Sakine Mohamadi Ashtiani Day. 24th July 2010. London, Trafalgar Square.

This was part of an international day of protests organised to publicize the case of Sakine who has received 99 lashes and has spent the last 5 years in prison waiting to be executed for adultery. Originally condemned to death by stoning, the international outcry means that she will now probably be hung instead. Maryam Namazie, above, organised yesterday's protest. It was sunny and a lot more signatures were added to the petition demanding that Sakine be set free and that stoning be banned in Iran and the Islamic world in general. A shrouded woman enacted a stoning.
Main link for more information is at the Sakine Campaign.

Balloon Jet Propulsion.High Altitude Calculation.

Everyone knows how if you let go of a balloon allowing the gas to escape quickly, the balloon shoots across the room. This is an attempt to quantify this balloon jet propulsion for the particular case of balloons venting up in the stratosphere. Could the balloon, approaching its bursting point on the back of Archimedes's Principle be saved and driven higher and if so by how much?

Although the calculations are used to obtain numbers for helium, He, they would apply equally for any other gas.

THE MAIN ASSUMPTIONS.

( a ) The balloon is filled with gas at 1 atmos. and 298*K, ( S.T.P. ) and the gas retains this state when it is vented. Of course, even in a well insulated envelope, the gas would be cooler in the frigid high atmosphere. This could be corrected for.( See below )

( b ) That the gas vents from the balloon axially and downwards along the vertical venting pipe with a velocity equal to the atoms mean random molecular speed ( c ) characterised by their temperature and pressure. This is optimistic, to put it mildly, but it gives an upper bound to what may be possible.

( c ) The solid material of the balloon has zero buoyancy. This will be the case when all the gas has vented but initially there will of course be buoyancy as the venting starts with the balloon at or near equilibrium, neither going up or down. This assumption underestimates the lift as does the assumption made that the loss of He does not reduce the balloons initial mass.



MASS OF HELIUM ( m ).

For a spherical balloon of radius 1m, the volume is 4.2m(3). The density of He at S.T.P. is 0.175 kg/m(3).
m=0.74kg.


MEAN RANDOM MOLECULAR SPEED ( c ).

For He at S.T.P of density r and pressure P,
P=(r*c(2))/3. With r=0.175kg/m(3) and P=10(5)Pa, c=1.3*10(3)=1300m/s.

IMPULSE AND CHANGE OF MOMENTUM.

Ft=m*(final velocity )-m*(initial velocity ). F=force in N, t=time in secs.
( initial velocity )=0 as inside the balloon the atoms of He are moving randomly in all directions.
Therefore, Ft=mc N-sec.
With the venting pipe pointing vertically downwards F becomes the upward force on the balloon and t the venting time.
If we set p=mc, then F=mc/t=p/t N.

NET UPWARD FORCE ON BALLOON.
If the total mass of balloon and load, assumed constant even though He is being lost, is M, and as stated above the initial buoyancy is ignored, the net upward force is
F-Mg=p/t-Mg N

UPWARDS ACCELERATION OF BALLOON.
From Newton II,
p/t-Mg=Ma where a is the upwards acceleration.
Therefore, a=(p/t-Mg)/M m/sec(2)

MAXIMUM DISTANCE BALLOON IS DRIVEN VERTICALLY.

s=ut+(at(2)/2.
Assuming balloon is not moving up fast before venting, u=0.

s=(a*t*t)/2.=(p/(tM)-g)*t*t/2= pt/(2M)-gt(2)/2.


To find t for maximum s, a spot of calculus.
(ds)/(dt)=p/(2M)-gt when (ds)/(dt)=0 we get the maximum value of s and the corresponding value of t.
So, at (ds)/(dt)=o , p/(2M)-gt=0 and t=p/(2Mg), the optimum t.

Finally, substituting this value of t into s=(a*t*t)/2, we get

the maximum extra height gained as

s=(p/M)*(p/M)/(8g)

EXAMPLES.

For our first example of a Im radius balloon carrying 0.74 kgs of He, p=1000kg-(m/s), M=2kg, venting time=25secs and

s=3125m or about 9400 ft.

Upwards force due to jet effect F=p/t=1000/25=40 N.


With a balloon of 1.5m radius carrying 2.4kgs of He and with a total mass now M=5kg, venting time= 31 secs.and
p=3100kg-(m/s), F=3100/31=100 N and
s=4800m or another 14400 ft, WoW!. A slightly bigger balloon and we get all the way to the moon!
No, but seriously any comments feedback very welcome.

Sorry about indices notation t*t means t squared as does t(2).

TEMPERATURE CORRECTION.

If C is random speed at 300*K and c is that at 250*K,then,

c=C*Square-root(250/300)=0.91*C. This gives c=1200 m/sec at 250*K instead of 1300 m/sec at 300*K.
Small potatoes!

Obama's Great NASA Plan. Charles Bolden to Manage Massage Parlour for Bruised Muslim Egos.

