lies-to-children"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie-to-children