It was clearly a missile

[iamaclone45]

All right, INGO, there was no missile. The contrail you saw in the sky was not a missile. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Not sure if you were joking or not, so if not, don't take this the wrong way. As an enigneer I feel compelled to give way more detail than anyone cares to note.

Guess what the byproducts of internal combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel are (such as Jet A)? Water and Carbon Dioxide (ok, and there is some Corbon Monoxide, Sulfur Dioxide, some Oxides of Nitrogen, little bit of soot, etc. at VERY low relative ratios to good old CO2 and H20).

Last time I checked water vapor is the same stuff they make clouds out of. Hence, when airplanes fly at high altitudes where the temperatures are very cold, or cars drive on cold days at low altitudes, the water vapor in the exhaust condenses and forms plumes of water vapor. (crap...starting to sound like my college Thermo professor...better not break out the Psycrometric charts until the next lesson. )

The textbook example is the combustion of Methane (CH4) with pure Oxygen (O2):

CH4 + 2 O2 → CO2 + 2 H2O (from Wiki link below)

Now, we know that the air we breath is actually not pure Oyxgen (which is good, because everything would spontaneously combust once a single flame was exposed to the O2), but rather about 78% Nitrogen (N2) and 20% O2, and 2% other stuff. (Atmosphere of Earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

So, in reality 80% of what goes into the engine isn't the O2 an engine needs to combust, and in reality gasoline, diesel, Jet A, Kerosene, etc. are much more complex than simple Methane and have very small amounts (Measured in parts per million) of Sulfur and other chemical additives in them as stabilizers and detergents.

That means you do get some other things present, but again, by relative %'s, the largest amounts of by products from Combustion are harmless (well, maybe not to the Global Warming folks) CO2, H20, and N2 (naturally occuring Nitrogen) since only a small part of it actually gets combined with anything else to form NOx.


True, jet engines, and diesels for that matter, don't "Smell" all that clean when they are running cold or at low load conditions, but that isn't necessarily an indication of nasty chemical by products as much as it is the result of some of the fuel that didn't completely burn. Ever taken a wiff of a gallon of gasoline or Kerosene? They don't smell particularly good before they are burned either.

More here:

Combustion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




So, enough with the thermodynamics lesson. Yeah, I think the contrail seen on this plane does seem a bit fuller and and longer than most, and all I can say is that is probably either a) part of the optical illusion, or b) the water was able to stay in vapor form for longer and didn't dissipate as quickly at whatever altitude the plane was at.


Oh, and yes, a liquid fueled rocket will have a very thick contrail since it is essetially burning pure hydrogen with pure oxygen making litterally nothing but Water! Solid fuels have a bit more other stuff in them, and are a whole different animal all togther, but too will produce a certain amount of water vapor.

Also, part of the optical illusion is that contrails and cellestial object look larger at the horizon than they do at the zenith, due to the thickness of the atmosphere through which they are being viewed.

Expecially when the sun is low on the horizon.

 

[Dentoro]

If the video was taken from land shooting out to sea at 7:15 pm the sun would be setting and reflection would be back to the sea, and assuming the plane/missle was heading in westerly direction any reflection would be back to sea.

 

[22lr]

Does it matter? Missile or plane it doesn't matter. If it was a missle it was DOD fired, if it was a plane it was just a plane. So it reality it doesn't matter either way.

Also for a MIT professor to come out and say that is a darn risky move on his part. Laid his reputation on the line for something that is most likely just a plane. But again it doesn't really matter so moving on......

My money is on the plane since it has been shown that this reoccurs at a rate that the DOD could not possible fund missile launches. But maybe were all being taken in by the conspiracy. Hide DOD spending and fire a bunch of top secret missiles at mars to nuke all the aliens before they can nuke us.