In a speech last month for Al-Jeezera, Charles Bolden, Obama's appointed new head of NASA, revealed that the President told him that his most important task was " To reach out to the Muslim world and engage with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering "

How touching. But what, one wonders, has this groveling ego massaging endeavour to do with the organisation that put humans on the moon? Well, having cancelled all manned expeditions beyond earth orbit as well as most research into new space technology, Obama,( who couldn't quite get away with simply closing the agency down ), had to find some use for the now moribund outfit. His solution is to make it the " scientific " arm of the State Department's Muslim Affairs Section. Although the scheme has zero scientific merit it has one great virtue; its as cheap as a comb full of dandruff.

Islam the Humane and Merciful Religion. Stoning Women in Iran.

As a result of international pressure, the Iranian Islamic Republic has just announced that it will not after all be burying a 42 year old mother of two up to her chest and then have men throw stones ( big enough to cause injury but not big enough to kill outright ) at her till she dies. Usually takes about 30 minutes. Instead it will probably be wheeling out one of its industrial cranes to hang her from the boom. Takes about 10 minutes. What wonderfully merciful people these Muslims are !

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtani is accused of adultery and has already been given 99 lashes of the bull whip and spent 5 years in prison. The degenerates who run the so called Iranian Islamic Judiciary will of course not be deprived entirely of their sport.They have already over the last few years had about 10 people, mostly women of course, stoned to death and have at least as many awaiting this fate whose cases are unlikely to attract much international attention.

Happy Birthday America

Bit late with this because I've been away on the drop dead gorgeous Dorset coast. Anyway, what's happening?. A great many more poor Americans and re-possessions still on the increase. Obama has done good with his medical cover reforms. No one in the civilised world should be denied medical treatment because they cant pay for it. As I see it, the state has a duty to provide it's citizens with security, education and health. What the citizens then do with those treasures is their business. On Iran, Obama is more than slightly out to lunch; he is just buying time for the ayatollahs to build their bomb. When they get it and throw it at one or more of their neighbours he'll say " Hey that's a bummer but what could I do? " Heyho!

In Afghanistan Americans and others are dying because the Taliban is getting money from the Gulf states, support from Pakistan and are seen as patriots by most Afghans. If the Chinese and the Russians are not prepared to commit troops and treasure to help yank the Afghans out of the 10thC, we should just go and leave the Afghans to their delights.

What else ? In New York the Muslims are building a Mega Mosque next door to Ground Zero which they plan to open next year on the anniversary of the Muslim Bombing. They are trying to say that what happened had nothing to do with Islam and that those who think it did are confused and need to apologise for their mistake. As has been said its a bit like putting up a statue of Hitler in Auschwitz. The project has the backing of the Mayor and some local politicians all of whom need urgently to be scrutinised for possible inappropriate associations with well moneyed Muslim organisations. All I can say is that there are some Muslims who really havent got any shame at all.

Muslim Attacks on European Jews. The Canaries in the Mine.

Attacks on Jews in Holland, Germany and Belgium have increased to such a pitch that many Jews are leaving for the USA and even Britain. This week, a Jewish troupe of street dancers get stoned in Hanover to cries from Muslims of " Jews Out!", in Amsterdam a recent TV documentary showed how within minutes of appearing on the streets wearing skull caps, a group of Jews were set upon by Muslims who spat at them, cursed them and inevitably yelled " Jews go home! ". Well, with the local authorities merely wringing their hands, its working. Jewish communities which have enriched and made continental Europe shine for centuries are disappearing faster than the proverbial snow ball in hell.

It is rightly said that the Jews are the Canaries in the Mine. When they get snuffed, it wont be long before the rest of civilised society starts to circle the drain. If this outrage is allowed to proceed unchecked its real simple; Islam will put out the lights from Helsinki to Lisbon. Welcome then to the real Dark Ages.

The Very Sad Archbishop of Canterbury and the Case of the Woman's Mitre.

Once again Rowan Williams has managed to cover his Church and himself with ignominy. Although I am an atheist, I am proud of the progressive Christian heritage that contributed to the development of our brilliant Western culture. Williams is not a progressive. Instead of going with the times he has opposed the ordination of gays and is so bothered by the creation in America of women bishops that when one, Katherine Jefferts Schori, came to officiate here in Southwark Cathedral, he ordered her not to wear her mitre. He cant bring himself to let the homophobes and misogynists go their way. For goodness sake, let the homophobes and misogynists convert to Islam or Catholicism ! Williams could more than make up for the loss of the saurians by opening his arms to the many members of the Catholic clergy who would just love to renounce celibacy. Will he? No, too easy!

Seriously now, this mitre affair is just another example of the archbishop's regressive mind set. He is a man who has no particular interest in the enlightenment and would, I believe, be quite happy to see it rolled back in order to entrench the position of his religion, all religions in public life. To this end he reaches out to all the other hot hocus-pocus players. If he can please them and secure their thingies in a " pick an mix" bazaar of laws and privileges, it also bolsters, so he reasons, the defences and existing privileges of the Anglican Church. Thus, in a monstrous betrayal of British Muslim women and children he has ardently supported the introduction in Britain of Sharia courts. Again, presumably believing that this will strengthen the great religious cobweb in society, he has called for immams, rabbis, shamans and cardinals etc, to be given seats alongside his bishops in the Lords.
The man is really rather a disgrace. In my opinion, he should be gently tapped on the shoulder and handed a one way ticket to Riyadh.