What would happen if we have two moons?

So I recently received a message on my wall/timeline on facebook from a good friend of mine.  She and her son asked me "What would it be like if we had two moons? Let's assume they are identical to this one, just two of them."  I found this to be a really interesting question.  In fact I think I could spend several blog posts discussing the issue without truly answering the question to my satisfaction.  So today I am going  to describe several possible effects a second moon would have on the Earth using some simplifications to get a general idea in the next couple blog posts.  If I blog again after that (haha - I do post things every once in a while - honest) on this subject I will focus on one aspect and try to remove the simplifications.

First, lets discuss where the second moon (lets call it Bob) would be in the sky.  We are assuming that Bob is just like out current moon (Luna) with a similar mass and orbit.  However, the same orbit can be taken in several ways.  I am going to take "same orbit" to mean that Bob follows the same path around the earth, but occupies a different location in that orbit at any given time.  If we assume that Bob and Luna don't effect each others' orbits (which is decidedly not true, but I am going with for today) then the most stable places for Bob to be is at the Lagrangian Points, which is where the gravitation forces of two objects (Earth/Luna or Earth/Sun) keep additional objects stable.  There are 5 Lagrangian points, however 2 of them would  require different orbits, therefore we would be left with Bob being either (i) 60 degrees ahead, (ii) 60 degrees behind Luna, or (iii) exactly opposite (180 degrees) Luna on the other side of the earth.

Now you might ask why does it matter where Bob is?   My answer is that whether Bob and Luna are on the same side of the planet or opposite each other determines two things. 1) Whether Bob and Luna are in the sky at the same time (if Bob is opposite Luna it will set just as Luna rises and vis versa); and 2) How the combined gravity of Bob and Luna interact with the Earth.  Both of these points can be very important.  If Bob and Luna are on opposite sides of the earth then it would mean that there is always a moon in the sky, so there would be significantly more light in the sky at night.  And Issac Asimov has postulated the effect always have lights can have on the cultures of intelligent beings.  Not to mention the effect more light would have had on prehistoric hunters and animals.

The gravity of Luna is what gives us tides, and is possibly the cause of plate tectonics (moving continents).  The combined gravity of Bob and Luna would greatly effect both of these phenomena.  If Bob is opposite Luna this would probably amplify the effects that Luna already has on the tides and magma flows (the gravity of Luna pulls water/liquids towards it causing the tides to bulge towards the moon, but the spherical nature of the earth causes the water on the opposite side of the earth from Luna to bulge out as well, meaning is Bob was on the opposite side they would amplify the effects).  However, if Bob and Luna are 60 degrees a part this would lead to more complicated interaction on the tides with the size of the tides and forces on the magma increased/decreased but not as much as if they are opposite.

Now you might think that this is already a lot to change if we add Bob to the Earth's planetary system, but these are only two of the more obvious effects (aside from having more eclipses).  I will try to describe more possible effects next time, but here are a few things that would change:

- Earth's axial tilt (effect the seasons and weather)
- Number of asteroids that hit the Earth (more or less)
- Earth's orbit of the Sun
- Number of moons (intuition tells me that more moons become easier to acquire more moons/rings)
- The magnetic field of Earth
- Weather

Some links I found on the subject:
http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/earthmoon.html
http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=2507
http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/17apr_magnetotail/

faculty hunting rant

So this years round of faculty applications are starting and that is beginning to cause a huge amount stress.  For those of you who don't know - the number of qualified applicants in most science/engineering fields is at least 10 times the number of available faculty positions (often more).  So as you can imagine I am starting to question if I want to stay in Science/Academia.  And, I realized that I am hitting a wall that a lot people hit when they grow up.  I have been told my whole life I am unique and special, but this faculty application process is hitting me over the head with the realization that I am only one of 7 billion unique and special people.  Now I realize that I am unique and special (you can't over use "That's what she said" as much as I do without being special), but when you are in a tough job market and you have been applying for jobs as much as I have (one of these days I will have to vent about how much the two-body post-doc experience sucks) every time you submit another application with no idea what is going to happen your stress goes up and your self esteem goes down.  The problem isn't being unique and special enough.  It is advertizing, announcing, and fighting for your unique/special self (while working a 100+ hour job).  So basically it is yet another thing that in modern (American) society the you have to master to be a successful adult.  You don't just need to know how to be the best scientific programmer / ab initio scientist for materials surfaces and interfaces, but you also have to be an expert in (self) advertising,  searching the web for positions, as well as the medical, investment/financial, technology (which I must admit is fun for me), and insurance experts necessary to not be screwed in a modern society.

