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From: orb@whuts.UUCP (SEVENER)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,sci.misc
Subject: Darren Leigh at the Edge of Space: Part II
Message-ID: <4010@whuts.UUCP>
Date: 25 Mar 88 13:47:22 GMT
References: <3405@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <3884@whuts.UUCP> <2177@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: orb@whuts.UUCP (45263-SEVENER,T.J.)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany, NJ
Lines: 51

Earlier I pointed out to Mr. Leigh, the concept of "escape
velocity" as described in a Britannica Micropedia article.
Now I will cite a classic paper regarding the subject.
In article <2177@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> dlleigh@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Darren L. Leigh) writes:
>In article <3884@whuts.UUCP> orb@whuts.UUCP (45263-SEVENER,T.J.) writes:
>>
>>My, what a crop of scientific genuises we are training
>>up at MIT!!
>     I suggested there might be an abrupt shift from the atmosphere
>     to space at the edge of the atmosphere.  A poster has suggested
>     this is not correct.  Personally I don't know.
>     Logically, it seems to me that there will be some kind of
>     abrupt shift or discontinuity at the point of escape from the
>     Earth's gravity.  On the other hand, air is an amorphous gas
>     which is not rigidly bound and constantly in motion.  So this
>     will blur the boundary.
>
>Isn't this rich?  Obviously Tim hasn't heard Newton's law of universal
>gravitation (F = GMm/(r^2)) or at least he doesn't understand it.
>With Tim's understanding of physics at this level, I feel it best that
>we ignore his postings on the subject for the time being.

I repeat again:
My, what a crop of scientific geniuses we are training up at MIT!!

This issue, like many on the Net, has been hashed out a long 
time ago.  George Stoney wrote a classic paper examining the
content of the atmosphere at the edge of space, and for various
planets and satellites.  This paper was republished in the
book, "A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900-1975".
Mr. Stoney correctly predicted many years before space travel
the composition of gases in various planetary atmospheres.

Anyway, let me note a quote from p.90 of "A Source Book":

  "...From this point upwards  the density of
   the atmosphere will decrease by a much more rapid law,
   which will, within a short space, bring the atmosphere to
   an end."

Got that, Mr. Leigh?
"within a short space, bring the atmosphere to an end."

Of course, I realize that the geniuses on this Net know
better than the Britannica Micropedia or a source book on
classic papers on Astronomy and Astrophysics, so I don't
suspect this will persuade them.

But there it is....

tim sevener    whuts!orb