 

[96firephoenix]

alright Sheeple, I'm no expert, but I've been endowed with a slight bit of common sense and a brief education in physics.

at sunset (as said in the video) the entire contrail will be lit by the sun as it is low in the sky. as far as the "ball of light" goes, the sun is perspectively below the plane, meaning that the rays from the sun will strike the underbelly of the plane and then to the ground. as the contrail goes to the event horizon, it widens and scatters with the wind and air currents.

Optical Illusions 101 is now concluded.

 

[MilitaryArms]

alright Sheeple, I'm no expert, but I've been endowed with a slight bit of common sense and a brief education in physics.

Does your edumacation rival that of the MIT professor, you know, the one seen in the video linked to in the OP that says it's clearly a missile?

 

[ATOMonkey]

Does the "professor" explain why it's going so slow for so long?

 

[MilitaryArms]

Does the "professor" explain why it's going so slow for so long?

Watch the video.

As to the objects speed, can you tell us how fast or slow it's going? MPH will suffice.

 

[ATOMonkey]

I did watch the video. Have you watched a video of an actual missle launch?

500 knotts +- 50 knotts. @ 30,000 ft. mph is for cars.

 

[MilitaryArms]

So you don't know how fast it was going either.

 

[96firephoenix]

Does your edumacation rival that of the MIT professor, you know, the one seen in the video linked to in the OP that says it's clearly a missile?

no, but I think my common sense prolly does.

 

[TRWXXA]

Watch the video.

As to the objects speed, can you tell us how fast or slow it's going? MPH will suffice.

Oh... I get it...

When you say the trail is going up, and someone else says that it's just the perspective, they're an ignorant crackpot.

But when they say it's going too slow to be a missile, you claim that it's just the perspective.



Do you need a hat? I have some extra tinfoil laying around.

BTW, Monkey... It's "knots" (nautical miles per hour) not "knotts" (this guy:

).

 

[TRWXXA]

Does your edumacation rival that of the MIT professor, you know, the one seen in the video linked to in the OP that says it's clearly a missile?

Wow! You're easy to impress.
I had two college professors that were raving lunatics. One was the head of his department.

In case you think academia is devoid of crazies, there's a movie called, "A Beautiful Mind". Perhaps you should rent it.

 

[MilitaryArms]

Oh... I get it...

When you say the trail is going up, and someone else says that it's just the perspective, they're an ignorant crackpot.

But when they say it's going too slow to be a missile, you claim that it's just the perspective.



Do you need a hat? I have some extra tinfoil laying around.

BTW, Monkey... It's "knots" (nautical miles per hour) not "knotts" (this guy:

).

Did I call someone an "ignorant crackpot"?

I didn't think so. Nice try, but no cigar.

Also, can you show me where I said the speed had anything to do with "perspective"? I didn't think so.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Oh... I get it...

When you say the trail is going up, and someone else says that it's just the perspective, they're an ignorant crackpot.

But when they say it's going too slow to be a missile, you claim that it's just the perspective.



Do you need a hat? I have some extra tinfoil laying around.

BTW, Monkey... It's "knots" (nautical miles per hour) not "knotts" (this guy:

).

It's the English spelling...

 

[ATOMonkey]

Here's everyone's homework assignment.

Find a video of a ballistic missle launch. Actually, find several videos, particularly an "over the horizon" video.

Report back your observations.

We'll discuss similarities and differences with the traffic cam video.

 

[MilitaryArms]

Here's your homework assignment, you post some videos that show missiles leaving the horizon and showing several minutes of their flight and I'll watch them.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Did you have other kids do your homework for you in high school?

If you don't want to educate yourself, me posting videos isn't going to help you.

 

[MilitaryArms]

Did you have other kids do your homework for you in high school?

If you don't want to educate yourself, me posting videos isn't going to help you.

I'm sorry, that's not how this works.

You made a claim, now support it. I posted my video evidence it's up to you to post your own evidence. It's not my responsibility to find your evidence for you. If anyone is having other kids do their homework, it's you my friend.

 

[Robert Richardson]

But.they said it didn't show on any radar screen