So in short, I have decided to travel the world with my six shooter and Samurai sword.  Living the stress-free life of a lone nomadic hero whistling off tune and riding into the sunset.  Well at least until my wife cracks her whip and I come running.

Finches and Pizza

Over a couple week period I had two separate people (other than my wife who has said it for years) tell me that a Hawaiian pizza is blasphemous and sacrilegious, which as a member of the Hawaiian pizza faith I was rather insulted.  Now one of these people was from Napoli and as such has some authority on the subject.  So as you can imagine this lead to a heated exchange.

However, I have since realized that pizza is just a good example of a phenomenon that we have observed in other foods.  Pizza adapts to its region.  When I lived in Grenoble the pizza was more Italian style, but with potato on it.  While you can only presume that the Hawaiian pizza is the result of pizza arriving in a land obsessed with pineapple and spam (I assumed the ham came from when the Hawaiian pizza came back to the continental US and us not liking spam).  Of course, I can't explain Chicago deep dish pizza or explain (defend) stuffed crust, but evolution is like that sometimes.  So just like finches evolving pizza evolves too.  And just like finches pizza kept the original name (lets call it a Genus or Family name).   Of course, this principle applies to all kinds of foods and not just pizza.

One of the things that my wife and I have come to enjoy about traveling so much is going to an "ethnic" cuisine restaurant in different countries and noticing the differences.   The two most common cuisines were Sushi and Chinese.   What is interesting about Japanese cuisine is that in two cheese countries (France and Holland) they have found a way to include cheese into the notoriously lactose intolerant Japanese cuisine (cheese and meat skewers).   And while we were in France we tried to find egg drop soup and were unable to do so.  In fact, when we talked to the cook at a Chinese restaurant he made something for us that we were fairly sure was the origin of American egg drop soup.  So both are strong examples food evolution.


In fact my wife and I have been living this theory.  While we were in France and then Holland we (really she) made French and Dutch style enchiladas.  In fact when you include Real enchiladas (from New Mexico), Mexican enchiladas, TexMex enchiladas, and the Greek enchiladas my wife is experimenting with and we are well on our way to a full enchilada cook book.  Therefore, you can do Evolutionary genetics of enchiladas just from us (if our theoretical book ever becomes famous).

So the next time you call food blasphemous remember that it is just a difference species of the genus pizza or sushi.

Update

So when I said that I was going to try to start blogging again I said that I would give an update on the changes in my life.   So here is my attempt.

When I started blogging (the first time) I was living in France with my wife and working on a postdoc.  Now my postdoc has finished and I have moved onto my next postdoc.  I am currently working in upstate New York, while my wife is working in on a postdoc in the Netherlands.  So I am back in the US, which is a nice change (though I did love living in Europe).  However, I miss my wife deeply and traveling back and forth from the EU to the US is getting a bit tiring.  Especially when sick.

Before someone asks we chose to do the long distance thing because these both happen to be really good postdocs that will help both of us find a permanent position (hopefully today) when we are done.  So by being apart we will ultimately be together in a permanent location.  

I can't wait until it is over.

So this is an awesome ad for Mathematica I saw on the MathWorld website.

I give the ad people 5 points for the idea, and 10 points implementation.  However, I will have to retract 10 points for  comparing the creator of Mathematica, and their boss, to the  Sauron.

Preventing Jetlag

I have found a way to prevent jetlag.  I am going to be rich!! 

Unfortunately, the cure is worse than the disease.  Seeing as how the cure is in fact a disease.  I had a several head cold this last week when I flew back from Europe.  I haven't felt jetlag and have gone to bed on time and woken up at my normal NY time.  It is quite amazing. 

Of course, the consequences were that I got my wife sick right before leaving (GUILT!), had congested sinuses over the flight (pressure changes suck), used 6 packs of those mini-Kleenexes and like 4-5 handfuls of Kleenexes from the plane bathroom, probably got other people on the planes sick (GUILT!), generally felt like crap, and probably extended the length of my cold by a couple days.

So I guess I am not going to be rich.  Sigh. 

I'm back?

Hi Everyone,

Recently, a good friend of mine moved to Scotland (and will be working in Antarctica before long) and has started a blog about her experiences.   In one of her recent posts she referred to my blog about living in France and put a little dig in about how "His wife's blog is a little more up-to-date."  So I figure that was encouragement for me to start again.  I even have a few ideas on the next few posts (including an update on the current strange land(s) I am occupying).  So if anyone is still reading I will try to restart this whole blagosphere thingy.

AMSIASL