Hi,
Imagine if a supernova happened relatively near to earth - near enough that it is a bright light in the daytime sky.
If you saw that - should you quickly get underground to try to shield yourself from some of the radiation?
I read somewhere that a really bad near-earth supernova would screw up the ozone layer - but that would be a long term consequence - what about the immediate exposure?
Maybe the gamma rays wouldn't be intense enough to hurt you? Or maybe a few feet of concrete wouldn't make any difference? Or maybe the really dangerous part would be the first 10 seconds so you wouldn't get a chance to do anything about it?
OK - I know this isn't very likely to happen in our lifetimes - but it is a real (remote) possibility. If it did happen I reckon half the world would be staring at it - taking photos etc. Would the smart move be to get your family somewhere with as much shielding as possible between you and the sky?
If this is a smart move - how long should you stay there?
- Drelda
p.s. as an aside - imagine what the woo crowd would make of it - they would be unbearable. Every brand of nonsense would claim they had foretold the event and that it validated them in some way. Imagine the fuss they would make over the (statistically inevitable) babies that were born at the exact time!
Imagine if a supernova happened relatively near to earth - near enough that it is a bright light in the daytime sky.
If you saw that - should you quickly get underground to try to shield yourself from some of the radiation?
I read somewhere that a really bad near-earth supernova would screw up the ozone layer - but that would be a long term consequence - what about the immediate exposure?
Maybe the gamma rays wouldn't be intense enough to hurt you? Or maybe a few feet of concrete wouldn't make any difference? Or maybe the really dangerous part would be the first 10 seconds so you wouldn't get a chance to do anything about it?
OK - I know this isn't very likely to happen in our lifetimes - but it is a real (remote) possibility. If it did happen I reckon half the world would be staring at it - taking photos etc. Would the smart move be to get your family somewhere with as much shielding as possible between you and the sky?
If this is a smart move - how long should you stay there?
- Drelda
p.s. as an aside - imagine what the woo crowd would make of it - they would be unbearable. Every brand of nonsense would claim they had foretold the event and that it validated them in some way. Imagine the fuss they would make over the (statistically inevitable) babies that were born at the exact time!
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=264632&goto=newpost
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