Thanks... Again. I'm really not sure - I'd be shocked if it were to do with the GPS time stamping. Indeed, the prime example quoted to budding young physicists about the importance of relativity in our day to day lives is to do with GPS. Something like if relativity were not taken into account, our ...

Atomic clocks are used in GPS. They are still subject to the effects of relativity, inaccuracies in position/velocity, disturbances in the atmosphere (changing refractive index, electric fields...). Just because at near absolute zero in ideal circumstances they are accurate to one part in a hundred ...

Deepcrush wrote:With regards to Thorin, its pretty clear he's only in here to spam the thread so may be best to just ignore him. Works for kids in the time out corner and if we're lucky it will work here.

Kids in the time out corner! Ahh Brilliant. You are a true genius.

No, I do get it. Yes, it is more revolutionary for submarines. You keep spouting facts to me which I am in agreement with, and yet you never address the fact that these weapons haven't (or have) changed the world . You wouldn't, I hope, dispute the fact that having a completely secure second-strike...

What is a warplane without weapons? Just a plane. Yeah there are planes without weapons like recon planes. But that is besides the point. A plane specifically designed to carry weapons, guns, bombs, and missiles is a warplane. That warplane needs to be designed to carry these weapons effectively. L...

You are correct. But you are wrong about one thing. Nuclear powered ships are different then their conventional counterparts. I assuming you are intelligent enough to know that a conventional powered ship and a nuclear powered ship requires a entirely different layout in their propulsion machinery....

Yes you can paint something to make it stealthy. But if you really look at the Super Hornet very carefully, there are other things on it that is stealth based. However there is more to that stealth paint than a can of paint. It's painted in layers. Abit more than a coat of paint. Okay well I am goi...

Well then it's just semantics; is a weapon a single thing in existance, is it the group of those identical things, is it a category of similar groups, or is it an entire branch of the military? It's fairly arbitrary to say which, but I'd contest that "nuclear powered ships" can be consider...

Doesn't make a difference, you still have to attach nuclear power to a ship and then ask whether that ship (which can constitute a weapon) is a world changer. 'Nuclear power', even taking it to mean the power generator of a ship, is not a weapon. Maybe: "What about the 'USS x', the first nuclea...

I didn't know that later V-2's had the capability of flying a beam, or do you mean that they were operated via radio? Well my use of 'apparantly' lead from my source being wikipedia, but 'apparantly' yes; they could fly a beam. Some later V-2s used "guide beams" (radio signals transmitted...

No, when I said nuclear power, I meant nuclear power as in power coming from a nuclear source used to provide power. So while you talk to your local expert, ask if there were any nuclear powered ships in WWII and if he could pull that cock out of your ass. You really meant nuclear power? In which u...

Interesting that. I've seen a few of the documentaries on the V's (admittedly one of them was James May's big ideas), and particularly remember a photograph of a house flattened by a V-2, which seems to have lodged in my memory and given more credence in my mind to the overall destruction of the V-2...

There were two completely separate London Blitzes - the first (September '40 - May '41) was carried out purely by bombers. The second (June '44 - March '45) was purely V-weapons. I did not know that. When people say 'the blitz', are they referring to it collectively or one in particular? I'd say th...

Can't believe I didn't see this earlier. I've being semi-specialising in the physics behind this (lasers, photonics, and various theoretical and applied nuclear physics modules). At the moment the magnetic plasma confinement approach is winning the race, particularly with ITER coming online relative...

That, and like most German innovations during WWII, the fact that Germany couldn't produce nearly enough to make them significant contributors. What about the V-1 and V-2 obliterating London? I'd have said those are one of the biggest innovations of all time, and at a time when people thought it wa...